Spotlight On Podcast
Spotlight On Podcast
Spotlight On: Women in Leadership with Lynda Clarke, General Manager UK at Nayax
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In this episode of Spotlight On: Women in Leadership, we sit down with Lynda Clarke, General Manager UK at Nayax, to unpack what it really takes to lead in fintech.
Lynda highlights the need for listening before fixing, using emotional intelligence to build trust, and turning imposter syndrome into practical action. From Middle East boardrooms to inclusive hiring, Lynda maps the small steps that compound into lasting change, whilst advocating for diversity and inclusion in every organisation.
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Spotlight On, the Must Listen podcast series where visionary leaders, global executives, trollblazing entrepreneurs, and top-tier experts come together to share their inspiring stories and tackle the hottest issues facing businesses today. Brought to you by the BART Partnership, an award-winning global talent solution organization, we specialise in executive search, independent consulting, and consulting solutions for strategy through to execution. Our mission is to help businesses accelerate their growth by connecting them with world-class strategy and transformation talent. Tune in and join us as we shine a spotlight on the game changers and thought leaders who are shaping the future of business.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to this episode of Spotlight On for the Women and Leadership Podcast. This episode is titled Lesson from the Board Room and What I Wish I Knew Earlier. Today we're joined by Linda Clark, UK General Manager at NIAX, a global fintech delivering innovative payment solutions. Linda's career spent over 15 years in the payment industry across Europe and the Middle East, with leadership roles including COO at Tribe Payment, Chief Revenue Officer at Network International, and Senior Position at Barclays. She's been recognized among the top 50 women leaders in financial technology and the top 25 women leaders in Europe. In this conversation, we'll explore Linda's journey into the boardroom, the insights and challenges she's faced along the way, and her bold and strategic vision for the future. Known for her inspiring leadership and commitment to breaking down barriers for women in male-dominated industries, Linda is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She champions the idea that transformational change is driven by the compounding effects of small and meaningful improvement. So, Linda, welcome to Spotlight On. It's a real pleasure to have you with us. Thank you. Thanks for having me. First of all, I'd like to understand better your path to leadership. Could you describe what it was like? Was it planned or did it evolve organically?
SPEAKER_02It definitely wasn't planned. I mean, I didn't sit there in my teens and think, oh, you know what? I'm going to be a parents leader when I grow up. Actually, I think I wanted to be a vet when I was very young until I had decided what I uh didn't want to do that anymore when I found out what vets really do. My path to leadership was definitely organic. I didn't really have a linear career path at all. I think it was more about just following opportunities, being brave when needed to take those opportunities and take a few risks every now and then and say yes to things. I started in the leadership side feels quite a long time ago now, but certainly wasn't planned to answer your question. Definitely just taking opportunities, working really hard to succeed in those and trying to overcome any fears that might be
An Unplanned Path To Leadership
SPEAKER_02there to stop you from taking them.
SPEAKER_01That makes a lot of sense. I like when you say you needed to be brave when needed. Can you tell us about your first experience in a boardroom or leadership role?
SPEAKER_02My first experience in a boardroom, I actually don't really remember, if I'm honest, my very first experience. Maybe I've blocked it out, maybe it was just so long ago. I I don't remember the first time, but I do remember the feeling of stepping into boardrooms and to present to leadership forums before I was in the leadership roles as such. So I was kind of on my path there. And you know, we'd go and present an idea or something that needed to be heard and approved. And I do remember that feeling, and both of nervousness and excitement and adrenaline and trying to prep and work through what might be asked of you, and then actually it never being as bad as you think when you go in the room because everyone's just people at the end of the day. I do remember having a few boardroom or just leadership meetings or senior management meetings where I've walked in and been the only woman in the room, which is something that a lot of uh women in the industry will understand, and that can be quite intimidating. Having to have a voice in that is sometimes a little bit difficult. But I don't remember my very first time in the leadership room, but I do remember having lots of experiences that have taught me lessons in listen before you have an opinion. Make sure that you're not frightened to speak out if you do have an opinion and that your opinion matters, um, and to always be prepared. You know, good Girl Scout.
