Journey to C-Suite: Weatherford's EVP Shares Lessons Learned Along the Way

Rigzone: What’s the best career advice you’ve ever been given?

Ibrahim: Something that was recommended to me as a young lawyer coming up – and I think this could go for any profession – is being open to new opportunities and saying yes to those opportunities. For example, my general counsel came to me three different times – at the time, I was in an employment practice group and truly enjoying it – asking if I wanted to move to a different practice group. Each time I said no. The third time, he told me if I don’t move and take opportunities and challenges as they are presented to me, I would never move beyond what I was doing. He said I can be excellent at what I’m doing and if that makes me happy, then by all means stay where I am. But if I aspired to be more than the head of the employment practice group, then I needed to move out of my comfort zone and take challenges head on. That was an epiphany to me because I thought there would be opportunities to move up in my organization, but I didn’t realize they would be right in front of my face. I think having the courage to step out of your comfort zone and take opportunities and challenges that you may not be necessarily prepared for has served me well, along with having amazing mentors and friends who have helped me in my journey.     

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