#LedaWrites – food for thought
FinTech Futures’ resident thought provocateur Leda Glyptis leads, writes on, lives and breathes transformation and digital disruption. She is a recovering banker, lapsed academic and long-term resident of the banking ecosystem.
Thursdays are a #LedaWrites day – every week we publish a new article authored by her, exploring all kinds of topics, from the technicalities of core banking systems and the payments landscape to what it’s like working for a toxic boss, “Wyld Stallyns” leading banks’ innovation efforts and survival tips for start-ups doing business with big banks.
Below is a full compilation of #LedaWrites musings (and every Thursday a new article is added).
All opinions are her own. You can’t have them – but you are welcome to debate and comment!
You can follow Leda on X @LedaGlyptis and LinkedIn.
Leda is the author of the book Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an Industry in Transition, which is available to order here.
Silos and spend management: why we need to talk about Steve
To avoid regretting decisions, we all need to make better decisions.
Overheard on the tube
What is your organisation doing to make sure that 'demoralising' is not what the learning curve feels like?
Which part of the script are you in?
Everyone inside your organisation needs to be actively aware of which part of the script they are in.
Vroom vroom
When something unforeseen happens, you need to work through it.
You can’t talk to me like that
When you deal with procurement, pain seems to be guaranteed.
Playing with every card in the pack
It is our privilege and responsibility to play with every card in the pack and deploy every lesson learned.
Sibos 2024: Data lakes and deepfakes
It's a brave new world out there, and the bad guys have all the tools and none of the legacy to hold them back.
What we did about it
Of course there is a problem. And we are survivors. So let's talk about it in terms of what we've done about it.
You always have the choice to not be that guy
Just because the phone is ringing, it does not mean it is an appropriate time to take the call.
Today is not International Women’s Day
Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is a choice. An active, constant, deliberate choice.
Make mine red
Does your technology need to have smoke coming out of its motherboard to be considered defunct?
The real E-shaped people
The future is not there to be discovered. It needs to be constructed by the very people travelling to it.
A banker goes a-banking, volume 9: how to squander a market-capture advantage
Your marketing team can get you an advantage that is yours to lose.
The other magic beans
Ask vendors to explain their pricing. Ask, and wait for a proper answer. And take it into account.
SaaS pricing primer
I hate to say it, but there is neither art nor science to pricing. Just elbow grease and arithmetic.
We don’t say that sort of thing around here
Don't just ask your vendors to explain their cost structure. Ask them to justify it.
The greatest story never told
I suspect it is inevitable that a bit of a rethink around open banking will have to happen.
DORA the explorer travels light
Things are only going to get faster and more demanding. So travel light, because you need to go far.
The remaining 90%
In a place where everyone says only a fraction of what they mean, speaking your mind makes you scary.
Oat lattes and principles
Diverse workforces are more resilient and perform better against every conceivable metric.
The ENTJ that never was
When it comes to team building exercises, the intention is not enough. The execution is what matters.
Your boss can’t hear you
The reality is your CEO is mostly talking to risk and finance. And arguably, that is as it should be.
Cake and risk management
With digital transformation, leaders often take on too much individual risk for ambivalent collective returns.
The day after the glitzy trade show is never a good day
If you want to participate in the future, you have to let go of the past.
DORA and your uncle Joe
DORA has no appetite to understand why your selective facts are better than the whole truth.
What would the Jetsons do?
We already live in the Future. It is here. It is the Present. It is fully formed and at times rather wonderful.
Open banking: heroes wanted, apply within
With open banking, the responsibility for education lies with everyone participating in the ecosystem.
When the first cut is the hardest, however shallow
A lot of hard decisions fail to get made because of politics, habits and very basic human fears.
When saying it louder doesn’t help
Inefficient and inadequate systems and standardised processes are the reality within every bank.
Taxonomies of courage: ESG metrics and what then?
Knowing what the answer is, it turns out, is immaterial until you are prepared to do something about it.
Surely not everybody was kung fu fighting
In terms of digital transformation, it turns out that almost everyone was kung fu fighting. And it's time you did too.
Constant change is not normal, but it is necessary
Normal is nothing more than what everyone is doing... until someone stops and change occurs.
Miracles on minimum wage
I don't know what it would take for people at the top to take their own empowerment spiel seriously.
What do you want to be famous for?
At the end of the day, when it's all said and done... what do you want to be remembered for?
What you’re really embedding when you embed financial products
An embedded world is a world where trust is essential and needs to be constantly renewed.
Can’t touch this
Touchpoints with customers are not a good thing. Stop counting them. Stop wanting them.
If Mary has three apples…
Always measure opportunity cost. What are you not doing while you are doing what you are doing?
