Ross Sardi – First Focus IT

Leading by example: CEO shares peer mentoring experiences so his executives can flourish and develop

‘We introduced Vistage to our team members after the value I’ve personally taken from peer-to-peer mentoring. Hearing about other people’s experiences is a great asset and can help to facilitate learning and perspective.’

For business leaders, building solid teams of executives around them can make or break their tenure. Investing in their team’s skills and experience can be crucial to ensuring business success in the long run.

Many of our members want to be able to provide the same great peer mentoring they receive through membership to their teams.

The Key Executive Program is designed for senior executives of existing members who want to become better leaders to support their CEO and improve their skills in networking, strategy and business agility.

Key Executive Program provides an opportunity for like-minded individuals, who are on their way to business leadership, to connect and align with other high-performing peers.

Broaden knowledge and gain insights

‘Connecting with a local network of peers helps to create a sense of belonging and can be beneficial from both a professional and personal perspective.’

Ross Sardi, CEO of First Focus, is passionate about leadership and management strategies dedicating much of his time to developing members of his executive leadership team.

Having shared his insights into what Vistage has to offer and expressed the value he has gained from listening to other business leaders and external speakers, several of Ross’s team have expressed interest in peer mentoring.

The Key experience has become an integral part of how his team develop their leadership and business skills, particularly as they are located across different states.

Motivated by his CEO, Alex Gahona, Head of Support at First Focus couldn’t think of a better way to hone his leadership skills than through the Key Executive Program.

Over the past 10 years with First Focus, Alex has developed skills in customer service, service desk management and recruitment, adding strength and consistency to his organisation.

Becoming a part of Vistage has helped him to broaden his knowledge and gain insights from other executives in different industries.

‘Joining Vistage has been really beneficial for me. I’ve met a group of great people and have learned about their challenges and gained new strategies on how to deal with problems,’ says Alex.

‘When facing challenging situations, I know I can trust members within my group to give me their honest opinion, and maybe even guidance towards a resolution,’ says Alex.

Thanks to Vistage, Alex has walked away from each monitoring sessions with clear objectives and has introduced many strategies into his day-to-day reporting and direction with his team.

‘I’ve gained knowledge and strategies on how to be transparent, raising an issue appropriately, asking the right questions and also driving accountability and ownership through my team. I help other members problem solve rather than just giving them the answer,’ says Alex.

According to Alex and Ross, getting involved in Vistage mentoring sessions has created a lasting effect on how the First Focus team communicate and develop.

‘We’ve been able to improve our internal development strategies to foster growth both personally and professionally,’ says Ross.

Ross believe Vistage is particularly good for new executives who are just stepping up into a role and can learn from other executives.

Vistage has also been a great investment personally for Alex.

‘For me, Vistage has made me a better manager and a better leader. I have gained a lot of insights into other industries and also engaged in deep self-development and professional progression. For any other executives in my position, I would highly recommend investing in Vistage;’ concludes Alex.

About Ross Sardi

Ross has 20 years of experience in managed IT services and consulting across small to mid-size businesses, Government and Education. Ross joined First Focus at the start of 2014 to first grow the WA branch. In 2015 he relocated to Sydney to manage the delivery of services across the organisation, before taking over from Peter Paddon as the CEO in 2018.

Ross is passionate about continually improving the use of technology and strongly believes that having the best people is what makes First Focus the leading Managed Service Provider.

About Alex Gahona

Alex joined First Focus in 2011 as a member of the Service Desk as the first point of call for our customers, before being promoted to Service Desk Manager, where he directly managed the help desk for a number of years.

Today, Alex heads up the Support Department at First Focus, overseeing the Service Desk and Field Service Technicians. He is committed to delivering the highest quality of service to customers, while also looking for ways to improve the efficiency and capability of his team.