Manageable Conversations

Are you fully present in every meeting?

Taylan Turan, CEO of Retail Banking at HSBC Wealth & Personal Banking, explains how this habit helps him stay resilient and be respectful of others.  

In this episode, we also discuss:

• His style of leadership
• Judging people not by their actions but rather their intentions
• The power of frameworks and framing problems before taking action
• Being intentional with curiosity and personal connections
• Navigating complexity by being confident and not complacent
• What we can learn from three tips he has for his daughter

Based in London, Taylan is a member of the global executive committee of HSBC Wealth & Personal Banking. He has responsibility for a diverse portfolio including the Strategy Office, Retail Banking Customer Segments, International Business and Retail Banking Products, Payments, Marketing, Physical and Digital Channels and Data, Analytics and CRM. Taylan also serves as a non-executive director of HSBC Asset Management. Since joining HSBC in 2009, he's held a number of global, regional and country roles at the bank. Prior to HSBC, he held senior executive roles at Citigroup and Barclays across a number of markets including Turkey, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders like Taylan. Each month we bring inspiration such as this and much more to our community of managers world-wide who are boosting team performance and well-being through a coaching style of leadership.

Brigitte West is Executive Director of Product at DrDoctor and Co-Founder of Health Tech Hive, a network of change-makers who are building technology solutions to the world’s biggest health challenges.

In this episode, Brigitte talks about:

✳ Her pivot to a coaching style of leadership
✳ Giving honest feedback and holding oneself – not just others - to a high bar
✳ A non-linear career based on a curious mindset
✳ Her toolkit for staying resilient in the face of adversity
✳ Being the only woman in the room at times; and
✳ Her top three tips for leadership success

At DrDoctor, which is used by over 25 million patients, Brigitte leads the Product & Design Teams. Their product is the UK's leading patient engagement platform, ensuring the right patient ​is in the right place ​at the right time. Health Tech Hive, the global network she co-founded, comprises 500 change-makers from across health tech, working together to solve some of the world’s biggest health challenges.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

Natasha Frangos is Managing Partner at haysmacintyre. She specialises in advising ambitious, scaling businesses operating in the UK and globally in the creative, media and technology industries.

In this episode, Natasha talks about: 

✳ What's kept her at the same firm for over two decades
✳ Challenges faced by earlier-stage businesses and the importance of prioritisation
✳ Ways in which her firm is integrating AI and other technologies
✳ How she manages the demands of the role and what's non-negotiable in her life
✳ The value of open communication and addressing difficult conversations in the moment
✳ What she advises new joiners to focus on and her top tips for managers of others

Natasha is on INvolve’s global Empower Role Model Lists 2024, which recognises exceptional leaders who are driving inclusion for people of colour in business. She has been honoured as one of Brummell Magazine’s 30 Inspirational Women Champions of Diversity, Woman of the Year – Practice (National) at the Women in Accountancy and Finance Awards in 2020 and Businesswoman of the Year at the Great British Businesswoman Awards in 2021.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

Are you comfortable challenging others and being challenged in return? Ian Constance, CEO of Advanced Propulsion Centre UK, talks about this motto of his and why it's easy to say and hard to implement.

In this episode, Ian talks about:

✳ Getting the best from people by not telling them what to do 

✳ Insights from working around the world, including China

✳ Adapting from a global career at Ford to leading a small not-for-profit organisation

✳ The importance of discipline in coping with the pressure of the role

✳ What he learned about leadership from Alan Mulally, ex-CEO of Ford 

Ian has over 25 years’ experience in the global automotive industry. He joined the Advanced Propulsion Centre as CEO in 2015 from Ford Motor Company in Detroit, where he was most recently Global Chief Engineer for Large Cars. Prior to working in the US, he spent six years at Ford’s Asia Pacific HQ, first in Bangkok and then in Shanghai. During an unprecedented period of growth and change in that part of the world, he was responsible for delivering many well-known Ford products into manufacturing plants, joint ventures and markets throughout the region.

Each month we bring inspiration such as this and much more to our community of managers world-wide who are boosting team performance and well-being through a coaching style of leadership.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

James Hollow is the Founder and CEO of Fabric, a Strategic Design and Sustainability consultancy based in Japan.

