How to Find Opportunities
Meet Shayan, a former market research manager at Jazz who is now working in our strategy department as PMO digital & research manger. During this interview, he provides us with five tips onhow to find and capitalize on opportunities. We also get to hear about all the exciting things happening at Jazz.
Where do you get inspiration? Shayan looks to one of the greatest minds of our time: Stephen Hawking.
“He’s changing the way we think about everything,” states Shayan. “Just listening to what he’s saying gets my mind working in new ways.”
That can come in handy as a researcher. Because if your vision is narrow in Shayan’s field, you won’t be able to see the road ahead.
As Hawking tells us, “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see.”
That’s powerful stuff. In this interview, Shayan gives some of his own powerful advice on how to find the right opportunities and achieve success. So, don’t look up to the stars just yet. Read this first — then you’ll be ready to shoot for the sky.
1. Sit on both sides of the table
This is kind of like a mixture of two idioms (pretty cool, right?). The first is: Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. The second is: The shoe is on the other foot.
But what does this mean in the telecom world? Shayan, who worked for Nielsen prior to arriving at Jazz, uses his career path as an example.
“At Nielsen, I worked in client services doing consumer research. The client defined the strategic objective,” describes Shayan. “At Jazz, I am defining the objectives of our research and choosing what to explore. It’s like sitting on the other side of the table.”
Being on both sides of that table has enabled Shayan to have better perspective when it comes to analyzing which business opportunities are best. As Shayan says, “I learned a lot from clients at Nielsen about how to go about research. Now, as I get to own the research at Jazz, those experiences are helping me deliver better results.”
2. It’s kind of like Where’s Waldo?
Have you ever played Where’s Waldo? It’s super fun. To find Waldo, who just gets lost in every scene, you have to look more closely at the picture. The game teaches you to look deeper than the surface.
At Jazz, Shayan is keeping such things in mind as he works on different projects. And he’s been quite surprised by what he’s finding out about all those users.
“Our research has shown the Pakistani market to be incredibly diverse,” exclaims Shayan. “Some are focused on low prices and just communicating. Others want to be more technologically capable. Others want solutions for advanced things, like home automation, and access to the newest innovations, such as augmented reality (AR).”
As Shayan has found out, when you examine a market, you have to keep an open mind and look closely. Because there are so many fascinating things to discover.
“We’ve established large segments — or pockets of users,” describes Shayan. “Even within those pockets of users we are discovering just how each customer has unique needs.”
3. SimCity is more than just a game
When discussing his hobbies, Shayan mentions that he likes to play video games. Specifically, he likes games related to strategizing, such as simulation games (like SimCity). When he plays, he loves researching how different initiatives, like adjusting taxes, affect the people in the city.
“I love playing simulation games because I love strategizing, researching, and seeing what works,” says Shayan. “It really does connect to my job at Jazz.”
At work, Shayan is strategizing and researching as well. After learning that there wasn’t any updated public census data for his team to use for market sizing purposes, Shayan and his team conducted a study to estimate numbers for market size of telecom in Pakistan.
“We found that there is much more opportunity as the market is open to grow a lot,” describes Shayan.
As Jazz continues to collect more data on the market and on its own customers, Shayan is utilizing that data to better understand how Jazz can satisfy its customer base and expand.
While playing video games is more for fun than anything, it does keep Shayan’s brain working in the same way it is at work. Perhaps that’s part of the reason he’s been able to help Jazz unlock so many more opportunities. After all, certain video games do increase strategic thinking skills.
4. If the sun were to burn out, it would take over 8 minutes to find out
Here’s something crazy to think about: If the sun were to suddenly turn off, it would take about 8 minutes and 30 seconds for darkness to overcome earth.
Why are we talking about this? Well, it brings us to an interesting point: Even if things are going right for you today (the sun is shining), if you don’t keep working and looking to the future, things won’t go right tomorrow (the sun won’t be shining). Your opportunities will vanish.
When Shayan interviews candidates for positions on his team at Jazz, he keeps a similar idea in mind. Shayan believes, “It’s important to be able to imagine the future. If you’re stuck in the present, you’ll never be able to plan for what’s to come.”
And, if Shayan needs to sell a candidate a position, he uses similar logic about building a better tomorrow. He lets talents know we aren’t just working for today.
“When you’re part of change, it’s amazing. At Jazz, we’re thinking about how we are now and how we want to be — and we’re making the right moves today,” exclaims Shayan. “We’re almost a truly digital company and it’s special to be a part of this.”
So, if you want to make sure you can always find opportunities, don’t think it’s always going to be sunny. And take the advice Shayan would give his childhood self: “Prepare to be in the right place at the right time.”
5. Align the stars — and augment your reality
When the stars actually align, you can see things you normally couldn’t, like isolated black hole hermits or binary stars in orbit. Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? That’s because it is.
Instead of waiting for the stars to align, do it yourself. Yes, you can align the stars. Make sure all that you are learning is building towards something greater. Connect and work with those that can help you seize opportunities and achieve great things.
At Jazz, Shayan notes that the team’s success can be attributed to everyone being in tune with one another (like the stars). Disconnect is not a part of the workplace culture.
“We all want to have an impact and bring value to people,” exclaims Shayan. “I believe we’re succeeding because we work as a unit and are super connected.”
Shayan attests that this connectivity is what helps solve problems and work towards the goal. He even has a funny way to describe how they get things done so well.
“For example, if there is a literal pile of garbage somewhere, we’ll know about it right away through our workplace collaboration system,” jokes Shayan. “Then, we’ll take care of it effectively.”
When people are connected with the right tools, more possibilities appear. It’s kind of like putting on a pair of AR goggles — everything just becomes so much more amazing. On top of that, there is even a chance that you’ll never have to see a garbage pile again in the office (that’s a joke, but you get the point).
Look up to the stars
Now, you know Shayan. And you also know how to find the best opportunities and achieve incredible things. As you go about realizing those goals, remember to look to the stars as Hawking said. Because when you look down at the ground, you don’t see all the possibilities that are out there in this great world of ours.
