Finding effective leadership in sales is every bit as difficult as it is vital. You need someone with the authority and experience to set and maintain an effective course for your sales efforts.

That, in itself, is a tough task to approach, but it doesn't stop there. That same figure also has to have the personability and compassion to cultivate the kind of culture that produces motivated, dedicated sales reps.

The people at the center of that search are known as sales executives, and it can take a lot of research and effort to find and hire the right one.

Here, we'll explore the term "sales executive" and the responsibilities that come with it a little further, get some perspective on how much they generally make, pin down some definitive qualities to look for on prospective sales executives' resumes, and finally, see a roadmap for how to find a sales executive that gels with and enhances your sales team's operations.

In this article, the term "sales executive" refers to sales professionals working at the director level or higher — employees with significant influence over the general structure and trajectory of a company's sales efforts and strategy.

The term that best captures the nature of a sales executive's responsibilities is guidance. It's on them to guide the course of sales operations.

They guide incoming reps by helping establish how onboarding and training are conducted. They guide how a company approaches the public by facilitating product or service launches. They guide how sales teams perform through motivational tactics and influencing team culture.

Sales executives are at the helm of sales operations as a whole. Generally, they're trusted with considerable external decision-making authority and the space to adjust most aspects of a company's sales infrastructure as they see fit. But those privileges come with some serious responsibilities.

They're accountable for how a sales department performs as a whole. Sales executives are expected to put the right people and protocols in the right places.

If a team is thoroughly underperforming, sales executives can often deal with the most scrutiny out of anyone in the entire sales organization and face tremendous pressure to make changes.

How much do sales executives typically make?

Based on figures from Glassdoor, the average salary for a sales executive tends to hover between $120,000 and $150,000 — that range covers the difference between an average sales director and an average chief sales officer.

Like any other position, a sales executive's salary hinges upon factors like experience and the scale of the company they work for. A younger, less experienced sales director of a budding startup with thirty employees can't expect to see the same kind of money as a director with twenty-five years of experience, helping run a tech giant.

That being said, you'll be hard-pressed to find many sales executives working without extensive experience. Here are the experience requirements specified on a job listing for a sales director role from GrubHub:

Still, experience isn't always a deal-breaker for a sales executive role — it's not necessarily businesses first or only point of consideration. Here are some other aspects of sales executives' resumes that some HubSpot recruiting experts brought up when we reached out to them.

What to Look For on Sales Executive Resumes

1. Metrics

Prospective sales executives need to demonstrate their impact on the businesses they've worked in quantifiable terms. A candidate that can articulate milestones like "closed an average of 35% of leads" or "achieved at least 110% of monthly sales goals" during their tenure at their previous company are providing objective evidence of how meaningful their accomplishments are.

The ability to show — not tell — is a mark of a high-quality prospective sales executive.

As HubSpot Executive Recruiting Manager, Devon Brown, puts it, "The first thing I prioritize when reviewing resumes of sales leaders is impact. Do they articulate the outcome of strategic initiatives and the ROI for the business? Do they include data to support that? This shows that they are committed to driving results and understanding if their efforts were effective."

2. Growth Trajectory

Another key point to consider is the nature, pace, and generally broadening of a candidate's career development. How have they progressed professionally? Have they consistently demonstrated an aptitude for learning new skills and a willingness to take on additional responsibilities?

Brown cites this point as the second factor she addresses when considering prospective sales executives. She asks, "Has this person had multiple roles or promotions at the same company? For me, this demonstrates that they have a track record of success and prioritize professional development via taking on new challenges and learning new skills."

3. Long Tenures at Previous Companies

Ideally, your sales executive hire will be in it for the long haul. Director-plus level positions aren't trivial, so they shouldn't be expected to last for trivial amounts of time. You don't want a candidate who's shown a propensity for jumping ship time and time again — no matter how impressive their resume might be.

It's important to find candidates who've had significant tenures at the companies they've worked for previously. If you see someone who bounces from company to company every few years, how can you be confident that they'll truly commit to your organization?

A sales executive hire is a significant investment of time and resources — one with equally significant implications on your company's culture and strategic course. And just like any other investment of that magnitude, you want it to be as certain as possible. That's tough to pull off when you choose a potential hire that's historically flaky.

4. Ability to Accelerate or Sustain Scalability

A recurring theme that underlies all these points is impact — you want a candidate who's shown they can make a meaningful one on your company's sales efforts.

One of the better indicators of their ability to do that is how their previous companies have scaled. As HubSpot Sales Strategy Recruiter, Alisa Zhang, puts it, "We typically look to see whether [prospective sales executives] have helped small companies scale or larger ones sustain their scalability."

A leadership role at a business that saw considerable growth or maintained an already impressive growth trajectory is a mark of a diligent, capable sales executive. So it's important to look beyond their individual accomplishments and see how their former companies have fared on an organizational level during their tenure.

5. Emphasis on Building Strong Cultures

Sales executives are central to your sales department's overall culture. They typically play a massive role in shaping your company's strategic vision — certainly your sales department's place within it. That kind of influence makes them tone-setters for your organization.

They help organize how sales operations are constructed, guide how reps are trained, and ultimately establish the general atmosphere of a sales team's work environment.

An exceptional work culture goes a long way, so when you're considering a sales executive candidate's qualifications, try to identify what kind of tone they'll set.

Do they have a history of hiring diverse teams? How do they approach struggling reps? Can they point to instances where they helped move an entire team forward? Will your sales department enjoy working under them? When looking over a prospective sales executive's resume, look for any indications that can answer those questions.

Succeeding in sales is 95-percent mental. If you don’t think you can succeed or land a deal, you will ultimately be right. But if you can remain positive you have a huge competitive advantage.

In this decade, sales is a very challenging profession. The way businesses sell is constantly changing, and many sales reps are facing impossible deadlines, strict accountability, dozens of curveballs with each deal, and pipeline scrutiny from all sides.

But there is a secret weapon — positivity. A positive outlook is essential for every sales performer and is one of the keys to my personal success. Wondering how you can you be positive when you and your team are at 48-percent to the plan with two days left in the month?

Or when you have to hit a high goal without any marketing support? Or when the deal you promised your manager and director you’d close this month just doesn’t happen?

It turns out staying positive in sales is all about your attitude. In 2008, Brian Halligan asked me to do a presentation at HubSpot called "Dan Tyre on Attitude". I was flattered but surprised that he wanted me to speak on that subject matter. So I asked my co-workers if they thought I was an authority on staying positive and they unanimously agreed.

It turns out, unbeknownst to me, that I had a very positive attitude about just about everything.

Based on experience I learned that staying positive had a big benefit to my sales performance, for my beautiful partner Amy, for my family (who complain periodically that my positivity is flat out annoying) as well as for my prospects, customers, co-workers and community.

So much of staying positive comes down to perspective and mindset. It’s all about the lens through which you see your job, your day to day tasks, and your career. As Wayne Dyer said, change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.

Here’s what Mike Noonan, Growth Specialist at HubSpot says about staying positive in sales:

"In order to stay positive, you have to focus on what you can control. If I can control or influence an outcome, then I will. If I have no control over something, by definition I can’t do anything about it, so what’s the benefit of worrying?

Understand what you could’ve done differently and move on. Of course this is easier said than done and it takes practice, but this mindset pays in the long run..

When it comes to staying positive in sales, a lot of it boils down to your 'why'. Why are you in sales? Why do you work at your company specifically?

If you know why you do what you do, it makes it easier to focus on your goals while being able to ride the ebbs and flows that come with any sales job. I love my job, I believe in our product and our vision, and I have awesome coworkers and team members, so that keeps me positive."

Staying positive also means remembering you are not your number. Jill Fratianne, HubSpot North American Channel Account Manager, frequently reminds me that your quota is not an indication of your effort, your thoughtfulness, or your values. "If you worry a little bit every day in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years," she jokes.

"If something is wrong, fix it if you can, but train yourself to not worry, Worry never fixes anything."

That also means cutting yourself a break and recognizing that you are going to be faced with some trying times. When the going gets tough, implement the following strategies to help you stay positive.

How to Stay Positive in Sales

1. Write out your annual goals and make them visible.

Goal setting is one of the best reinforcements you can have for staying positive in sales. According to Dr. Heidi Halvorson, author of the book Succeed, goals can be one of the biggest factors that impact your attitude because you focus on the positive outcomes rather than the nitty gritty problems. It also helps if you break down those goals into an annual plan for attainment.

Marlon De Assis-Fernandez, HubSpot SMB Growth Specialist in North America has the best spreadsheet for attainment staying positive I have ever seen. It breaks out everything he has to do for the year, with quota relief, number of deals, and deal size so he knows every day where he stands.