The procurement saints
Procurement buddies, those workday saints, have always been what separates a good day from a terrible one.
The art of not dying
Maintaining your tech estate is not an exercise in bravery, but rather an exercise in risk management.
Crabs and KPIs
The majority of organisations fail because they allow folks to see what other teams do as 'not my problem'.
Wishful thinking
The job is still about new technology, but it's not about the 'if'. It’s about the 'how'.
Help that helps
Asking for help is a superpower. It's brave to ask for help. And it's a braver thing still to accept it.
The future is not digital… the present is
We have work to do, and however we choose to do it, let's at least stop acting surprised at it all.
The great work from home debate isn’t great… or a debate
I want to share with you two little stories. And just a suggestion, if you'd be open to it.
Selling sand in the desert
I have a very complicated relationship with the language others use to describe a good salesperson.
No stray dogs allowed
'No stray dogs allowed' is a phrase I find myself muttering a lot. Usually in frustration or abject bafflement.
Decluttering
It’s time to double down or pull the plug on the things you have not doubled down on by now.
More than words
Fintech has become one of those terms that people throw around to mean... whatever...
New Year’s resolutions
We are uniquely placed to influence the application of tech and maturation of regulation. Go out there and do good.
Fast fashion and APIs (or why I don’t enjoy new year predictions)
The predictions we make at year-end are simply acknowledgements of what is top of mind.
Times of stress
The stresses of financial services have changed, proliferated and shifted, but never lifted.
And sometimes… less is just less
Doing more with less often reaches a point where it is no longer possible.
The ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness
The people who need fair credit products the most may not have access. That's economic unfairness.
This can’t be right
The only way to support people who need money is to give them fair, affordable and speedy access to it.
Skin in the game
An organisation that lives by its values is worth more than gold.
Tennis with an octopus
If eight balls are being thrown at you where you were meant to get just one, some may get through that shouldn't.
Mainframe as a service
Mainframes are alive and well. But everyone knows they will have to eventually move off them.
The plague of learned helplessness
You don't always get good options. But there are always options. So show up and make the choices.
Living within your means
For people in the money business, we are not very good at talking about money.
Not paid enough for this
Don't burn yourself out with work. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't forget to look after yourself.
Mainframes on Mars
What do you think we should do differently as the banking industry on Mars? First, lose the mainframes.
Small acts of resistance (aka the walk on Sibos)
At Sibos 2023, we went for a walk.
Sibos 2023: The Future of Money – the ghost of panels past
This year at Sibos we have a Future of Money reunion. Not just to opine. But to be held accountable.
It’s people, stupid
No amount of system upgrades will ever teach humans how to treat everyone's time with respect.
Intelligence may be artificial, but foolishness is not
You can't control everything. But you can control what you do next and what kind of player you are.
Tourists
Technology will keep changing and will always require our attention. So don't be a tourist with tech.
Shoes
The context in which your teams do the work you ask of them is a rich tapestry of ever-changing factors.
Crayons
If you choose to learn new things, do it properly. Start simple, build up and take your time.
Les absents ont toujours tort
You can’t win a game you're not in. So turn up. Because the absent are always wrong.
Kittens
How honest are you with yourself about the things that stress you out? About the things that scare you?
The light of dead stars
The light of dead stars looks the same as any other. But it doesn’t prove the star is still thriving.
Odd socks
Consultants can help you work out where you stand. But be sure to join in with the ‘working it out’ part.
Strategy is good, but constraint awareness is better
Be honest and mindful of your constraints and make choices that mitigate their impact.
Assuming you are not dead
Open-ended plans rarely come good. When do you know the work is over?
The prophet
Staying teachable is the biggest skill you can retain for the years ahead.
Cowardly lions for the digital era
Don’t do all the things all the time. Figure out what is key. And focus.
War fries
It's Pride, folks, and both allyship and snacks matter. Snacks for the fun times. Allyship for the battles.
The only kind of time
Ultimately, what we choose to do with the time we are given is the full story.
The enemy within
The world is not being eaten. It’s your margin that’s being devoured. And there's no-one to blame but yourself.
A radical logical conclusion
If you want to be rescued by the government, then you need to be operating as a public service utility.
Of convertibles and agile rituals
With agile, like with most things in life, the lesson is: do it right, or don’t do it at all.
Memo to self
Having choices is of no value whatsoever unless you make choices.
How long is a week?
A week is exactly as long as your own goodwill towards your colleagues and theirs back to you.
When you take my sunshine away
The world is divided into radiators and drains. Don't let the drains hollow you out.
19th century advice for 21st century problems
You don't get a medal for deciding to transform your bank. If you get it right, you get to survive.
Hollywood ending
Hollywood’s happy endings are so pleasant. But they are neither guaranteed nor always the end.
