How business school-honed soft skills and analytical savvy continue to fuel ICT trailblazer's career 28 years on

AS a child, Mireille Giraud aspired to become an astronaut.

"I couldn't get to the stars, so I reached for the clouds," she quips. By cloud, the veteran leader in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector means cloud storage solutions and consulting. Ms Giraud, who holds a BBA from ESSEC Business School, has had a successful career spanning almost 30 years across four continents. The 48-year-old recently left her position as Managing Director (ASEAN) and Regional Head of Sales after two years of successful business development and expansion at Sourced Group, an Amdocs company providing cloud consulting services for highly regulated industries like financial services, telecommunications and aviation.

"My job at Sourced Group was like being the conductor of a jazz band. Everyone plays their own instruments, we listen to one another, but we also want to make sure we all sound great," Ms Giraud says.

In early May, she stepped into her new role as Managing Director Markets, defining the overall business strategy in Asia, and member of the Executive Board of Zühlke Asia at global innovation service provider Zühlke Group.

Shaping her career

Originally from Meymac, a small village in central France, she has always been a dynamic and driven adrenaline-seeker. As a child, the French native speaker travelled a lot, learnt English quickly and also studied German and Russian. To prepare to be an astronaut, she picked up scuba diving at the age of six and could fly a small two-seater plane by 13.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

When she was deciding what to study at university, she wanted a school with an "excellent reputation" for preparing its graduates for an international business world - something that she was adamant about getting her foot in from a young age - which she found at ESSEC Business School.

She says one of ESSEC's key highlights was its internship and overseas exchange programme.

Ms Giraud took up her final internship with Sprint, an American telco which had just launched in France in the 1990s. That was a game-changing era when the country's telco industry was going through deregulation.

That internship opened doors for her into the "fascinating world of IT and telcos". Sprint offered her a job even before she graduated. During her last semester, Ms Giraud would attend class at the ESSEC campus in the mornings, go to work in the afternoons and catch up on her schoolwork in the evenings.

Leadership and other skills

Since graduation, she has been working in IT-related fields. This is why she is grateful for the crucial interpersonal and analytical skills her ESSEC education has equipped her. Not being an engineer in a very technical and male-dominated environment required a lot of stamina and persistence on her end.

"You don't necessarily have to be an engineer to work in IT. But you have to understand technical concepts quickly and be able to deep dive when you need to," she says.

Till today Ms Giraud still recalls some memorable classes that taught her to navigate the complexities of the business world - from something as simple as presenting her business card with both hands to Asian clients to understanding the legalese in contracts.

She also remembers taking part in projects at ESSEC where she had to work with teammates to compete with other students in a business-like environment, making decisions on pricing, investments in partnerships, as well as marketing.

"ESSEC is really good at giving you the tools to learn, adapt to environments and shape your state of mind to think out of the box. It's not just about theoretical knowledge but practical skills. If something is not working in a way, you need to work your way around it. I have used this thought process from school all throughout my career. But it was not always easy and I learnt a lot on the job," says Ms Giraud.

Case in point: she is happy to be addressed as Mimi in lieu of Mireille - she says this is easier to remember and pronounce for most people worldwide.

"Your role as a leader is to create other leaders, by inspiring and empowering people. You should know that you are often not the smartest in the room and you hire people because they are better at their job than you would ever be."

This personal motto is one reason why Ms Giraud is always ready to learn from others, even younger mentees. In 2018, she was invited by ESSEC to give a talk on her overall career and became an official ESSEC mentor.

"For me, mentoring is not just about work, but about leadership, connecting people and work-life balance. I also practise reverse mentoring: I want to learn from my mentees, find out how I'm doing as a mentor and get their opinions on the market or technology I am not familiar with."

ESSEC, which is known to produce many entrepreneurs, has also given Ms Giraud opportunities to kickstart her passion project and side hustle.

She founded A Wine Adventure, which offers innovative wine tasting masterclasses based on games. She also retails specially curated niche wines which are sustainably produced or made by women winemakers. In 2022, she was the finalist of the Trophee des Francais d'Asie, a nod to her innovative approach towards wine tasting, sustainability and diversity values.

A close-knit network

ESSEC alumni members have given her useful tips on how to start and build up her company. "There is a great support network in Singapore and it keeps growing. As an entrepreneur and Managing Director, especially in times of Covid-19, I have learnt to pivot fast and organise my time," she says.

The mother of an eight-year-old boy makes it a point to put her child to bed, be in a real partnership with her husband and reserve Sundays for family.

"Being a servant leader focused on people is my constant priority. But you need to spend time on yourself, reflect and have clarity of mind. Taking time off and really disconnecting will reduce your stress level, bring you balance and give you the ability to make better decisions.

"It will also set a positive example. You cannot take care of others well if you don't take care of yourself."