Aoifinn Devitt: If you don’t stretch your limits, you set your limits. How does giving dignity always, frequent reflective practice, and our experimental fail-fast approach to change act as a guide to sustainable and successful leadership? Let’s find out next. I’m Aoifinn Devitt, and welcome to the 50 Faces podcast, a podcast committed to revealing the richness and diversity of the world of investment by focusing on its people and their stories. I’m joined today by Mitesh Seth, who is CEO of Redington, a leading investment consulting and technology firm based in London, where he has spent almost 8 years, 4.5 of them as CEO. He started his career as an investment analyst in consulting and has held various roles in an asset management firm and in his own strategy and innovation consulting business. Welcome, Atesh. Thank you for joining me today.
Mitesh: Thanks so much for having me.
Aoifinn Devitt: Let’s talk through your journey into the investment world, starting with your background. And did it take any surprising turns along the way?
Mitesh: Yeah, it was definitely not a straight line as it is often drawn. So where do I begin? My grandmother— so my grandparents came from India to Africa, and then my parents were raised in Africa and then came as immigrants into the UK. In practice, I was raised by some incredible women, from my grandmother who was widowed and had 8 children, you know, my working mum, my aunts who were a mixture of kind of a house with 8 people, 8, maybe more, 10 people living in it, from IT to chemistry to to, you know, to corner shops and security guards. We kind of had everything in the house and the environment that I grew up in. So it was an interesting way to grow up. I grew up in Bolton near Manchester, went to India for a few years in my primary school, and then later came to Crawley in West Sussex where I did my secondary schooling. And so on. So that was kind of beginning of life and background for me, and I was an only child, kind of really a bit shy, a bit awkward, thinking about how I might do in the world of work and so on. I remember when I was at school just having no idea what that world looked like. I was very fortunate actually because my introduction to being an actuary and/or the world of finance actually came on a summer youth camp where I was in the Lake District on this summer camp and one of the volunteers I got talking to was an actuary and said it was something I should consider. I talked about it to my teacher and they didn’t really know what that was, but the more I looked into it, the more it intrigued I was. I actually ended up going and studying actuarial science and thanks to his kindness and introduction, got a chance to have an internship at Aon. So yeah, none of that seemed particularly linear or in line with any plans, but yeah, that was kind of my entry into the world of investment consulting, investment management. And I think since then, you know, various, interesting twists and turns along the way. So I started out working as, as someone who’s married. So I got married when I was still at university, which made me a bit unusual. I didn’t drink, which made me very unusual to the cohort of grads that I started with. I was an introvert and, you know, generally found it quite hard to fit in, especially not being part of that whole I guess, young, outgoing, drinking culture. So I had to find other ways of fitting in and other ways of trying to network and get to know people and to build the relationships that didn’t come as easily. But I think over the course of my career, I had phenomenal managers, mentors, leaders who often saw more in me than I saw in myself. And gave me the confidence to, you know, to push harder, to try further, to work on some of you know, my, my, my areas of weakness and really have the opportunities that I had over the course of that. So yeah, so that was Aon, Willis Towers Watson, Henderson Global Investors, a short stint being self-employed as a consultant, through to Reddington.
Aoifinn Devitt: And what prompted you to, to set out on your own into your own consulting firm after Henderson?
Mitesh: If I’m really honest, it was just a realization as I grew through that organization. I was very fortunate. I must have been 28 or 29 when I got the chance to lead the fixed income business at Henderson, facing huge imposter syndrome issues. But my manager, David Jacob, had huge faith in me in doing that. And I had the privilege of leading this fantastic team. Through the financial crisis and through the other side, and we performed very well and did well for our clients and had a real chance to influence the wider agenda, the strategic agenda at Henderson, and be part of its, its wider leadership. So for all intents and purposes, everything was going fine. But I think the more I looked around, I didn’t see, you know, many others like myself. I felt that I’d done a huge amount of work on myself to fit in But the challenge of fitting in is often you can feel that you’re not being authentic with who you are. And I’d also had 3 children in the meantime and just felt, having grown up largely raising myself, you know, with my parents who were working really all hours to make ends meet, I just wasn’t sure. I was worried I was sleepwalking into something that wasn’t deliberate and wasn’t my choice. I just needed to pause, take a break, ask myself, you know, what was important to me in life, what relationship I wanted with my children, how I could support my wife and my family. So yeah, so I ended up working 4 days a week and term time only as a strategy consultant, which was great for those few years when my kids were young.
Aoifinn Devitt: And moving now to your role as CEO at Redington, I’d love to talk a little bit about your approach to that because I’ve seen some of your LinkedIn posts and one of them you spoke about how you reflect on your decisions and keep essentially a diary or a log of your CEO role. Can you tell us a little bit more about that process?
Mitesh: Yeah, sure. I think the journaling and reflecting started in earnest around— I’m trying to think now— about halfway through my career. I’d never come across the idea of Johari’s window until my first leadership offsite, which kind of was this sense of what are the things you know about yourself and that others know about you, but what are the things that others know about you that you don’t know about you, these kind of blind spots? And the only way to access those blind spots is by seeking feedback. And it was a real revelation. It just wasn’t something I thought about. And I looked back and reflected on a lot of the feedback I’d had over the course of my career that, I just hadn’t had a way of processing. But once I got hooked on the idea of seeking out that tough feedback, really trying to understand my blind spots, and journaling became a way of almost reducing that feedback loop so that I could keep reflecting on how I was doing and what I needed to do better and how to iterate. So journaling’s been a great way of just kind of developing, iterating, evolving myself, but also for my mental health. As CEO, lots of people talk about it being a lonely place, and I, I’m fortunate to have a fantastic team around me with whom, you know, I can be very open. But nonetheless, it’s just fantastic being able to sit down and write in a journal and really ask yourself honestly and openly why you did what you did, whether you could have done things differently, whether you could have done things better, or whether you got some feedback, how you can go about changing that. I just continue to find it an incredibly valuable way of staying alert, of continuing to learn and grow.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’m curious about that deliberate process of trying to get more feedback. Did you encounter any kind of reticence around the people who you asked for feedback? I mean, maybe were they uncomfortable giving the kind of vigorous level of feedback that you were looking for?
