Maritime Cyprus 2015 Conference – Young Executives Session

The 5th Young Executives Session of the Maritime Cyprus Conference took place on Tuesday 15th and was well attended and a great success.

The young executives, all under 40 years of age, were given the opportunity to discuss and exchange views and perspectives on the subject “Challenge: the Leadership Process”. The discussion sought to examine the challenges, set-backs and turning points that are being faced by the young professionals as well as the profile of a young leader.

The panelists addressed the topics raised by discussing their personal experiences and shared these with the audience. It was suggested that the young executives, in order to establish themselves as young leaders, need to be passionate about their profession and duties, be motivated by curiosity to experience something different, invest time, participate in organisations, grab opportunities and take risks.

As milestones and turning points, reference was made to the validation and recognition that the targets have been finally reached, the gaining of acceptance especially by senior leaders and the establishment of one’s self as the ‘go-to’ person.

Finally the young leader’s profile and characteristics were extensively discussed and it was commonly concluded that a young leader should be ambitious, passionate, emotionally intelligent,
innovative, intuitive, confident, loyal , adaptive to change and a risk taker where necessary.

The moderator of the discussion was Mrs. Despina Panayiotou-Theodosiou, President of the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association – WISTA Cyprus. The group of panelists consisted of Mr. Giulio Tirelli, Director, Portfolio & Application, Wärtsilä Italia S.p.A, Mrs. Stella Kazamias, HR Manager, Interorient and Mr. Philippos Ioulianou, Chairman, YoungShip Cyprus.