From the data centre floor to the boardroom

I didn't begin my career in a boardroom. I started as a data centre operator in the late 1980s, when there were no real standards and production was fragile. When something broke, it broke under pressure, and it was on me to put it right. That is where I learned, first-hand, what good and bad really look like.

I never waited to be told what to improve. In my own time I taught myself the operating system command language and used it to reverse-engineer the overnight batch, mapping out every job's dependencies, run time and CPU. With that picture in front of me I could optimise the schedule and take four hours out of the run. The instinct behind that, to understand a system deeply and then make it better, has stayed with me ever since.

From there I ran a data centre for Credit Suisse, then moved into systems management and on into development, leading teams and delivering software solutions. Over three decades I worked for only three investment banks, not because I stood still, but because my roles kept growing as I solved the hard problems in front of me, technical and organisational alike. At J.P. Morgan Chase, that work was recognised with the title of Distinguished Engineer.

In my mid-30s I made a deliberate effort to learn how to influence at every level, and how to handle difficult problems and difficult people. It taught me to segment problems ruthlessly. Once a problem is broken down, progress becomes possible even when the situation first looked impossible, and small, steady progress compounds over time into significant change. That same discipline made me a better leader of people, and mentoring and building teams is still some of the work I am proudest of.

Strategy and architecture only deliver results through people. I build and motivate high-performing teams, I engage people with empathy, and I earn their trust through demanding periods of change.

I have a particular strength for breaking down the barriers between business and technology, and for embedding a culture of modern, agile ways of working: disciplined, honest practices where teams surface issues early and own the actions that follow. It is leadership that leaves an organisation stronger than I found it.