Where most sales people are worried about their standing for the month or quarter, Marlon has the data updated daily so he can avoid the emotional turmoil and stay positive because he always knows exactly where he stands, and how much progress he’s made towards his goals. He says:

"By planning, and visualizing their goals, salespeople are able to visualize worse case scenarios in detail. Especially those that give them fear or prevent them from taking action.

Through visualizing it and playing out the worst case you’ll find yourself able to come up with a better game plan to get out of that difficult situation and take action and by definition stay more grounded and positive."

Essentially, keeping your goals front and center and preparing for challenges before they arise are helpful best practices for salespeople of all levels.

2. Create a vision board.

This is a fun way to remind yourself of your key priorities. A vision board is a digital or physical compilation of pictures of what you want and desire for your career and/or personal life. This can include major purchases, travel destinations or big milestones.

Looking at your vision board should help you feel motivated to not sweat the details and keep you moving in the right direction.

3. Have a strong foundation.

Good health is not something to take for granted. According to Harvard Health, the three pillars of performance are eating right, getting enough sleep and exercising. In a demanding field such as sales, these are critical activities that can help you keep a positive mindset.

When salespeople get cranky or are experiencing burnout, it could mean it is time to take a step back and focus on self-care.

4. Incorporate more humor into your day.

Find a good joke, pun, haiku or sales phrase that makes you, and people you engage with happy. The ability to laugh at yourself or break the ice with appropriate humor can help you feel more positive.

If you aren’t comfortable bringing the jokes, you can try adding stand-up from your favorite comedian to your playlist to get through the day with a bit more positivity.

5. Turn on your favorite playlist.

A good playlist is essential. Nothing gets me smiling and ready for my next sales call more than a great playlist of motivational tunes. Some of my favorite artists to listen to when I need to pump myself up are Aerosmith, Tool, and Government Mule. I have several motivating playlists to lift my spirits when I need it most.

6. Look at all your mistakes, even the big ones as learning experiences.

Though making mistakes can be painful and costly, they are one of our experiences to learn from. I sometimes ask reps to make a list of the three mistakes they make most often so they recognize and remember them, don’t obsess over them, and realize making mistakes is part of the learning process of becoming a better salesperson.

7. Create a shameless self promotion folder for future reference.

I learned this tip from Katharine Fischer, HubSpot CAM NA. She mentioned if I sent her a nice email she was going to save it in her SSP folder. "What is an SSP folder? " I asked. She explained that SSP stood for "shameless self promotion," and she looked at her SSP folder when she needed a reminder of how good she was most of the time.

Now, every time I receive a message complimenting my work I save it to my SSP folder. I have hundreds of emails from people, so when I verge into negative territory, I know just where to look.

8. Prioritize positive connections.

There are always three people in your network who make you feel great. Identify those three people in your network and when you are having a bad day, check in with them. I usually call them and say "Remind me why I am a good person, again?" They should be able to tell you your best attributes which can give you a boost when you need one.

Taking a critical look at your network, you can likely also identify three individuals who skew you towards the negative. Be mindful of when and how you contact these folks, especially if you’re working your way out of a rut.

9. Focus on relationship-building.

Kathleen Rush, North American Channel Account Manager for HubSpot is one of the most positive people I know and is a big believer in building relationships to stay positive. She says:

"When you work in sales, every call or meeting is a fresh start. Whether this is your first call with a particular prospect or the tenth, you have the power to make incremental changes to better your chances at closing or at least better your approach.

If a call doesn’t go your way, there is hope in the next call. The same is true of your quota. If you didn’t hit your quota, there is some small change you can make to better your chances the next month or quarter."

10. Find inspiration in your co-workers.

This is another best practice from Kathleen Rush. She is constantly looking to her colleagues for inspiration and knowledge. Here’s her advice:

"Everyone on your team brings something unique to their roles and they understand exactly what you are going through. Learn from them."

2020 has been quite the year! We are living through a global pandemic and one of the biggest social justice movements of our lifetimes.

As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to make headlines across the nation pushing for social justice and equity, there is an even greater call for employers in all industries to be more diverse and inclusive.

Case in Point

As the Human Resources (HR) Director at FXCollaborative, an award-winning architectural design firm in New York City, my role over the past few years has increasingly focused on our efforts to make a variety of recruiting and equity-focused improvements both within our firm and in the design/construction industry.

How can we change if we don’t dig down a bit more? While our leadership is supportive and we are committed to real and positive change, implementing that change goes beyond crafting new HR policies; it is a holistic, firmwide process.

First, staff concerns need to be listened to. At FXCollaborative, this took the form of open-forum discussions facilitated by our employee resource groups (ERGs)—voluntary, employee-led, and firm-recognized affinity groups—that led to frank discussions about discrimination and pay equity, which were, at times, brutally honest and uncomfortable.

However, this direct feedback was necessary for leadership to recognize that firmwide training from external professionals was a critical element that would be worth the investment. Our focus then shifted beyond the baseline of tolerance to deliberate, conscious actions toward diversity, equity, and inclusion and set us on a path to be more proactive.

Looking Inward

Last year, we mandated an unconscious/implicit bias training session for all employees, which has proven highly successful. In these sessions, employees were able to realize that biases have an impact, and everyone walked away with greater empathy for each other.

By having all staff undergo this training and face these uncomfortable issues together, we as a firm have been able to progress with greater awareness and sensitivity, which has further strengthened our firm culture. The training also put a HUGE spotlight on biases that play a major role in how we operate as a firm. One of the major takeaways was that we needed to recruit differently. But the question was how.

Like many professions, architecture has historically been a white, male-dominated field. Yes, we’re based in New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world, so on its face, it may be difficult to understand the low diversity in our office. However, of all the registered architects in the United States, only 2% are black. So how do we attract some of those architects, as well as other minority and underrepresented architects? And how do we become more diverse if there is a lack of diverse candidates?

For us, that meant making significant, proactive strides to improve our recruiting and improve the pipeline. In the last few years, we have orchestrated specific and targeted outreach initiatives, including efforts to 1) create relationships with a broader range of colleges, 2) offer increased internship opportunities, 3) lead résumé and portfolio workshops, and 4) reorganize our internal hiring selection process.

Rethinking Recruiting

For entry-level employees, we took a more critical look at which colleges and universities our candidates were coming from. Then we made a conscious effort to expand our connections and form relationships with colleges and universities that have a large percentage of minority students, such as historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and local New York City and New Jersey schools.

By participating in career fairs, sending our architects to serve as studio critics, and supporting employees who teach design courses at these schools, we have been afforded a larger and more diverse pool of potential candidates.

We also realize that gaining hands-on experience in our profession is often hampered by financial constraints. To help relieve this burden, and to work with the best talent regardless of their financial circumstances, we provide paid internships throughout the year for high school and college students.

In addition to offering housing stipends for all students who live outside the New York City area, we offer “shadowing” experiences for students to visit our office and spend a week with a firm partner. These opportunities have allowed students to get their foot in the door and our firm name on their résumés!

One of my favorite initiatives is our résumé and portfolio workshops. In addition to the standard résumé submission, architectural and design candidates are expected to send in portfolios—typically, a visual selection of their best design work.

In workshops, we share tips on how to prepare effective and compelling materials and offer one-on-one mock interview sessions to provide feedback on how to make a great first impression. The workshops are open to all and are especially targeted to those who may suffer from a lack of exposure to the profession or who have little to no resources available at their respective colleges to assist them.

Hiring the Best

However, finding candidates and preparing students to become candidates are only half the battle. The second half of the challenge is the internal selection process to turn those candidates into employees. For that, you must consider who is making the hiring decisions, and a lack of diversity in this group is problematic.

One of the ways FXCollaborative is addressing unconscious bias is by changing the application process. First implemented for our summer 2019 internship program, instead of having firm leadership select the interns (as in previous years), we opened the review process to a full range of team members at different levels and with more diverse backgrounds—people who would be working directly with the interns if hired.

Another critical aspect of our revamped hiring process included the HR department’s manual deletion of all information that might identify a candidate’s ethnic background—including names, photos, school, and organizational affiliations—from cover letters, résumés, and portfolios.

The goal was to ensure that applicants are judged solely on the quality of their work and to acknowledge that we all have preconceived notions that may unintentionally sway us toward certain universities or to candidates with similar backgrounds to our own. Only after these redactions were made were the materials reviewed by the selection committee.

This new process has been a huge success. The very first year it was implemented, we had the most diverse group of interns ever—eight out of the nine chosen were members of minority groups. We are now in the process of researching digital methods to more easily facilitate the removal of select information, and my ultimate goal is to use this blind résumé review process for all of our hiring!

