Exceptional Female Role Models - Dax Grant

Exceptional Female Role Models

Dax Grant is CIO of Global Operations at HSBC, delivering a wide-reaching remit that includes oversight of the technology around the world that support the bank’s day-to-day interests.

If you are inspired by an exceptional woman rising from humble background, this interview is for you.

Born to Bosnian parents who eventually fled to the UK to escape the atrocities of war - her grandmother shot dead whilst carrying her mother across a field - her mother leaving education at 8 years old to work on a farm.

Dax started school unable to speak English, but went on to graduate in Economics from the University of Cambridge, gain an Executive MBA from Cranfield, and study Executive Education at Harvard Business School.

She has held a variety of Executive, Non Executive and trustee positions, leveraging her business, customer technology and operational experience within Fintech and niche financial services companies in parallel with global banks and not-for-profit organisations.

Dax is an ambassador for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, working with local schools and educational establishments. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts as a result of her philanthropic activities, and is a keynote speaker on enabling business turnaround, digitisation and Diversity, Inclusion and Social Mobility.

She is centred around a values-based human-centric approach to life, and is committed to charitable activities. The Grant Foundation is championed through her family, and is committed to equality for all, all lives matter and the belief that all have a duty to create an environment and incentives within society where everyone thrives.

#ExceptionalFemaleRoleModels

Can we start by understanding more about your background?

My family is from a humble background in Bosnia originally. My mum had a tough childhood, when she was aged 3 - in the middle of the war that was going on in the region - she was being carried across a field by her mother who was shot and killed. At the age of 8 years old mum left education and worked on the family farm as a Shepherdess.

My father was also originally from a farm work background, but he was determined to escape war torn Bosnia so he relocated to Nottingham and re-trained to become a coal miner – he went on to work down the pit for around 35 years.

My parents didn’t speak English at home, and so I spoke only Serbo-Croatian until the age of 4. At my local school I found all the other children speaking a completely different language to me!

I never thought I was naturally gifted at school, but what I had the privilege of is a very kind family who supported me unconditionally without pushing me. It wasn’t until I sat my GCSEs that I even realised that the grades I was getting were being viewed as exceptional.

What I inherited was my parents hard work ethic and a huge thirst for learning, and for some reason an inner voice that kept telling me I was going to accomplish something amazing with my life.

I had no idea what my path in life would be, but this voice never stopped telling me I was going to have a meaningful global job. I just kept applying myself to areas I was interested in, and seemed to keep excelling.

When I reached my A Level studies, I had a very influential person enter my life. My Economics teacher was an ex-RAF pilot who had attended Cambridge. I found myself very much enjoying learning about economics, I loved all the different elements that create the world – learning about small business, learning about economies, Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand – it fascinated me how these things all connected.

Eventually, we stumbled upon a conversation where he was looking at my GCSE results and asked me whether I had ever considered applying to study at Cambridge – my response probably surprised him, as I said ‘What’s Cambridge?’!

Then, my Dad being my Dad said ‘But we live in Nottingham, and there is a university here – why don’t you just go there as it’s local?! By then I’d done a bit more research, and I explained to him that it looked like this Cambridge place was actually quite good!

I remember my preparation process. Originating from a state comprehensive school I’d never had any prep for a Cambridge entry interview, so my Economics teacher and my Headteacher actually put together a practice interview for me.

Then I walked into Cambridge for my interview and was surrounded by all these other students sitting around reading the Financial Times! I was incredibly nervous, surrounded by candidates from very important schools all reading up on the FT, I felt so very privileged to even be in the interview room and at the time dared not consider entry to such a prestigious place was possible.

However, I passed the interview and became one of only 2 students from my local state school that had ever attended an Oxbridge university - my journey had begun.

What skills do you wish you had learned earlier in life?

Self-confidence.

This was a constant theme through my report cards, across every subject my results were excellent, though it would be good if I 'became more self-confident'. Yet in my mind I was confident enough and had a knowledge of my own path and an understated style. This became evident as I stepped into my place in life and this feedback disappeared.

There is of course a lifetime balance in ensuring self-confidence whilst at the simultaneously maintaining humility. This is only possible through a deep resonance with self-beliefs. I recommend quiet time with yourself, ask what you believe and why.

What are the best pieces of advice you have ever been given?

Be kind and compassionate – we all face a mix of feelings towards different situations, but my advice is to approach situations with the intent of long-term kindness, compassion, understanding and listening.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions – we are all getting feedback all the time in life, so it’s important to receive, accept and digest feedback, and then understand how you apply more of yourself in the future having benefited from the feedback.

