Keith Douglas - CEO Vocalink Limited www.linkedin.com/in/keithrdouglas/

Key Takeaways:

• Keith is driven by his values and the desire to be the very best version of himself, which allows him to play to his strengths, and to seek opportunities that match them.

• He has self-awareness and knows that he enjoys leading – it enables him to make an impact and actually choose the narrative.

• Together is always better – Keith has benefited from being part of large and small teams, he knows that having high caliber people around him directly impacts him. It enables him to keep learning that makes him a better leader. Means the team can own any mistakes and move forward.

• Together is always better – Facing into the challenge, and also seeing the opportunity.

• Sponsorship and advocacy – Keith has benefitted from and others have benefited from his sponsorship. The vital first part is you need to ask. You need to ask in a considered way because you need to start with yourself, to understand what you bring, what your edge is and what your skills are, what your ambitions are.

• Sponsorship and advocacy - it's a two-way street. It is playing to the self-interest of both parties.

• Keith has learnt and continues to learn from many people. Learning from multiple leaders along the way enables longevity of the learning journey.

• Keith deals gracefully with setbacks – there are three choices; setbacks can define you, destroy you or make you stronger, he chooses the latter. It's vital to continue to build trust within a team during challenging situations - If we do decide to go over here, we're going to go together.

• As a leader have your hand on your team members back rather than in their face. One of the most important leadership traits to display. We are not going to disperse and fragment in the face of adversity.

• Advice to younger self - listen, for what's not being said during meetings and interactions. Ensuring that a quieter voice is being heard, is given a platform for the benefit of better decision making.