Mitesh: I think, I mean, let’s be honest, human beings don’t really like giving tough feedback and definitely don’t like receiving it either. So it definitely requires and required for me, I think in my earlier career, I was very defensive when I got tough feedback. And yeah, I can’t say I listened very well to it and kind of thought I was right and knew better. But having acknowledged that I wanted to get it and that it was critical to my development, really over the second half of my career, I’ve just been experimenting with it. And this is true for everything really. And I’ve learned, and I’m going to be talking to the firm about this just next week actually, My learnings are that if you want to get feedback, you’ve first got to create permission. You’ve got to let people know that can, you you’re looking for that feedback and that you’re keen to get it. Secondly, you’ve got to remind them that you’re not just looking for a pat on the back, you’re actually looking for constructive feedback. Thirdly, it’s quite helpful to say what specifically you’re working on. You know, what are your areas of development and where feedback can be specifically helpful. As leaders, it’s very hard to get feedback. But if you can say, hey, I’m trying to get better at not jumping to the answer and letting people figure things out themselves, do you have any feedback on that, on how I’m doing? Then it’s easier for someone to give you that more specific and timely feedback. So, yeah, we’ve been doing quite a bit of work on it. We’re just launching something called feedback profiles next week where all of us as leaders in the business are sharing how we like to receive feedback, what the best way of delivering that to us, and what it is that we’d like feedback on. To make it easier to give feedback upwards and, and, and to each other.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’d love to check back with you in a year or 18 months to see how that process has you know, improved, the— just the culture. I think it’s a very interesting approach. On the topic of it, you mentioned experimenting at the outset, and I think your approach to innovation is one of experiment and fail fast. Can you talk a little bit more about that and how that translates into a business context?
Mitesh: Sure. I don’t know if it’s my background and upbringing or if it’s kind of my kind of spirituality, but when my sense— and this has always been reasonably instinctive— that when you’re trying to deal with intractable or difficult problems, as we are in the world and in the world of business today, you just have to be willing to test, experiment, fail, and learn. There’s only so long that you can debate something and discuss it. You’ve just got to be able to go out and try and validate your thesis and get out of your echo chamber and see what actually works and land. The reality is there is no book to read. No one’s done it before. So experimentation is the only way. So I think for me, it’s very much about whether it’s innovation or growth or strategy or really even kind of any type of growth and development, you’ve got to be open to learning, open to challenge, and open to diverse perspectives. And that’s really the heart of innovation. I think part of that really begins with recognizing that you can’t be right, you don’t need to be right, and instead to be curious and be ready to learn and unlearn. So in a sense, for me, it’s a very spiritual journey.
Aoifinn Devitt: And of course, if you have a culture of feedback, then you quickly get the feedback on those experiments, and you can either do more of the same or abandon them. So I suppose It’s all kind of feeding into each other.
Mitesh: Yeah, it does take a little bit of a— you do need the risk appetite to be able to do that, right? And I often wonder where that comes from for me, especially as I see others and work with others who are more reticent to do so. There’s definitely— you’ve got to be comfortable failing and getting things wrong to be able to do that. But it’s critical. It’s the only way to venture into new ground.
Aoifinn Devitt: And speaking of new ground, you’re a leader facing a hopefully a post-pandemic world and certainly what that means for the workplace. What areas do you think you’ll be experimenting on now as we look at maybe a new way of doing work?
Mitesh: Yeah, yeah, spot on. The only way to figure this out is by experimentation. So we feel like we’ve had a reasonable experiment of having everybody work remotely, and actually the feedback from our people and from our clients has been phenomenal in terms of how well the business has adapted to remote working, remote delivery, and our service levels and engagement levels are kind of even stronger than they were before we went into the first lockdown. So I guess that experiment has worked reasonably well in lots of iterations along the way from the whole firm. As we sit here today, it’s very hard to answer the question, what does it look like post-COVID, post-pandemic in any sense of the word? And the experiment we still haven’t done and need to do is what does a mixed hybrid world look like, right? So as we open the office, hopefully later in March and start to have some people come back and by June have more people come back, hopefully, We’ll start to see what an office environment and working in collaboration looks like when some people are in the office, some are sitting around the table, and some are dialing in virtually. And how do we make the same progress and the same success as we’ve done when we’re all remote, right? When there’s half the people sitting around a table and half on a video call or an audio call, does the chair need to be virtual for that to work? Can they be in the room and make sure that they’re inclusive to everyone on the call? What are the limits and boundaries and constraints around that? So we definitely see that as the next phase and the next kind of area of experimentation before we can really conclude what kind of a medium-term next phase normality looks like for us. But when I survey the firm and when we talk to them today, The sense is there are some who definitely want to work in the office 5 days a week. There are some who would be happy to never come into the office again. But the vast majority of people do want to work in some kind of hybrid working, coming into the office between 2 and 4 days a week. And so that’s going to need us to get really masterful in, in that kind of hybrid model. And we have little experience of that yet, even though we’ve been working remotely for a year.
Aoifinn Devitt: It’s interesting actually how many people have sort of said they’ve come out with foregone conclusions about how the workplace is going to be, but when you’re absolutely right, there’s so much we don’t know and are learning. And I guess the other thing is, you know, the longer this goes on, forced remote working, the less appetite people have for it. Too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. And it’s— you’re right, I think it’s just, it’s all about kind of looking and working with what we know in the moment and experimenting. At Reddington, you speak about celebrating a culture of difference, and you certainly strive to create a sense of belonging. What does that mean to you, a difference, celebrating difference?
Mitesh: Yeah, so a quick story, if you don’t mind. One of the leadership offsites I was at and fortunate enough to be invited to when I was at Henderson saw us sit around a table and do a piece of work around social styles. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one of those DISC color charts.
