June 7, 2019

10 Questions With Magid Abraham, EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Tech Pioneer and Serial Entrepreneur

Dr. Magid Abraham is the CEO and co-founder of NeuraWell, a mental health therapeutics company. He also co-founded ‘ComScore’, where he focused on innovation and industry leadership, and was CEO of ComScore for 14 years and took it public in 2007. He was the founder and CEO of Paragren Technologies, producing CRM systems and president of IRI, a major international research company, which he led through sustained growth and innovation.

Dr. Abraham received a Ph.D. and an M.B.A. from MIT, and is an Engineer of the École Polytechnique, France. He became a Visiting Scholar at Stanford in 2015, where he taught at the Graduate School of Business for three years. He serves on a number of commercial and institutional boards. Abraham is a world expert on consumer and market measurement and analytics and has authored seminal award-winning articles. He received some of the most prestigious awards in the field, was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and inducted in the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and designated “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum.

What’s the best lesson you learned?

The most important lesson for me is to believe in yourself. People rarely believe in someone who does not believe in himself. We are sometimes lucky, and we have people who encourage us along the way, but there are also plenty of people who doubt us, expect us to fail, and feel their dismissive opinion validated when we do. Since failure is unavoidable in life, self-confidence is what makes us stand up and fight another fight.

If you can describe your journey in one sentence, what would it be?
I liked what I was doing and learned a lot along the way.

If you were to prioritize one aspect when hiring, which one would you pick: culture or skills?
I would never hire someone whose values run AGAINST the culture, but I would prioritize high skills when I think the person can adapt and learn the culture, over a perfect culture match in an average candidate.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I like hiking, boating and Golf, but I am always in learning mode even in my free time.

What excites you about the future?
Exponential progress is happening on most fronts. I wish I could be a student again.

If you had a rewind button, name one thing you would change in your journey?
I would have worked harder on upgrading my management team.

What or who is your biggest support?
I am blessed with a great family, and a wife who is really my best friend, always supportive but also honest with feedback.

What are your three biggest accomplishments?
My family, my career, and what I am now working on.

Who is your role model?
Abraham Lincoln, the ultimate self-made man who led by principle and example.

What advice would you give to someone starting their professional journey?
Make the most of the opportunity you now got, and, if you do your best, bigger and better opportunities will present themselves along the way.