On March 9, 2020
Digital Mortgage Broker, Trussle appoints Ian Larkin as CEO. 1805 successfully leads CEO succession search over Christmas and New Year, working with the Chairman, Board and Investors to deliver a transformational outcome for the business.
We hoped for a ‘V’ shaped recovery, talked about a ‘U’ shape and were realistic about an ‘L’. Whatever shape the economic recovery, for 1805, ‘K’ is the letter defining the future for business leaders.
2020 was the ‘unprecedented year’, a year like no other. For sure, by so many metrics it was unparalleled. However, for business leaders to build back better and stronger, the future is going to demand so much more. Transformational times.
10 years ago, Greta was just seven and the first smartphone with fingerprint reader capability was not yet launched (Motorola Atrix). In the UK, we were looking ahead to the Olympics (2012); a Global lens on London, with its vision for the Games to be the most accessible and inclusive, delivered to leave a lasting legacy of opportunity and better quality of life. There has been much change over a decade but 2020 was still the ‘unprecedented year’.
The Covid-19 pandemic has fast forwarded the advancement of technology, its utilisation and accessibility as part of our already rapidly developing ‘digital lives’. Service, speed and simplicity, no longer several clicks away on the internet, now a swipe, in app, with customer experience being continually honed towards an individual level. Smartphones are becoming our wallets, our advisors, our social network and our oracle for the news we are fed and the news we choose.
iPhone 5, 2013 to iPhone 12, 2020. Huge advances. 7 years and set to only quicken. Exponential.
For the 2020s decade ahead, society and consumers are the catalysts now driving the green industrial revolution. Early still but policy makers have been slow to act and businesses continuing to maximise their performance in a linear economy. Just as Blockchain was futuristic to finance 10 years ago, so Circular Economy concepts are now starting to shape sustainable business thinking.
Bold innovation is required, the Planet’s biodiversity is at stake.
Opportunity and better quality of life? During a year, riven by loss, ill health, hardship and loneliness, 2020 was a year for self-reflection; societally, professionally and personally. In tandem, the year gave us The Black Lives Matter movement which, as well as its primary cause, is for many also revolutionising historical understanding plus their appreciation towards the realities of equality, diversity, inclusion and opportunity in our ‘modern’ world and working lives.
So what does this all mean for #inspiringleadership?
Already managing complex agendas, Boards and senior executives will be needing to lead anew, if they are to run successful, healthy businesses; a term with definitively broader meaning after 2020.
Sustainability no longer tucked away in a CSR department, Boards will have it as a central tenet of business strategy. Awareness of managing a business’s footprint on the world it impacts; education & opportunity, inclusion, well-being, climate change, Boards will be prioritising sustainability in all its forms, with business purpose and performance increasingly synonymous, shareholder primacy more challenged.
Transformational times demand #transformingleadersip.
End to end business accountability, governance, financial astuteness, operating performance and resilience dealing with business complexities, adversity and crisis. These are table stakes in terms of competencies for senior executives. Strength of digital and data understanding is now a must have…
Liberation from the legacy. Innovation and the rapid transfer of knowledge across an organisation, implemented with agility. In turn, growing new operating methodologies as part of a refreshing, inclusive culture, engaging employees with purpose and an implicit social contract as much as their professional one. A preparedness for and confidence planning with uncertainty. Shift Left, annual planning cycles become quarterly objectives and key results. Iteration, flexibility, continuous learning, test and evolve…
Leadership – its availability and informality are the modern and future norms, its energy infectious and its transparency, authenticity. In a world where we have increasingly less certainty, so managing for employee well-being will be key to organisational health. Leading the narrative across, up, down, internal and external to an organisation, engaging communication is perhaps a higher value skill than has ever been the case. With it, enabling and encouraging employees to speak up and out will be key to versatility, team cohesion, diversity and core transformational strengths.
