Time now though to celebrate female leadership and in particular its importance in the financial sector. Later this evening, Cyboss hosts a major networking event that will discuss how we can work together to deliver positive change in the industry. Well, joining us now to explore this in more detail are Jackie Fox, Europe Leader, Accenture Security at Accenture. Gráinne Edmonds, UK Head of Sales and Relationship Management for Financial Intermediaries, Security Services at BNP Paribas. We're going to meet Jennifer Peavy. Now, Jennifer is the Managing Director, Head of Strategy and Business Development at DTCC and Priya Bajoria, who's the Senior Vice President, Head of Financial Services North America at Publicis Sapient. Let's take a breather, guys. Let's just take a breather. Let's take it all in. We've got a nice full studio. Thank you so much for your time joining us on Cyboss TV. And congratulations. And of course, congratulations. I'm going to start with you, Jackie. Accenture's recent research stated women make up to 17% of security professionals. Drawing from your own experience, what will it take to bring more women into security roles?
Well, I think there's a long game and a short game here. In the long term, we need to make sure that our schooling and our education system is laying out technology and security, my area specifically, as a career that people might aspire to. But I think in the short term, we need to make sure that people who maybe haven't had a technology training background, maybe they're from a legal background, any background at all, if they're smart, we'd love them in cyber security. So we need to show them how they can shift from one to the other from what they're doing at the moment, because there's openings for everybody. Great opportunities in cyber.
Are you dropping hints in my direction?
Maybe, maybe. Anything's possible in this world.
Gráinne, you've been on a really interesting journey because you were a mentor last year on the Cyboss Talent Accelerator route, now the STAR programme. So what is the importance of mentorship in actually developing women in the financial industry or indeed any other? Because the complaint we often hear is that there aren't enough mentors around.
Yeah, so the STAR programme is well worth participating in. So for anyone looking in to think, will I do it as a mentee or a mentor? Absolutely valuable, a great way to connect. At BNP Paribas, we field candidates every year for that and will continue to do so. I think mentorship is very important. I'm sure everyone here on the panel will agree with that. I think back, something that I took five or six years to figure out, if you can pass that on, that learning to the next generation coming through and they learn it in a few months, then seeing that acceleration and that we're not just repeating the cycle each generation of women coming through, but that that progress is happening is great. So I would say mentorship can take different forms, can be for different reasons, can be personal. I'm a mother, I've got a child with special needs. Some women come up against that and passing that on, or it might be the career side of things as well. So it's not the only strategy we have, but it's a really good one for companies to adopt.
Jennifer, what do you think makes an effective leader?
I'm a big believer in inclusive leadership. I think it really accelerates the growth, the ability to innovate and someone's performance when you bring them along for the journey. You let them explore their capabilities and their abilities and their key skill sets. And it also just drives diversity of discussion. So you get a lot of different opinions doing that. You offer the employees the ability to lead themselves. And I think it's just ultimately very beneficial, not only to the individual, but to the team as well as the organization.
But Priya, just broadening this out, there does appear to be a bit of a talent crisis in the sector. So from your perspective as a woman who's succeeded, what do you think that the financial services industry has to do to bring in gender equality to address that crisis so that women can feel that they're part of the change, part of the journey, that they can open the door for others?
I think you said it right. Talent crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry today. And if we look at it in two parts, the first part is how do we bring more people into the industry, especially people who haven't traditionally considered financial services roles. And then the second part is how do we reskill the people that we already have, because it's a very dynamic industry and we have to stay abreast. So if you look at the first part, Sapient conducted research recently with 1000 banking professionals globally. And only about a third of our organizations we surveyed said that diversity is even something that they are committing to. So I think we have a long way to go in terms of opening the aperture to the point we were making in terms of bringing in more people with non-traditional backgrounds into financial services. And I think technology can be a key enabler for the second part, which is democratizing the learning process and making like Netflix of learning available so that everybody can keep changing, keep learning and expanding their mindset. And I think financial security comes with that job security and gender equality. Queen Maxima spoke about it on the first day of CYBOSS, that we have to design products and we have to educate people who are not investing in financial products so that we can bring in more wellness. And I think as we bring in more people into the industry, we have to make sure they're saving well and we educate them leveraging technology.
Jackie, we could quote statistics all day long about how we're falling short in gender equality. The problem is there, but there are business incentives also to solve it, but many problems fail, many programs fail. What do we need to do differently, do you think?
I think firstly, it's really important that the gender balance we have at all levels in all industries reflects society. And if they don't, then we're not going to be doing things right. We're going to be missing an important voice in the room. So I think as leaders, it's really important that we make sure that everybody's voice is heard, that we don't have people who feel they can't speak out or that their point isn't important. And we need to make sure that we give people the space and the comfort to do that. We're trying to go with gender diversity at 50-50 across all levels by 2025 in Accenture, which is a huge and lofty ambition. And we're really beginning to get there. We're doing it at all the more junior levels. Some of our senior levels, we still have to do work, but we've got things in place that are making that happen around how we promote and around how we're training and the opportunities that we're giving people. So it can be done. I really believe it can be done.
You know, I really like what Jackie said about people feeling that they're comfortable with speaking up. So when we think about, I think women, and in my experience and what I've done before as well, is to think about performance and results and tasks and really just work hard. And what we need to think about as well also, you know, if this, you know, we can imagine the scenario of a promotion coming up, for example, does that decision maker know what you do? Do you give them little sound bites of here's an issue I've resolved or I've got this challenge, this is the way I'm thinking about it, what do you think? So if women can have that confidence just with their line manager, other managers and decision makers, and just put them in a position of knowledge of here's how I'm thinking and here's how I could be ready for more responsibility. So, you know, for me, that's really important indeed. And also women helping each other as well. Time and time again, I've been in a situation where there may be 10 women, they're in front of me and we're talking about where they're at in their career and so on. And I say, well, how do you help each other? Do you go for a coffee and talk about what's my side of the business, where I am, somebody else and just sharing that information and just starting, you know, women starting to help each other and actually show that I can think outside my role or my team or my business and take it up to strategically, you know, having those conversations that lays the groundwork for leadership. And I think from a company perspective, then, you know, really important. And I fully agree with what's being said in terms of frameworks for diversity, removing that unconscious bias and not leaving it to who happens to be making decisions in their life experience. You know, I have had it said before in the past where, you know, somebody may have a daughter coming out of their education and then they say, oh, you know, now she's having a tougher time finding a job than perhaps my son. And I think, you know, but they've waited until that life experience to get involved and make a difference. So having those frameworks and shifting the culture that everyone is talking about, I think really will make a difference.
Jennifer, coming off the back of Gráinne's point there, putting someone in a position of knowledge, helping each other out. What piece of advice would you give women who are entering or thinking of entering the financial services industry?
I think the two of the most important skill sets you could have is the ability, just continuous learning, right, that desire to continuously take in information and knowledge. And the second piece is around just active listening. And so I always encourage women on my team to invoke that curiosity, ask the questions and then question the answers. The more that you learn, the more that you listen, you both grow professionally as well as personally. And that will help, you know, with your