Dax Grant, CEO of Global Transform, on the Cultural Ingredients of a Successful Transformation Project

Craig McCartney: Our guest is Dax Grant, CEO, COO, CIO Global 100 List, 100 Women to Watch in Tech, Forbes Technology Council, 100 Powerlist Keynote Speaker, author, and philanthropist. Dax is well-recognized for digitizing businesses, catalyzing turnarounds, and utilizing courageous leadership together with technology to unlock value. Dax’s accomplishment in business and technology are recognized within the Forbes Technology Council. Having worked with a variety of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 and FinTechs as executive director, owner, advisor, non-exec director, Dax is multilingual, globally-experienced technology and operations executives who provide strategic insights and creating top quarterly results.

Craig McCartney: Dax helps global and international businesses attain top performance, societal impact, and staff advocacy impacting the world in a positive way for shareholders, regulators, and society through purpose beyond profit values. What an interesting and exciting introduction. Dax, welcome to the show.

Dax Grant: Thanks, Craig. I’m looking forward to our conversation

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Craig McCartney: Let’s get straight into it. You have had a very interesting career and lots to unpack in that introduction. Can you tell us about some of the career highlights and your journey?

Dax Grant: My career did not have any grand plans to start with. I had a few goals. I originally joined a large bank, but a lot of times, our customers end up after a corporate lending portfolio and looked for a branch at one stage. It taught me a lot. That was the highlight because I love customers. I love our clients in whatever business I work in. Starting there is always a good place. There are lots of different things from working in Visa Europe, and a special time there going through the acquisition from a Visa perspective and merging the two businesses together. It is a fascinating time.

Interesting stories about digitization, both within markets but also within HSBC, looking after a global operation, a special time in terms of making sure our service is right, looking after all our colleagues, but also an exciting digitization agenda and some other things as well. I do a lot in the not-for-profit world. Some of the most special things I remember are working with the Royal Latin School, some special times, building a sports campus, science center, and a local fundraising campaign that raised millions and has left a legacy with the school. More to come on that, but quite exciting times and much more excitement in the future.

Craig McCartney: I was going to touch on that actually because you have seemed to have struck a good balance between commercial and nonprofit elements. How do you achieve that? How do you squeeze it all in to your day?

Dax Grant: I work on what I care about and I care about all the right things. It is a balance, but I know that knowing myself, I know it is from what is inside me. Being very commercial and value-driven is important in whatever organization I am in, but I am also hugely philanthropic. Working on The Family Foundation and that side of things is what gives me the balance between the two. I am a great believer that you create value, whether that is in a not-for-profit world or in a commercial world. I loved the variety. I am quite quick to pick things up. I love market trends and I get very interested in new ventures. More to come on that as well.

Craig McCartney: I know you mentioned a few things on the horizon, so we will definitely follow that with keen interest. You are also on the Forbes Technology Council. You are a Cranfield University’s 100 Women to Watch, a non-executive director, and also keynote speaker. That is why I mentioned them squeezing stuff into your day. It does sound like you are busy. How did you get to points in your career where you are recognized across the board like that? What are your career milestones? What stuck out?

Dax Grant: I do sit back and set myself goals. I always have goals. Some of them are public and some of them are private and I work on them. A lot of it is genuinely day-to-day actions. I focus a lot on my time. I do meditate. I do spend a lot of time in that space. I do believe that is particularly important in this busy, connected world because it means to center you and ground you on what is absolutely key. There was not really a grand plan. It was lots of small actions that were set into a direction. What I learned about myself is more than any of the three degrees that delivers the people successes is being clear about who you are, your personal values, and also having a clear understanding of where you want to go, that determination and grit. Grit is a clear differentiator in the world we live in.

Craig McCartney: Those goals that you speak of, do you go ahead and write them down and have a twelve-month plan or a quarterly plan? How do you visualize those goals?

Grit is a clear differentiator in the world we live in today. Click To Tweet

Dax Grant: There are lots of different techniques. It depends on what works for you. For me, I have my little book and I write a few notes in there. I have a little whiteboard as well. I do white boards. For example, the beginning of 2021, I did a little sketch about all the things that I wanted to make sure happened in life. To be fair, I do not check it daily because once it is written down, it is written down. Towards the end of the year, I did reflect on that and I got the whiteboard out again. I smiled. Although, I put some things on there that I did not necessarily think that is going to happen in 2021. They sure did happen in 2021. I achieved 90% of what I set out to do and a couple of nice surprises along the way.