Between us girls
Diversity is not a concession. Be mindful of your language and your actions.
The thing behind the thing
For every 'can’t' that’s thrown at you, there is a plumbing gap somewhere in the organisation that needs fixing.
The learning process, manifest
What happens when a learning opportunity shows itself when you are not in learning mode?
A day at the circus
The last few years have shown us that the arrogant, ‘I will take over the world’ founder… didn’t.
How to be human
The things you know are important really are. So don’t forget to do the right thing. And for the rest: be human.
I ain’t talkin’ to some junior
Some people seek to establish their assumptions as facts and resort to a telling off as a power move.
Decisions in the right places (or why I wrote that book of mine)
Changing habits and everyday ways of working shouldn’t be a CEO initiative. It's everyone’s job.
Confronting confrontation
If you don’t like confrontation, get better at it. So you can at least only have it once and move on.
What are you not doing while you’re doing what you’re doing?
Hierarchy should be about an increasing level of complex accountability.
A small scar
At the end of the day, you don’t know what will turn out to be the critical events in your life and career.
Randallisms
Your values and principles and convictions only matter when putting them to action is hard.
Red, red lines
Prepare for your meetings, and make sure you and your team are fully aware of the red lines you won’t cross.
Remember the place of pain… to avoid it
Hold onto the pain to remember to avoid it. That’s what learning looks like.
Bankers like us: there’s no stopping us now
Yes yes yes: I wrote a book! It is written, ready, and will be in your hands in the next few weeks.
May all your problems be the solvable kind
As we head into a tough year ahead, my friends, I have this wish: may all your problems be solvable.
The courage of our convictions
When it comes to your convictions, you need the courage to stand up for the thing you know is right.
Gently, firmly… urgently
The future is here. And it’s on fire. Here's what I want you to do about it.
The enemy of ‘good’ is ‘better’
The minute you become aware of ‘better’ being possible, ‘good’ is no longer good enough.
All the light we do not see
Gaslighting is insidious. If you see it happening in your organisation, shine a light on it.
A good girl’s guide to bad times
If your business survives, emerge from the storm and kick the tires. Learn from this.
Hard days ahead
Dark days lie ahead. Don’t forget that not everyone is warm and fed and safe.
Actions not words
It’s fitting that this year’s theme for Black History Month is “Time for change: actions not words”.
Happy feet
Always keep going. That’s the only way any of this work gets done.
Sibos 2022: It’s not fintech coming of age, it’s the incumbents
Use this time, this space to learn and think. Use the rest of the year to act.
Leg of lamb
We all act normal a little bit more than is good for us. But there is no choice, it seems.
The designer, the surrealist and the potted plant
Hire designers because you have blind spots. We all do.
Rerum cognoscere causas
The thing about asking real questions is that you need to accept that they may lead to a change in plan.
Lemonade
Don’t assume there's a plan. You're much better off assuming the world is on fire.
The smart ring that never was
In a world of options, if you don’t get onboarding right, you will never get to do the next part.
Digital banking beyond your pretty UX
Digital banking is not about pretty graphics, but providing cheaper services, wider choice and more access.
Sally’s ponytail
If you mean well, do well. Let your actions speak to your motives.
The blurred line between ‘utility’ and ‘value’
You'll always need a little more tech than you needed yesterday, but at least you don’t need to build it all.
Spare me your ‘good conversations’
A good conversation is one that leads to an outcome that isn’t an identical conversation.
Reliability is a superpower
The single most valuable thing you can be is reliable.
The best time to plant a tree
The right time to act was in the past. But that doesn’t mean don’t act now. It means act doubly fast.
A witch hunt after all
Championing diversity and inclusion should be everyone's responsibility.
Playing the game you’re in
If we all see that the game is broken, maybe it’s time we change the game.
Finding your way
Asking for help is the greatest proof that you will find your way, eventually.
What my aunt can teach you about decision-making
Here are the three things, the only three things, you need as a decision-maker in life and business.
What will you do next?
It doesn’t matter how big the job is, it matters how engaged you are.
And what is wrong with my mainframe?
Maybe, just maybe, there is a better way of doing what we all agree must be done.
The day I skipped my recital
You won’t get far by not making sacrifices. But you won't get far by making all the sacrifices either.
This is why we can’t have nice things
Innovation is a war of attrition, and that’s exhausting.
Now is not the time
Now is the only time. And every time you say 'not now' you make everything that little bit harder for your future self.
Mission can have a lower-case ‘m’
All business, no matter how young or small, operates in context. So think it through.
I am sorry you feel this way
You can keep your flaccid apologies to yourself. We need you to see the teachable moment. And grab it with both hands.