SPEAKER_01Is that one of the things you wish you had known before stepping into those rooms today? Looking back?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. I think there's so many learnings in leadership, um, whether it's stepping into the boardroom or the management meetings, leadership meetings, things I'd like to have known. I think being confident enough to challenge, even if you don't know all the answers, you know, you might get things
Early Boardroom Lessons And Voice
SPEAKER_02wrong. That was probably something I didn't do well for the first part of my career, is just assuming everyone knew better than me. I was in leadership roles from quite a young age, and I had this thought that, you know, if people were a bit older than me or had been around in the roles longer than me, that actually their opinions were perhaps more valid than mine. And in some cases it's absolutely true because they've built that experience through. And in others, it's not. And probably some of the biggest learnings I had was when I didn't really feel confident enough to have a voice in those moments and being okay that actually I might be wrong about something, even if I do challenge it. But sometimes challenging isn't because you believe it's wrong, it's because you don't understand something. And I think as long as you're doing it in the right way, that it should be acceptable to do that. So certainly I think my first learnings were probably that being able to feel confident enough to have a voice in the first place.
SPEAKER_01So when we cut up recently, uh you mentioned that in your your first few executive roles, the mistake you made was jumping into assumption and seeking challenge or changes too quickly. You spoke about an absorption phase. Can you explain to me what that means and how you learn from it?
SPEAKER_02It's probably some of my biggest learnings is you you start gathering experience and you do become what you consider more expert in your field and your role, and then you go into an organization as perhaps someone that knows quite a lot about the subject, but you can jump to conclusions really quickly thinking that way. One of the things that I really, really am conscious because I'm one of these that likes to solve problems. So I like to go in and I like to run and solve all the problems. But the reality is you can't solve the problems until you really understand the problem. And I think some of the mistakes that I've made and I've seen others make many times, is they go in with all good intentions. We're all very motivated when we start new roles, or we should be anyway, and going in trying to solve those problems before you've actually spent time getting to understand what they are, why they are there and what's happened. And so I think when you start in a new role, whether it's an internal move or a new company, it's really, really good to absorb when you go in. Spend a few months just really learning and absorbing. Of course, there'll be things you have to sort out quicker, um, and you won't have the benefit of being able to do that. But as much as you can absorb information around you. And I have this theory that any assumptions that I make in the first few months in a role, I kind of write them down and put them in my fake box. It's not really a box, but you know, you put them in the box, and then a few months later you get them out. And if those assumptions are still real, that they're probably knee resolving and sorting out. Often, probably 50-60% of those assumptions are probably vanished because actually you start to learn about different things and understand the context around things. So I think it's really, really important to have that absorbing stage in the beginning of any role that you're going into to allow yourself time to really understand the problem deeply.
SPEAKER_01It comes across as emotional intelligence as well. Do you think it has a big place in leadership roles or boardroom success?
SPEAKER_02Oh gosh, yeah. I think leading people is all about emotional intelligence, right? I would never claim to be the most intelligent at all, but we can learn new things, right? We can learn them. It's really hard to learn people and understand people. And if you cannot, as a leader, adapt your style to be able to work through what motivates different individuals, what doesn't, and you know, culturally as well, like understanding different
Confidence, Challenge, And Being Wrong
SPEAKER_02cultures, many different, even male to female, you know, everybody is is so different in the backgrounds. And if you're unable to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, I think that that is not going to make a great leader. So I think my opinion is emotional intelligence is often more important than IQ. Like you can hire really good, smart people, but you can't lead if you don't have good emotional intelligence, certainly not successfully, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01Tell me about self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Did you experience it earlier in your career? How did you handle it?
SPEAKER_02Yes, I still have it now. Now it's not about early career. I think I definitely still have imposter syndrome. And do you know what? Every leader that I speak to, it doesn't matter if they're male, they're female, everyone has it in some form. And I think it's okay, actually. I think the way to handle it is just accept that it's normal. And actually, if my ego was so big that I believed I was brilliant at everything, I probably would be just barging around doing the wrong things all the time. So I think it's okay to have imposter syndrome. You don't want it to overwhelm you and consume you and stop you from doing things. So you have to find that balance of just accepting that it's absolutely normal and that everybody has it. But trying to think logically, you know, I always say, and I think I annoy lots of people, well, you know, what's the worst that's gonna happen by doing this? And really think about what is the worst that's gonna happen by doing this? Can I say yes? What's the worst that's gonna happen if I say yes to this? And really, most of the time, the imposter syndrome is totally us being completely irrationally hard on ourselves and not real. Um, and we always go to the disaster zone rather than actually the logical zone. So just taking a step back, thinking very logically, you know, what is the worst that's gonna happen? And really, is that really gonna happen? And then kind of talking yourself out of that. But it's gonna happen. And I'd be more if I didn't have it from speaking to people. Most people have this. And I think it becomes that balance and guide of, you know, step back actually, you think about things a bit more, you step back and really um accept that you don't know everything. So you maybe study a bit harder, or you prep a little bit more, or you put that extra effort in, and maybe that's actually what makes us succeed.
