Alex Sharp

Alex Sharp, Global Head of Design and Construction, Iron Mountain Data Centers (IMDC), joined the company in 2019. “I’m an electronic engineer by trade. I started my career at the London Stock Exchange. At that time the London Stock Exchange had roughly 17 buildings in central London and two of those were data centers - or comms rooms as they were at the time - so I got involved in the development of the first bespoke data center for the London Stock Exchange in Canary Wharf.” Since then, Sharp has held positions at the likes of Wates, Mace and CBRE, before joining IMDC. “I've been with Iron Mountain Data Centers now for nearly two years and I'm really enjoying my time here.”

When it comes to the essential traits of an effective leader, Sharp reflects that “I could probably mark my career and my progress through the different leaders that I've worked under, and the best ones really do stand out.”

Some of the core traits of an effective leader that Sharp values include:

Being a truly inspirational leader

“They really had to be sincere and believable and enthusiastic for what they did. If you look at someone who's enthusiastic about their business, about their mission and about their product, you can't fake that; you need to be really sincere for people to believe in you.”

Integrity

“I think integrity is an incredibly important trait. They need to give credit for accomplishments, but equally acknowledging mistakes when they occur. They also need to put safety and quality first, even if it's possibly not the best for a project or possibly best for the bottom line, it's important to bring true integrity into every decision that you make.”

Communication

“All the best leaders I have worked for have been able to articulate exactly what they want, what they are looking for and what their values are. So that one for me has been something that I've really worked on with my own leadership style to ensure that I communicate clearly.”

Loyalty

“Loyalty has also been important for me. If I feel that if my leader is loyal to me, then that really encourages me to perform best for a business and for everyone around me as well.”

Being decisive

“I think being decisive is another one: being able to make decisions, but considering the information to hand before you do. I think, probably earlier in my career, I would often make decisions because I thought that was what was being expected of me, and sometimes I wouldn't always wait for the full facts to be in place. I think that's something that as I've matured and gained more experience, I've looked to take a true overview of any situation before I make a decision.”

Empowerment

“Empowerment is another. If you're a good leader and you trust your team, you need to empower the team to go off and really get the best results, allow them to act on their own initiative and not continually be there telling people what to do and effectively overwriting people and not giving people creativity to make decisions.”

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