Liminal spaces
For the sake of your productivity and creativity, take time away from your desk. Do it regularly. Do it with intent.
The future is now
What’s next, you ask? This. This is next. The doing. It takes a while, so it will be what’s next for a while.
The silence of the lambs
Don't just avoid difficult conversations in the hope that something will change. Talk. Build trust.
It all started with a book about monkeys
Maybe you should take your team out of the office to do something small and impactful for a few hours.
Où est la boulangerie?
When you ask me a question, help me pitch my answer at the right level. That's the point of communication.
Who owns the client?
Change the way you book revenue and you’ve transformed the way clients are treated forever.
Today is just Thursday, and that’s the point
Stand up for something. Stand for something. And tomorrow, do it again.
Caveat emptor
Give praise where it’s deserved. Give it publicly. Give it as often as it's earned. And don’t add conditions.
What happens after you leave the room?
Alignment is an ongoing dialogue that continues long after you've left the meeting room.
A banker goes a-banking, volume 8: the grateful dead
I've recently had some trouble proving to my bank that I am, in fact, alive.
My favourite place
It's not 'doing the right thing' if you only do it occasionally. You need to maintain high standards every day.
How long is a piece of string?
No matter who you are or what you're trying to achieve, it helps to act with urgency, before it becomes urgent.
We need to talk about Bob
Digital transformation focuses where it’s high value, but most of banking happens by human intervention.
The ‘way forward’ is not a spectator sport
A new normal is inevitable, and we need to start thinking about what to do next.
So what?
Financial services exists to serve. And that means that when we are not of service, we are just in the way.
The dying art of arguing
No matter how smart you are, you may be wrong. And having the conversation will always teach you something.
The great perhaps
This year, we should have the courage to move away from what we’ve always known to really push what is possible.
The (deliciously delayed) pernicious effects of “managing up”
Don't manage up. Don't treat your trench buddies like they're expendable. Be a good colleague at all times.
But I don’t like strawberries
You shouldn't always accept the premise of a question. Especially if it’s evidently not itself premised on fact.
I am an immigrant
I was asked recently in an interview what I mean when I describe myself as an immigrant. Let's discuss.
In your own time
If you think you can dictate timings for the business you are in, think again.
What happens next?
The deal is: you can moan and rant and vent as much as you want. Provided you do something next.
Impostor syndrome lite
The world is not divided between those with self-doubt and self-assurance. But if it was, I would pick the doubters...
Making the numbers dance
Numbers are always true. But they don’t always mean what you say they do.
Privilege makes for bad leadership
Here’s a fun fact for you: no matter who you are, most of the world is not like you.
Live now, pay later
I'd love to see the excitement caused by BNPL stretch to areas where lending is desperately needed.
The law of unintended consequences
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about programmable money. And this stuff scares me.
Sibos 2021: The future of money starts now
The future of money is the main discussion point at this year's Sibos conference.
If I had a penny…
If we're going to talk about inclusion, don’t talk to me about current accounts. Talk to me about money.
I bet you say that to all the girls
There should be parity in the workplace. But we are a long, long way from it.
What you sell when you’re not selling
It’s when you're not selling that your true colours as an organisation shine through.
Of the things we cannot see
As the debate around working from home unfolds, I will confess there are things that worry me.
Eat your vegetables
Everyone wants to do the parts of their job they like and avoid the parts they don't like. But the job is the job.
How do you eat an elephant?
When working on a large or complex project, you should look to break it up and take it one step at a time.
It’s not about what it’s about
Knowing that your team will know the right thing when they see it is essential.
Resigning to the facts
People join companies but leave managers. And that is a fact.
Cosy murder
Accepting the premise of the question keeps things tidy, but life doesn't work that way.
Money is not a problem
Don’t tell me money is not a problem. It most definitely is a problem. It just isn’t the real problem.
Seen it all before
All banks are the same, but in profoundly different ways.
The time before things happen
Imagining and creating things is hard, but you don’t have to do it all yourself.
This is not a drill
Make sure you don’t write yourself out of your own story, as life happens.
Tales of longing and belonging
Sometimes it’s important to remind people that if you don’t ask, you won’t get.
How do we know if we’ve lost our way?
There are a few tools you can use to keep checking whether you’ve lost your way.
Don’t diss the bankers
There are three types of bankers, but there is only one type you need.
Don’t blame it on capitalism
We focus on reducing cost because that needs no creativity, no thought, no iteration.
The elephant in the room
We brought an elephant into the office and still some people didn’t notice. But we kept coming back.
Humans are messy things
Allow humans to be human and expect them to do the same for each other. And no, it’s not easy.
The fallacy of compromise
In life, love and business: give it your all, fight, compromise but, whatever you do, know what you are getting into.
