012 Emotions and behaviours of a people centric leader
10/17/22 • 44 min
Having taken a very non-traditional journey pushing himself continually out of his comfort zone, Nick Leitch made his way very successfully to Managing Director of corporate lending at Shawbrook Bank. (1000 people strong organisation offering highly personalised, practical, lending and savings products to individuals, businesses and real estate investors.)
With humility, accepting you can't be successful on your own and with an attitude of “it's okay to make mistakes and learn” Nick is real, open, and honest about his journey to becoming managing director and what it takes to lead a successful team
KEY TAKEAWAY
Uncomfortable challenges:
“I'm not happy with but I'm okay with putting myself into uncomfortable positions, and challenging myself in a way that says, well, if I want to move, keep moving forward and learn, I'll get the opportunity to experience more things.
The easy option is... to stay in low gear or neutral and just sort of coast along. And one has to do that from time to time in order to catch your breath, or just see what's going on around you. But often, if you're really going to push, you got to put yourself in a slightly uncomfortable position once in a while.”
Self-made?
“I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am without... the people I've had around me; you can't do these sorts of things on your own. You often hear the expression, somebody described as a self-made woman or a self-made man... I don't believe you can't do that all on your own”
“... there's an immense amount to learn from other people out there. Look for mentors, look for people who can, you know, who will want to give you guidance, some of the best people out there will be only so only too happy to be able to do that.”
Distractions and internal conversations:
“I'm easily distracted. I have a quite an active internal dialogue. In my mind, I have quite a large internal dialogue, which has many good things. It means I stop and think about things a lot and kind of work around problem... I do have a very healthy conversation with myself quite often.”
ABOUT NICK LEITCH
Nick is Managing Director of Shawbrook Bank Corporate Lending leading an award winning team supporting numerous shareholders, management teams and businesses across the UK. His career started in the late 80’s, first in hospitality and then financial services as a sales trainee in consumer, commercial and insurance products.
This progressed to working in commercial lending markets for Barclays, TSB and Lloyds in sales, account and people management roles. Thereafter further opportunities were enjoyed with Ernst & Young, Endless and Seneca in advisory, investor, shareholder, director and partner roles.
‘I can’t imagine being anywhere other than financial services, it’s enabled me to experience so many businesses across numerous sectors. The variety makes everyday a school day in understanding how these companies work, but more importantly the needs and ambitions of the owners, individuals and teams we work with. Knowing this and using the experience gained enables empathy which makes for great professional and personal relationships.’
CONNECT WITH NICK LEITCH
www.linkedIn.com/in/nickleitch
ABOUT THE HOST – ALLI SPARGO
Alli is the mother of two daughters and a son, a wife, a daughter and a sister. She is also an executive leadership coach who passionately believes that every individual has the potential to be who they want to be, and do what they want to do (she is living proof of that!): to BE the BEST version of themselves. Alli specialises in behavioural performance as an executive leadership and systemic team coach. Her breadth of business experience, together with her coaching and facilitation expertise, enables her to enhance leadership capability and personal impact, whilst understanding the demands of the commercial and organisational environment.
WORK WITH ALLI
If you would like explore how working with Alli would support you to be the person you want to be, have the career (and life) you want to have and support your team to perform at their optimum, then please book a free 1 hour meeting with her: booking:-Exploring-Human-Behaviours-At-Work-with-Alli
CONNECT WITH ALLI
Follow me here with more amazing guest interviews and share with your Podcast friends.
Having taken a very non-traditional journey pushing himself continually out of his comfort zone, Nick Leitch made his way very successfully to Managing Director of corporate lending at Shawbrook Bank. (1000 people strong organisation offering highly personalised, practical, lending and savings products to individuals, businesses and real estate investors.)
With humility, accepting you can't be successful on your own and with an attitude of “it's okay to make mistakes and learn” Nick is real, open, and honest about his journey to becoming managing director and what it takes to lead a successful team
KEY TAKEAWAY
Uncomfortable challenges:
“I'm not happy with but I'm okay with putting myself into uncomfortable positions, and challenging myself in a way that says, well, if I want to move, keep moving forward and learn, I'll get the opportunity to experience more things.
The easy option is... to stay in low gear or neutral and just sort of coast along. And one has to do that from time to time in order to catch your breath, or just see what's going on around you. But often, if you're really going to push, you got to put yourself in a slightly uncomfortable position once in a while.”
Self-made?
“I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am without... the people I've had around me; you can't do these sorts of things on your own. You often hear the expression, somebody described as a self-made woman or a self-made man... I don't believe you can't do that all on your own”
“... there's an immense amount to learn from other people out there. Look for mentors, look for people who can, you know, who will want to give you guidance, some of the best people out there will be only so only too happy to be able to do that.”
