Martin Schneider, 47
Vice president of IT
The Gillette Co.
Mentor: Kathy S. Lane
How are you being groomed for your next position? It's through a combination of work experience such as job rotations and leading key initiatives coupled with coaching, focused on leadership competencies.
What's been your career ladder? I've consistently moved into new roles of increasing responsibility every three to four years, in different parts of the organization and in different geographical locations. Each role has had a different focus, broadening my IT and business experience. These have included application development, infrastructure management, business process redesign and strategy development.
What special skills do you bring to your job? Leading organizations in times of change. Business requirements such as acquisitions/divestitures, cost reductions, new technology introduction, require changes to the IT organization. The experiences I've had help me understand what's required to facilitate change. This involves clear communication, building successful teams and coaching.
What's important about having a career mentor? It's making sure that you have an appropriate guide, providing visibility and accessibility to the right people - and knowledge. A good mentor will also help you do the right things right, and do the wrong things once. A good mentor will provide feedback on the positives as well as help you learn from your mistakes.
Are there any downsides to being mentored? Mentoring can be viewed as the sharing of wisdom based upon experiences. As such, you have to be careful in not relying too much on one person.
Are you mentoring anyone? Informally, yes. We don't have a formal mentoring program, but I believe in the concept. I'm mentoring a person who I view as an upcoming leader. I think it's working out very well. This person has been recognized as having appropriate competencies to be a leader in [Procter & Gamble].
2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders
Stories in this report:
- 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders
- How They Were Chosen
- Premier 100 IT Leaders Honor Roll
- Defining Leadership
- IT Heroes
- People First
- Quiz: Are YOU A Top-Tier Leader?
- Words of Wisdom
- Agile By Design
- Cohesive Compliance
- Security Imperative
- Managing Megaprojects
- Foreign Challenge
- Succeeding at Storage
- Speed of Business
- Rebecca A. Blalock: IT Convert
- Terry P. Brooks: Multitask Manager
- Julie F. Butcher: Master Organizer
- Barbara D. Carlini: Agent of Change
- Lev S. Gonick: Community Liason
- John Sullivan: IT Adventurer
- George C. Rimnac: Disciplined Leader
- Mark Popolano: Master of Details
- William Westrate: Tech Strategist
- Elizabeth Hackenson: Business Booster
- In Memoriam: Gerard Higgins
- Protege Profile: Steve Yon
- Ask A Premier 100 IT Leader: Wendell Fox
- The Next Generation of IT
- Protege Profile: Allison Young
- Protege Profile: Michael R. Dean
- Protege Profile: Jairo Orea
- Protege Profile: Bill McCorey
- Protege Profile: Martin Schneider
- Work That Makes Them Cringe
- Leader Do-Overs
- Shark tank: Some Lead, Some Don't
- Data Points: Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006
- Executive Brief: IT Management Best Practices
- Webcast: Secrets of Superspies
- Webcast: The Passionate Pursuit of IT and Business Alignment
- Webcast: Evolving Through Abstraction: On the Way to Utility Computing