What do you do and what is it about your job that gets you out of bed in the morning?
I’m working for HSBC and have been here since May 2016 doing a variety of roles, but recently (well since Jan 2018), I have been getting my fingers dirty in something very exciting – defining and creating a brand new strategic capability for the Bank called – Events Based Data Assurance – which will underpin our Digital Identity efforts.
Essentially, all Digital Identity is customer data that we trust. We have a lot of customer data in the Bank but we don’t record why we trust this data and so we ask the customer to prove who they are over and over again. i.e. when someone wants to open a new account, we ask them to prove their ID by showing us their passport. Someone in the Bank will look at the passport, match the photo on the passport to the person standing in front of them, and confirm that they match. However, what is recorded is the person’s name, DOB, Nationality BUT not the event of ‘passport check in branch’.
If we recorded ‘why we trust the data’ using a new type of data called ‘EVENTS’ i.e. the event which led to us knowing why we trust a piece of data (in the above example, Suzie, a Branch advisor in our Canary Wharf branch checked that the photo on the passport matched the person in front of them and it matched, it unlocks a huge opportunity inside the bank to ‘RE-USE’ data across markets and functions – resulting in a fantastic customer experience and reduction in costly and often duplicative processes.
How did you get to where you are today?
I started on the Barclays Bank Graduate Programme and tended to move around every 3 years or so to new places.
I had a curious mind and wanted to do ‘new’ things rather than be in a BAU type role.
I was hungry to learn and develop and so sought opportunities every time I felt like I had learnt all I could from an organisation. I’ve tried my hand at all sorts of things from Banking, to Management Consulting, to starting up a brand new dotcom business, to digitising an insurance company, studying for an MBA, moving to the online travel industry and then back to Digital Banking and now most recently, qualifying as a Personal Performance Coach and setting up a Coaching Business as a side hustle! I absolutely love helping people understand what their potential is and to guide them to go and realise this!
What is the most important lesson you have learned along the way?
The most important lesson I have learnt along the way is to be your authentic self, don’t try and be someone who you’re not. I know this is difficult because we all suffer from this, especially us women. We’re always comparing ourselves with the person who is always getting the promotions, the attention, the recognition etc – but by trying to be like her, you slowly start to move away from who you are at your core – your authentic self.
This will only result in a lot of frustration and unhappiness which can become a huge problem.
Remember, you’re an individual with skills, experience and a personality which is unique to you. Embrace this and become comfortable in your own skin and let people see the real you! You’ll be surprised where this can lead!
What’s your pitch to CEOs in the identity space? What do you suggest they START / STOP / CONTINUE doing and why?
Start:
Writing down your internal business activities in a granular way – so that others can understand why they should trust this piece of data
Agree on a common data model which can be used to describe events
Define the key trusted providers in your country (utility companies, passport office, mobile phone companies, travel companies) who are willing to start exchanging data/ events with you; get them to write down what they do to assure data in a machine readable way (using the same data model)
Stop:
Trying to solve for the World – start small, and then scale focusing on real life use cases
Continue:
to have dialogue with organisations, governments and customers/ citizens to keep the conversation going so that potential solutions/ way forward are relevant
to define key customer/ citizen/ employee pain points and look to solve for these
In one sentence, why does diversity matter to you?
We are all unique and with this uniqueness, we each bring a different viewpoint to the same problem so be tolerant, embrace this difference and experience the powerful results that follow.
What book/film/piece of art would you recommend to your fellow members? Why?
I’d highly recommend ‘Man’s search for meaning’ by Viktor Frankl because it teaches us/demonstrates the power of the mind and resilience.
I absolutely love the quote in the book: “he who has a WHY to live can bear with almost any HOW……and what alone remains is the last of human freedoms is the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”
What advice would you give to the teenage ‘you’?
Don’t be afraid, speak your mind, be yourself and think positive thoughts. As a kid growing up in the UK, I suffered from both racial discrimination and bullying – which impacted hugely on my self -confidence. I hid in my shell and didn’t feel as valued, important or equal to my peers and therefore didn’t take the opportunities that presented themselves to me because of this.
Don’t worry about what people will think; ask the ‘stupid’ questions and never feel that you’re not good enough!
Where can we find you on social media / the Web?
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shilpamaher
Twitter: @shilpamaher
Instagram: shilpamahercoaching
Facebook: shilpamahercoaching
Website: www.shilpamahercoaching.com