Aoifinn Devitt: I certainly have.
Mitesh: And I was— there was one individual in the team who I really struggled to work with and collaborate with, despite really wanting to. And what was, again, incredibly illuminating when we did this exercise was that we actually sat on polar opposites of that. I was bright yellow and he was bright blue. Blue or dark blue. And, um, you know, the, the trainer said, hey, look, if, if for whoever these two people are, you’re gonna find it incredibly difficult to communicate with each other, to even understand where each other’s coming from. Uh, and and we, we both, you know, know, you found ourselves laughing and talking to each other afterwards to say, well, is, you know, and, and his message was that that person will be the source of your greatest development. If only you can get past your communication and social styles. And so we really took it as a challenge to say, how can we understand each other better? Recognizing that intent is good, ability is good, we’re on the same team, but we’re simply unable to understand and communicate with each other. And, you know, we entered into what was one of our most productive commercial and kind of broader relationship off the back of that. And it really left me open and kind of curious about this idea of seeking out views and people that are most different to you, the ones who you find most to difficult find, the ones who you struggle with the most. And instead of approaching them with anxiety or judgment, approaching them with curiosity, um, because done well, you will be a huge source of development for each other. So that’s really the, you know, one of the— probably not the origin of it, but, but, but a real kind of leap forward in my own understanding of that. And I think forever since, I am definitely wired to seek out difference when I’m trying to make a decision, when I’m trying to understand something, I’m searching for the opposing view or someone who disagrees or someone in a day-to-day working capacity that I struggle with and really go against my human instinct to run away or to hide and instead to run towards and to be curious and learn.
Aoifinn Devitt: And what does that mean then for Reddington as a firm in terms of your recruiting policy? Are you looking for certain targets at this stage in terms of diversity?
Mitesh: I think when we look at diversity and inclusion across our firm, I think we began with inclusion. That’s absolutely critical. There’s, you know, there’s not a huge amount of value of just increasing your pipeline and attraction of talent if you don’t create an environment in which diversity can thrive. So I’d say again, the founders of this business, I know you know them well, Rob Gardner and Dawid Konoteya-Hulu, did a fantastic job of creating an entrepreneurial environment that valued differences of opinion and cognitive diversity. We’ve tried to expand that definition of diversity to both visible and invisible forms of diversity, and also, you know, specifically into gender, race, and ethnicity. As well as kind of social background, education, sexuality, etc. And, but that the starting point of that has been kind of creating this culture of curiosity and learning and an environment in which people are able to seek out those differences and leverage those differences alongside expanding the pipeline of talent We’re hiring at junior, mid, and senior levels. So, it’s been a very systematic and considered effort across all those levels. Kind of, I think about it in 3 pillars. You’ve got your kind of inclusion culture. You’ve got your attraction of diversity. And then your retention, promotion, progression supported by your processes and your tools and technology.
Aoifinn Devitt: I think it’s interesting looking back at your own story. You mentioned not drinking alcohol and maybe being married when many of your peers were not, and that maybe set you somewhat apart. And it seems that when we talked earlier, you spoke about going for coffees instead of for drinks, and that that was your way of ensuring that you formed bonds and formed a sense of belonging. Maybe that has informed your, I suppose, visceral sense as to how to create belonging within Readington?
Mitesh: Yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean, I think a big part, I would say Readington, and when I speak to people who work here and have worked here for a long time and I ask them what keeps them here and what they love about working here, it definitely comes back to a sense of belonging, being part of something special, feeling like they can be themselves and people are interested in their differences. Somewhere where they have the autonomy to perform and learn and so on. So there’s definitely something there. I think it’s partly a culture of generosity where people are willing to give time and share with each other, whether that is over coffees in one-to-one, whether that’s in smaller groups, all the way through to, as I said earlier, having and trusting that the leadership has your best interests at heart and the processes, whether they’re the pay and promotion committees or the board and line managers are constantly trying to challenge and improve themselves. And just trying to create an environment where you do have that kind of constant paranoia about retaining psychological safety, ensuring it’s an environment in which people can speak up and challenge. So one of the ways we’ve done that is actually a thing we call perspectives. So every quarter, We invite some of the most diverse perspectives within the firm to share what it’s like to walk in their shoes, what it is, how it feels to work for them, and how to get the best out of them. You know, and it’s a three-line whip. The whole firm comes and listens and is really moved to hear and understand and walk in the shoes of these different perspectives. And I think we’re all, when we do that, blown away by just how many people come to us and want to know more and and, and, and have found it illuminating in understanding why we do some of the things we do and how they can work better with us.
Aoifinn Devitt: That does sound like a very effective and refreshing approach. You mentioned a lot of reflective practice that you engage in, and I usually ask people about any mistakes they’ve made in the past and lessons they’ve learned from them, or any setbacks. Is there anything that you can share?
Mitesh: Yeah, I’ve got so many. How many do you want to limit me to?
Aoifinn Devitt: Let’s just go with two, but we we can, can follow up for the others.
Mitesh: I think, let me run through a couple and then we’ll see. You can edit it to the ones you want to keep. I think earlier on in my career, my biggest mistakes were thinking I knew best, thinking I knew most or better, or thinking I was more creative or strategic than others. And I remember again, some of the most brutal feedback I had around that time was just really around, you know, Mitesh, when you leave it to your last-minute flash of brilliance, you stress everybody else around you out and make them anxious and worried about, you know, delivering the deadline or the presentation or the meeting or the client deliverable. And so you just need to be more considerate of the people around you and figure out a way of creating that urgency And getting that flash earlier on and taking others along in that journey with you was an important bit of feedback I had to really reflect on. And I didn’t see how I was making others feel. In a similar vein, really just learning a bit of humility and realizing that I only saw the world through one lens and with one view. And, you know, recognizing that there were so many other different perspectives that certainly earlier in my career, I didn’t value as much and wanting to, as a result of that, learning to bring them closer and to assemble a team of people who see the world differently and who can help you kind of deliver and execute. I remember one particular bit of feedback as well around that time being, hey, Mitesh, it doesn’t matter how good your strategic people and communication skills are, you’re so awful at administration and implementation. That unless you can pull those up to a tolerable level, no one’s going to be able to pay attention and draw the best out of your skills and capabilities. So tons of mistakes made in that space, but again, some very blunt, kind, and helpful feedback that helped me develop more humility, be more open to other ideas, others’ ideas, and actually learn to work as part of a team. Again, I grew up as an only child. I I hadn’t done much teamwork. Um, and you know, a lot of my, my start in life and so on was, was kind of making myself stand out rather than working with others. And I think that was a really important series of mistakes and lessons learned. Um, and I can say I’ve been, you know, completely transformed, uh, through that experience.