Know yourself and believe in yourself – it’s important to know who you are and what you stand for, so you can have self-confidence both when others believe in you, but equally also when they don’t.

What is the biggest life lesson you have learned?

I believe fundamentally we are here to bring joy to each other. I’ve realised in life that often the simplest actions can have the most profound effect on other people.

Ask yourself do people really remember the pages of a presentation you walked them through, or the spreadsheets you discussed?... probably not. But what they do remember is how you made them feel.

Just reflect back on your past colleagues, for example, even those from an era ago. We always are left with a view based around how they made us feel. And of course it’s a two-way street.

We can’t always determine how others are going to end up feeling about us, but we can have a clear intent to build long-term kindness and compassion.

This also links back to my previous advice of ‘know yourself’ – the importance of understanding your personal values. When you think that you know yourself, then ask yourself the question again – I guarantee that there will always be another level of depth that you can explore.

Finally, keep revisiting your values, because they do deepen with time.

My own personal values have simplified and become more crystalline with time – they revolve around kindness, love, compassion, caring, trust, being my authentic self and being prepared to share understanding with others.

How important have mentors, sponsors or role models been in your journey?

I get my guidance from lots of different places, most people say large corporate sponsors and coaches. There are certain people that have come into my life and I’ve had really interesting conversations with them that have helped me greatly.

I remember chatting with Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo, he was very influential in shaping my thoughts; Dan Schulman CEO at PayPal shared some really profound views; and when I graduated in my MBA from Cranfield it was at the same time that Sir Terry Leahy (the then CEO of Tesco) received an honorary award - he was another key influence in life.

There have also been key moments where I have had very direct sponsorship – for example when Antony Jenkins, who became CEO of Barclays sponsored my MBA dissertation.

In terms of female role models, because I spend a lot of time working through what I am really passionate about - which is societal impact – I am inspired by people like Sheryl Sandberg and Mother Teresa.

All of these are really useful relationships and involved interesting conversations, but some of the most profound impact on me has been as the result of conversations with my family. I remember when my son came home from school one day and asked me ‘what are we doing to help the homeless?’

This created some deep thoughts, and as I was in the process of moving on from VISA this question influenced the next role I accepted - the Director of Operations job at Macmillan Cancer Support - when offered a choice of three jobs in very different organisations.

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Think about how you face challenges; what process or strategies have you developed to overcome?

My first step is always to connect with how I feel. I focus on making this connection as early as possible, to appreciate how I feel about the situation. Giving yourself this space and resisting the urge to respond to a problem immediately can really make a difference.

I would also say to keep the practice of being positive – understand that whatever the challenge, it could actually be an opportunity and that there is always a route through it.

You are unlikely to have all the answers straight away, and often it is a team that solves for positive results and impact rather any one person.

It helps to be very clear on interpreting what is happening and why, whilst knowing that some of the answers will be revealed by the information currently in front of you, but more conversations will be required to ensure you have fully understood what is happening.

Make sure you have the right group of people around you, and be clear with your communication, recognising what you can solve immediately. I find people really appreciate the honesty of sharing understanding and working through situations together positively.

Remember anything that is going to be solved, is simplest broken down into the sub-parts, probably with different groups of people working to solve different areas, and then pulling together.

Then, keep challenges in perspective and help others to keep them in perspective too. This is sometimes easier said than done, but things that seem enormous challenges initially can often - when you step back – produce amazing changes that you can really benefit from.

I’ve seen many miracles created from challenging situations as we learn some new facts about how something works.?

Persistently, focus yourself into a routine of checking in on your own well-being – so you have the strength to overcome challenges that you will face and create your own rhythm.

It’s important to know when you need to create spaces for well-being. I personally meditate daily, and now I’ve developed my technique to a stage where I can do this in a style that is very light and I can literally be sitting anywhere. But I do proactively create the time for this.

I would also say that physical activity and good nutrition are essential, but find ways that you can enjoy these. Discover what physical activities you enjoy, and explore what healthy foods you like to eat.

What does success mean to you?

I now find myself hugely drawn to create and be part of something that makes a global societal impact whilst retaining the types of jobs that I have a track record in and enjoy.

I am continually refining my mission, ensuring clarity of the blueprint and look forward to the steps each day. There are tough days of course. Though we all have those, right… I focus on ensuring my path is authentic and together with friends and family.

This is in my DNA now. I know it’s happening. It the art of placing all the pieces together. Lots of persistent actions bring the picture to reality.?