Jesus Mantas
IBM
Excellence in Innovation
This year, Jesus Mantas will celebrate 35 years in the consulting industry—he actually started as a consultant in Spain at the age of 15. "As I look back, it comes down to a few things that matter: The clients that I helped who still want to serve as a reference 20 years later and grew into lifelong friendships; the individuals I mentored, helped, pushed to take risks, or led to help them achieve things they didn't believe they could—and seeing them thriving in their professions and with their families; and, the ability to handle the demands of the consulting profession while staying grounded to my roots, family and friends."
Today, Mantas is the Managing Partner, Global Strategy, Offerings, M&A, AI Academy and Institute of Business Value for IBM Global Business Services, a $17 billion unit of IBM. In this role, he is responsible for driving innovation and embedding Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, IoT, Cloud, Quantum computing and Data Science in GBS offerings and services to create exponential value for clients.
I have always said you can learn in consulting in one year what takes five years in other industries—and it is the mileage that matters, not the years of experience," he says. "The partnership with clients resolving their most complex challenges, the ability to work across problem sets and learn every day new approaches, and the amazing professionals we get to hire, develop and work with every day provide all of us in this profession a very special unique environment for impact, learning and talent development."
Mantas is, obviously, passionate about technology, leadership development, diversity, inclusion and developing learning agility for his teams. He has co-funded two AI startups and acts as mentor to a number of entrepreneurs. He is also a member of GBS' Global Operating and Global Executive Teams, IBM chairman's acceleration team and co-chairs the IBM Hispanic diversity council.
"I'm most proud of our achievements on talent development, engagement, diversity and inclusion, all of which had significant milestones this year ranging from our series on Inclusion at THINK 2018 in Las Vegas, the 'Future of Work' series, our progress reskilling, pre-skilling and enabling our teams to never stop learning and to support for causes such as gender fairness, technology ethics and addressing skill gaps," Mantas says.
Q&A: What does being recognized as a Global Leader in Consulting mean to you? Your firm? Your clients?
Mantas: It is an honor to be recognized among incredibly bright peers in the profession with this award. It represents a global validation of my type of professional profile—deep technology mastery combined with business acumen and consulting experience. I hope my example inspires more professionals to combine natural curiosity, deeper technology mastery and deeper understanding of art, perception, humanity and soft skills. This next generation of 'renaissance' consultants are key to helping clients through the following decades of technology, operations and talent transformations in front of them.
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