Aoifinn Devitt: And when you look back at people who’ve been influential in your life, and I think you’ve mentioned all these sources of wonderful actionable feedback. Are there any key people who you can mention who influenced you in a particular way?
Mitesh: Yeah, I’ve got to start at the beginning. I mean, the most influential in my life, uh, was a social reformer and spiritual teacher who’s no longer alive, a guy called Bandarang Shastri Atavale. So he was the winner of the 1997 Templeton Prize, and I came across him at the age of um, 16, and, um, by listening to his lectures. And, and I went after graduating to his his school in India. And I you learned, know, a handful of things to— that you have to lead yourself, know yourself and lead yourself, to constantly try and be less selfish in your relationships, to give dignity always, to build bridges for those who are most different from you with empathy, especially the more privilege you have, the more bridges you need to build. And the idea of conducting experiments on yourself and all around. And so I think that was a real foundational experience and continues to be a huge inspiration for me today. Outside of that, you know, managers like Roger Irwin when I was at Willis Towers Watson, David Jacob at Henderson Global Investors, you know, Robin Dowd, who I’ve mentioned before, and today actually my team, my my deputy CEO Zoe Taylor, my COO Lee Georges, my CFO Phil Symes, and they’re incredible at keeping me honest, in holding me to account, at, you know, complementing my weaknesses and supporting and challenging. So yeah, I’ve just been very, very fortunate to have great people around me who’ve really cared and cared enough to give me the tough feedback and help me get better.
Aoifinn Devitt: And you’ve mentioned a lot of wonderful mottos or creeds, even there in some of the people who’ve shared them with you. How would you say, sum up a motto or creed that you live by?
Mitesh: It’s really hard to pick one. If I had to, I’d say the idea that’s lived with me for a long time is the idea that if you don’t stretch your limits, You set your limits. And really this idea of continuous improvement and growth and learning. And again, it’s a deeply spiritual idea, but this idea of constantly testing and stretching your limits. If I’m allowed a second one, I’d say more recently, I’d love the idea of if you’ve done what you’ve— if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. And both are related, but very much speak to the heart of what inspires me.
Aoifinn Devitt: They are particularly relevant as well, especially that second one. But just as we’re facing an uncertain future, I mean, there’s every reason to think that what we’ve always done is just not going to work in the new reality. So we’re forced to improvise, forced to change. And I think that having some comfort that that’s actually the secret to success is important. You’ve referenced spirituality quite a lot in our discussion. And I’d just be really curious, I don’t ask everyone this, but it seems that you probably have a lot of other interests. Outside work, maybe you read widely, that, and that you may get some inspiration from that for your management style. Is there anything that you can share with us?
Mitesh: Sure. Yeah, I mean, outside, I mean, I’m a father of 3 children and 3 teenagers now, and that’s a challenging and wonderful journey and takes up a lot of time outside of work and time with my wife and my parents and and family. But yeah, I’d say the biggest interest outside of work really is spirituality and as a result of that, social development. So I’ve been involved with a spiritual-based charity called Swadhyaya, which in Sanskrit means the study of yourself and the discovery of yourself. And you know, I’ve, I actually learned about leadership through being a youth leader., you know, initially to 50 and then a few hundred young people in London and across the UK. That’s where I learned, you know, all my foundational stuff about leadership before I ever managed or led anyone at work. And over the years, that’s continued to be a huge source of energy and inspiration and effort for me, whether that’s, you know, organizing speech competitions or youth retreats or performances. I wanted to be an actor when I I was, when was young and was thinking of going to drama school. But today, the closest I come to that is, you know, working with young people to write plays and put on performances and really help them use that to overcome their fears and insecurities. So, yeah, that’s a huge kind of source of energy and fulfillment for me.
Aoifinn Devitt: And speaking of young people, my last question is, is there any advice that you would have today for your younger self?
Mitesh: It’s hard. I think, what would I say to my younger self? I’d probably like to just fast-track what I’ve learned later in my career by telling myself I don’t need to be defined by my circumstances and my past. I don’t need to try so hard to blend in and fit in. I remember as a younger person, and certainly as starting out my career, being told, you know, often that you’re too nice or too sensitive or too considered or soft to really ever be a leader or be successful or otherwise. And, you know, I wish I could go back and say to myself, you know, just be yourself. Don’t try and be someone else that, you know, everybody else has taken. And it’ll be okay. Keep learning, keep experimenting. I guess all of those things I wish I kind of— I feel like I’ve stumbled across them and learned as I’ve gone along, and I certainly spent a long period of my life feeling like an outsider and not fitting in and desperately trying to at school, at university, and at work.
Aoifinn Devitt: Well, thank you so much for those words, and I will say in the industry, I really think you are the embodiment of so much of of what we’re told today to look for in a leader— authenticity, empathy, someone who really lives their values, and a good heavy dose of humility. And I think I really have learned so much from this conversation. Thank you very much, Mitesh, for sharing your insights with us.
Mitesh: No, it’s been such a pleasure. Thank you for taking me through that journey.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’m Aoifinn Devitt. Thank you for listening to the 50 Faces Podcast. If you liked what you heard and would like to tune in to hear more inspiring investors and their personal journeys, Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, and all views are personal and should not be attributed to the organizations and affiliations of the host or any guest.
