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Ahmed Fahour, Ex-CEO, Australia Post, NAB, Citigroup
Overview
This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation with Ahmed Fahour in a rare public interview appearance. Ahmed is a prominent business executive who has held leadership positions in various organizations around the world. He moved to Australia from Lebanon at a young age, and is currently CEO of The Gurner Group. Previously, he has held well known roles including as CEO of Australia Post, NAB, Citigroup and Latitude Financial Services alongside board roles with Invest Victoria and the $15B National Reconstruction Fund.
Ahmed is an active member of Muslim community and was Australia’s Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founders of the Islamic Museum of Australia. Ahmed is married to Hannah and between them they have six children.
He was born in Lebanon and now lives in Melbourne, Australia.
It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Click the links below to listen and enjoy now!
Show notes
Our guest this week is Ahmed Fahour in this episode 155 (and this is part 1 of a 2 part special conversation)!
Ahmed Fahour is a prominent Australian business executive who has held leadership positions in various organizations. He moved to Australia from Lebanon at a young age, and is currently CEO of The Gurner Group. Previously, he has held well known roles including as CEO of Australia Post, NAB, Citigroup and Latitude Financial Services alongside board roles with Invest Victoria and the $15B National Reconstruction Fund. Ahmed is an active member of Muslim community and was Australia’s Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founders of the Islamic Museum of Australia.
Ahmed is married to Hannah and between them they have six children.
In this part 1, learn about Ahmed’s sunrise in Lebanon and moving to Australia at a young age, the influences of his family, particularly his parents who had to take on various jobs to make ends meet. Ahmed, being one of 8 kids shares candidly how his father’s accident very early on forced him to grow up, and be the adult in the household.
Our host Vidit, loved asking Ahmed about the source of his self belief and confidence from an early point in his career, how he planned his career including his move to New York with Citigroup in a senior role relatively quick.
We cover how to understand people, how to build relationships, how to set the right foundations in a new role and questions he asks perspective hires. Ahmed candidly shares how work impacted his family, his divorce and re-marriage, the 5 people in his metaphorical hall of fame room, his framework for saying yes to jobs, and why and how he said yes to his new role as CEO of the Gurner group.
In Part 2, we deep dive into Ahmed’s career, his various roles, how he got them, his highlights, lowlights and lots more.
It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and Welcome to the High Flyer Podcast
01:01 Meet the Guest: Ahmed's Journey and Achievements
03:11 Ahmed's First Public Interview in Five Years
04:10 Fun Facts about Ahmed
09:25 Ahmed's Early Life and Family Influence
12:04 Ahmed's Career Beginnings and Challenges
17:40 Ahmed's Career Growth and Success
22:39 Aspirations at age 18
26:26 Ahmed's source of self belief
38:03 Reflecting on Formative Experiences and Career Beginnings
38:21 Transitioning to Citigroup and the Impact of Change moving to New York
41:03 Podcast Break and Reflection on Covered Topics
41:45 Navigating Personalities and Building Relationships
47:24 The Impact of Work on Family Life
50:49 The Importance of Diverse Interests and Opportunities outside the day job
01:00:39 Framework to choose opportunities and his new role at Gurner Group
01:12:21 Final Sprint Rapid Fire Round
About us
The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most relatable role models in business, tech, finance, government and sport in the US, Australia, India and New Zealand. Launched in 2020, it ranks in the global top ten ranked podcasts, with listeners in 27 countries, 250+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.
Our guests include: Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear) and more.
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