The financial services sector employs just over 3% of the UK workforce but it contributes close to 9% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product – nearly £210bn per annum. What happens to it matters.
I really enjoyed reading this, thank you for sharing it. I’ve just spent the day this week with 3,500 women in data science and AI, and so much of what you raise here, particularly around talent, leadership, and cultural transformation, mirrored our conversations.
I was oversubscribed in my talks with incredibly smart women, ambitious, hungry, wanting to advance knowledge, solutions and discover new insights and solutions, as much as furthering their careers. Changemaker that want to do meaningful socially responsible work.
I spoke about the challenges of ethical and moral decision making in leadership - especially when we look at AI. The research that tells us women are NOT any more risk averse than men. And my own thesis that arguably we’ve had to spend a lifetime making more risk based decision so are probably more equipped for the task.
Sadly there research in risk decision making is even biased in design!
You’re absolutely right to point out the pressure on financial services to attract and retain top tech talent and to diversify leadership. But I have to say: I do think the talent is already here. The question is whether organisations are truly creating the conditions for that talent to thrive.
Have you yet written anything on that you can point me to? If you have I’d love to read it.
The distinction between technical upskilling and leadership development. It’s one thing to teach people new digital tools, but it’s another entirely to ask: who are we promoting, why, and what does that say about our culture? Too often, organisations accelerate a narrow kind of leadership because their internal systems reward what’s familiar, not necessarily what’s courageous or innovative. All the things we know from data aswell about performance in women and potential in men. (Caroline Criado-Perez & Mary-Ann Seighart)
That’s exactly why, when organisations ask me to support them in developing courageous leadership, I always say: start with your data. What are your behaviours, systems, and culture telling you? Are you genuinely creating an environment where diverse thinking and smart risk-taking can thrive?
And that’s also why it’s so important to have organisations like Karian & Box involved, to help shape and make sense of that internal data, to surface insights that may be hard to see from the inside, and to support organisations in building the cultural conditions where courageous leadership isn’t the exception, but the norm?
Caroline. Of course you are right on your points. I will do doing follow-up posts on the need to create the relevant conditions to both attract and retain talent. This will include specific ones on the critical leadership behaviours that act as foundations for talent to perform, stay and thrive. And, as you critically point out - all data driven and evidenced.
I really enjoyed reading this, thank you for sharing it. I’ve just spent the day this week with 3,500 women in data science and AI, and so much of what you raise here, particularly around talent, leadership, and cultural transformation, mirrored our conversations.
I was oversubscribed in my talks with incredibly smart women, ambitious, hungry, wanting to advance knowledge, solutions and discover new insights and solutions, as much as furthering their careers. Changemaker that want to do meaningful socially responsible work.
I spoke about the challenges of ethical and moral decision making in leadership - especially when we look at AI. The research that tells us women are NOT any more risk averse than men. And my own thesis that arguably we’ve had to spend a lifetime making more risk based decision so are probably more equipped for the task.
Sadly there research in risk decision making is even biased in design!
You’re absolutely right to point out the pressure on financial services to attract and retain top tech talent and to diversify leadership. But I have to say: I do think the talent is already here. The question is whether organisations are truly creating the conditions for that talent to thrive.
Have you yet written anything on that you can point me to? If you have I’d love to read it.
The distinction between technical upskilling and leadership development. It’s one thing to teach people new digital tools, but it’s another entirely to ask: who are we promoting, why, and what does that say about our culture? Too often, organisations accelerate a narrow kind of leadership because their internal systems reward what’s familiar, not necessarily what’s courageous or innovative. All the things we know from data aswell about performance in women and potential in men. (Caroline Criado-Perez & Mary-Ann Seighart)
That’s exactly why, when organisations ask me to support them in developing courageous leadership, I always say: start with your data. What are your behaviours, systems, and culture telling you? Are you genuinely creating an environment where diverse thinking and smart risk-taking can thrive?
And that’s also why it’s so important to have organisations like Karian & Box involved, to help shape and make sense of that internal data, to surface insights that may be hard to see from the inside, and to support organisations in building the cultural conditions where courageous leadership isn’t the exception, but the norm?
Caroline. Of course you are right on your points. I will do doing follow-up posts on the need to create the relevant conditions to both attract and retain talent. This will include specific ones on the critical leadership behaviours that act as foundations for talent to perform, stay and thrive. And, as you critically point out - all data driven and evidenced.