Wintersmith
A lot of businesses & software projects aim to be Disney princesses but end up as "a bit of a Frankenstein".
And then we came to the end
Is the time upon us to really address organisational dysfunction?
The thing about diversity
We live in highly diverse societies. We work in highly non-diverse industries.
The power of the tribe
In a global village filled with noise and people trying to get a free ride, the tribe is strong, vibrant, unaffected.
The meeting about the meeting
One of my favourite things to do is regularly assess whether we can cancel standing meetings.
Not your baby
Mind your step. See the line, don't cross it and remember not to start a fight you don't have a stomach for.
Stating the obvious
We need the obvious stated. A lot. And for many reasons.
Dirty little secrets and RFPs
Reshape procurement, the process, the risk matrix, the articulation of business value and your sordid office politics.
The Cambridge School and Curt’s jacket
Context matters. Context is everything.
The need for predictable poetry
Despite all our need for uplifting messages and poetry, the reality is we need predictability.
What are the odds…
Are the successful fintech entrepreneurs singing to themselves, "the odds are that we will probably be alright"?
Girl boss
Representation matters, for all of us. Represent what is possible, but above all, what is desirable.
You called me
How a company treats you through the recruitment process tells you everything you need to know about its culture.
One size fits all
Whatever your reasons for tolerating bad behaviour, that defines you. More than anything else.
Not noise
Before obsessively pressing the send button: pause, rewind.
This “new normal” looks pretty familiar to me
How about we choose a new normal, the one that fixes the fundamental ways of working, not just the tool we use.
Benjy, the Carolinas most famous fintech dog
This is the story of Benjy. It’s part comedy, part tragedy, part buddy movie.
A thing apart
Teamwork, trust, and support come from a place of pure emotion.
Lock up your innovation department
Perfect the art of incremental business improvements in the cheapest and most efficient ways, before the competition.
The times are always a’changing
The story we try to reconstruct and the story we tell ourselves isn’t the full story.
Say it to my face
It's impossible to give feedback that isn’t evaluative; and equally hard to give feedback that isn't prescriptive.
Halfway hall
It's time to focus. If nothing else, think how fast the last few years have flown by.
Opportunity costs for cynics
The only new opportunity COVID gives us is to be honest about the opportunities we missed.
Let them eat cake
The pay-off in building a bank for the future vs the short-term gains of playing it safe is worth every single bite.
You are not everybody
With remote working, productivity may be up. But what about creativity and serendipity?
A banker goes a-banking, volume 7: why can’t we be friends?
What 15 years of digitisation & modernisation have gotten us from the consumer's point of view? It's not looking great.
Game over, insert coin
We are trying to pay lip service to wholesale dramatic change but get away with cosmetic modifications.
Central bank digital currencies – don’t get the popcorn
If the art of the possible is being explored, the art of the valuable remains elusive.
Sibos 2020: Future artist
I see growing companies. I see ambitious professionals. I see evolving stories.
Old dogs, new tricks and procurement
It's time for the banks to work together to standardise their onboarding processes and documentation for fintechs.
Knowing how the story ends
"Where do I begin?" If you have ever asked me, you know my answer is always the same: in the middle.
Under pressure
Principles are the sort of substance that doesn't bend under pressure.
One more time, till you’ve got this
It’s time to pay it forward. To the next guy and gal.
Risky business
Everyone will have a part to play, but the risk teams will set the tone for what comes next.
Unfinishedness, by degrees
If you are looking for principles to navigate unfinishneess by, ask "who".
The revolution will be regulated
When it comes to digital adoption, the regulator has been the biggest driver of change in the more mature markets.
Magic mistakes and how to make them
Do everything in your power to minimise the avoidable mistakes and the impact of the less exciting omissions.
A gift of shoes
Having walked in each other's shoes you are both a little better at your job now.
Lessons for my younger self
Careers and lives barely work to plan. Even if you have one.
Almost soup
Optimism might get you out of your chair and striving for a better tomorrow, but it isn't optimism that gets you there.
The stress of being stressed
This is the time to handle the pressure, not indulge in the stress.
The pretence of invincibility
Everything we do in business is in pursuit of relevance.
Storytelling for introverts
For the extroverts of all hues, ethnicities, sexualities, identities and faiths, check on your introverted friends.
Friends in low places
If you want something done in a bank you don’t need friends in high places. You need friends in low places.
Tell it cos it’s a good story
Why do all these dreamers and makers and poets work in banking transformation?
On getting a job, but finding love. Every bloody time.
I don't know how to not care.
Another trip around the sun
For our next go-round the sun let's cherish the things we have and work towards the things we miss.