Craig McCartney: I do it maybe once a year. My girlfriend always makes me write down goals that seem impossible or too far out of reach. Once you have written them down, you say, “How do I get to that point or at least how do I put the first foot forward towards that goal?” It is crazy what can happen. I am a firm believer in that. Let’s talk about your role at Global Transform. If you could tell us a little bit about that, who are the clients that you work with? How you are helping them achieve their goals and get over their challenges?

Dax Grant: Global Transform is close to my heart. It has been running for years, somewhat in the background sometimes. It is focused on the C-Suite. That can be in any organization, but particularly some of the footsie Fortune firms and focus on the global international remit. I do also, through Global Transform, get asked to do a lot of work with venture firms and a lot of mentoring and coaching as well in that particular space because of the experiences that I have got in looking after small and medium businesses and that lending experience, as well as the practical experiences of the day-to-day jobs that I have done. That is something that is been highly sought after in the marketplace. All of those things have come together, but it is about the C-Suite supporting CEOs that want to make a difference in the world. Bottom line results come with that, but working with standout CEOs and leadership teams.

Craig McCartney: You have got quite an interesting experience in your role. In your description, you have got CEO, COO, CIO. In the amalgamation or hybrid of those elements, what is the benefit of having those different hats on when working with the C-Suites?

Dax Grant: I love the fact that I am fortunate in the position that I am in. I get approached for all of those different types of positions, whether through mentoring or through direct positions. The beauty of it is that having sat in pretty much most seats, you get to understand a perspective. When you are working with boards, there is a real understanding of what does it mean in terms of looking after the tech stack. How does that technology strategy sit if you are in a COO position, understanding the technology subset, but also the operational side of things as well. Having that enterprise view is important.

The marketplace is hugely buoyant. The types of roles that I do get approached for are a plethora of those, but I generally am at the point where that connectivity is, as long as I know which seats I am sitting in, I can add value to that table. I am a great believer in teamwork at the executive team level. That is important in any highly successful organization.

Craig McCartney: You spoke about the board there and having those board level conversations. For striving leaders or people who are aspiring to make it to C-Suites, speaking to the board, digitizing their businesses, what is your advice for them? How can they translate those conversations into digital transformation?

Dax Grant: I am glad you pitch it at the board level because there are many organizations that digitize from within, but having that clear board mandate and having clear accountabilities and a combined understanding of what the strategy is important. Many organizations need to make sure that that is very clear. Otherwise, there is lots of activity. That is one of the things for me, spending the time at board level on those conversations, but also ensuring that you have got a set of practical folks around you with different expertise, the ability to work in teams and the ability to dissect that down precisely into a plan of action that delivers out.

As long as you are clear on where you are as a firm in the marketplace and then you have that capability to deliver is absolutely key, but I cannot emphasize enough the third element, which is culture. The number of CEO positions that I had been approached for, COO positions where folks asked me, “Yes, Dax, but how do we manage the culture? We need some help with the culture.” That is so important because it drives the business in a different way. It keeps retention, but also culture itself is a standout competitive advantage.

Craig McCartney: That is a good segue into some of the topics I was going to tackle. Let’s talk about that culture change. Are you seeing that pets in a lot with the clients that you are working with and other businesses that you have been involved in?

Dax Grant: It is particularly key post-pandemic. Lots of folks have gone through lots of personal journeys during that time. Keeping that culture cohesive in a hybrid world is a topic that it is on many boardroom tables. How that is kept alive and brought into visionary leadership. A lot of what I talk about is if you look at in the pandemic, we, as a society and organizations, are good at mobilizing to a crisis. It happens to be a global crisis, but we did it. If you are looking from a leadership perspective then galvanizing to a vision, direction, that is different because that is accessing a different part of you in terms of building and growing a growth mindset rather than stemming something and all the activity that happened during the vaccinations. They are different, but pertinent. There is a pivot point for organizations that will rocket post-pandemic.

Craig McCartney: It is about retaining some of the talent, but then also it is that cultural shift when implementing those big transformation projects. When you are starting a big transformation project, do you start with the tech or the people? Does the vision guide that journey?