SPEAKER_01Talking about mindsets, uh, what personal habits or mindsets have helped you to grow as a leader, a team leader, even?
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's a good question. Do you know I think people know that I have this like 1% mantra, and and it's in many books as well, that you can read about real change doesn't come overnight. It doesn't come from one big thing. Of course, sometimes it does, right? There are always exceptions, but normally change comes from a series of things. Um, all of those little things that we do every day. So if we're thinking about how do we, whether it's leadership or anything you just want to succeed in, what are we doing every day just
The Absorption Phase Over Quick Fixes
SPEAKER_02to move that needle 1%? If you can move it 10%, great. If you can only move it half percent, great. But as long as it's not going backwards, then then there we go. And I think each day it's did I get through all my to-do list today? No, never do. Never do all the things that you want to do on your list. But did I do some things that move the needle 1% each time? And I think that's how I tend to approach things, so coming into new roles or into something I need to change, actually breaking that down into executable 1% of things that I need to do. That's what really moves the needle. I think that's that's how I try and push my, I guess, my mantra and the habits that I try and form.
SPEAKER_01You've spent five years working in the Middle East. What cultural difference changed your approach?
SPEAKER_02So I've worked across multiple different um geographies. Middle East was really interesting for me. Obviously, it's harder to maybe be a woman in some respects in a working environment there. Luckily, I had very supportive um senior managements and team. But of course, I would walk into a room and it'd be me and 20 men, you know, and they are also nervous of that as well as me. Um, so it's about reading the room, it's about earning respect, I suppose, in showing that you actually know what you're talking about, having a voice, not being afraid to have a voice. There's no point sitting in the room if you're not contributing to it. So I think having a voice that really helped me to build confidence to have a voice. Learnings from it are so many. Uh we go back to that emotional intelligence question, um, coming back to how do you deal with different cultures. It's really just understanding that not everybody has the same perspective and that you need to understand those perspectives. And actually, the more culturally you aware you are, the more you let in perspectives, um, the better decisions that get made. So I think it's just being culturally aware, understanding that we come from different backgrounds and different ways of thinking, and that's okay, and that not everyone has to think the same way. That really did help me, I think, in then being able to manage different types of teams over the years, because after the Middle East, I then managed teams across the globe, but remotely, you know. So actually then having that experience of different cultures helped me to build those relationships and actually understand how to do that as well. So I think I got so many learnings from living there in just different ways that things were. It was incredibly interesting.
SPEAKER_01So you were recently globally recognized as top 50 uh women leaders in financial technology in your field. It's a huge accomplishment. Congratulations, by the way. Thank you. Uh can you describe to me the responsibilities that come with that title? Do you feel any platform responsibilities that you can use to champion or mentor other women in leadership position or in your own team, maybe?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean it was a huge honor. Actually, I found out that by accident. It was a random finding out. So someone I listened to. So yeah, so I'd already been listed as the top 25 EU one, I think the year before, which was very exciting. And then someone then sent me a message saying, Oh, congratulations for winning this uh or being on this list. And I was like, I have no idea what they're talking about. So um I had to go research it myself. But yeah, you know what, with all of these things, and I do a lot of speaking and mentoring, um, and with all of them, it's a great honour to be able to do. And it of course comes with an element of responsibility because I want to show people they can and the right ways of doing things and support people in doing that. I've been very fortunate that I've had a great team, great
Emotional Intelligence Over IQ
SPEAKER_02leadership, great mentors, and I just want to make sure that I pay that back, I suppose, um, to others. So I do lots of mentoring and coaching, and and hopefully um that helps others in some way.
SPEAKER_01What's the one thing you've learned from mentoring other young women?
SPEAKER_02Younger women, and this is quite general. Um, so forgive me if if uh it comes across incorrectly, but some of the younger women that I mentor now have a lot more confidence than I did, which is really nice to see. So they're less afraid of being of challenging or sitting in a room with with lots of men. I'm not saying they don't find it daunting, but they seem to be able to find their voice very easily than I did at the beginning. And and I think that's a really positive sign of things shifting slightly. There's also a lot more forums now for people to practice, you know, like there are a lot of these forums that didn't exist or weren't that well known years ago, and they are now, and we do lots of work like the EWPN and Women's Impayments and so on. So there's loads of different forums that people can go to, and it I think it helps get their confidence, um, they can speak at them. Um, so I think all of those things are coming together. So that's really exciting and really good to see.