Aoifinn Devitt: If you don’t stretch your limits, you set your limits. How does giving dignity always, frequent reflective practice, and our experimental fail-fast approach to change act as a guide to sustainable and successful leadership? Let’s find out next. I’m Aoifinn Devitt, and welcome to the 50 Faces podcast, a podcast committed to revealing the richness and diversity of the world of investment by focusing on its people and their stories. I’m joined today by Mitesh Seth, who is CEO of Redington, a leading investment consulting and technology firm based in London, where he has spent almost 8 years, 4.5 of them as CEO. He started his career as an investment analyst in consulting and has held various roles in an asset management firm and in his own strategy and innovation consulting business. Welcome, Atesh. Thank you for joining me today.
Mitesh: Thanks so much for having me.
Aoifinn Devitt: Let’s talk through your journey into the investment world, starting with your background. And did it take any surprising turns along the way?
Mitesh: Yeah, it was definitely not a straight line as it is often drawn. So where do I begin? My grandmother— so my grandparents came from India to Africa, and then my parents were raised in Africa and then came as immigrants into the UK. In practice, I was raised by some incredible women, from my grandmother who was widowed and had 8 children, you know, my working mum, my aunts who were a mixture of kind of a house with 8 people, 8, maybe more, 10 people living in it, from IT to chemistry to to, you know, to corner shops and security guards. We kind of had everything in the house and the environment that I grew up in. So it was an interesting way to grow up. I grew up in Bolton near Manchester, went to India for a few years in my primary school, and then later came to Crawley in West Sussex where I did my secondary schooling. And so on. So that was kind of beginning of life and background for me, and I was an only child, kind of really a bit shy, a bit awkward, thinking about how I might do in the world of work and so on. I remember when I was at school just having no idea what that world looked like. I was very fortunate actually because my introduction to being an actuary and/or the world of finance actually came on a summer youth camp where I was in the Lake District on this summer camp and one of the volunteers I got talking to was an actuary and said it was something I should consider. I talked about it to my teacher and they didn’t really know what that was, but the more I looked into it, the more it intrigued I was. I actually ended up going and studying actuarial science and thanks to his kindness and introduction, got a chance to have an internship at Aon. So yeah, none of that seemed particularly linear or in line with any plans, but yeah, that was kind of my entry into the world of investment consulting, investment management. And I think since then, you know, various, interesting twists and turns along the way. So I started out working as, as someone who’s married. So I got married when I was still at university, which made me a bit unusual. I didn’t drink, which made me very unusual to the cohort of grads that I started with. I was an introvert and, you know, generally found it quite hard to fit in, especially not being part of that whole I guess, young, outgoing, drinking culture. So I had to find other ways of fitting in and other ways of trying to network and get to know people and to build the relationships that didn’t come as easily. But I think over the course of my career, I had phenomenal managers, mentors, leaders who often saw more in me than I saw in myself. And gave me the confidence to, you know, to push harder, to try further, to work on some of you know, my, my, my areas of weakness and really have the opportunities that I had over the course of that. So yeah, so that was Aon, Willis Towers Watson, Henderson Global Investors, a short stint being self-employed as a consultant, through to Reddington.
Aoifinn Devitt: And what prompted you to, to set out on your own into your own consulting firm after Henderson?
Mitesh: If I’m really honest, it was just a realization as I grew through that organization. I was very fortunate. I must have been 28 or 29 when I got the chance to lead the fixed income business at Henderson, facing huge imposter syndrome issues. But my manager, David Jacob, had huge faith in me in doing that. And I had the privilege of leading this fantastic team. Through the financial crisis and through the other side, and we performed very well and did well for our clients and had a real chance to influence the wider agenda, the strategic agenda at Henderson, and be part of its, its wider leadership. So for all intents and purposes, everything was going fine. But I think the more I looked around, I didn’t see, you know, many others like myself. I felt that I’d done a huge amount of work on myself to fit in But the challenge of fitting in is often you can feel that you’re not being authentic with who you are. And I’d also had 3 children in the meantime and just felt, having grown up largely raising myself, you know, with my parents who were working really all hours to make ends meet, I just wasn’t sure. I was worried I was sleepwalking into something that wasn’t deliberate and wasn’t my choice. I just needed to pause, take a break, ask myself, you know, what was important to me in life, what relationship I wanted with my children, how I could support my wife and my family. So yeah, so I ended up working 4 days a week and term time only as a strategy consultant, which was great for those few years when my kids were young.
Aoifinn Devitt: And moving now to your role as CEO at Redington, I’d love to talk a little bit about your approach to that because I’ve seen some of your LinkedIn posts and one of them you spoke about how you reflect on your decisions and keep essentially a diary or a log of your CEO role. Can you tell us a little bit more about that process?
Mitesh: Yeah, sure. I think the journaling and reflecting started in earnest around— I’m trying to think now— about halfway through my career. I’d never come across the idea of Johari’s window until my first leadership offsite, which kind of was this sense of what are the things you know about yourself and that others know about you, but what are the things that others know about you that you don’t know about you, these kind of blind spots? And the only way to access those blind spots is by seeking feedback. And it was a real revelation. It just wasn’t something I thought about. And I looked back and reflected on a lot of the feedback I’d had over the course of my career that, I just hadn’t had a way of processing. But once I got hooked on the idea of seeking out that tough feedback, really trying to understand my blind spots, and journaling became a way of almost reducing that feedback loop so that I could keep reflecting on how I was doing and what I needed to do better and how to iterate. So journaling’s been a great way of just kind of developing, iterating, evolving myself, but also for my mental health. As CEO, lots of people talk about it being a lonely place, and I, I’m fortunate to have a fantastic team around me with whom, you know, I can be very open. But nonetheless, it’s just fantastic being able to sit down and write in a journal and really ask yourself honestly and openly why you did what you did, whether you could have done things differently, whether you could have done things better, or whether you got some feedback, how you can go about changing that. I just continue to find it an incredibly valuable way of staying alert, of continuing to learn and grow.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’m curious about that deliberate process of trying to get more feedback. Did you encounter any kind of reticence around the people who you asked for feedback? I mean, maybe were they uncomfortable giving the kind of vigorous level of feedback that you were looking for?