Dax Grant: What I find is lots of other people start with the tech with me. Where I start is with the people. It is always an interesting conversation, but by the end of that conversation, I am a technology expert on every part of the platform. Genuinely understanding, it is people. It is people, strategy, technology is underpinning that. Clearly, there is a technology strategy that sits underneath the business strategy, but it is very much subservient to that. That is the essence of it.

Craig McCartney: I do have these conversations with other tech leaders. It is more and more moving, hopefully, to the way you just described it. It is interesting. Let’s talk about technology. We can dive into the people and culture a little bit further down the line, but technology is seen as an enabler of enterprise innovation rather than a driver. Would you agree with that point of view? We have touched on that, but do you want to expand on that a little bit?

Dax Grant: If I take the experiences, technology is an enabler in organizations. If you look at during the pandemic, getting everybody around the world to be pretty much home-based from office-based locations required an innate focus on technology and enabled businesses to ensure business continuity during that time, which is essential. Technology is also very interesting in terms of next stage technologies. I spent a lot of my time looking at that as well as technologies that keep us steady and stable. There are some interesting technologies out there and having some interesting conversations around that thing.

It is the balance of all of those things that come together, but I do also say technology is only as good as the behaviors that go with it. It is easy if I bring it down to our practical day-to-day situation. It is very easy to sit in front of a PC and be surrounded with technology all day. Whereas, a good face-to-face conversation where it is possible to do that safely. It does make a difference and behaviorally having those self-disciplines to make sure technology is in that enabling place. It is clear where that place sits.

Craig McCartney: Talking about new technologies, there is always something new around the corner. Is there anything in particular that has got you excited in terms of maybe trialing it or implementing it or seeing the next stages of that particular technology?

Dax Grant: There are lots of interesting technologies out there without centering on any particular one because that would give it all away, would it not? Distributed ledger is fascinating. It is a real enabler. I spent a lot of time looking at quantum and physics as one of the areas that I studied many years ago, but quantum has got some really interesting things. Also, balancing all of that out with the cyber side of things, some real developments in the cyber world and the analytic space. It is powerful. Looking from the financial services perspective, there are lots of organizations working on cutting edge technologies like crypto. There are a variety of payments-based technologies that are leading edge.

Craig McCartney: Some of those themes, we definitely see those copping up in some of the events that we run. You nailed all the more exciting ones that we were discussing. If you are a tech leader and you have got all these new technologies coming down the line, there is a balancing act of wanting to be an early adopter and making use of it to so your business can benefit and you can be seen as the one leading that change. You have also got to ensure that you have made the business case water tight and also have necessary backups in case things do not go to plan. Taking into account all those things, do you have any advice for the CEOs of the world that are looking at bringing new technologies in?

Dax Grant: It is a balance. First things first, make sure home-based is sound so the technologies that keep your business running. I am used to financial services. If it gets to a service level, it is five nines. Everybody wants their payments to go through and there is no forgiveness for any payments that do not go through. That is home-based and making sure that is secure. Clearly, we have gone through a pandemic. Looking at the financial statements of a number of organizations, that has come through as well. Making sure that financially you are sound as an organization before investing in lots of new technologies is really important.

Ring fencing is so important in the world. The reason I say that is because PERTS can become interested in the latest technologies and they are absolutely right to. It has to be kept in its rightful place in terms of a healthy innovation environment and some targeted investments in an early stage. Being able to have that learning approach in that space is absolutely key. Again, Craig, it comes back to my earlier point around culture.

Craig McCartney: My next question was about culture. What would you say the cultural ingredients of a successful transformation project are? Feel free to go on a deep dive exploration with us.

Culture itself is a standout competitive advantage. Click To Tweet

Dax Grant: Trust and teamwork are important. We all spend lots of time on the logical things, but the best organizations I have worked in either within the organization or within the marketplace. In partnerships, there is a high level of trust and honesty around all of those conversations. We do not have hard conversations as part of that, but they are good and healthy and always constructive. That is really important.

Accountability is key as well. There are many organizations that I have walked into. You will attend something and there will be 30, 40 people in the virtual room. When I look at that, it is telling me something about that organization. To be fair to our people, setting up that accountability set correctly is key for motivation levels, but it is also a standard capability in the marketplace. If your people know what they are accountable for and they have got a very respectful culture, lots of things happen quickly, and in a positive way.