Be the Change

FXCollaborative is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and while I am proud of what we have accomplished, we must continue to diversify our firm and the industry. The three components of diversity, equity, and inclusion overlap and must constantly be assessed, adjusted, and redefined.

In my role as HR Director, it is my responsibility to ensure that staff concerns are heard, that our policies facilitate an equitable and inclusive environment, and that we recruit the best people to push our firm forward. To be truly successful, a business must put effort into all three and recognize that achieving diversity is more than just checking a few boxes.

Periods of dramatic change and upheaval invariably deepen divisions between strong and weak businesses. The pandemic is already serving as an example of this.

Such a commercial perspective in the middle of a grave health crisis may seem insensitive, but businesses must – if they are not already – be alert to the fact that Covid-19 will result in a significant restructuring of their industry. Their futures depend on it.

This is undoubtedly true in the financial services sector, with the pandemic placing financial technology under the microscope; during this period of social distancing, consumers and businesses are forced to manage their finances remotely via online and mobile platforms.

The talk of there being ‘a fintech revolution’ over the past decade has suddenly been brought into perspective. Only now is the much-lauded transition from a physical world to a digital one truly going to take shape.

It is no surprise, therefore, to see high levels of interest in fintech among investors. An example, of this is the $4 billion that VCs invested into London’s tech businesses in the first five months of 2020. Thirty nine per cent went to fintech firms, according to a report from Tech Nation and Dealroom for the Digital Economy Council.

The pertinent question is whether or not financial services firms are ready for the revolution. And, for those who are not, what can they do to catch up?

Many financial services firms left in the dark

Since the turn of the century, the rise of fintech has been a prevalent subject in both a consumer and business context. The so-called fintech revolution promised open access to data, hassle-free banking experiences and fairer deals for customers.

Yet only relatively small steps have been taken towards this vision. Until now, we have only really witnessed a cautious adoption of technology as consumers, regulators and established banks became familiar with what it can enable – and this has still come at considerable investment.

The pandemic will likely be the event that effectively kick-starts the revolution. As stated above, people are now highly reliant on fintech, and for more than being able to simply access one’s accounts and transfer money; amidst this period of economic uncertainty, there is a pressing need for access to financial advice, tools, products and credit.

All of this must be delivered at a time when financial services teams are not working in the same place, be it office or branch. This poses significant challenges for companies that have not yet properly embraced fintech – indeed, many firms still have data, systems and processes that are completely reliant on legacy technologies and on-premise servers.

Such businesses will have found delivering new products or enhanced services to their customers to have been far more difficult during the lockdown.

Embracing cloud-based fintech

Financial services companies will need to move to take advantage of cloud native technologies, if they have not already done so, if they are to overcome this crisis and adapt to the “new normal” it will give rise to.

Moving to cloud technologies will allow for manual steps to be removed from the complex applications, onboarding and completion processes that almost everyone has experienced when opening a bank account, taking out a credit card or getting a loan of some description.

That is, of course, an over-simplified version of how fintech can help. The much more complicated issue is to bring together multiple technologies – or technology providers – to deliver the best possible service to customers.

After all, many fintechs are focused on solving very specific problems. For example, identity verification, alternative credit scoring, AI assisted chatbots and recommendation algorithms, next generation core banking, transaction classification, and simplification of mortgage chains – these are challenges that need solutions, and together these solutions form part of the much broader financial services landscape. That is to say, the end customer will encounter several of these obstacles on their way to checking their accounts or taking out a new financial product.

Companies that focus on utilising best in class providers in their value chain in order to build a truly exceptional service offering have a better chance of succeeding. There are, for example, some credit marketplaces in the UK which already offer pre-approved loans that can be opened in just a few minutes with minimal clicks; this is all thanks to progressive technology choices from the lenders.

Interoperability is key

The coronavirus pandemic has made it patently clear that the most successful finance companies are those that have formed partnerships to create technology that can be used seamlessly between separate banking products and accounts.

Interoperability is essential for financial technology to work seamlessly. Again, this is where the value of cloud-based platforms becomes apparent – it allows financial services companies to host multiple technologies (whoever may have developed them) in a single location that can be accessed from anywhere, whether that is by employees or customers.

As the physical world remains largely closed off from us, the quality and functionality of digital solutions has become of utmost importance. For fintech, the steady evolution we have seen over the past ten years is going to be greatly accelerated as both providers and users adapt to the new reality brought about by the pandemic.

It would be wrong to say that there has been a fintech revolution – this transition is only just starting to take shape. The success of businesses in the months ahead will, in no small part, be determined by their ability to keep pace with the technological change that is taking place.

5 factors that increase influence and fuel peak performance:
Influence – not position, power, or pressure – fuels peak performance in your team. (Even remote workers.)

#1. Relationship:

Real relationship intensifies influence.

Who is more likely to give you their best? Someone you’ve been pushing and feels resistant toward you, or someone who believes you’re rowing the boat with them?

You don’t need relationship to tell people what to do. Authority enables bossing. Relationship empowers influence.

#2. Competence.

A person of competence has more influence than an incompetent.

What competencies do you bring?
In areas of weakness or incompetence, how might you rely on others?
How might you improve your ability to influence?
You’ve developed skills to get the job done, but what have you done to develop the skill of influence?

#3. Confession.

Pretenders, frauds, and fakes have little influence. But when you own a frailty or mistake you become trustworthy. (You acknowledge what others already know.)

#4. Compassion.

Call people to high standards with a heart of compassion.

Harshness only works when you’re in the room, but people take compassion home with them.

#5. Awareness.

Keep the strengths of each team member top of mind.

Weaknesses scream to be noticed, but influence expands when you acknowledge, respect, and develop strengths.

Record the top three strengths of every team member.
Discuss strengths during one-on-ones. How does your list jibe with their self-perceptions?
How might a person with their strength-set make the greatest contribution? (Answer this for everyone on the team.)

Among the many goals of good leaders is helping their teams and employees realize their full potential. Effective managers are always focused on helping employees grow and ensuring that they achieve their short and long-term goals. A key component of doing this is helping individuals and teams become more productive. 

Obviously, productive employees are able to accomplish more in less time. This leads to better outcomes for teams and reduced stress for employees. While everyone strives to be as productive as possible, it’s important to remember that productivity doesn’t just happen.

I spoke with John Fieldly, CEO of the popular beverage company Celsius, for his perspective on what it takes to build productivity.  “Set clear expectations and revisit them often. No need to waste time on the issue of whether expectations are being met or not. Outline expectations and check-in for 10 minutes every two weeks. This is a two-way street.  Team members need to know expectations of them, and also of you as their leader.” 

In the context of management during the pandemic, I sat down with the media agency TeamWorks Media. Founder and CEO Jay Sharman explained his own views on productivity:

“I’m not sure there is one go-to strategy for increasing productivity, however, we’ve benefited when we focus on breaking down results into digestible, attainable component pieces. While easier said than done, goal-setting and regularly scheduled check-ins to address green/yellow/red progress are helpful in surfacing obstacles on the journey.”  

Sharman added, “From a management perspective, it helps individuals and teams focus on the results and only rabbit holes into tactics when the colors change from one week to the next. During COVID-19, I believe the myth of work-life balance has been exposed. It’s forced me to include the personal side of colleagues’ lives into the equation. By being forced to be remote, the personal side of check-ins has become crucial to understanding one another’s worlds, perspectives, and optimal ways to work.” 

With that in mind, managers should proactively work to build productive teams. Here are some practical ways leaders can do this. 

Create a healthy work environment

Creating the right work environment is the first step towards helping teams be more productive. Research has shown that one's work environment plays a major role in their overall efficiency and productivity. While it’s something that’s all too easily overlooked, the work environment impacts the way employees think, feel, and perform at work. This includes both the physical setting and workplace culture. 

To help create the right environment, take the time to think about both physical spaces—is your work setting comfortable and inviting? Does it encourage collaboration? Whether your team is working in person or remotely, a healthy culture can help to improve performance. As a leader, you set much of the tone of what office dynamics and communications look like. Thus, leaders should consciously work to build teams where healthy and respectful interactions are the norm and where good communication is part of the culture. 

Provide meaningful and regular feedback

A key to improving productivity is knowing areas where growth is needed. If your employees don’t know where they’re falling short on specific areas of growth, it’s difficult for them to address these issues. As a result, an important foundation for making your team more productive is conducting regular, constructive performance reviews and giving employees consistent feedback. Doing this will give you and your employees specific areas to focus on to improve their performance. 

Seek feedback from team members

As part of your regular communications with employees, ask for their feedback about what they need. When seeking feedback, make sure that you’re asking specific questions, including what you can do to help employees and whether there’s anything they need to do their best work.

