Manageable Conversations

In this episode of Manageable Conversations, Luca Schnettler, CEO of Qumata, the Insurtech scaleup, talks about:

• Bluntness as a sign of respect rather than rudeness
• Owning your truth if you want to lead rather than be led
• How an ecosystem of advisors helped him gain credibility
• Dedication to hard work as the route to success
• How failure showed him the importance of focus

In his late teens, Luca moved from Germany to the UK to study and ended up leaving university without a degree at the age of 19. He did this to found Qumata based on the conviction that entrepreneurship was the way for him to have an impact on the world. He has since raised $30m from investors who have backed him and the business.

Founded in 2017, Qumata is on a mission to transform insurance risk assessments with a faster way to access individual health risks. Its proprietary solutions are used by life and health insurers worldwide to help them create a faster, cheaper and more customer-centric underwriting journey.
 
For more, follow Manageable Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and tune in to insights and advice straight from business leaders.

In this episode of Manageable Conversations, Dominic Allon, CEO of Pipedrive, the global unicorn CRM, talks about:

• Ways he enables his team
• Why leadership requires solitude
• How to be the best version of yourself every day
• Embracing vulnerability and a coaching style
• Why culture change needs to be approached with humility 

Dominic has a long and successful track record of leading large, global organisations, and driving business transformation and growth. Prior to joining Pipedrive in 2021, he was Senior Vice President and General Manager for Intuit’s QuickBooks international business. Before that he spent 10 years at Google, including three years as the Managing Director of Google Hong Kong, as well as many years on Google UK’s leadership team.

Founded in 2010, Pipedrive is an easy-to-use, effective CRM that's driving the growth of more than 100,000 businesses worldwide. Pipedrive is headquartered in New York and has offices across Europe and the US.

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

In this episode of Manageable Conversations, Petra Felgen, Managing Director of CEWE UK and Ireland, talks about:

• The importance of being challenged by your team
• How management practices need to keep up with shifts in business strategy
• Managing transitions from countries and roles within the same organisation
• The opportunity and challenge of localisation vs globalisation
• Engaging everyone in the process of innovation

Petra has spent nine years at CEWE, most of which as head of international marketing, based in the company's headquarters in Germany. Previously she spent 15 years in brand and marketing roles, including nine years at Saatchi & Saatchi.

CEWE is Europe’s leading photo printing company, headquartered in Germany. The Group operates across Europe, supplying award-winning products to retail partners in 21 countries.

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

In this episode, Chris Rowley, CEO of The Risk Advisory Group, talks about:

• How he became CEO and ways he copes with the demands of the role
• The importance of consistency of leadership, including having difficult conversations
• Why leaders would be mad to rely only on their instincts rather than seek help
• Expectations of younger generations and the need for investment in people from the outset
• The value of agility and challenging the status quo within organisations

Chris has over 20 years’ experience helping clients grow their businesses while protecting their brands, assets and people. He's managed over 500 different investigations on behalf of clients, who value his expertise in identifying and mitigating regulatory and reputational risks. More recently, Chris led the growth of his firm's investigations and intelligence business in the US and other new markets.

Risk Advisory is a leading global, multi-disciplined risk management consultancy. They equip corporate decision-makers and their advisors with meticulously sourced, consistently fresh, local intelligence to make the right commercial decisions.

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

In this episode, Twink Field, CEO and Founder of White Marble, the investment marketing consultancy, talks about:

• Her early experiences of good and bad management
• The value of self-reflection and restraint as a leader
• Characteristics of a high-performance culture and how she’s fostering it
• How functions like marketing break down silos and can cut through in organisations
• Tips for managers to get the best from their teams

Twink founded White Marble in 2014 after a 15-year career working in the marketing functions of asset management companies. She was named Marketing Leader of the Year at the 2022 Investment Week Investment Marketing and Innovation awards.

White Marble is an investment marketing consultancy. They define, develop and implement marketing strategies for asset and wealth managers, giving them access to integrated thinking spanning a range of marketing disciplines.

As CEO, Twink spearheads the growth and vision for White Marble, while working directly with clients. Her core area of focus is corporate and competitive positioning, from brand and sustainability strategy to proposition articulation.

