442- Listen, Understand, Execute: The IT Leadership Edge w/Farhan Zakir

Farhan Zakir's path into technology started far from a server room. After leaving medical school in Pakistan, he returned to Orlando, worked across hospitality roles, moved into accounting, and found his opening through ERP implementation for the club industry. In this conversation with Phil Howard, Farhan explains how that operating background became an advantage in IT leadership. He shares practical ways to translate technology into business language, make support interactions feel safe, teach cybersecurity through personal relevance, protect historical data during software migrations, and communicate value to executives. Farhan also explores the service cost of automation, the responsibility to keep learning as AI evolves, and the three-part framework he gives emerging IT professionals: listen, understand, execute.