In this episode, James talks about: 

✳ The power of vulnerability and not knowing everything
✳ Healthy reflective practices in business
✳ What being “inclusive by design” means as a leadership principle
✳ The importance of making values tangible through behaviours
✳ His experience leading businesses and people in Japan for decades

James leads Fabric with a focus on entrepreneurship, regenerative business practices, and brand strategy. He has extensive experience working with global brands including Apple, Amazon, Unilever, P&G, and Salesforce, as well as being an advisor to leading startups scaling in Japan, a mentor for 500 Startups, and Chair of the Board of Trustees at British School in Tokyo. In 2022, James was awarded an Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to education and the wider community in Japan.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

Chia-Lin Simmons is the CEO of LogicMark and an early leader in AI and IoT.
 
In this episode, Chia-Lin talks about:

• What she means by her personal brand of ‘kindness leadership’
• Being a futurist as part of managing career transitions
• The value of code-switching and thinking like a startup and a large company
• Why vision fit is more important to her than culture fit
• Misunderstandings with AI and its human dimension
• Finding time to focus on others and self-heal

As a tech veteran with more than 25 years of experience founding and leading companies (and working at places like Google, Samsung, AOL and Audible), Chia-Lin has helped rebrand and shift LogicMark to become a leader in the care economy.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

Tony Jamous is the CEO and Founder of Osyter, the automated global employment platform that removes barriers to remote work and distributed hiring. Oyster is the second Unicorn that Tony has founded.

In this episode, Tony talks about:

• What he means by sustainable leadership and what caused him to embrace it
• Achieving higher performance without taxing yourself and others as much
• Setting the bar high and being ready to be disappointed
• When to use your heart rather than your brain
• How he enables a fully remote organisation with people in 60+ countries
• The importance of connecting in person at a deeper level with others in the team

Tony is passionate about empowering talented individuals from emerging economies through access to global career opportunities. Before launching Oyster with co-founder Jack Mardack in early 2020, Tony was the co-founder and CEO of Nexmo (now Vonage).

Oyster is a fully distributed organisation driven by the mission to create a more equal world of work. The platform enables people-centric hiring anywhere in the world with reliable, compliant contracts, payroll, and great local benefits and perks.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

Kathrin Jesse is CEO of BBDO Germany, one of the top ten creative agencies in Germany, working with clients such as Allianz, Porsche, Lidl, Meta, 1&1 and E.ON. 

In this episode, Kathrin talks about:

• Being a real person as a leader, and being a good fit for the times
• How parenting has strengthened her predictability, consistency and intentionality
• Why taking on the CEO role was a risk for her and the firm
• Sticking to plans and yet being able to handle curve balls
• The power of being transparent
• Seeing the learning opportunity in every challenge

Kathrin joined BBDO in January 2023 from the Switzerland-based Wirz Group, where she was Chief Strategy Officer and co-owner from 2021. Before this, Kathrin was a member of the management team at DDB Berlin. She has almost 20 years of professional experience gained at well-known creative agencies including Scholz & Friends, Grey and Saatchi & Saatchi.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

Jennifer Nuckles is Chairperson & CEO at R-Zero, the biosafety technology company dedicated to making indoor spaces safer, healthier and more productive.

In this episode, Jennifer talks about:

• Being kind rather than nice
• How Chief Marketing Officers can become CEOs
• The danger of vanity metrics
• Being a role model for her daughters
• Playing to people's strengths
• Getting out of your comfort zone

Jennifer has over 25 years of experience leading and accelerating revenue growth and profitability for companies including high-growth, venture-backed and public companies. Prior to R-Zero, Jennifer was Executive Vice President and Group Business Leader at SoFi, and Chief Marketing Officer of HealthTech leader Doctor on Demand and social gaming giant Zynga.

R-Zero combines the power of UV-C light, IoT-connected hardware and sensors, and AI to enable organisations to create safe shared environments for education, healthcare, corporate, and public sector communities to thrive.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

Petr Baron is CEO of tbi, the challenger bank that is one of the most profitable in Southeastern Europe. In this episode, Petr talks about:

• The importance of authenticity
• Seeing the teacher in everyone
• Algorithms and hacks that free him up to create value
• Protecting ourselves from digital noise
• Seeking out problem-solving partners
• Ways in which banks need to change

Petr belongs to a new wave of entrepreneurial bankers leveraging deep knowledge of the financial ecosystem. In a career spanning over 20 years, he's held a variety of senior banking roles across Europe, culminating in leading tbi for the past seven years.

With a customer base of two million, tbi is a mobile-first challenger bank in Southeastern Europe and a regional leader in alternative payment solutions. It focuses on helping SMEs grow their businesses and making consumers' lives easier through innovative financial products.

For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.