Mitesh: I think, I mean, let’s be honest, human beings don’t really like giving tough feedback and definitely don’t like receiving it either. So it definitely requires and required for me, I think in my earlier career, I was very defensive when I got tough feedback. And yeah, I can’t say I listened very well to it and kind of thought I was right and knew better. But having acknowledged that I wanted to get it and that it was critical to my development, really over the second half of my career, I’ve just been experimenting with it. And this is true for everything really. And I’ve learned, and I’m going to be talking to the firm about this just next week actually, My learnings are that if you want to get feedback, you’ve first got to create permission. You’ve got to let people know that can, you you’re looking for that feedback and that you’re keen to get it. Secondly, you’ve got to remind them that you’re not just looking for a pat on the back, you’re actually looking for constructive feedback. Thirdly, it’s quite helpful to say what specifically you’re working on. You know, what are your areas of development and where feedback can be specifically helpful. As leaders, it’s very hard to get feedback. But if you can say, hey, I’m trying to get better at not jumping to the answer and letting people figure things out themselves, do you have any feedback on that, on how I’m doing? Then it’s easier for someone to give you that more specific and timely feedback. So, yeah, we’ve been doing quite a bit of work on it. We’re just launching something called feedback profiles next week where all of us as leaders in the business are sharing how we like to receive feedback, what the best way of delivering that to us, and what it is that we’d like feedback on. To make it easier to give feedback upwards and, and, and to each other.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’d love to check back with you in a year or 18 months to see how that process has you know, improved, the— just the culture. I think it’s a very interesting approach. On the topic of it, you mentioned experimenting at the outset, and I think your approach to innovation is one of experiment and fail fast. Can you talk a little bit more about that and how that translates into a business context?
Mitesh: Sure. I don’t know if it’s my background and upbringing or if it’s kind of my kind of spirituality, but when my sense— and this has always been reasonably instinctive— that when you’re trying to deal with intractable or difficult problems, as we are in the world and in the world of business today, you just have to be willing to test, experiment, fail, and learn. There’s only so long that you can debate something and discuss it. You’ve just got to be able to go out and try and validate your thesis and get out of your echo chamber and see what actually works and land. The reality is there is no book to read. No one’s done it before. So experimentation is the only way. So I think for me, it’s very much about whether it’s innovation or growth or strategy or really even kind of any type of growth and development, you’ve got to be open to learning, open to challenge, and open to diverse perspectives. And that’s really the heart of innovation. I think part of that really begins with recognizing that you can’t be right, you don’t need to be right, and instead to be curious and be ready to learn and unlearn. So in a sense, for me, it’s a very spiritual journey.
Aoifinn Devitt: And of course, if you have a culture of feedback, then you quickly get the feedback on those experiments, and you can either do more of the same or abandon them. So I suppose It’s all kind of feeding into each other.
Mitesh: Yeah, it does take a little bit of a— you do need the risk appetite to be able to do that, right? And I often wonder where that comes from for me, especially as I see others and work with others who are more reticent to do so. There’s definitely— you’ve got to be comfortable failing and getting things wrong to be able to do that. But it’s critical. It’s the only way to venture into new ground.
Aoifinn Devitt: And speaking of new ground, you’re a leader facing a hopefully a post-pandemic world and certainly what that means for the workplace. What areas do you think you’ll be experimenting on now as we look at maybe a new way of doing work?
Mitesh: Yeah, yeah, spot on. The only way to figure this out is by experimentation. So we feel like we’ve had a reasonable experiment of having everybody work remotely, and actually the feedback from our people and from our clients has been phenomenal in terms of how well the business has adapted to remote working, remote delivery, and our service levels and engagement levels are kind of even stronger than they were before we went into the first lockdown. So I guess that experiment has worked reasonably well in lots of iterations along the way from the whole firm. As we sit here today, it’s very hard to answer the question, what does it look like post-COVID, post-pandemic in any sense of the word? And the experiment we still haven’t done and need to do is what does a mixed hybrid world look like, right? So as we open the office, hopefully later in March and start to have some people come back and by June have more people come back, hopefully, We’ll start to see what an office environment and working in collaboration looks like when some people are in the office, some are sitting around the table, and some are dialing in virtually. And how do we make the same progress and the same success as we’ve done when we’re all remote, right? When there’s half the people sitting around a table and half on a video call or an audio call, does the chair need to be virtual for that to work? Can they be in the room and make sure that they’re inclusive to everyone on the call? What are the limits and boundaries and constraints around that? So we definitely see that as the next phase and the next kind of area of experimentation before we can really conclude what kind of a medium-term next phase normality looks like for us. But when I survey the firm and when we talk to them today, The sense is there are some who definitely want to work in the office 5 days a week. There are some who would be happy to never come into the office again. But the vast majority of people do want to work in some kind of hybrid working, coming into the office between 2 and 4 days a week. And so that’s going to need us to get really masterful in, in that kind of hybrid model. And we have little experience of that yet, even though we’ve been working remotely for a year.
Aoifinn Devitt: It’s interesting actually how many people have sort of said they’ve come out with foregone conclusions about how the workplace is going to be, but when you’re absolutely right, there’s so much we don’t know and are learning. And I guess the other thing is, you know, the longer this goes on, forced remote working, the less appetite people have for it. Too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. And it’s— you’re right, I think it’s just, it’s all about kind of looking and working with what we know in the moment and experimenting. At Reddington, you speak about celebrating a culture of difference, and you certainly strive to create a sense of belonging. What does that mean to you, a difference, celebrating difference?
Mitesh: Yeah, so a quick story, if you don’t mind. One of the leadership offsites I was at and fortunate enough to be invited to when I was at Henderson saw us sit around a table and do a piece of work around social styles. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one of those DISC color charts.
Aoifinn Devitt: I certainly have.