Often managers assume that employees will ask for anything they need, but often this isn’t the case. Asking for feedback allows your team to know that you’re there to help them in any way possible and that you’re there to collaborate. At the same time, it encourages healthy channels of communication that further build a healthy work environment that managers want. 

Give teams ownership of their work

Micromanaging teams generally leads to decreased motivation and performance for employees. Instead of falling in this trap, let teams take ownership of their work and allow them to make their own decisions about how things get done. Doing this empowers your employees to find ways to improve their performance and lets them use their specific skill sets to complete tasks. While leaders obviously need to hold employees accountable, giving teams ownership of their work will improve their morale, motivation, and, ultimately, productivity. 

Incentivize excellence

Providing incentives for employees gives them something to work for and lets them know that their good work is noticed. A 2018 study by UK recruiting firm Genisis Associates indicated that as many as 85 percent of employees are more motivated to do their best work when an incentive is offered. There are many different types of incentives that leaders can offer, for example, an afternoon off, cash incentives, extra vacation time, or a lunch out. Managers should get creative about what incentives look like but should find ways to offer incentives to help further motivate their teams and recognize good work. 

Notice and acknowledge great work  

While incentives are helpful, sometimes the simple act of noticing and acknowledging excellent work can help drive employee performance. When employees go above and beyond and no one seems to notice, it has a negative impact on their overall morale and performance. In contrast, noticing excellent work and meaningfully acknowledging it can help to motivate all employees. 

While privately letting employees know that you appreciate their work is helpful, public acknowledgment is also a great motivator for teams. These acknowledgments can be formal or informal, but managers should notice when employees are performing at a high-level and publicly celebrate that great work. 

Whilst the sun is far from setting on the COVID-19 pandemic, predictions and hopes for a new “normal” are shimmering on the horizon.

Amid the trail of devastation left by the virus, there has to be some semblance of change and positivity to be taken. One such shift is the increase in digital services usage which poses a huge opportunity for our fintech community. Confinement has forced even the more sceptical of us to dabble in digital, and embrace how it has made many everyday tasks more easy and convenient.

Online and mobile banking has been helping many people stay on top of their finances for some time. Research conducted by Open Up 2020 Challenge last summer found half (48%) of people would like to use online tools and apps to help them manage their money.

Then along came a global pandemic that has undoubtedly forced the hands of even the more sceptical to log on, download and transact – quickening the pace of long-lasting change in terms of how we manage our money. Recent figures from deVere Group suggest the virus is behind a 72% rise in the use of fintech apps in Europe. Never before have we been so reliant on technology in maintaining some sort of normalcy and in helping us continue day-to-day tasks, like everyday banking.

Another unfortunate byproduct of protecting communities from the virus means many people have been left out of work and with less or no income. In times of financial strain, the need for people to engage with their finances – be it budgeting, saving or shopping around for better deals – is far greater.

Issues of trust in traditional banking services and a lack of awareness of the helpful money management services available are some of the barriers preventing people from taking more control of their finances. But the solutions made possible through open banking can provide people with a lifeline to build their financial resilience and better manage their money.

Open banking has the potential to revolutionise financial services, by giving people control over their financial data in order to access innovative products tailored to them. Since it launched in 2018, open banking technology has opened the door for new fintech innovators to create cutting-edge tools designed to help people better manage their money – from budgeting, debt management, comparing and switching banks to automating savings and more. These could have a significant impact – it is estimated that UK consumers could gain as much as £12bn over the course of a year from open banking-enabled tools.

So far, it’s been effective – the UK FinTech’s State of the Nation report totted up more than 1,600 fintech firms in the UK in 2019, whilst predicting this could more than double by 2030. Figures from the Open Banking Implementation Entity showed there were 243 regulated providers, 169 third party providers and 74 account providers as of April 2020. The UK adoption rate of fintech is 42% – higher than the global average of 33% – making it ripe for opportunity. Coupled with lockdown restrictions creating greater dependence on technology – including ATM cash withdrawals falling by half – fintechs are well placed to be part of the solution – and offer help to those struggling to manage.

With more than a fifth (21%) of the adult population saying financial stress is having a bigger impact on their mental wellbeing than physical health concerns during the crisis, and a quarter more stressed about money than usual, fintechs can be part of the support available to them.

However, in order to fully realise the opportunity we need to ensure budding entrepreneurs with bold ideas have the means to turn them into reality. Nesta Challenges exists to design and run challenge prizes that incentivise people to help solve pressing social problems that lack solutions. Through our Open Up 2020 Challenge we are supporting 15 fintech finalists to develop their solutions to enable more people – particularly those underserved by traditional financial products – to manage their finances better, whatever their circumstances.

Of the 15 finalists, some offer app designed to help people budget,, save, switch and invest – aided with alerts and notifications that allow people to stay on top of their finances and make their money work harder for them for the long term. For example, Cleo is an AI financial assistant that is already helping more than 3 million customers monitor their spending, budgeting and saving, while Moneyhub empowers people to do more with their money by offering actionable insights from a review of all of their accounts.

Some of the apps are designed for those with more specific circumstances, such as Mojo Mortgages, which analyses income and transaction data for first time buyers to produce mortgage affordability scores and savings recommendations if they aren’t quite ready to apply. Finalists Portify and Wagestream cater for workers with irregular earning patterns.

As well as monetary grants, Open Up 2020 Challenge provides these companies with non-financial support and promotion to help them on their way to achieving their full potential – which in turn helps them reach many people to help them achieve their monetary goals.

While COVID-19 has created personal finance headaches for many, it has been inspiring to see how quickly fintechs have been able to innovate and develop digital solutions that help solve these problems and equip people to better manage their money.

Are you feeling stuck in your career? You’ve likely hit a career plateau that happens to the best of us. Sometimes the plateau is caused by feeling uninspired by the work that you’re doing, but it could also be a result of your actions. The difference between a career that flattens and one that skyrockets are the impression that you make on others and key stakeholders within your organization. Instead of becoming stuck within a continual loop of frustration with a position that isn’t going anywhere, you should focus on four attributes that can make or break your career success.

Exercise your authority.

People who can communicate effectively with also a sense of authority can gain influence and respect amongst organizations, which also heightens their chances of having their ideas become showcased. Although your career can progress forward if you can demonstrate work ethic and doing a good job, you’ll travel further if you’re voice is being heard and respected. To access your authority, it can help to do an audit of presentations to make a note of your body language and presence. Throughout your remote meetings, take note of your posture, eye contact, and participation, then watch how people respond to you.

Be warm and approachable.

Another essential attribute is the warmth that you’re able to convey amongst your organization. Warmth can be communicated by being humble, vulnerable, empathetic, and attentive and also how measured by how good a listener you are. Warmth is necessary to create trust, as well as to be relatable, which is crucial to solidifying your position on a team. Do a self-reflection and ask yourself, Do your colleagues trust you? Do people feel comfortable challenging your ideas or giving feedback? Do you acknowledge others during interactions?

Demonstrate collaborative energy.

Demonstrating positive and collaborative energy is an emotional commitment and connection that makes you memorable, impressionable, and persuasive. Harness your energy within the workplace by tuning into how you engage with others and being aware of how others react to you. Do you talk too fast? Not enough? And do you truly listen in a way that makes others feel energized by your interest in them?

Ask for feedback.

Show your colleagues and manager that you are interested in the progression of your career and personal growth by asking for feedback on communication styles, projects, and time management. Seek out feedback from trusted friends, mentors, and colleagues about what kind of impression you make. For feedback to be valuable, you have to be ready to receive the truth to move past your blind posts. Remember, feedback is an opportunity to grow and ascend.

While on one hand the Covid-19 outbreak has blurred lines between banks and fintechs and accelerated digital adoption, it has led to decline in number of alternate lenders.

Financial technology (fintech) sector has been developing fast in Asia in the last few years. But, like most other sectors, it has been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. Here is the good and bad that has come out from the pandemic for the fintech industry.

The Momentum for Survivors

According to market intelligence platform CB Insights, investor appetite for fintech in Asia has been the lowest in the first and second quarters this year since the end of 2016. It is a direct consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has raised uncertainty on the future of the industry.

Limited access to capital will force several players to shut down, leaving the industry to larger and stronger companies. It is evident that startups are struggling as Sequoia Capital sent out a warning that it would need at least three or four quarters to recover from the Covid-19 crisis.

Prolonged uncertainty will decrease the number of fintech startups and in turn give momentum to the companies able to cope up with the challenges. New players will find it even more difficult to catch up. However, there is still a chance for them, as even large players will nevertheless grow weaker amid the pandemic outbreak.