Unsolicited advice on unsolicited advice
Good advice is measured, informed & situation-specific. Our industry has thrived on producing generic postulations.
Situation: not normal
Choose to act towards the next chapter. Choose to live each day of "not normal" as if more than survival is at stake.
Everything I ever needed to know, I learned from the West Wing
We don't do nearly enough. We can do better and we must do better and we WILL do better.
The in-between places
#LedaWrites has given me an expansive place where I could reflect, peel back and grow.
On making your bed and having a future
Giving the people who are building your future a reason to believe in you and your right for a future is survival.
Transformation in a post apocalyptic world
How do we ensure we are in a better place to serve, deliver, survive in the next Black Swan event?
Love in the time of COVID-19
Amazing teams have teams that care. That's how leadership works. It's a team sport.
Life in the time of COVID-19: learning to share
"Humans. So many good ideas. So many failed ideals."
Do not fail fast, learn fast instead
Being advised to fail and do so at speed, as if that, somehow, was not a relative thing anyway.
The closet of shame
Everything that goes wrong in a bank, big or small, gets put neatly away in the closet of shame.
What is office politics, anyway?
For some, politics is about winning the battle. For others, it's wining the war.
Oh to be saved of doubt and false hope
No one person should be enough to make another worthy of a future they can't themselves lose sleep dreaming of.
Work life imbalance
Let's hear it for imbalance. Being on the back foot is when you can kick the hardest.
The digital transformation bod’s infinite playlist
The soundtrack to the cycle of emotions from the day you get the job to the day you deliver results.
Living in the not knowing
Building the future is not about what you know. It's about what you dare believe is possible.
For love or money
The technology liberates us in the most terrifying way.
The Messy Middle Manifesto
Everything that matters happens because of those who stick it through the Messy Middle.
Tall tales of big ambitions and small parcels
There is nothing wrong with accelerating your career. But as always, the how matters.
Necessary conditions and sufficient convictions
If your "why" is simply "to make money", your proposition may carry all the cynicism of yesteryear.
Artificial intelligence and natural reluctance
AI prize: building a future-proof organisation with a right to not just survival but also success.
The F word
Gender doesn't make anyone a better hire. Women are there despite and in spite of it. And that matters.
Bad bosses and hardy flowers
Moving away from bad bosses is not good advice, it is essential advice.
Bad bosses aren’t the whole story: the good bosses that made me
This is what good looks like.
A banker’s excellent adventure
Learn, be excellent to each other and trust that the music will only get better if you practice. Starting today.
A dose of Hegel, banking edition
False dichotomies – either fighting them or succumbing to them to get things moving, things done, to get people on...
Fabled kings, indecision and cows
Welcome to the Great Disillusionment Swamp...
The big sleep: “trends in payments” presentations
No more placebo slides, neatly organising an avalanche of creativity on a four by four.
What the mouse army taught me: lessons for life and business
Pause and give thanks for the life changing lessons.
Funding innovation: a penny for the thought you never had
You can't avoid the pain and discomfort of change no matter how many digital agencies you engage.
Big boy problems: the challenger banks’ challenge
In the disruption era, disintermediation is the big boys' loss for sure, but not necessarily the disruptors' gain.
Contrary to what your mother told you: banking reality checks and other fables
You can be anything. But it will get messy.
Core banking changing lives, starting with mine
The truth is everything we do touches and by extension changes people's lives.
Curiosity, impatience and weird premonitions or why I should never be invited to give career talks
Be the person people will call to join on their journey.
Diversity absolutes and the absurdity of decency by design
What’s diversity good for? Everything.
Don’t be that guy: cautionary tales for banking and life
You've been warned.
Doomsday musings: banking on the verge of a nervous breakdown
The systems we laboured over will be grandfathered and stuff we don't understand will become important. Accept it.
Existential crises and procurement: the real question behind build/buy/partner
Start with deciding what is core and what is key to delivery, survival and business viability.
Digital cold callers and the end of civilisation
Cold calling - the biggest challenge to the promise of the digital future we all strive for?
Why I want you to take me for granted: leadership, delivery and core banking
Taking someone for granted is the highest degree of trust.
Why I don’t talk about gender
Diversity of all kinds is good for business. It is also good for the soul.
Mistakes, and how to avoid avoiding them
I make mistakes, I don't know better, it's a thing. It's a superpower.
Making waves: hiring technicolour delivery teams in an ocean of banking grey
When interviewing, ask people about your version of the ocean, not just ship-building.
A banker goes a-banking, volume 6: the patience of the lambs
Better is possible. Better is needed. Better is now both a business decision and a moral imperative.
A banker goes a-banking, volume 5: the gift that keeps on giving
The helplessness. The fear. The rage. And the shame.
