Hanif Joshaghani Of Symend On The Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Sara Connell

Work through issues and decisions with trusted teammates and advisors.

As a part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Hanif Joshaghani.

Hanif Joshaghani is the co-founder and CEO of Symend which is a behavioral analytics platform that provides customer engagement products to identify customers having trouble with their bills. The company has raised over $52 million from investors like Ignition Partners, Inovia Capital, TELUS Ventures, Mistral Venture Partners, and Impression Ventures to name a few.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I’ve always had the mindset that entrepreneurship would be my path. I took a systematic approach to getting there. First, I spent about nine years working for big public and multinational companies to learn about their strategies, what made them successful, and learning as much as I could about how to build a business. After that, I went and tried my hand at it, starting my first company helping finance small businesses.

The timing for starting my own company was never certain, but moving to Calgary was really an impetus for me. What many people don’t know about Calgary is that it’s probably one of the most entrepreneurial cities in the world. However, it started mainly in the energy industry and has only recently begun to take off as a tech entrepreneurial city. It was one of the most enterprising cities that I’d ever been to and that really inspired me. I was living here working for a different company and the energy of the city really took hold of me.

Once I entered into the world of entrepreneurship, I knew I wanted to make an impact in making the financial industry more human. This mission has been personal for me given first-hand experiences I saw growing up with confusing collections processes that lacked empathy for customers and efficiency for businesses.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

There are many mistakes I’ve made along the way. I think one of the most important things I’ve learned is not to chase every opportunity. Instead, be selective and go after things you really believe in and are passionate about. I’ve also discovered how important it is to do business with people who share your values — especially co-founders and business partners. A lot of people think you shouldn’t do business with friends, but one of my biggest lessons has been to do the opposite, because people who are your friends — or have the potential to be — are that because of shared values and characteristics. And these underpinnings make a strong foundation for doing business in a way where you have that shared integrity. In fact, if you made a Venn diagram of my friends and my business colleagues, there would be a huge overlap.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I have a lot of great role models on the business side. The people on my board are incredible — and along with my executive advisor, they’ve been incredible in helping me develop as a CEO. As I try to think through things and problem solve, I’m calling everyone all the time. Talking to all my network of advisors and mentors and board members has almost become part of my thinking and problem-solving process. On top of this is of course my mom and my wife, whose advice and support have also impacted me as an entrepreneur.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your organization started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?

When we co-founded Symend, our goal was to make a tough process more manageable — specifically focused on helping customers avoid debt collection by empowering them to resolve past-due bills. We’ve since expanded our focus — our science-driven digital engagement platform enables service providers and financial institutions to better engage their customers with empathy. We help our clients treat their customers with dignity and empathy, while also building lifelong value for their company and the brand.

Do you have a book in your life that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?

I would say the book that has had the biggest impact on me — and probably the one that I’ve read the most times — is “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. It’s interesting because it means something different to me every time I read it. There are parts of it that, when I was first starting the company, I just kind of glazed over. It was interesting reading, but at the time, I had no way of applying it. But based on problems I’ve faced, I’ve revisited the book time and time again — it examines everything from the product to rethinking revenue, to surviving the Dotcom crash and so on. As the business evolves at different stages, there are different things to get out of this book — especially for tech entrepreneurs. I think it’s an incredibly valuable book with long-term value.

The other is “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” Those are golden rules — you’ve got to own them, live them, put them on sticky notes on your walls — whatever it takes to make sure that’s how you operate. I have copies of both of those books and when we integrate new leaders into the business, I like to give them copies.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

One of the risks when you build a company is that you’ll lose touch a little and lose your sense of being grounded. I’ve found it to be really important to spend quality time getting to know people across all levels and departments of the company. I spend a significant amount of my time connecting with employees, taking them out for dinner or coffee and just hearing from them. I think that’s been one of the most important things I’ve done — staying grounded in the front lines. I think there’s a risk that you will lose touch with what really matters the further away from those front lines you are and the bigger your business gets — but it’s really valuable to understand those front lines and stay connected.

When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?

Through difficult and uncertain times, treating employees with personal touch and personal care is essential. On top of this, being able to rally together and maintain unity is really powerful for pushing through a difficult moment. I remember in our early stages when we hit a turbulent moment, and as a team we had an, “I am Spartacus’’ moment. Giving full transparency around the challenges we were facing as a company and difficult decisions needing to be made inspired everyone to rally together and just charge towards the goals.

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

Honesty and transparency. New employees are joining more than just a job — they’re joining a community and an ecosystem and they give a big part of their life to it. It’s like joining a family in a way. You have to be empathetic to what everyone is putting into the company and give them compassionate treatment in return. People want to feel appreciated — as the saying goes, people don’t quit companies, they quit managers.

Another important part is providing context. It can get frustrating for people if you give them limited information and use the “this is all they need to know” approach when communicating hard news. This makes people feel like they’re just a cog in the machine and the more they feel like that, the less engaged they are. Giving them the “why” — even though they may not always agree with you — goes a long way.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

Lead from the vanguard. You can’t be the general and stand at the back of the army — especially in a fast-paced environment where you have to pivot and learn and evolve a lot. As a leader, you shouldn’t ask for anything that you’re not doing in spades yourself. It’s not only that your leaders should have your back and are serving leaders — their role is to take as much risk as anyone else and have a singular commitment to the overall success of the business. When employees can see that your only focus and mission is to make everyone successful together, it’s incredible what people will do for you. But you have to earn this as a leader. It’s like being bestowed — the CEO title doesn’t mean anything on its own — you have to earn it.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

• Losing touch with the front lines of the company.
• Failing to provide transparency regarding the “whys” of business decisions during difficult times.
• Doing business with people who don’t share your same values.

Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.

• Lead from the vanguard.
• Treat employees with personal touch and care.
• Provide honesty and transparency about business decisions.
• Work through issues and decisions with trusted teammates and advisors.
• Rally as a team.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“From thy action to thy benediction” — in other words, God helps those who help themselves. The lesson I’ve carried through my whole life is that nothing is given to you — you have to earn it. In my personal journey, I’ve gone from living in a refugee camp to now running one of the biggest tech companies in Calgary. And this has been the result of two fundamental things — I can outwork anyone and I treat everyone fairly.

How can our readers further follow your work?

My LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanif-joshaghani/?originalSubdomain=ca symend.com

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!