Reduction in the Number of Alternative Lenders

Agile scoring approach towards assessment of the underserved segments and focus on smaller loan amounts should make a strong case for alternative lenders in the ongoing situation. But, the real picture is different. There has been a notable decline in incomes across small and big businesses and retail customers. This has not only decreased consumption but also raised defaults. Robocash Group research has found that about 54 per cent borrowers will loan only after lockdown restrictions are lifted. Also, repayment holidays have reduced the revenue streams for lenders. As a result, lower demand and tightened requirements have caused a drop in issuance and, in some cases, forced companies to cease operations.

Then, insolvency of borrowers and economic uncertainty have led to an outflow of investors’ funds from P2P lending. In Europe, during March and April this year, P2P lending dropped to one third of the cumulative volume of previous months and forced several platforms to collapse. Although some reports are hinting at potential recovery this summer, the longer the uncertainty lasts, the fewer players will stay afloat in the market.

Expansion of Digital Finance

Quarantine restrictions have raised the use of remote services—from online shopping to delivery, to entertainment, streaming services and mobile payments. People accustomed to the advantages of the digital world are likely to keep using it actively in the post-COVID-19 period.

Cashless payments are a perfect example. Thus, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Norway, Egypt and other countries have raised limits on the size of contactless payments. In some cases, it has more than doubled.

Another outcome is the regulatory progress. Thus, coronavirus has pushed the adoption of fintech and regulatory technology (regtech) in China. In South Korea, it facilitated introduction of cryptocurrency law.

Therefore, although the pandemic has been tough to the industry, it has provided a grace period for fintech, helping it to succeed.

Blurring Borderlines Between Banks and Fintechs

Traditional banking is increasingly looking at fintech. The inevitable digitization is not the only reason. The industry has been facing a decline in financial performance since last year. Bloomberg Intelligence stated that the average cost-to-income ratio at the top European banks amounted to 67 per cent in 2019, the highest rate since 2008. Return on equity fell to the lowest level in three years at -8.7 per cent.

The global recession in 2020 has aggravated the situation. Lower incomes of the population, swelling unemployment and the financial uncertainty decrease the number and size of bank deposits and purpose loans, such as mortgages, car loans and others. Berenberg Bank predicted that the decline in revenues of the European and American banks in 2020 would amount to 8.5 per cent, while profit would be 30 per cent lower than it predicted a year ago. In Asia, the situation is similar—banks in Singapore are also expecting a significant revenue drop.

Changes in the operating model and digital transformation are the means for banks to overcome difficulties. It may also stipulate banks to provide smaller loans and assess customers less formally, as well as start acquiring fintech firms. Remarkably, fintechs are quite active in this regard themselves, as they seek opportunities to strengthen the performance.

The recent acquisition of AsiaKredit by the financial supermarket GoBear and the takeover of Africa's largest platform MPESA by Vodacom and Safaricom serve as an example. Additionally, talks about Metro Bank's potential acquisition of RateSetter, one of the largest P2P lending platforms in the UK, takeover of the IT vendor TSX in Spain by Santander, as well as Western Union's potential acquisition of MoneyGram, confirm the trend.

Shifting Toward Higher Personalization

The surge of interest in telemedicine amid the COVID-19 has the potential to grow into a large-scale phenomenon. Potentially, it may boost commercial interest in biological data, such as body temperature, blood pressure and others. It will allow companies and governments to improve assessment and forecast, and influence the way people think and act.

Although it is a long-term trend, with the massive 5G adoption, it promises to shift the consumer paradigm dramatically. These changes will affect fintech services foremost—software, targeting and customer acquisition, credit scoring procedures, etc.

It will be one of the steps toward more individual customer offers and comprehensive IT solutions automated to the highest possible extent. Within a single frame, they might combine solutions from different fintech segments, as well as serve diverse audiences.

The “new normal” in banking and fintech is best understood by starting with a look back at what the “old normal” was.

The Old Normal: Fintech Fetishism

The Oxford dictionary defines fetishism as “worship of an inanimate object for its supposed magical powers.”

That’s a good term for how many people have thought—and still think—of fintech.

There’s a misguided notion held by many that fintech startups are somehow more ethical than legacy banks, or that there is a fintech “ethos” that distinguishes fintechs from banks and makes them morally superior.

I’ve seen this many times from a number of people. Rather than calling them out, here are some examples from various publications (my emphasis and italics):

• 9to5 Mac reported, “Americans paid $113 billion in credit card interest to banks last year, nearly 50% more than five years ago. So adopting the new fintech ethos of zero fees and transparent pricing makes for thinner profit margins.”
• Ethical Consumer, a not-for-profit co-operative, claimed that “Monzo is one of the best ethical current accounts” and found “the vast majority of companies in the personal finance sector score badly on ethics.”
• FSBT.tech asserted, “Fintech is better than traditional financial companies because challenger banks focus on securing the data of their clients using technology. Traditional banks are slower than challenger banks in adopting cybersecurity measures.”

Dents in The Fintech Armor

This mindset towards fintech will be irrevocably changed as the result of the Covid-19 crisis. A series of events and occurrences have chipped away at this fintech mindset over the past few months (and year, for that matter):

• Robinhood’s technical problems. On three volatile trading days—March 4, March 9, and May 18—Robinhood customers experienced outages preventing them from trading. The company is facing lawsuits over these crashes, and is accused of offering a “$75 goodwill credit” to dupe customers into waiving their legal rights.
• Revolut’s executive exodus. Challenger bank Revolut lost eight top employees between March and May 2020. In 2019, the challenger bank was called out for shady hiring practices and a toxic work culture and accused of ad theft, fabricating data, money laundering, cultivating an exploitative workplace culture, and misplacing a £70,000 money transfer.
• Monzo’s complaint rate. The UK Financial Conduct Authority released a study of bank customer complaints. Monzo customers registered 4.0 complaints per 1,000 banking/credit card accounts. In comparison, Co-op Bank had 3.3, Lloyds had 3.5, and Cumberland Building Society 0.2.
• Fintech lender layoffs. In April, small business lender Kabbage cut off credit to its small-business clients and furloughed a “significant number” of its 500 US-based employees. In addition, Lending Club announced that it was laying off 460 people, roughly 30% of its staff.

So much for the fintech “ethos.”

The Misguided Views of Technology Optimists

Why do people have a fintech fetishism?

The answer can be found in a study titled The Technology Effect: How Perceptions of Technology Drive Excessive Optimism. The authors conclude:

“There is a tendency toward excessive optimism involving technology. Because technological successes often produce dramatic and memorable results, such as revolutionizing industries, such events are highly salient. People develop a non-conscious or implicit association between technology and success. This technology effect has at its core overoptimism or overconfidence.”

This excessive optimism is understandable: There’s a strong desire among some people to see the world become a better place, and to see perceived wrongs righted.

This excessive optimism isn’t realistic, however, because it ignores human nature.

The notion that fintechs have a higher “ethos” or ethics than traditional banks is ludicrous. Fintechs were started by humans—and humans are fallible. Even fintech founders can become embroiled in sex scandals or deceive customers.

Fintech Pessimism Versus Fintech Realism

People who aren’t technology optimists—as defined by the study—aren’t necessarily technology pessimists, however.

There’s another dimension at play here—realism (or rationality). Someone can be realistic (rational) or unrealistic (irrational) about the impact of technology.

You can be realistically optimistic about the impact of fintech, or you can be unrealistic about it—like expecting fintechs to hold to a higher moral standard than traditional financial institutions.

Thinking about making the transition to a medical sales career but don’t know where to start? Worried that you don’t have the experience, skills, or personality that medical sales companies are looking for?

 Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Medical sales may seem attractive, but trying to figure out if you have what it takes can be a daunting task. Luckily, there are three key factors you can look at to see if medical sales companies will take you seriously when you apply for a position. 

#1: Related experience

Medical sales companies look for transferable skills, which means you don’t necessarily need a science-related degree. However, you should have experience that shows you can:

•Quickly learn new information and convey it to others

•Build and maintain relationships

•Excel in a competitive environment

•Close on business to business sales

•Dedicate time and effort into finishing tasks

In the overwhelming majority of cases, hiring companies look for professionals who have some type of business to business sales experience. Experience selling copiers, telecommunications products, payroll services, and consumer products is a huge plus because these markets are highly competitive. A salesperson that has a track record of success in these markets usually transitions well into a medical sales career.

In some cases, companies may look to hire a person with a strong clinical background, like a nurse, medical technician, surgical technician, radiology technician, etc. This type of candidate brings a special set of clinical knowledge to the table and, although he or she may have no sales experience, has the qualities of a successful salesman, such as:

•Competitiveness

•Confidence

•Enthusiasm

•Resiliency

•Ability to multitask 

These types of professionals are valuable to companies because they can relate to physicians on a clinical level and can easily be taught how to close sales deals.   