A banker goes a-banking, volume 4: GDPR for the masses
It is time we gave some respect back to the drops that make the ocean.
A banker goes a-banking, volume 3: the party was only just beginning
It's a terrible thing to be put in a position where you cannot improve your own performance.
A banker goes a-banking, volume 2: paper for the stone ages
So I had to go to the bank today. And the day's surprises began.
Strangers in a Foreign Land: when incumbent retail banks “go digital”
It's not practicality that makes banking in a foreign country hard. It's bankers.
Declaring time of death and other ways of surviving doing business with big banks
Don't be afraid to declare time of death when it is true: it is not an admission of defeat.
Something for nothing or the fallacy of ecosystem conversations
Those "big block of cheese" meetings...
Business transformation for the home: the subversive act of helping
Over the years, I have left radically different people mildly confused by asking them how I can help them.
Blackfish, wishful thinking and self-fulfilling prophecies
If you don't want your organisation to be plagued by self-fulfilling prophecies, don't create them.
Humanity 101
Your business, whatever it is, is consumed and paid for by humans. Staffed and delivered by humans.
Mission to Mars: or how I manage to make everything about fintech
We don't directly do good in our fintech-verse, but we push the world towards something better.
Caffeine and angry bankers: the comfort of bad behaviour
A radically different way of establishing authority, managing organisations and measuring success is needed.
The curse of collective Alzheimer’s: dispatches from industry conferences
An industry asking itself the same questions for ten years despite having the answers is an ailing one.
Core banking and core principles: getting to the future, from where you are today
It is now possible for us to be digital all the way down.
Getting to the future: learn, unlearn, persist. Repeat.
But unlearning is the only path to survival. Even if you can't learn to like that, you learn to value it.
Follow the yellow brick road: digital transformation for cowardly lions
By the time we get to the emerald city, the biggest change will have been on us: our people, not our infrastructure.
Squaring the circle: just because everyone is doing it doesn’t mean it will work
There is comfort in keeping with the pack, but it may be time to go your own way.
The opposite of digital: spending the millions, forgetting the customer
Every incremental triumph you celebrate in the office, is a moment of weirdness for the client.
In defence of bankers
A new kind of banker is emerging. Less arrogant. Less entitled. More ethical and informed, tech savvy and less greedy.
On becoming, and the burden of experience
Experience means you no longer have excuses for not doing the things you know need doing.
The profound romance of plumbing and core banking infrastructure
What if, by treating the core capabilities as utilities we could totally change the game?
Banking for humanity: a land of unsung heroes
Find your legacy. Find your own flavour of useful. Dust it off. And make it better.
Open Banking: much ado about a brave new world
The intent is revolutionary. The path is non linear.
You can’t always get what you want: digital misconceptions and alpacas
But if you try sometimes, you find, you get what you need. And need is bigger than want.
On feedback and what to do with it
Giving constructive, actionable feedback is not easy. But man oh man is it essential.
When getting bad news is your way of knowing you are doing something right
I have been both a witness to and a participant in a conversation about something going wrong.
What flat earthers and bankers have in common or “I accept all writing challenges”
Things don't need you to believe in them to be true or come to pass.
The subtle art of holding yourself accountable vol 2: running away with the circus
Temptation to depart from all that holds you hostage, that mutes your melodies and dulls your colours.
The subtle art of holding yourself accountable vol 1: future James is busy
Hold yourself accountable on the choices you make and how you follow them up once you have made them.
Same old banking and bananas
Good UX is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it ain’t that good.
Assets, habits and the wand that chooses the wizard
Can you tell which bit of generalities "we have data, customers and scale" actually holds value for the future?
Getting your executives on the journey they didn’t realise they had started when they hired you
Find what your executives care about and centre your design around them so they can go off and do their job.
To go boldly forth or why you should go hug your innovation team
Imagine how much an innovation team would achieve if they also had your help.
The view from your desk: imagining a future without you in it
What if my starting point was not my desk?
The art of storytelling: trust as renewable energy
It's only when you do things again and again that trust renews itself. And a narrative builds.
The era of indulgent clients is over
Your user centric design goes out the window unless the entire money cycle moves in tandem.
The Venn diagram of doom or how I make career choices
Your gut points you a certain way; your heart decides; then your head wraps some logic around it.
Technology without heart destroys us: the hard currency of bankers’ feelings
Technology without heart will take you nowhere, in the slowest and most expensive way possible.
All this time, you’ve been doing meetings wrong
There are three types of meetings in the world.
I love what you’ve done with the place: digital transformation beyond the real estate
Stay focused on the business and don't become too attached to the wallpaper.
What we mean when we talk about legacy: mindset, architecture, data and Dave
We lament "legacy", we talk about it, we blame it. But we rarely define it because we have no intention of tackling it.
