Leda Writes for Fintech Futures: what my best bosses taught me

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, CEO of 11:FS Foundry creates #LedaWrites. This week she reflects on inspiring bosses and the opportunities they offered.

I read your piece, said Steve.

Steve is my guardian angel. Viking-sized, always able, willing and liable to be there on scary-bad days. We love Steve.

And he read my piece about bad bosses and hardy flowers.

I read your piece, he said. I’ve had bosses like that. That’s why I work for myself, said Steve, and he chucked. Because Steve is a happy Viking. And we love him for it.

And then he said: “But you, you didn’t get out, you had a career, you climbed the ladder, you got promoted. Surely you had some good bosses along the way, right? You even mention it in the piece. Tell me about them. Now I am a boss, I want to know what good looks like”.

So here it is, a tale of empowerment in three parts.

Bring your whole self to work: Randall

BNY Mellon made me the banker I am today and if that doesn’t sound like a lot then you don’t get banking. Or humans.

It started with Randall who, when told, “I know nothing about banking and little about technology”, he said: “I know. But you are smart and I can teach you”.

And he did. He taught me. So much. About tech. About banking. About team building. About being a boss. About myself.

He is the person who told me to bring my whole self to work. And insisted I do. And laughed knowingly to himself when I did and my career took off.

What made him special?

He had principles.

He had backbone.

He put the team above everything.

He was fair.

He didn’t shy away from the hard fights.

The wins belonged to the team member who did the work. The failures were his. Always. Because we were his team.

Read the other two tales of empowerment at Fintech Futures.