Your employee survey starts to rocket through the roof through that particular leadership approach. Those things are all important. How we treat each other day-to-day in any organization is key whether we are transforming, looking after the day-to-day. It is very key. The last thing that I would add on that is knowing your place within the market and being super clear on that. It is a refinement process, do not get me wrong, but if you know where you are, whether you can see where the market is going, you can rock it in that digitalization transformation.

Craig McCartney: Let’s move on to another topic I know you are very passionate about, and that is diversity and inclusion. My first question around that topic taking into account digital transformation because that is what we were talking about now, but how can leaders champion social transformation as a compliment to that digital transformation? Do you have any examples or insight you can share around that?

Dax Grant: I have got a few thoughts. There are lots of folks focused in this area. If you look at that social world, impact of society, the environment, our planet and how we approach the ESG agenda is important. There are lots of things in terms of the quality, diversity, inclusion, and lots of focus on recruiting the right people. It is also important to balance that with a healthy culture and how you grow that. The work that I have in the time I spent with Harvard Business School on this particular area is fascinating. I worked with a number of key folks, one of them being Michael Porter. Lots of folks will know Michael Porter’s 5 Forces in terms of strategic model, but a lot of work on creating social value.

The essence of this is as a societal CEO or anyone on the C-Suite, whether you are COO, CIO or in a commercial space, the CCO is being clear about how that works. We are commercial and we happen to do some things for society. If, culturally, you have already absorbed that as an organization, doing the right thing by society is already in your culture. It is part of the DNA of the organization. It is part of the leadership model in itself. Many organizations approach this from a, “Let’s measure some things. Let’s have a look at the supply chain and make sure everybody is ethical and hitting key measures.” That is a very superficial approach. There is much more depth in terms of the cultural standout that sits underneath that and the standout marketplace C-Suite leaders has already got on-hand.

Craig McCartney: There is some strong evidence to suggest that organizations that embed diversity and inclusion into their broader culture, they tend to drive more innovation. They attract and retain better talent. In terms of your opinion and views, how can leaders really and truly embed diversity inclusion rather than it being potentially like a cosmetic exercise?

Dax Grant: This is at the heart of it. I went through lots of different organizations and still going through more. Folks said to me at one stage, “Do you know, Dax, you are a minority?” I said, “What do you mean?” They said, “You are a woman. You originate from Bosnia. You are from a low socioeconomic grouping.” Originally, my father was a coal miner and my mom, a shepherdess. “Did you know about all of these things?” I did, but I genuinely said, “I never thought about it that way. If I wanted to go and study the latest thing on physics or if I wanted to go into an organization, I went to that organization because that was what I was interested in and I was interested in working with those people.” That is clearly not how a lot of the society works.

It does in pockets, but then you are into a whole different piece. I did a lot of work in diversity and inclusion, and social mobility. I am excited about in the board appointment with Mission Beyond on social mobility. That is exciting, but the way I look at it is respect, kindness, understanding for each other as people. When you are looking at that, you are not looking at it as a lens of, “What was your background? Where did you come from?” You are looking at it from that perspective.

When that happens in society, we need to check and balance and make sure that those measures are in place and manage any unconscious bias. I am a fundamental believer of if you are treating folks with respect, they will bring other folks in from different backgrounds as well. I have seen it in many teams that I have looked after. The teams happen to be very socially and socioeconomically diverse, but it does not necessarily mean it is a metrics-driven approach. It’s far from it. It just happened to hit all the measures and meet them.

Craig McCartney: We could take your answers from some of the things you said already, but is there enough being done? If we about financial services or across industry, are you seeing enough being done or can organizations do more?

Dax Grant: There are always opportunities to do more. What I do see is lots of awareness. I do see the difference between the folks that post on LinkedIn, for example, that they are champions of diversity and the folks that are involved in day-to-day initiatives that drive that action. I do believe awareness is high action is still needed hugely across all the organizations. It is across all sectors. Eventually, everybody becomes the minority. You have to keep the whole world in balance, but driving that is key, driving that at the entry level, which is why Mission Beyond is exciting, but also driving that at board level at a societal level so that there is that representation is key.