Distractions and internal conversations:
“I'm easily distracted. I have a quite an active internal dialogue. In my mind, I have quite a large internal dialogue, which has many good things. It means I stop and think about things a lot and kind of work around problem... I do have a very healthy conversation with myself quite often.”
ABOUT NICK LEITCH
Nick is Managing Director of Shawbrook Bank Corporate Lending leading an award winning team supporting numerous shareholders, management teams and businesses across the UK. His career started in the late 80’s, first in hospitality and then financial services as a sales trainee in consumer, commercial and insurance products.
This progressed to working in commercial lending markets for Barclays, TSB and Lloyds in sales, account and people management roles. Thereafter further opportunities were enjoyed with Ernst & Young, Endless and Seneca in advisory, investor, shareholder, director and partner roles.
‘I can’t imagine being anywhere other than financial services, it’s enabled me to experience so many businesses across numerous sectors. The variety makes everyday a school day in understanding how these companies work, but more importantly the needs and ambitions of the owners, individuals and teams we work with. Knowing this and using the experience gained enables empathy which makes for great professional and personal relationships.’
CONNECT WITH NICK LEITCH
www.linkedIn.com/in/nickleitch
ABOUT THE HOST – ALLI SPARGO
Alli is the mother of two daughters and a son, a wife, a daughter and a sister. She is also an executive leadership coach who passionately believes that every individual has the potential to be who they want to be, and do what they want to do (she is living proof of that!): to BE the BEST version of themselves. Alli specialises in behavioural performance as an executive leadership and systemic team coach. Her breadth of business experience, together with her coaching and facilitation expertise, enables her to enhance leadership capability and personal impact, whilst understanding the demands of the commercial and organisational environment.
WORK WITH ALLI
If you would like explore how working with Alli would support you to be the person you want to be, have the career (and life) you want to have and support your team to perform at their optimum, then please book a free 1 hour meeting with her: booking:-Exploring-Human-Behaviours-At-Work-with-Alli
CONNECT WITH ALLI
Follow me here with more amazing guest interviews and share with your Podcast friends.
Previous Episode
011 A role model of courageous leadership, vulnerability and compassion
Susan Brodie, Director of Talent and Development at the Global Investment Managers, Baillie Gifford shares the milestones and insights of her career journey. Susan shares her very personal story of dealing with the grief of the death of a close family member just before lockdown, at the same time journeying with the impact of significant news her daughter shares. The transformational impact of a mentor and the value of focusing on "Being not Doing". "Embrace everything about yourself ... the good and the bad". This is an episode of vulnerability and honesty, of truly being authentically human at work. I'm incredibly grateful to Susan for this truly insightful and heartfelt episode
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Vulnerability: Leaders go first
“... after the queen had just died and before her funeral, nobody was really talking about it, which I thought was really quite interesting .... it's okay to have those conversations. We all go through those feelings, those emotions. And maybe we must be brave enough to open it up ourselves, even though that makes you feel incredibly vulnerable. Because you don't quite know where your emotions are going to go when you start to talk and to have those kinds of conversations, but it's actually okay, and you making it okay for somebody else to share, what's going on for them”
Recalibrating traditional norms
“(so my daughter came out as a lesbian in November 19)... In society, I think we still have this strong belief that people will find a husband or a wife, and they will get married, have children, you'll have grandchildren. That's kind of the way things will play out in the world... I very quickly realised that of course, my daughter could still get married, she could still have babies, I could still be a granny..., I just had to recalibrate.”
Focus on being authentic
“....in my role as a learning professional I just want people to be their best. My role is to try and help that... it's actually just about... allowing people to be vulnerable, creating the space or the support for them to explore who they are and to be, you know, to be (themselves)
Emotional Intelligence – Know yourself well
“So my advice for the younger people is to take time really getting to know yourself, What are my passions, what are my talents? What do I feel strongly about? And then try to be true to that, because I think that's where you end up being your happiest, but also performing your best”
The benefit of flexible working
“I'm also in that sandwich generation where I have a teenage daughter and I've got elderly parents, who are all here, but all with significant health challenges... So visits to doctors, and various appointments have to come up. So flexible working really allows me to find that balance, to be able to meet everybody's needs. And also mine in the sense that I want to have a really fulfilling career, I want to add value to my team... having more flexibility allows me to do all those things. Which is great and I think we're still finding our way...”
Queen Elizabeth II as role model
‘... When we talk about leadership, (HM Queen Elizabeth II) has been quite rightly held up as a phenomenal leader. And, the stories that people are telling about Her are about her human connection (not her human doing). And I think that should be an inspiration for all of us.”