Each month we bring inspiration such as this and much more to our Manageable community of managers who coach, and individuals who are coached.

In this episode of Manageable Conversations, Robert Pickering, ex-CEO of Cazenove, the last independent British investment bank, talks about:

• His no-nonsense leadership style and what helped him succeed as a leader
• What CEOs should do above everything else
• How he coped with challenging transitions
• Ways in which incentives affect culture
• How delegation and empowerment served him
• Tips for managers to succeed with their teams

Robert joined Cazenove in 1985, having previously qualified as a solicitor with Allen & Overy. His recently published book, Blue Blood, is a first-hand account of Cazenove’s evolution during his time there.

Robert headed Cazenove's corporate finance department from 1998 and became the firm’s first chief executive in 2001, playing a key role in its development from a private stockbroking partnership into a leading investment bank and wealth manager. He negotiated and led the firm's highly successful joint-venture with JP Morgan before leaving the firm in 2008 to pursue a career as a consultant and non-executive director.

Each month we bring inspiration such as this and much more to our Manageable community of managers who coach, and individuals who are coached.

How is visibility and being connected across an organisation critical for success?

In this episode, Ruth Kelly, Chair of Thames Freeport and Water UK, and ex-Secretary of State for Education and Skills, talks about:

• Trust in organisations
• The value of managers spending time with members of their teams each week
• Developing soft skills
• Being visible and connected across your organisation
• What organisations can do to support managers
• Learning continuously to address gaps in skills and knowledge

Between 1997 and 2010, Ruth was a member of UK parliament, holding several government positions including Secretary of State for Education and Skills. In 2004, she became the youngest woman ever to be part of the UK Cabinet. After leaving parliament, Ruth held leadership roles at HSBC Asset Management and St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

Each month we bring inspiration such as this and much more to our Manageable community of managers who coach, and individuals who are coached.

How are organisations and investors doing managers a disservice?

In this episode, Ezechi Britton MBE, incoming CEO of the UK's Centre for Finance, Innovation, and Technology (CFIT), tells us how.

He also talks about how he acquired leadership skills at an early age, what good managers are like and what they need to thrive, leadership lessons from Star Trek, and the dangers of immediacy at the expense of playing the long game.

Ezechi received an MBE for his services to work in diversity, inclusion and young people. He is a founding member and outgoing CTO of Impact X Capital Partners LLP. He was recently appointed as a Trustee for Crisis and is the Chairman of Uome. Previously he was CEO and co-founder of Code Untapped, and CTO and co-founder of Neyber, which was acquired by Salary Finance.

CFIT’s establishment was a key recommendation of the 2021 Kalifa Review of UK Fintech. HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation have committed a combined £5.5 million seed funding for CFIT to support the next stage of scaling for UK-based firms and to contribute to the UK remaining a global leader for financial innovation.

Each month we bring inspiration such as this and much more to our Manageable community of managers who coach, and individuals who are coached.

Entrepreneur and FTSE100 Non Executive Director, Graham Cooke has been developing internet-based products for the past 20 years. He joined Google in 2005 as one of the earliest European employees working on the Google Ad Platform and Google Analytics. After Google, he founded Qubit, a leading SaaS company in the e-commerce space, providing AI-personalised shopping recommendations to over one billion users per month across more than 300 leading brands. He sold Qubit to Coveo Solutions in 2021 and remains a strategic advisor at Coveo.

In this episode, Graham charts the development of the latest iteration of the internet, which he's written about in his book called Web3: the end of business as usual. He argues it will entirely change how we come together to create products, content and services. He believes it will have massive implications for all managers. He also unpacks the value of user-centric design for organisations and teams, rather than just products.

Mark Billige is CEO of Simon-Kucher & Partners, the global consultancy firm operating in around 30 countries world-wide. Simon-Kucher delivers revenue and profit growth for clients by optimising pricing, sales, and marketing strategies.

Mark is considered one of the world’s leading experts in pricing and monetisation strategy, advising CEOs and company boards, as well as leading private-equity firms. He's a guest lecturer for MBA programmes at the world’s top business schools.

In this episode, we discuss how it is to be a co-CEO, the support network that helps him cope, differences in expectations between the generations and building culture in a high-growth global organisation.