PURPOSE | LEADERSHIP
Best advice ?
“ The best piece of advice I ' ve received was always be authentic , which may have resonated with me a bit more than others , but it was the notion of it . Just be yourself and do things that align well with your value system and it will be OK .”
I learned to be resilient – not to stop and ponder bad luck and misfortune and things that happen . So I get over difficult situations extremely quickly . I learned that it ' s a privilege to work .”
Darling of the venture capital deal Forbes admits that he has probably built something of a reputation for himself as an executive leader with high tolerance for challenges , given his early years , and that is why certain projects attract him and why private equity firms seek his skills .
Part of that demand comes from his “ insane desire to prove himself ” but he tempers that by admitting he still has a degree of imposter syndrome .
But that does not stop Forbes from turning around tech organisations and exiting with impressive valuations . He was instrumental in Primavera ’ s sale to Oracle for around US $ 550 million , had his first CEO role with Paris-based SaaS firm KDS , acquired by American Express in a multimillion dollar deal , and constantly moved up the valuations ladder into the billions . Impressively , Forbes does not take the easy route to success .
“ I ' ve come to peace with the fact that a Salesforce or ServiceNow environment where the world is your oyster and every executive is trying to buy from you is not the kind of project that appeals to me ,” he says . “ That ' s a downhill project with a
82 September 2022