Brian’s career spans telecoms, travel, consumer goods and global banking, giving him a rare, cross-industry perspective on transformation. In this interview, he reflects on what true digital leadership looks like today, the role of culture and data in driving change, and how AI can empower teams without losing the human touch.
 

Your Career

You’ve worked across several major industries, from travel and telecoms to banking and consumer goods. What first drew you to digital transformation, and how has that passion evolved over the years?

I just fell into it, if I’m honest. Working in Product Management and in a variety of complex industries provided a good learning ground for me and provided me with a variety of transferable skills which lend themselves to transformation. The biggest jobs in any transformation are strategic alignment, discovery and prioritisation of process improvements and ways of working.

Given that I’ve always like simplicity and good scalable systems and the use of data for decision making, this was a natural progression.

You describe yourself as a transformational leader. What does transformation mean to you in practice and what qualities do you think define great digital leaders today?

Transformation is really the focus on getting better every day and thinking about how you did every day and what you could have done to be better. Sometimes there are big changes that you make within how you think about your ways of working and how the team is running, but it’s generally small and regular changes which really have the biggest impact. Listening to your teams and stakeholders and helping them to come along for the journey of self-improvement and learning and the value of a critical eye to problem solving tells you that it’s working.

Great leaders are humble and truly focused on making their teams better. So many of the best leaders fly under the radar. They’re experts in their craft but also in mentoring and storytelling, in making their teams better, in helping others and they find ways to scale themselves by influencing others across an organisation and finding people who are of a similar mindset.

Looking back, which project or moment in your career has had the biggest impact on how you approach innovation and leadership?

I think that working at wireless company TELUS Mobility in Canada and at Expedia had the biggest impact on me. In both cases, we were building things that were largely brand new. In the case of TELUS, we were building the early wireless data services of ringtones (sorry), apps and camera phones. Looking at the customer experience, pricing models and the importance of content. At Expedia we were re-platforming and expanding from a scaleup to an established, listed and regulated company. We were also finding ways to scale so that we could grow profitably. Launching the Mexico, Brazil and Argentina sites was a first hand experience in how to scale, the importance of local relevance and ensuring cultural relevance.

In both organisations, I was surrounded by incredibly bright people and strong leaders who pushed me to be my best. They also had very strong culture and leadership training programs that have helped me to be better as a leader.

You’ve built and led teams across very different sectors. What’s one lesson that’s stayed consistent, no matter the industry?

The problems to solve are often very similar across industries. No matter the industry, the needs for clarity of vision, strategy and goals is paramount.

Getting good data and ensuring that people have access and skill to use it, building a culture around using data to inform decisions and building the environment that allows people to feel safe as they grow. Add in clear vision and priorities and you’ve got a winning formula.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to move into a global digital leadership role like yours?

Always be curious and focus on your customers/clients. Look for patterns and understand the similarities and differences between markets. Thinking broader about what’s the same and what truly is different is an essential skill when you’re looking at different geographies and cultures. On the surface, it may appear that there are big differences but more often than not, there are more similarities than differences.

Always be thinking about your clients and their use of your products. What do my clients really need or want? How will I know that I’m on the right track? Why does this thing happen? Why am I seeing this outcome?
 

Building the AI-Powered Marketing Team

As Global Head of Public Websites at HSBC, you’re driving customer experience at a global scale. What are some of the biggest opportunities and challenges that come with leading such a vast digital ecosystem?

HSBC is the biggest organisation that I’ve ever been in. There are over 200,000 people across 50+ countries. The biggest challenge is figuring out who owns key services or is on teams that you need to rely on. With that large organisation comes the opportunity to leverage an incredible wealth of knowledge and skill by getting to know people, what they do and where their priorities lie.

How do you see AI changing the structure and skill sets of marketing and digital teams over the next few years?

AI, like any tool, allows people to move faster and to offload repetitive tasks. I think you always need humans in the loop to validate what the AI is coming back with and to ensure that it is providing accurate and relevant outputs.  

There’s often talk about balancing automation with the human touch. How do you approach that balance within HSBC’s digital strategy?

Humans are always in control and leading everything that we do. We use technology as an enabler and always will do so. Intuition, understanding human need and storytelling are all innate human skills that AI is still not good at. Our business is all about human interaction and the building of trust. As such, the human touch will always figure prominently in the way that we use AI to manage our websites and associated services.

Having worked across industries, what have you learned about embedding innovation into large, traditional organisations?

The most important thing that I’ve learned is that innovation to be adopted in any organisation of community.  Innovation thrives when there’s a shared understanding of its purpose.

By encouraging collaboration across teams and levels, we see all boats rise and everyone can feel comfortable with change. Innovation often comes from unexpected places, so it’s essential to foster an environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute ideas.

Large organizations have established processes for a reason. The key is to respect what works while introducing new methods incrementally, ensuring that we use clear language to communicate the benefits of innovation focusing on how changes will positively impact employees and customers.

When it comes to web experience and product design, what do you think will separate leading brands from the rest in the next era of AI and personalisation?

First and foremost, the best brands and products will build trust via transparency and clarity. AI acts as an enabler or scaler and that will only happen if the AI tool accurately does the task it is designed to do.

When using technology, leading brands will deliver tailored experiences that feel uniquely crafted for each site visitor with client preferences reflected in our journeys and content. They will also ensure that their web and product design offer a consistent and intuitive experience, irrespective of device, clients will get an easy to use experience where they can quickly get to what they need.

Quick-fire Questions

Most exciting emerging technology in marketing right now?

AI-driven predictive analytics is transforming how brands anticipate and meet customer needs.

The biggest misconception about AI in marketing?

That AI can replace the creativity and insight of people, when in fact it simply help those who are enhances it by providing smarter insights.

Your go-to source for industry inspiration or insight?

Other people working at the coal face of AI. Their insights and reality check moments are incredibly valuable to keep things balanced.

If you could instantly master one new skill, what would it be?

Mastering data storytelling would unlock even greater clarity and impact in decision-making.