Bankers behaving badly: breaking the cycle of aggressive conformity
Find the price you are not willing to pay. And don't pay it.
Legacy is not a dirty word: reclaiming the language of core banking
Your legacy should be an infrastructure to suit your appetite, not ambitions cut to the size of dated tech limitations.
“Banking solutions for millennials”: a label of doom
Who the hell are these millennials who need help saving $50 per month?
Learning to dance: the trick in life, politics and organisational reform is there is no trick
Conversation is an art that takes practice, commitment and presence – it's like learning to dance.
The universal tribe of corporate rebels knows a few things about bicycles
Our job is to persuade organisations to let go of their old bicycle.
How come nobody gives me fish anymore? Going “all the way down” in digital banking
Bankers, use the skills you have to continue the journey and give customers something meaningful.
Planning like a banker: do not try this at home
The most heartbreaking thing is our institutional inability to learn from what we learn.
Titles, corner offices and authority in a disrupted economy
Stay teachable. And in doing so stay humble.
On expectations, gardening and promises kept: banking edition
Cross fences, walk on the grass till you find your tribe.
Fellow bankers: “ecosystem” is not a “safe word”
Ecosystems are buzzing living things for those who are part of them.
The infallible innovator: banking paradoxes for the age of disruption
The reality of corporate innovation is that experimentation is encouraged on condition of infallibility.
Between a rock and a hard place: navigating strategy conversations with cynics and pessimists
Spend time finding the right time to bring the cynics and the pessimists onto your journey.
Corporate innovation bods, acting normal “How was your day?”
I want to tell you all about my day.
Knowing when to stop: bringing start-up disciplines to the land of plenty
Maybe it’s time for the ultimate pivot.
India Stack: why I am an unashamed fan girl
The most meaningfully transformative thing I have seen in my life so far.
Start-ups: there is no right way of selling to a bank, but there is a wrong way
The do's and don'ts of selling to a bank.
Getting user centricity right: it’s all about you
It is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
True love’s first deck and other innovation spells
Three tricks to make the industry veterans smile and give the youngsters a three-second head start.
Tenacity: the least glamorous life skill and the greatest business asset
Choosing to stay the course even when it’s not nice or easy, matters.
The mythology of emergent tech: confusing reality with preference
Banking is a tech business.
Waste not want not: time as the most undervalued resource in banking
We use time as a yardstick. And yet we don't seem to value it.
“Active sponsors” and other mythical creatures of banking innovation: a survival guide
Sponsorship is a double edged sword.
Executive decision making and emergent tech: the opposite of cricket
If decision makers want to learn, they should put in the effort. Or pass the controls to people who do.
Fintech influencers and can openers
Your influence is always, always a ticket to the ball where you will find like minded folks.
Opportunity cost and the gender pay gap: the market value of decency
It's not about women or money. It's about what hiring and rewarding with integrity does for your business.
National cryptocurrencies are not a thing: a pedant’s lament
Here we are, talking about decentralised centralised networks. Madness?
Surviving the digital era by accident: banks and gen X bankers
The digital era is here and, with it, a generation that champions creative forces and conversational integrity.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Sandbox Wealth, ThreatFabric, Centrapay, and more
A handy round-up of the recent funding endeavours of fintech companies across the globe.
FinTech Futures: Top five news stories of the week – 6 December 2024
Our pick of the top fintech news stories this week includes Citi, Lumin Digital, TSB and more.
Mambu acquires French paytech Numeral for undisclosed sum
Mambu says the addition of Numeral’s tech will be key in expanding its presence in the bank payments market.
Banking Tech Awards 2024: Congratulations to all of this year’s winners
We’re delighted to reveal the winners of the Banking Tech Awards 2024!
xMoney Global names Greg Siourounis as co-founder and CEO
The former Sui Foundation MD will focus on “partnerships, regulatory alignment and market expansion”.
Uptiq.AI acquires financial data integration fintech UpSwot for undisclosed sum
Uptiq.AI will now integrate UpSwot’s financial data gateway into its AI Workbench, which launched last month.
What the FinTech? | S.5 Episode 22 | Green finance and how fintech can help tackle climate change
In this podcast episode, Sage’s George Sandilands discusses the current state of play around green finance.
French fintech Hero secures payment institution licence from ACPR
The new licence comes just months after Hero secured €11.3 million in equity funding.
Portugal’s Rauva appoints Pedro Ventaneira as new CRO
Ventaneira’s hiring follows Tomas Oliveira da Silva’s departure from Rauva to join Staq.io in April.
Business financial management fintech KPay raises $55m in Series A funding
KPay says the round is the “largest Series A globally in the payments sector in 2024”.