LIVE Event: Is leadership in need of a reset?

With digital transformation skyrocketing in the past few years, drastic changes have been made to financial technology. But has leadership kept up with this fast-paced industry? 

At our opening day of FinTech & InsurTech live we were joined for a panel entitled ‘FinTech Leadership Now: In need of a reset?’.The panel focused on fintech leadership in the 2020s, rebuilding it, and whether or not it has changed over the past 20 years. 

Shân Millie, the founder of Bright Blue Hare, was the moderator of the panel and joined by Kate Bohn, Ruth Polybank, and Seema Khinda - Johnson. 

A deep dive into FinTech leadership 

Starting the conversation was Seema, Co-Founder & COO at Nuggets. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, she explained how it had always been male-dominated teams. When she set up her own business, she decided to try to make a change. Explaining in her own words that diverse teams deliver better results she added ‘ We are all saying the right things but are we doing the right things?’ There needs to be a fundamental shift in this. 

Ruth Polybank, Vice President and Partnerships Lead for Insurance at Mastercard, joined the conversation about whether or not the leadership has changed. ‘It was broken 20 years ago, it didn’t work.’ Expressing how important it is to reflect your customers, Polybank reiterated that this had to be linked to strategy. 

Kate Bohn, Fintech Evangelist and Partnership Builder at Katebohn.com, shined a light on personal risks and how people often decide whether they should say something or not, based on if it could lead to backlash such as being fired. 

Looking to the future 

Shân Millie took the opportunity to ask the panelists what they thought indicators of great leadership were and gained a variety of answers, such as their objectives and if they offering mentoring and support for their employees. A joint view shared by the panelists was having transparency in data provided. Calling out data and false narratives. 

When finally asked about FinTech leadership in the 2020s and how they themselves were going to help towards diversity, Kate suggested staying true, Ruth said taking accountability and Seema agreed with both, adding being true and taking ownership.