Turning Cultural Background to Your Advantage: A Personal Journey by Maha Halawi
Join us on a transformative journey with Maha Halawi, a resilient female leader in the tech world. Navigating through unique cultural backgrounds and overcoming personal hurdles, Maha shares her insights on turning cultural patterns into an advantage.
Understanding Maha Halawi's Journey
Maha Halawi, a Moroccan and French woman, leads the pre-sales team at Salesforce across Middle East and Africa. Maha shares her unique journey from Morocco to France and China, and later Dublin and Middle East, gathering diverse cultural experiences and embracing them to empower her career.
The professional journey started with Maha taking a leap into the tech landscape, where she rose to a leadership role within Salesforce after overcoming fears, self-doubt, and societal biases.
Overcoming Fears and Self-Doubt
Her achievement seemed like a dream come true, but her own perception was curtained with self-doubt. Maha felt uncertain about her competence and questioned if she truly deserved her new role.
This is when she discovered she was experiencing the 'Imposter Syndrome,' a psychological pattern where an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and lives with an internalized fear of being exposed as a 'fraud.'
Laying Down the Foundations for Success
- Invest in Yourself: Prioritize learning, hire a career coach, stay connected with people, take care of your physical and mental health, and reconnect with your inner child.
- Envision your Life: Identify your values, visualize where you want to be, create a mental safe space, and push for the life you want to lead.
- Build a Culture of Feedback: Constructively deal with critics, take gender and cultural differences into consideration while giving or receiving feedback, and promote diversity and inclusion.
- Giving Back: Sharing experiences, supporting each other, and fostering an inclusive environment for women are key components of Maha's philosophy.
Asking the Right Questions
Maha encourages individuals dealing with similar challenges to ask the right questions, bridge the gap between different cultures, and continue building towards success. Remembering to stay unique, passionate, and doing what you love are crucial in achieving desired milestones.
Wrapping Up
This session with Maha Halawi was an enlightening one, giving much needed perspective on dealing with cultural elements to our advantage and overcoming personal hurdles. With Maha's story, we see more than ever the power of resilience, persistent learning, and dreaming big. As Maha says, "it's work in progress", but taking one step at a time brings us closer to the summit.
Connect, learn, and work towards creating a better environment not just for yourself but for everyone around you!