#2: Professional and personal contacts

More so than any other job, being successful in a medical sales career is all about who you know. Having the right professional or personal contacts can substantially increase your chances of landing a job. 

Knowing doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, etc. on a professional or personal level allows candidates to feel calmer and more collected when approaching them to make a sale. This is very important because even the most confident salesperson can be completely overwhelmed when they approach a physician for the first time.

Professionals who are trying to transition into medical sales should think about any and everyone they know in the medical field. Making a list of potential contacts that includes where they work and what department they work in can be very helpful. Reaching out for help may be the difference between landing a job and being told no.

#3: Ability to specialize

Professionals who transition into medical sales should be able to become highly specialized. Above all else, they should be interested and passionate about the specialization they are entering or else they’ll become easily frustrated and burnout. Generally speaking, there are four broad specializations in medical sales careers:

Pharmaceutical Sales: Pharmaceutical industry products to doctors’ offices and hospitals. 

Medical Device Sales: Medical and surgical devices to physicians and surgeons.

Medical Supply Sales: General medical supplies, usually in high volume, to doctors’ offices and hospitals.

Healthcare and Medical Management Services: Healthcare services in billing, marketing, and office management. 

Of course, there are numerous subspecialties, and the more a candidate can specialize the more marketable they are to companies. Some popular subspecialties are:

•Orthopedics

•Cardiology

•Neurology

•General Surgery

Again, professionals must have an interest in their subspecialty. Being passionate about the field enables one to acquire the knowledge necessary to connect with physicians.

Deciding if you can make the transition into a medical sales career

You now have the information you need to determine how easily you can transition into medical sales. If you have a strong track record of business to business sales in a competitive market, professional and personal contacts in the medical industry, and the ability to specialize, you’ll make a strong candidate. If you have clinical experience and contacts you might also be a good candidate. 

Coming up with a strong resume that highlights your experience and ability to transition into sales is a good first step. After that, you can start to look for a company that has open jobs that you’re interested in. 

Cozy clothes all day. No commute. Freedom to do house chores while on a conference call.

Ahhh the joys of working from home…

What started as a short-term leave from the office has transformed into an entire workforce transition. Remote work has been on the rise, with a peak of 62% of employed US adults working part or full time from the confines of their home. But remote work isn’t the only thing that has been on the rise... Burnout is hitting an all time high. More than two thirds, or 69%, of employees are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home, and this influx is impacting both business productivity as well as the overall health of the workforce.

If you think burnout just means being exhausted from your job, think again… Burnout is known to cause a litany of physical and mental conditions: high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and even death.
With remote work, which socially isolates people, there is an added component to consider: loneliness. Research demonstrates that while obesity reduces longevity by 20%, drinking by 30%, and smoking by 50%, loneliness takes the cake, reducing life expectancy by a whopping 70%. It’s safe to say that practicing self-awareness and establishing a healthy work from home lifestyle could be what keeps you safe for the long term.

While this data may be difficult to digest, there are strategies to nip remote-work burnout in the bud before it gets too bad. I have outlined three of the main causes of burnout while working from home, along with ways to remediate them so you can get back on track with growing your career.

1. Inability To Disconnect

The alarm goes off and you start checking email in bed. You sit on a conference call through lunch and end up working on a report late into the evening. Your laptop has become an extension of yourself, always by your side. Sound familiar?

All of this connection at home means more hours logged at work. On average, employees have reported working three more hours per day since working remotely due to Covid-19. That 15 hours a week… almost another part-time job. Too much of a good thing can be bad, particularly if it’s your work.

This increase in work hours and shift in setting are causing some pretty profound social and personal struggles. An ASU research paper described the importance of transitioning from “home you” to “work you” as a result of boundary-crossing activities. This means “work you” would put on work clothes, make your coffee and commute to work. Experiencing these physical and social indicators of a change created an established boundary between the two aspects of your life. While it feels cozy and convenient to skip these activities, maintaining these habits is critical for well-being and work engagement.

Preventative Measure: Live As Though You Are In An Office

First, it’s key is to find a balance in your work space at home. Begin by implementing office hours, silencing notifications and activating an out-of-office response outside of predetermined time blocks. This way, no matter if you’re out running an errand, or winding down from the day on the couch, you (and your clients or co-workers) know that your office is closed for business. If possible, create a block of hours that you can consistently work within, and be sure to communicate this up front with staff and customers to avert any surprises.

Next, consider skipping the jammie workdays and put on a nice blouse; data shows that what you wear actually changes the way you think and improves your abstract thinking capabilities. Instead of driving into the office, go for a walk outside while you listen to the podcast or new station you’d typically enjoy while driving to work. This isn’t only good for creating that work-office divide; getting fresh air to the lungs increases oxygen levels in your brain to boost energy and improve concentration and memory. Once you finish your show, enter the front door of your home as though you are walking into your office.

At the end of the day, you need to establish boundaries for yourself and commit to honoring them. When someone tries to push back and schedule a late-night meeting, don’t be afraid to stand in your values: “I am unavailable during this time. How does [insert alternative date(s) and time(s)] work for you?” There is no need to explain yourself and dive into the details; keep it straightforward and simple. These are the hours you work. End of story.

2. Lacking Workplace Inspiration

Are you dragging your feet to hop on conference calls? Has your inbox begun to fill up, while your desire to respond diminishes? Often, when we’re feeling burned out at work, we suddenly want to do everything… except for work.

This isn’t simply an emotional response; the chronic stress that results in burnout actually changes the anatomy and functioning of the brain. These changes overwhelm one’s cognitive skill (ability to think, learn, reason and pay attention) and neuroendocrine systems (which releases serotonin and adrenaline). Living in a heightened state of stress spark our brains to switch into “survival mode,” impairing ambition and responsibility.

Preventative Measure: Take Creative Initiative

When you begin to ignore messages, procrastinate on projects or find yourself avoiding work altogether, take a moment to consider what got you jazzed up about your career in the first place. Ask yourself: What excites you most during the day?

From here, set a plan in place to implement this aspect of your work back into your life. If you loved presenting your work at quarterly meetings, ask to host a virtual session with your team. If you loved researching possible solutions or new products, carve out time to do this. Before you jump on email and get buried in the day-to-day workload, make time for this. Block an hour on your calendar every morning for an “inspiration session” where you work on what you love most completely uninterrupted.

If you aren’t sure what sparks your inspiration at work or where your greatest strengths lie, spend time defining this. When I work with new clients, I often have them take a few personality tests to identify what they do best and see where their natural gifts and talents lie. Check out the following tests:

• Gallup CliftonStrengths assessment: Uncovers your “talent DNA,” or your top strengths, which explains the way you naturally think, feel and behave.
• Myers-Briggs, or 16Personalities: Indicates your psychological preferences in how you perceive the world and make decisions. The results highlight how you work best with others and maintain relationships, and it even provides career paths to consider.
• Enneagram: A personality assessment that identifies your strengths, weaknesses and how you exist while living in a place of strength versus weakness.
  You control your career. It’s time to take pride in holding ownership over what you do best, and find joy in doing so.

3. A Supportive Environment Is Missing

Working without others can be a blessing and a curse. You no longer have to deal with co-workers “dropping by your desk to ask a question” or navigating out of lingering conversations in the hallway after a meeting ends. But now, those instances almost feel like a distant dream you miss. Instead, you’re alone, all day long.

If things go south at work, a project budget gets cut, co-workers are laid off or your manager isn’t the best at leading remotely, being socially isolated leads you to suddenly feel as if you have no one to turn to for support. According to Steve Cole, the director of the Social Genomics Core Laboratory at UCLA, losing a sense of community and connection changes a person’s perception of the world, leading one to feel threatened and distrusting of others and activate defense mechanisms.

When you work remotely and a problem arises, you’re alone in the isolation of your home office to cope with the impact and find a solution.

Preventative Measure: Communicate Your Concerns

Without the personal interactions on the office floor, it is more difficult for co-workers to notice subtle shifts in your behavior and address them with you. It is your responsibility to be aware of your behavior and speak to it with others. Concealing your concerns beneath a smile will only make them worse.

If you feel burnt out, communicate this tactfully to your boss or co-workers. And if the thought of this leads you to fear being let go, especially given the rate of layoffs and unemployment, consider addressing it in a forward-thinking tone: “I want to deepen my commitment in this role and would like to discuss with you ways to remain engaged and focused while working from home.” This comes across as though you are fully committed and want to do your best—then you can speak to what is and is not working for you in the current workplace climate.