Mitesh: And I was— there was one individual in the team who I really struggled to work with and collaborate with, despite really wanting to. And what was, again, incredibly illuminating when we did this exercise was that we actually sat on polar opposites of that. I was bright yellow and he was bright blue. Blue or dark blue. And, um, you know, the, the trainer said, hey, look, if, if for whoever these two people are, you’re gonna find it incredibly difficult to communicate with each other, to even understand where each other’s coming from. Uh, and and we, we both, you know, know, you found ourselves laughing and talking to each other afterwards to say, well, is, you know, and, and his message was that that person will be the source of your greatest development. If only you can get past your communication and social styles. And so we really took it as a challenge to say, how can we understand each other better? Recognizing that intent is good, ability is good, we’re on the same team, but we’re simply unable to understand and communicate with each other. And, you know, we entered into what was one of our most productive commercial and kind of broader relationship off the back of that. And it really left me open and kind of curious about this idea of seeking out views and people that are most different to you, the ones who you find most to difficult find, the ones who you struggle with the most. And instead of approaching them with anxiety or judgment, approaching them with curiosity, um, because done well, you will be a huge source of development for each other. So that’s really the, you know, one of the— probably not the origin of it, but, but, but a real kind of leap forward in my own understanding of that. And I think forever since, I am definitely wired to seek out difference when I’m trying to make a decision, when I’m trying to understand something, I’m searching for the opposing view or someone who disagrees or someone in a day-to-day working capacity that I struggle with and really go against my human instinct to run away or to hide and instead to run towards and to be curious and learn.
Aoifinn Devitt: And what does that mean then for Reddington as a firm in terms of your recruiting policy? Are you looking for certain targets at this stage in terms of diversity?
Mitesh: I think when we look at diversity and inclusion across our firm, I think we began with inclusion. That’s absolutely critical. There’s, you know, there’s not a huge amount of value of just increasing your pipeline and attraction of talent if you don’t create an environment in which diversity can thrive. So I’d say again, the founders of this business, I know you know them well, Rob Gardner and Dawid Konoteya-Hulu, did a fantastic job of creating an entrepreneurial environment that valued differences of opinion and cognitive diversity. We’ve tried to expand that definition of diversity to both visible and invisible forms of diversity, and also, you know, specifically into gender, race, and ethnicity. As well as kind of social background, education, sexuality, etc. And, but that the starting point of that has been kind of creating this culture of curiosity and learning and an environment in which people are able to seek out those differences and leverage those differences alongside expanding the pipeline of talent We’re hiring at junior, mid, and senior levels. So, it’s been a very systematic and considered effort across all those levels. Kind of, I think about it in 3 pillars. You’ve got your kind of inclusion culture. You’ve got your attraction of diversity. And then your retention, promotion, progression supported by your processes and your tools and technology.
Aoifinn Devitt: I think it’s interesting looking back at your own story. You mentioned not drinking alcohol and maybe being married when many of your peers were not, and that maybe set you somewhat apart. And it seems that when we talked earlier, you spoke about going for coffees instead of for drinks, and that that was your way of ensuring that you formed bonds and formed a sense of belonging. Maybe that has informed your, I suppose, visceral sense as to how to create belonging within Readington?
Mitesh: Yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean, I think a big part, I would say Readington, and when I speak to people who work here and have worked here for a long time and I ask them what keeps them here and what they love about working here, it definitely comes back to a sense of belonging, being part of something special, feeling like they can be themselves and people are interested in their differences. Somewhere where they have the autonomy to perform and learn and so on. So there’s definitely something there. I think it’s partly a culture of generosity where people are willing to give time and share with each other, whether that is over coffees in one-to-one, whether that’s in smaller groups, all the way through to, as I said earlier, having and trusting that the leadership has your best interests at heart and the processes, whether they’re the pay and promotion committees or the board and line managers are constantly trying to challenge and improve themselves. And just trying to create an environment where you do have that kind of constant paranoia about retaining psychological safety, ensuring it’s an environment in which people can speak up and challenge. So one of the ways we’ve done that is actually a thing we call perspectives. So every quarter, We invite some of the most diverse perspectives within the firm to share what it’s like to walk in their shoes, what it is, how it feels to work for them, and how to get the best out of them. You know, and it’s a three-line whip. The whole firm comes and listens and is really moved to hear and understand and walk in the shoes of these different perspectives. And I think we’re all, when we do that, blown away by just how many people come to us and want to know more and and, and, and have found it illuminating in understanding why we do some of the things we do and how they can work better with us.
Aoifinn Devitt: That does sound like a very effective and refreshing approach. You mentioned a lot of reflective practice that you engage in, and I usually ask people about any mistakes they’ve made in the past and lessons they’ve learned from them, or any setbacks. Is there anything that you can share?
Mitesh: Yeah, I’ve got so many. How many do you want to limit me to?
Aoifinn Devitt: Let’s just go with two, but we we can, can follow up for the others.
Mitesh: I think, let me run through a couple and then we’ll see. You can edit it to the ones you want to keep. I think earlier on in my career, my biggest mistakes were thinking I knew best, thinking I knew most or better, or thinking I was more creative or strategic than others. And I remember again, some of the most brutal feedback I had around that time was just really around, you know, Mitesh, when you leave it to your last-minute flash of brilliance, you stress everybody else around you out and make them anxious and worried about, you know, delivering the deadline or the presentation or the meeting or the client deliverable. And so you just need to be more considerate of the people around you and figure out a way of creating that urgency And getting that flash earlier on and taking others along in that journey with you was an important bit of feedback I had to really reflect on. And I didn’t see how I was making others feel. In a similar vein, really just learning a bit of humility and realizing that I only saw the world through one lens and with one view. And, you know, recognizing that there were so many other different perspectives that certainly earlier in my career, I didn’t value as much and wanting to, as a result of that, learning to bring them closer and to assemble a team of people who see the world differently and who can help you kind of deliver and execute. I remember one particular bit of feedback as well around that time being, hey, Mitesh, it doesn’t matter how good your strategic people and communication skills are, you’re so awful at administration and implementation. That unless you can pull those up to a tolerable level, no one’s going to be able to pay attention and draw the best out of your skills and capabilities. So tons of mistakes made in that space, but again, some very blunt, kind, and helpful feedback that helped me develop more humility, be more open to other ideas, others’ ideas, and actually learn to work as part of a team. Again, I grew up as an only child. I I hadn’t done much teamwork. Um, and you know, a lot of my, my start in life and so on was, was kind of making myself stand out rather than working with others. And I think that was a really important series of mistakes and lessons learned. Um, and I can say I’ve been, you know, completely transformed, uh, through that experience.