So, ‘K’ is 1805’s defining letter. With all that is at stake and with all to play for, ‘K’ emphasises stark choices for business leaders as well as outcomes; a positive upward trajectory or one equally distinct, downwards. The change and the future choices have been brewing for some time. 2020 and crisis have magnified and brought them into sharp focus.
A new normal, a Brave New World (1932 – Aldous Huxley. Provocative read over this Christmas break). Recovering and resetting, yes, but we cannot afford to waste a good crisis. Humankind is again proving its ability to improvise, adapt and overcome. What comes next? Successful leadership through the 2020s will demand the bold, the inclusive, the versatile, the curious, the communicators, the humble & the visceral. These are leadership drivers of a positive ‘K’, #inspiringleadership, #transformingleadership and of prudent, sustainably successful outcomes.
A view from here… @1805.
What do you think? Do comment, do join the debate.
#inspiringleadership #transformingleadership #digitallives #circulareconomy #buildbackbetter #sustainable
1805 Ltd is an executive search and leadership advisory business. Based from London, 1805 works in the UK & internationally with the Boards and senior executives of transformational businesses and businesses going through transformation.
1805 has been the executive search partner to 10x Banking over 4 years. These new exciting Exco appointments are the result of work with 10x through 2020, as it transforms banking for the better, scales for the future and transforms from Build to Run as a fast growing SaaS Fintech.
Antony Jenkins, Executive Chairman and Founder of 10x comments.
Building our capability and expertise to support our clients has been a major focus for me and our teams in the UK and Australia as we move towards large-scale live services with the banks we work with and banks interested in using our technology. It is about having the right people in the right roles – as it is for any business. I remain very focused on making sure we grow 10x in a very deliberate way, particularly through to the end of 2021 when I see us having between four and six banks on our platform and scaling further from there.
In terms of our capability and expertise, as industry and client needs evolve, it became clear to me that on our Executive Committee we needed an equal and separate focus on our client relationship management and business development.
Our Chief Client Officer role, to date led by Tam Holmes, has been focused on client relationship management and client acquisition. Given our growth and strategic priorities we saw the need and value to have an executive lead focused on each area. So, we are really pleased to announce two new additions to our Executive Committee and a newly created role that Tam, who has been with us since 2017, will lead. He will be our Chief Business Development Officer, focusing on new client acquisition.
I am delighted to welcome Mark Holt into 10x in a new role as our Chief Product & Engineering Officer and Dr Leda Glyptis as our Chief Client Officer.
Mark will lead our product and engineering, and platform functionality development while Leda will focus on driving client success for our existing and new clients.
Mark has more than 20 years of experience in technology roles, most recently as Chief Technology Officer at Trainline. Before that Mark held CTO, architect and advisory roles at numerous businesses.
Leda is a former banker, technology executive and founding CEO of 11:FS Foundry, where she led the growth of its modular core digital banking offering. Prior to that, Leda was Chief Innovation Officer at QNB, the largest bank in the Middle East and North Africa, with responsibilities for employee-driven and market-led innovation strategy and execution.
Together, their business expertise and experience across and beyond banking and technology will be invaluable in supporting our growth strategy as we support our bank clients with transforming their approach to banking.
1805 and Mason Wilhelm have forged their partnership to provide a distinctive, UK & Australia executive search and Board advisory capability.
The businesses, both led by partners previously from Global search firms will work together across sectors to provide clients with an Australia & UK focused proposition. It has been Mason Wilhelm and 1805 clients that have encouraged the two businesses to push ahead together – a strong mandate for growth.
Heidi Mason, founding partner at Mason Wilhelm commented: “having worked on international searches for Australian clients for nearly 20 years, continuing to do so is a core to our growth plans. Knowing Simon Black and 1805 from previously working with him for 10 years makes realising our growth ambitions all the more achievable”.
Simon Black, MD 1805, commented. “Australia and UK business is well aligned, with many organisations listed, growing and investing in each country. Bridging the markets and having the depth knowledge and network with the senior leaders, requires focus, strength of analytics and a depth to client relationships. We each have those capabilities as well as a collaborative and international reach between 1805 and Mason Wilhelm.”