There is a powerful link between social support in the workplace and reduced levels of burnout among employees. According to a UK study, the most important factor in workplace happiness is positive social relationships with co-workers. Just because you are no longer in the office, doesn’t mean you can’t maintain friendships remotely. Consider putting together a fun group call, or if Zoom fatigue is strong, set up a socially distanced meet-up in a park.

You are working independently, and that now means you are far more responsible for your career, and your health, than before. Begin to build a level of self-awareness around these warning signs of burnout and take preventative measures to stop burnout in its tracks.

You control your career; don’t let it control you.

Gen Z has presented FinTechs with plenty of opportunities, but failing to understand important aspects of this group could prevent businesses from capitalising on them.

Given they hold up to $143bn in spending power, it’s easy to see why FinTechs would be interested in the people born between 1996 and 2010.

Still, capitalising on this batch of would-be customers does not come without effort.

So, what are the five key factors to consider to seize the opportunities presented by Gen?

Firstly, FinTech entrepreneurs must realise that reaping the fruits of their efforts will take some time as many people in this age bracket are still not financially mature, according to new research from Business Insider.

Two out of three Gen Zers have a bank account, but many do not have debit card and an even smaller proportion have credit cards. This is mostly due to them not being in charge of their own spending yet, with many of them living at home.

Secondly, the young people are more willing to embrace digital payments than older generations, according to the same research. For instance, more than half of Gen Zers use digital wallets on a monthly basis and three out of four use digital payment apps.

Thirdly, in order to to attract and retain these customers, FinTechs must ensure they create services and solutions are social, authentic, digital-native, educational, offer value, and evolve over time.

The fourth factor to consider is people’s parents. While there is always an idea that teenagers are prone to rebel against their parents, recent research from Capco showed that 74% of Gen Z said their parents’ advice was the biggest deciding factor for them when picking a new bank. Other factors like product offers, free gifts or money and marketing held sway over 8%, 7% and 5% of people’s choices respectively.

The fifth thing to keep in mind is that Gen Zers are more likely to be a victim of fraud through confidence tricks, according to research from GlobalData. These tactics rely on building trust with a victim before they scam them out of funds. Essentially, young people are more likely to trust people, meaning they leave themselves exposed to fraud.

Looking at different organisations a business can partner with is an innovative way to extend resources through other expanding networks, keep business going and open new avenues of opportunity that can exist for years to come, writes Aaron McEwan

As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds the old adage of adapt or die has never rung truer.

For the business world, each day sees new limitations enforced and different challenges rolled out to leaders trying to keep staff in jobs and to continue to support customers’ needs. Each choice and decision made during these difficult days will have serious implications for their staff, customers, corporate reputation and even financial survival.

"Organisations must be open-minded during this unprecedented experience and adapt to a new normal of challenge and opportunity."

According to a recent Gartner survey, CHROs have been implementing arrange of cost-management measures to survive COVID-19:

• Seventy per cent report plan to cut costs by making the most of the technology available to them
• Nearly half of organisations plan to freeze new hiring
• Most are prioritising work for internal staff; with one-fifth of organisations planning to stop or limit spending on consultants and contract workers
• Encouragingly, only 10 per cent of employers’ plan to reduce working hours and just six per cent report asking employees to take unpaid leave

While some cost-cutting will be inevitable, those who protect and invest in critical talent will win in the long term. Now is the time to innovate and explore new thinking.

Upcycle skilled workers via internal exchanges and redeployments
As companies implement hiring freezes, the next action will be to select and deploy internal talent from areas of low demand to support work critical to business continuity.

For example, an organisation might redeploy customer service representatives to support an overwhelmed IT or customer helpline.

When companies redeploy workers with specific skills around the business, they maximise the skills and capabilities already available to them whilst simultaneously expanding employee skills.

"Each choice and decision made during these difficult days will have serious implications for their staff, customers, corporate reputation and even financial survival."

Commit to upskilling the workforce
Before COVID-19, 46 per cent of HR leaders had reported to Gartner that their employees lacked the skills necessary to drive future performance.

For most organisations, face-to-face training currently isn’t an option with over 80 per cent of organisations have cancelled, or planning to cancel, in-person training.

Maintaining access to learning and development in this challenging environment will be crucial to surviving the pandemic. More so, organisations will never have a better opportunity to leverage flexible work arrangements and employee downtime to reskill.

Organisations must prioritise the virtual delivery of learning and development opportunities to maintain staff engagement and develop essential skills that will see the business excel in these difficult times and into the future.

For example, Melbourne based Learn2Learn is offering free access to their evidenced based continuous learning app for organisations and individuals who wish to use this crisis as an opportunity to relearn and reskill.

Technological innovation has turned the financial services sector on its head in recent years, with new apps, software and cloud-based tech changing the way we work.But, as fintech skills become increasingly sought after, what can you do to secure your future career? Here, Chris Stappard, Managing Director of Edward Reed Recruitment,talks about the skills you’ll need to successful switch from finance to fintech.

Financial technology (fintech) is a new sector of finance which uses modern technologies to make managing money easier, both for businesses and consumers. Lots of banks and financial service providers are now starting to incorporate tech into their offerings, from mobile banking and insurance, to cryptocurrency and investment apps. Additionally, advances in technology have seen a number of traditional finance sectors roles — like admin, payroll, credit lending and credit risk management jobs — become automated in recent years.

As a result of all this rapid change, traditional finance roles are becoming scarcer. However, the fintech sector is currently expanding very quickly, with plenty of roles up for grabs at banks, investment software companies and other app-based start-ups. By switching to a fintech role, you can effectively future-proof your career and gain skills that will help you to stand out in an increasingly tech-focused employment market.

Switching to an entirely new role can be a daunting prospect, but fortunately there’s quite a lot of overlap between the two sectors, so it’s likely that you’ll be able to leverage many of your existing skills to help you switch to a role in the fintech sector. If that sounds like something you’d like to get involved in, below I’ll be going through just some of the ways you can transfer from finance to fintech to make the process a little easier.

Find areas that are most suited to those in finance

Because the areas are so closely linked, there are a lot of new opportunities available for those who are already in the finance sector. These include roles in banking, insurance, investment management, accounting, credit risk management and compliance. But where are these roles?

There are many start-up companies that are seizing the opportunity of fintech, so these might seem like a good option to go for. However, like a lot of young companies, not all of them will be in it for the long term, which means you’ll need to be careful when you’re deciding which roles to apply for.

Make sure you ask any potential employers what their intentions are for the future of the company. Do they seem realistic? Are they inline with your own? If you’re ever in any doubt about the sustainability of the business, it’s best to apply somewhere else. If you’re not fully committed to the company and there’s a lack of confidence in your future, this is going to show in your work. Plus, you don’t want to find out that your instincts were right further down the line.

However, it’s also worth noting that some current, more traditional financial companies are turning to fintech in order to compete with these new start-ups, so there could be some roles for you there, too.

Make the most of transferrable skills

Because it’s still in its early stages, there’s a large global skills gap for candidates in fintech. Although a deep understanding of technology would be beneficial, it’s certainly not essential. Your current role in finance has prepared you with a lot of transferable skills that many candidates with a background in tech and software design may not have, which sets you in good stead for a role in the fintech industry.

Communication, adaptability, management, creativity and problem solving are among some of the most highly desired skills by fintech recruiters, and they’re definitely on the lookout for candidates from the financial sector. Things like cyber- and financial security, risk management, blockchain development and experience in data visualisation and statistics are all vital skills for fintech, and you may just have them.

Plus, by having previous experience in finance, you’re already equipped with the knowledge of where things can go wrong, and it’s this knowledge that recruiters are looking for. They want someone who can help them identify where their technology might be limited and where there are opportunities for future developments, which means a good understanding of the industry is important.

Get networking

Even if you’re not currently fully committed to transferring over to the fintech sector just yet, it’s important that you still keep abreast of any important industry news and developments. Sign up for newsletters and attend relevant seminars so you can keep up to date with roles that might be ideal for you,as well as any new technologies as and when they’re implemented. This will make you more marketable as a candidate when you’re faced with future fintech opportunities, and you may even meet some important contacts along the way.

Social media can be a great place to network, especially with the likes of LinkedIn becoming more popular in the professional environment. You can use this to look into interesting fintech start-ups, potential employers and likeminded job-hunters who can steer you in the right path. These people may also share interesting articles regarding fintech news, which means you can easily keep up with developments on your lunch break.

The future of finance is tied up with technology, so expanding your skillset is a sensible way to help ensure you can compete as the industry advances. The finance sector has already equipped you with a lot of desirable skills to make you marketable to fintech recruiters, so it’s just a matter of finding them. Then, once you’ve secured a role, you can begin expanding your skills and knowledge as you gain experience.