You get the best out of that for both for the individual and the team and fundamentally, the organization. It is scientifically proven that performance levels and diverse teams market for those organizations. If you have not got action plan, you need to get an action plan. That is what I say to anyone that I meet.

Craig McCartney: You have mentioned Mission Beyond a couple of times here. Do you want to talk a little bit about the work that you are doing there? It is still quite early. I know you have just joined, have you not?

Dax Grant: Mission Beyond is close to my heart. It is chaired by a fabulous person, Harriet Green. The focus of it is tackling the grand challenges in society. The first of those is very much focused around social mobility and creating a national platform around access to opportunities. It really resonates with my personal journey. It’s a fantastic group and team. The values that sit and underpin that are tremendous. We are working with some fantastic people to make that happen. Our open doors platform is going to be amazing.

Craig McCartney: Continuing the diversity and inclusion conversation, you also have experience around coaching and acting as a mentor for women in technology. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Dax Grant: There is a difference between coaching and mentoring, and it is a very fundamental difference. For me, mentoring is helpful. I have got lots of fantastic mentors, sponsors, and guides in life. Equally, I have encouraged everyone that I have worked with to have the same, but coaching is different. If I am your mentor or you are my mentor, then you will share things with me, experiences. I will learn from that or vice versa. That is one thing, but coaching is about accessing the inner potential of any person and requires innate listening skills and focused questioning around that to get the best out of that person. Short bursts of interaction and intervention in those conversations can see a person rocket from what happens in a coaching conversation. It is different from absorbing someone else’s experience.

Craig McCartney: If you are starting out in tech and you were a woman, what are the avenues that they can explore to get additional mentoring or some coaching? Are there any projects or initiatives worth talking about?

Dax Grant: There are lots of different opportunities out there, whatever place you are coming from. Putting aside that the work that we are working on at Mission Beyond, there are lots of programs. There is TechWomen. There are lots of things that business schools also offer. Many of the large organizations offer tester programs as part of that. It is about stepping in there into those conversations. There are also some fantastic conferences to join. If you are not ready to do an intro course or anything like that, joining some of those gets you chatting to folks that are in that space. Often, that in itself can meet to interesting opportunities, but also, be precise.

I am a mom. With my daughter, we look carefully at her opportunity when she was looking to do some work experience as part of her schooling. We targeted some key organizations as part of that as well. If you want to be in that space, some work experience is fantastic. For her, and she is a biochemist, and now study that in a university. We arranged for her a special intervention where she got involved in STEM work and stem cells. That is normally what folks do for work experience. If you want to make your life different, tackle those opportunities differently and set it up for success.

Craig McCartney: A couple more questions, some final thoughts before we head into our fun round. What are some of the traits and skills that you think aspiring leaders should cultivate?

Dax Grant: You got to know your values. It is important. In this interconnected world, your values speak volumes. That is definitely key. It is your navigation in whatever situation you are in. If you are true to those, everything else is very clear. You have got to have that grit and determination. People look at me and say lots of lovely things, but I put it down to grit, a lot of things that I have achieved.

Technology is only as good as the behaviors that go with it. Click To Tweet

Do not get me wrong, sometimes it is tough. Sometimes it is exciting, but at the end of the day, grit takes you in the right way through all of that. Having that support network as well is important because having key folks that you sound a mentor and users of sounding boards in the nicest sense is absolutely key. The final point I would add is leading from a place of compassion and empathy.

When you look at life, how do you measure it? When you are moving on to the next life, how do you want to be remembered? You want to be remembered as that person that was there when it mattered. Hard on the issues, do not get me wrong, but with compassion. If a member of the team is down or if something is not working, you want to be part of that environment and solving it. That would sum it up.

Craig McCartney: It is important to always be human and know that everyone else is as well. What is the single piece of advice you wished you had known earlier in your career? We have just spoken about some good bits of insight, but is there one thing that you wish someone had said to you in the early stages that would have maybe saved you some time or given you that trajectory, but quicker when you needed it?

Dax Grant: Know who you are. When you think you know who you are, look at it again and know who you are.

Craig McCartney: We could talk about some of those topics for many hours, but let’s get to our fun round. This is where we end the episode where we get to know you a little bit better, Dax. We get to know the person behind all those wonderful titles and your career description. Technology is the theme. What is your essential technology item that you could not do without?

