Name: Damien Holguin

Title: Manager Leadership Development

Organisation: Etihad Airways

Versatile leader with 25+ years of strategic experience driving learning transformation and leadership excellence across complex environments.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Damien's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Challenges are an integral part of any leadership role. The most significant challenge I encountered was moving from being the technical authority to leading a team towards success. Once you have honed your skills and gained expertise, the next phase is to guide and support others in their journey to excellence.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

From my initial role in the military, I encountered promotions that necessitated team leadership. However, it wasn’t until much later in my career that I assumed a “formal” leadership position. This new role marked a significant departure from my previous duties, and I embraced it wholeheartedly.

Being responsible for a team’s performance presented a steep learning curve, leading to a few major victories, numerous small achievements, and quite a few setbacks, particularly in managing people. The key to thriving in leadership is to persevere with resilience and continuously learn from mistakes.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

Getting enough rest is important, and what works best for me is to rise a bit earlier. I changed my exercise time from the evening to the morning about a year ago, and it has made a positive impact on my routine. So, I try to exercise for about 45 – 60 minutes at least four times during the work week.

After the workout, I will have a light breakfast, usually eggs and toast/bagel with coffee. Sometimes, I substitute with a protein shake instead. My commute to work takes about 25 minutes, and I aim to arrive between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. I will usually start the day by reviewing my work calendar and checking my backlog for tasks that need to be prioritized for the day. I keep note of the times for any meetings that are scheduled, and I briefly review the agendas.

Next, I will then catch up with the team in our daily standup to listen to any areas facing issues and provide space for the team to collaborate. I can then make time to focus on the work that I have prioritized. Emails and calls come in throughout the day, and I have become better at deferring to a specified time to respond.

Lunch is usually taken at around 11:30 a.m. After lunch, I usually check the backlog again for any updates and continue to work through the plan of the day. Will check in with the team around 2:00 p.m. and help out if there are any concerns. Towards 4:00 p.m., I will update my calendar for the next day if required and do some backlog refinement/update. I like to leave work around 4:30 – 5:00 p.m.

At home, I then eat dinner with my family and take our dog for a walk, oftentimes with my wife. I then spend the rest of the evening doing household chores and relaxing. I will usually read for 20-30 minutes before aiming to sleep by 10 p.m.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

The importance of having an active and trusted network to reach out to for support and/or advice for both professional and personal issues.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so

far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

It's a bit difficult to narrow it down to one, but I read Amy Edmondson’s "Teaming" at a critical point in my career, which affected my thinking about how to approach team dynamics. The points Edmondson made around organizing to learn and reinforcing the importance of psychological safety helped me both gain buy-in and then implement an agile transformation in a non-software setting for my team.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

There is no shortage of advice that people will want to give you about how to lead the “right” way. Default to your values when dealing with people, and be open to learning new things.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far? The chance to learn from another leader is a key driver of growth. A striking example occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic when our company lost a major project. Rather than fixating on the loss, our leader encouraged us to explore new opportunities and determine what work would be most beneficial in our new context. Despite some failures, the leader’s unwavering communication and receptiveness to ideas demonstrated how a leader can significantly influence team productivity and morale.