I am often asked how 1805 came to be named. What is in a company name?
For sure, you wish it to be distinctive and also memorable. Also, a name well used creates a narrative for the business; it generates a perception of and from within it can come the values of the business itself.
Today is the 21st October. Trafalgar Day. On this day in 1805, the course of European history was transformed by the outcome of the Battle of Trafalgar. The subsequent maritime dominance of the UK set the course for the country’s expansive international, commercial and ideological endeavours and at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Fast forward to 2020 and we are looking ahead at a very disrupted future, with a fourth industrial (technology) revolution well underway and questions on even the sustainability and biodiversity of our planet through humankind’s impact on it. Leadership and developing talent for the future could not be more important.
Trafalgar was emphatically won through a mix of Admiral Nelson’s tactical genius and surprise. He is one of the most celebrated military commanders in history and down the years, so much has been studied and lauded about his tactics.
For 1805 Ltd, the Battle was won long before that day through Nelson’s inspirational leadership. Thoughtfully unorthodox, disruptive, innovative and challenging of centralised command structures, Nelson epitomises today’s agile business thinking. He crafted an organisation structure that allowed and even expected individual initiative and critical thinking.
As Adam Nicholson explains in his book Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty and the Battle of Trafalgar, “Nelson created the market, and once created, he would depend on the enterprise of his commanders”. His fleet had a cultural over numerical advantage, while also being technically very strong. The core to Nelson’s success had been built over time; innovatively and relentlessly nuturing competence and adaptability in his crew.
1805 is an executive search, leadership assessment and talent advisory business. What is in a name? For 1805, it is all about the qualities and competences behind what won the day at Trafalgar.
Inspiring Leadership. It is what 1805 is all about.
Allica Bank has announced the appointment of Richard Davies as its new chief executive.
He will be responsible for leading the challenger business bank as it scales, delivering the funding, technology and expertise required.
Davies brings a wealth of banking and FinTech experience, joining from Revolut, where he led its global banking proposition, including establishing new leadership teams and operations in Ireland, US, Australia and Singapore; launching Revolut’s bank in Europe; and progressing Revolut’s plans in the UK.
He has previously held senior roles with TSB, HSBC, OakNorth Bank and Barclays. In 2013/14, as the first chief executive of OakNorth, Davies developed the business model, technology, and successful regulatory licence application.
Allica Bank is backed by Warwick Capital Partners.
Davies commented: “In my career I have worked for some of the largest established banks and fastest growing challengers, so I am excited to be continuing in that vein as I move from one of the most disruptive FinTechs, to the bank that I believe can transform business banking in the UK.”
Allica Bank chairman John Maltby stated: “Since our launch, and throughout the Covid-19 period, Allica has continued to provide solutions at pace, resulting in a strong pipeline across the length and breadth of the country. Following on from our initial proposition we have launched our fixed and notice savings accounts, with further products to support SMEs set to follow in the coming months,” he continued, adding: “Allica is very well placed to support British businesses now and into the future, with the arrival of Richard adding further weight to our capability to be a leading SME bank.”
Digital Mortgage Broker, Trussle appoints Ian Larkin as CEO.
1805 Ltd leads and delivers transformational CEO succession search working with the Chairman, Board and Investors.
Simon Williams, Trussle’s chairman, commented – “We are thrilled to have someone of Ian’s calibre leading the business. We are at a pivotal stage of Trussle’s journey. Ian’s vast experience in retail and commercial financial services, and his expertise in growing businesses and enhancing customer propositions will be an important part of our success”.
1805 viewpoint. Start of January, beginning of a new decade… A good time to pause, & reflect and to look ahead. Chris Skinner’s article succinctly captures and catalyses that thinking. Click below to read more.
Terrific news for 10x and towards its goal of transforming banking. The partnership with Westpac to build a Banking as a Service platform and proposition adds further digital and cloud native capability to 10x’s international business. – awesome for 1805 to be supporting that growth and building the leadership team in Sydney.