Aoifinn Devitt: And when you look back at people who’ve been influential in your life, and I think you’ve mentioned all these sources of wonderful actionable feedback. Are there any key people who you can mention who influenced you in a particular way?
Mitesh: Yeah, I’ve got to start at the beginning. I mean, the most influential in my life, uh, was a social reformer and spiritual teacher who’s no longer alive, a guy called Bandarang Shastri Atavale. So he was the winner of the 1997 Templeton Prize, and I came across him at the age of um, 16, and, um, by listening to his lectures. And, and I went after graduating to his his school in India. And I you learned, know, a handful of things to— that you have to lead yourself, know yourself and lead yourself, to constantly try and be less selfish in your relationships, to give dignity always, to build bridges for those who are most different from you with empathy, especially the more privilege you have, the more bridges you need to build. And the idea of conducting experiments on yourself and all around. And so I think that was a real foundational experience and continues to be a huge inspiration for me today. Outside of that, you know, managers like Roger Irwin when I was at Willis Towers Watson, David Jacob at Henderson Global Investors, you know, Robin Dowd, who I’ve mentioned before, and today actually my team, my my deputy CEO Zoe Taylor, my COO Lee Georges, my CFO Phil Symes, and they’re incredible at keeping me honest, in holding me to account, at, you know, complementing my weaknesses and supporting and challenging. So yeah, I’ve just been very, very fortunate to have great people around me who’ve really cared and cared enough to give me the tough feedback and help me get better.
Aoifinn Devitt: And you’ve mentioned a lot of wonderful mottos or creeds, even there in some of the people who’ve shared them with you. How would you say, sum up a motto or creed that you live by?
Mitesh: It’s really hard to pick one. If I had to, I’d say the idea that’s lived with me for a long time is the idea that if you don’t stretch your limits, You set your limits. And really this idea of continuous improvement and growth and learning. And again, it’s a deeply spiritual idea, but this idea of constantly testing and stretching your limits. If I’m allowed a second one, I’d say more recently, I’d love the idea of if you’ve done what you’ve— if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got. And both are related, but very much speak to the heart of what inspires me.
Aoifinn Devitt: They are particularly relevant as well, especially that second one. But just as we’re facing an uncertain future, I mean, there’s every reason to think that what we’ve always done is just not going to work in the new reality. So we’re forced to improvise, forced to change. And I think that having some comfort that that’s actually the secret to success is important. You’ve referenced spirituality quite a lot in our discussion. And I’d just be really curious, I don’t ask everyone this, but it seems that you probably have a lot of other interests. Outside work, maybe you read widely, that, and that you may get some inspiration from that for your management style. Is there anything that you can share with us?
Mitesh: Sure. Yeah, I mean, outside, I mean, I’m a father of 3 children and 3 teenagers now, and that’s a challenging and wonderful journey and takes up a lot of time outside of work and time with my wife and my parents and and family. But yeah, I’d say the biggest interest outside of work really is spirituality and as a result of that, social development. So I’ve been involved with a spiritual-based charity called Swadhyaya, which in Sanskrit means the study of yourself and the discovery of yourself. And you know, I’ve, I actually learned about leadership through being a youth leader., you know, initially to 50 and then a few hundred young people in London and across the UK. That’s where I learned, you know, all my foundational stuff about leadership before I ever managed or led anyone at work. And over the years, that’s continued to be a huge source of energy and inspiration and effort for me, whether that’s, you know, organizing speech competitions or youth retreats or performances. I wanted to be an actor when I I was, when was young and was thinking of going to drama school. But today, the closest I come to that is, you know, working with young people to write plays and put on performances and really help them use that to overcome their fears and insecurities. So, yeah, that’s a huge kind of source of energy and fulfillment for me.
Aoifinn Devitt: And speaking of young people, my last question is, is there any advice that you would have today for your younger self?
Mitesh: It’s hard. I think, what would I say to my younger self? I’d probably like to just fast-track what I’ve learned later in my career by telling myself I don’t need to be defined by my circumstances and my past. I don’t need to try so hard to blend in and fit in. I remember as a younger person, and certainly as starting out my career, being told, you know, often that you’re too nice or too sensitive or too considered or soft to really ever be a leader or be successful or otherwise. And, you know, I wish I could go back and say to myself, you know, just be yourself. Don’t try and be someone else that, you know, everybody else has taken. And it’ll be okay. Keep learning, keep experimenting. I guess all of those things I wish I kind of— I feel like I’ve stumbled across them and learned as I’ve gone along, and I certainly spent a long period of my life feeling like an outsider and not fitting in and desperately trying to at school, at university, and at work.
Aoifinn Devitt: Well, thank you so much for those words, and I will say in the industry, I really think you are the embodiment of so much of of what we’re told today to look for in a leader— authenticity, empathy, someone who really lives their values, and a good heavy dose of humility. And I think I really have learned so much from this conversation. Thank you very much, Mitesh, for sharing your insights with us.
Mitesh: No, it’s been such a pleasure. Thank you for taking me through that journey.
Aoifinn Devitt: I’m Aoifinn Devitt. Thank you for listening to the 50 Faces Podcast. If you liked what you heard and would like to tune in to hear more inspiring investors and their personal journeys, Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, and all views are personal and should not be attributed to the organizations and affiliations of the host or any guest.
