Rick Haythornthwaite

I think that says something about the nature of business and banking as a whole, and where it's moving to. There are plenty of people that know an immense amount about banking in the bank, that's for sure. But, to compete in this highly disruptive world, you need to gather a lot of views. You need to be very open to thinking about ideas from across boundaries.

And the nature of leadership is becoming quite similar across these boundaries. Whereas it used to be, to be a banker, you had to be a banker. Now you've got to understand how to lead in a disruptive environment. You’ve got to know how to be a strategy maker, about how to really understand customers, how to build brands, how to be able to lead innovation. At the same time delivering on the promises that are being made.

You need to bring resilience; to bring agility, all of those things are very similar across boundaries. And I think when we're thinking, as one needs to as a board, about talent, succession, culture, to bring other perspectives, I think is helpful. And also, just champion the fact that, connections matter. Connections across boundaries matter in every walk of life. And increasingly so in business.

I know NatWest were keen to be one of the founding members along with BP and Unilever because they recognised that without the real understanding of what's on offer across the boundaries, understanding case studies, understanding what processes could promote this and recognising that you can't just talk about it. There have to be intentional actions to drive these things.

We have interview ambassadors, around 600, actually doing something by introducing diverse thinking into interview panels, very basic techniques that actually you can learn from others, from other companies. And I think NatWest recognised that, “the-not-invented-here” syndrome is never going to help; that you really need to act as a collective to think through what's working, what's not working, to share that knowledge and to demonstrate and be very open as to how that can work. And 25x25 by all reports, has proven to be a very helpful platform in that regard.

They do. The only way one can work in this disruptive environment is to give enormous power to the organisation.

The only place you can really understand what a customer wants and thinks is to put power next to the customer. You know, real agency next to the customer, and therefore it demands a lot of leaders today. It demands leaders who are courageous. Leaders that understand and have the skill to connect with, to empower their teams, to inspire their teams to drive for more, but always with the customer at the centre.

It requires leaders that are intensely curious, gathering views from as broad a base as they possibly can. Above all, a capacity to bring imagination and adaptability to what is a very, very difficult and fast changing context for the times. It demands a lot of leaders.

It’s essential. 25x25, use the words - strategic, intentioned and data-driven. Those are three key words. I think that that it starts with strategy. And then from strategy, you define the behaviours that are required to deliver the strategic outcomes.

That in turn needs to determine what is your talent evaluation and development strategy. And so, it has to cascade through and ultimately if you get the right people in place, then yes, you'll start seeing the strategic objectives being delivered. Which of course you've got to measure, and you end up in what you hope is a perpetual virtuous cycle.