ABOUT SUSAN BRODIE
Having completed an MA in Psychology at Aberdeen University Susan’s career started in retail during which she held a variety of HR roles, starting off as a generalist then following her passion for learning into leadership and management development. In 2000 she started her own business providing consultancy and coaching initially on leadership and management development and latterly, business transformation and career transitions. She worked with a variety of organisations across a wide range of sectors around the UK until 2015 when she joined the HR team at Baillie Gifford.
Based in Edinburgh, Susan now leads the Talent & Development team whose role it is to ensure that there is a strong pipeline of talented individuals to ensure the firm’s continued success. She has responsibility for Talent Attraction and Acquisition, Leadership and Talent Development, Performance Management and Learning.
Outside work Susan’s time is spent juggling care for her 16 year old daughter and elderly parents, training (running after!) her new puppy and attempting to cook delicious things out of the Dishoom cookery book!
CONNECT WITH SUSAN BRODIE
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-brodie-71210420/
ABOUT THE HOST – ALLI SPARGO
Alli is the mother of two daughters and a son, a wife, a daughter and a sister. She is also an executive leadership coach who passionately believes that every individual has the potential to be who they ...
Next Episode
013 A career in the Police force; vulnerability and heroics
The modest humility, genuine kindness, and quiet strength of this now retired police officer and Scottish gentleman, warmly greets the arrival of visitors to one of the top Asset Management Companies in the UK, and is always a highlight of my many visits to Edinburgh. His great love for his family and particularly his grandchildren encouraged John to capture his experiences in the police force in his self-published book, “Not long til Morning”.
Once invited to train members of the FBI in USA, working the harrowing scenes of Lockerbie at the age of 26, and genuinely witnessing the dark side of life, John shares a very honest account of his thirty-two year career journey and “being human” within the police force in Scotland.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
“It's very difficult to get that sense of professional detachment that you require, when things are going very badly all around about you and those things that are terrible to look at...You can't just disappear into the background people.”
“...calmness radiates from people... that's good leadership”
“The Police are the public and the public are the Police; the Police being only members of the public who are paid to give full attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community, welfare and existence” – Sir Robert Peel. 1825.
An article from John’s book... “So, and I start as we gather around the van waiting to go home, a large 4x4 drives slowly into our midst. I mean so slowly, it kind of nudged some of us aside, it stops and a man gets out, a local, I think, maybe a farmer or something. He goes to the back, lifts the tailgate, and takes a bundle out. He then walks around the side of the car towards the Sergeant, easily identifiable these days by the Chevron's on their arms. There are dozens of us and he walks slowly through this crowd of policemen who one by one step aside, we see his carrying the body of a child, a little girl, may be 4 or 5 years old. She looks perfect, as if she's asleep in his arms. He walks up to the side and holds her out. Sarge takes her looks at him, and nods. As he turns and walks back to his car. The boys start saluting him, one after another as he passes, including me. He doesn't look up, but returns to his vehicle, starts it up, and backs away as slowly as he had come. No one has said a word. The whole episode passes in total silence. We watch the taillights disappear into the gathering gloom. It's my first day at Lockerbie. I have just turned 26 years old”
“...Am I doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way? And for the right reasons.”
“...always be a listener. It's easy to say, but it's a skill. It's a skill that can be learned, but never to be dismissive. Never be dismissive. ... never worry, never hurry, calm, collected behaviour, will radiate from you. So don't... whatever hits you. Don't panic. Just tell your team. Okay, we'll get through this. It's happened. Let's focus on what we need to do. Let's move on”
ABOUT JOHN STUART
John was born the youngest of four brothers in the Old Town of Edinburgh in 1962. After a childhood spent in the suburbs, he joined the Edinburgh Police cadets in 1979. He then spent the next 32 years in the service. This service spanned many notable events including the Robert Black serial killer, the miners’ strike and the Lockerbie atrocity. All his brothers also served in the emergency services. Two firemen and one paramedic. Retiring in 2011 he was employed in the NHS before joining BG in 2018.
He has one son, three daughters and four tiring grandchildren.
CONNECT WITH JOHN STUART
ABOUT THE HOST – ALLI SPARGO
Alli is the mother of two daughters and a son, a wife, a daughter and a sister. She is also an executive leadership coach who passionately believes that every individual has the potential to be who they want to be, and do what they want to do (she is living proof of that!): to BE the BEST version of themselves. Alli specialises in behavioural performance as an executive leadership and systemic team coach. Her breadth of business experience, together with her coaching and facilitation expertise, enables her to enhance leadership capability and personal impact, whilst understanding the demands of the commercial and organisational environment.
WORK WITH ALLI
If you would like explore how working with Alli would support you to be the person you want to be, have the career (and life) you want to have and support your team to perform at their optimum, then please book a free 1 hour meeting with her: booking:-Exploring-Human-Behaviours-at-Work-with-Alli
CONNECT WITH ALLI
Follow me here with more amazing guest interviews and share with your Podcast friends.
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