Dax Grant: I really love my AirPods. When I have got my time on my own, I have my AirPods. I will be listening to music on Spotify or whatever it might be. I love them because if my daughter calls from university, the call comes straight in. I can pick up the call very quickly. I can make dinner in the kitchen. It just gives so much flexibility in life. When the call is done, the music comes back on it. It is fantastic. There are no wires, it is all wireless. They are fast and easy to charge. I love those. I do quite like Alexa. In the nicest sense, if you ask Alexa any question, she can pretty much answer. It is always handy these days. Everybody gets caught up in so much paperwork and all the rest of it. You want to ask someone a question and it happens to be the Alexa and she knows the time of day.

Craig McCartney: It is quite interesting to see how the younger generation are now engaging. My daughter is constantly shouting at Alexa to play some song or ask her some scientific question. It is sweet. Let’s talk about your job, your family, and your friends. How would they describe what you do? What are your friends think you do versus your family, and then your clients? Is there a clear distinction? Do they know?

Dax Grant: I do not know if they all know. I do know that they all know that I am driven. I am passionate about the things I care about. I do not always get it right. I do not always get it wrong. It is somewhere in the middle. If I am going to achieve something, I will set my mind to it. I do try and have a giggle along the way, but sometimes times are tough and sometimes you get a lot of time to enjoy as well. It is about making the most of those things. Does everybody know the same? Genuinely, what I have found is some people know my public persona. My close friends really know me and my character. That is the difference.

Craig McCartney: We have spoken about your technology essential item. Is anything from a work context on your desk, which you could not do without?

Dax Grant: Beautiful artwork from my children. Why do I have that? It makes me remember what is really important. The rest of it is all about respect and kindness. I have pictures on my vision board. I have got a birthday card from daughter. She is very artistic. They keep me grounded.

Craig McCartney: What is on the frame behind you on the wall? What do those certificates represent?

Dax Grant: They represent a lot of work. I went to a state school. I could not speak English when I started school. I had to learn quick. I did not know that I was good at this learning stuff. If you would have told me as a teenager, “You would have three degrees from the best universities in the world,” then I would not have believed you necessarily. I did not intend it to do that. If you talk to Elon Musk, you do not need any university education to be an entrepreneur. My belief is you learn in lots of different ways and some are three degrees. My coaching, I do set a standard for what I work on. I do like to make sure I have got the qualification as well to set the approach and standard. We asked lots of folks in our teams to get accredited for different things, but you have got to walk that talk. There are a few of those sitting in the background.

Craig McCartney: Have you been to any events that have inspired you or change your perception about something or have you seen someone speak that has done a similar thing?

Dax Grant: I would not say that I have been to lots of interesting events, but I am drawn to Oprah Winfrey. Not because of I am a particular fan, but I have got a lot of respect for her as a woman. She really knows herself. She is very down to earth and accesses that for all the people that she talks to. She has done well with that, but she is grounded in herself. She has shared lots of experiences where her mindset and how she approaches things have changed fantastically some events in life. I have got a huge amount of respect for her as a person and for the way that she conveys that to everybody. She respects everybody, respecting her position in life, which is fantastic.

Craig McCartney: She seems to speak to people wherever you are on the social ladder, one-to-one. You can feel that connection as well. You have spoken about ledgers in terms of technology. That made me think, do you own any crypto? Do you have any NFTs? Do you play in that area?

Dax Grant: I do get involved in lots of conversations. If I wanted to do crypto trade, I do have the capability to do that. Doing that on a personal basis is not the way I will make my fortune. Could I access it? Absolutely. There are some tremendous technologies that do open up the world. I understand its place, but the way that I have set out my life goals is not going to be through crypto trading, personally.

Craig McCartney: That wraps up that section. Thank you so much, Dax, for spending the time with us. I have thoroughly enjoyed speaking with you. I know our readers will benefit from some of the insights that you shared with us. Thank you.

Dax Grant: Thank you, Craig. I appreciate it.

Craig McCartney: If you enjoyed that episode, be sure to check out the rest of our guests that we have spoken to, like and subscribe and all that lovely stuff on your favorite podcast streaming service. We will speak to you soon. Bye.

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IMPORTANT LINKS:

• Dax Grant
• Mission Beyond
• TechWomen