You hear the question asked a lot: “What advice would you give to your past self?” Anytime I hear this question, I end up reflecting on what I have learned, both personally and professionally. Regular self-reflection is one of the best ways to remind yourself what continues to “work” while you also move forward. The start of a new year, and a new decade, is a typical time for many people to pause and reflect on where they’ve been and where they hope to go. So, as we kick off the new decade, I decided to put together the top eight pieces of advice that I wish someone had shared with me when I was starting out professionally.

Network More

My first piece of advice? Start getting to know your community and peers early. Connections you make can impact you ten—even 20—years down the road. People are the best resource to navigate career moves and strengthen your knowledge base.

The good news is that it’s never been easier to network. Thanks to social media, you can join a virtual community of your peers at the click of a button. Whether you engage in a LinkedIn group that’s tied to your industry, take part in a live Twitter Chat, or seek out local lunch and learns and meetups, taking the first step is key. Trust me, putting yourself out there is worth it. You’ll thank yourself later.

Be a Problem Solver, Not a Problem Identifier

We all have that one friend or colleague who tends to see the glass as half-full. They have no problem speaking up when they notice something is wrong, but they seldom have a solution to offer. Don’t be that person. You add value when you come to the table with an idea. If you notice something that needs improvement, think about how to fix it instead of just pointing it out. Don’t be afraid to flex those problem-solving skills early. Your peers will notice, your boss will notice, and you’ll be top of mind when new projects and promotions become available.

Always be Prepared

This piece of advice is timeless. No matter the stage of your career, preparation is the key to success. Show up to your meetings prepared. Set aside time to research who you are meeting with and prep any materials of use for the meeting at the minimum. If you are not sure what that means for your new role, ask!

Being prepared is a sign of respect. When you come to meetings, prepare, and show up on time, you communicate that you’re reliable, competent, and courteous. All of these traits will serve you well throughout your career and your personal life, too.

Attitude Goes a Long Way

Skills are essential, yes. But so is attitude. My advice? Having a chip on your shoulder makes you stand out—and not in a good way. While navigating corporate life can be difficult at times, focusing too much on corporate politics will hurt you in the long run. Be pragmatic, not pessimistic. Build others up, don’t tear them down. Look for ways to build consensus, not divide.

Have Measurable Goals, but be Flexible

Having goals for the future is a great way to stay motivated, but don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t get that promotion within a year! It takes time to understand the ins and outs of a new company. My advice is simple: if you’re looking for ways to grow, then take some time to understand your business and how each person and team contributes to success. Once you understand that piece of the puzzle, you can become a more active and intentional contributor. Just be patient and remember that every company is different. What takes three months in one place may take nine months in another, and that’s okay. Just stay focused on your goals and do your best work.

Quality Over Quantity

Remember that bit of advice about having a positive attitude. There is one caveat. Having a “go-getter” attitude is great, but remember that it is not possible to do it all. Don’t take on too much, or the quality of your work will suffer. Time management is critical. Talk to your leadership and find the best to prioritize your projects. It’s better to do a few things well than many things poorly. Quality counts.

Ask Lots of Questions

As you’re just starting out in your career, take every chance you get to learn from others. The best way to do this is to ask questions. Your more seasoned colleagues are an invaluable resource. Tapping into the situational experiences that they have navigated can provide the best starting point. Every time I have asked the question, “What would you do in this situation?”, I have gotten fantastic advice. And asking questions shows you’re curious, eager to learn, and open to feedback. Those are all good things.

Learn to Identify the Difference Between Ego and Confidence

You’ve landed your first full-time role or scored a promotion. Congratulations! You should feel confident and proud of your hard work. But you should also stay humble. Things can change fast in a corporate environment. Celebrate a job well done, but don’t let your ego take over and don’t become complacent. Thank your team for helping you get where you are, and continue to check in with them and find new ways to grow and improve. Every new project or challenge offers the priceless opportunity to learn, help someone else learn, and ultimately become a more well-rounded professional. Never take those opportunities for granted.

Bringing it All Together

As I launch into the new decade, I find myself working with great leadership and teams (many of whom were integral in influencing the pieces of advice this list). Though I’m no longer new to my profession, I continue to learn. How about you? Ask yourself, “What advice would I give myself starting out in my career?” Share that advice with someone who could benefit.

Our world today is entirely unlike the fantasy world of Harry Potter, where a goblin-controlled cart takes you through miles of tunnels under the City of London to your personal vault. No, we’re in a far more complex place now.

The banking system is now based around services and digital connections. Recognising this, our laws are also changing. Open Banking and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) are upending the culture of financial services. While consumer choice in banking has never been better, traditional banks are scrambling to keep pace. Established banks operating with legacy infrastructure must essentially transform into software-based service providers. It’s no small task for the banks, and one which is leading to some uneasy alliances with their challengers.

The Open Banking opportunity

Open Banking compels banks to make customers’ financial data shareable with trusted third parties via secure application programming interfaces (APIs). While it’s easy for fintechs to realise the benefits of Open Banking on their businesses, there’s a tendency for more established banks to view it as an inconvenience – yet another regulation to comply with. However, rather than posing a threat to traditional banking, PSD2 is an opportunity for longer-established banks to provide customers a wider portfolio of complimentary services, opening up partnership opportunities with fintechs like Yolt and Viber.

In order to make this a reality, bank needs to set themselves up to be tapped into as and when consumers want to access their financial data.

The fintech advantage 

Consumers desire to adopt challenger banks and apps usually comes down to three simple reasons: functionality, a focus on mobile and branchless banking, and a certain ineffable cool factor. The way fintechs are able to operate free from the weight of legacy systems is the key to delivering such in-demand features, building new processes and products by rapidly iterating on their APIs. Open Banking has enabled a proliferation of apps, start-up banks, insurance policies, mortgages and more throughout the established financial ecosystem.

For example, digital-first banks have leveraged open APIs to build their products and are growing rapidly. Monzo built its own architecture from the ground up and is able to develop platform updates at a rapid pace. Ultimately the fleet-footedness of these fintechs allows them to quickly adapt to customer demand, pushing out more regular product feature updates and slicker user experiences.

However, relatively few people are completely switching over from their larger, legacy banks. Consumers still recognise the value of mainstream banks and still keep most of their funds out of the challenger banks. With greater resources, trust built over decades, a broader range of services and higher-tiered banking licenses, the established banks offer a sense of security and stability which fintechs do not.

Instead, most consumers run multiple bank accounts alongside each other, attempting to have the best of both worlds. This is an opportunity for both cohorts: for agile platforms to rapidly deliver new features and tools based on what consumers want, and for established institutions to deliver longer-term, higher-value financial products such as mortgages and investments.

With Open Banking it is not necessary to see these businesses as in direct competition with each other, but rather forming part of a larger, more collaborative ecosystem.

For example, a new app called VibePay allows friends to pay each other in a simple way rather than dealing with complex payee details. This leverages APIs across multiple banks, but it is not in direct competition with banks, and the app facilitates the easier flow of money.

A clash of cultures

Collaboration and close working relationships between banks and fintechs is clearly the future, but with their divergent operating models, it is no surprise there is a culture clash. Frictions can arise when changes that may take fintechs a week take incumbents six to eight months.

New working cultures cannot be created overnight, and tensions are likely to crop up while banks transform internally. Consumers’ expectations are also now heightened, piling more pressure on the banks struggling to keep up.

The introduction of Open Banking was intended to increase collaboration, competition and innovation. Ultimately, this way of working will allow fintechs to tap into traditional banks’ loyal customer bases, while traditional banks will be equipped to provide better customer experiences.

The way forward 

With Open Banking and PSD2, banks are becoming software-based service providers. To truly ensure that the legislation is a success, banks’ employee culture must become more like fintechs’ – agile and collaborative. It is essential that banks, financial institutions, and fintechs invest in the right people, development teams, and partnerships.

Moreover, all legacy applications need to be refactored to fit with the new agile API infrastructure. Many banks currently use private APIs to improve internal communications between legacy systems, so they already have experience of this kind of development work. But the technology and security implications of open APIs are far greater, and they must meet the highest standards of consumer and developer trust.

This confidence and trust is a foundational part of the banks’ appeal, so they must be more cautious than their challengers, and ensure that all technology that they deploy is done so securely, seamlessly, and in a way that doesn’t negatively impact their customers.

Established banks are unlikely to become as nimble as a start-up, and nor should they seek to be. However, leaders should look to set tangible objectives which will be achieved as a result of compliance with PSD2, such as increasing their customer base of 24-35 year-olds. This will help banking CIOs create a real business case for adopting new technology, which will ultimately foster the gradual cultural and technological change needed to ensure a successful, collaborative future.