SPEAKER_01So, knowing what you know now and what you just told me about confidence in younger women and how you might not have that amount when you were younger, what would you tell yourself today? Could go back and give yourself a message on this.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I'm not I'm not sure I'd change anything massively because I do believe that you go through things to learn, right? So I don't want to think that I would have changed massive things because actually everything that went wrong provided me an opportunity to do something different or all right in the future. But if I was to give snippets, I would say sometimes slow down, slow down and just learn. You don't always need to be biting the heels for the next thing. Sometimes you just need to slow down and learn, and actually that learning process is is what you need to go through to achieve more and have a voice just because someone has been doing something longer than you doesn't mean that you don't have a valid opinion about something and being confident enough to do that, but also be able to take the feedback, right? So sometimes you'll be wrong, and sometimes you need to work through that, and it's okay to get that feedback and use
Handling Imposter Syndrome Pragmatically
SPEAKER_02it. So they would probably be my little bits of advice, and you can't change the world overnight, you have to do it step by step. Yeah, that one percent. That is a really good thing to think about. You know, take your time, work through that day by day, one percent.
SPEAKER_01How can women support each other more effectively in the leadership spaces?
SPEAKER_02Lifting each other up, giving um platforms to other women. I see this all the time now, though. I think really the movement is happening. Of course, it can happen more, but if you go to some of these women events in payments, I'm really impressed by what I see. People are giving platforms to others, they're mentoring, coaching, guiding, and I think they're all the right things. And if all of us could just make a commitment that, you know, every year we do two or three things that support another woman, imagine that, right? If you can do it even more, then great. I actually think a lot of these things are happening from a lot of people, but it is, I think it's just making sure that we think about that intentionally, doing it rather than waiting for someone to ask you.
SPEAKER_01What about in a company, in an organization, to build inclusive leadership pipeline? Do you think there's steps that should be taken by those organizations or all organizations?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think there's still a lot of work to do there. I think, whether it be from recruitment and thinking about how do we actually attract more female talent in the first place. I mean, there was a stat that I was in a conference a couple of weeks ago, and there was, and I can't remember the exact data stats and stuff, but there's actually in lower and middle management, female is is quite dominant, you know, it's fairly evenly split, I think. If not even, it's not a it's not a million miles away. But it's as we get into the executive levels that it really declines, right? So it's really declines in the kind of senior leadership and executive side. And I think companies need to ask themselves, why is that? Sometimes it's because obviously the women have the babies, right? Like it's nature. And of course, policies are starting to support fathers also supporting them. But do you, as an organisation, support fathers as well as we do mothers? Do we think about when a mother's returning back to work, how terrifying that is for that mother at that moment? And how vulnerable they feel, and do they have the right support networks in place to be able to come back? Because I remember going back to work after having my twins. All you've done is think about babies for a month, and suddenly you wonder and self-doubt on that imposter syndrome comes in of coming back into the working environment. Who's there to support that woman to tell her, you know, that's normal, that's okay. This is how you're going to feel to start with, and all the guilt that comes with it. Are there support networks within your organization that allow that? Because that's one of the reasons there are less women in the top. It's not the only reason. Are we sponsoring and advocating the women that could do those roles in the same way as
The 1 Percent Mantra For Progress
SPEAKER_02we are some of the men? Honestly, I'm not sure if everyone is, because you need a sponsor in the organization if you want to step up into different roles that encourages everyone to see the good ofin you. And women also need to push for sponsors. So that's what a lot of the mentoring and coaching kind of do. Who's your sponsor and how are you using that within your organization? And I think there's lots of things that people need to sit down and think why, you know, if we've got all these women in middle management, how is it so uneven at leadership and executive? And where are we losing them? And I think more needs to be done there.
SPEAKER_01I recently read your article, The Power of Diverse Perspective in Business, which move beyond the simple definition of diversity to explore the high cost of homogeneous thinking. What action can a leader take this week to encourage inclusion and psychological safety in their team?
SPEAKER_02That article itself is about diversity not being just a tick box, but actually how do we live and breathe inclusion? Because I think diversity without inclusion is null and void, right? And and vice versa, I guess. But for me, it's not about ticking boxes, right? It's not about how many women do you have, how many men do you have, how many do you have of this ethnicity, how many do you have from this background? Is have you got someone who's disabled? Have you got someone who's neurodiverse? It's not about the tick boxes. We should be able to answer yes to all of those things because we need diverse perspectives in our organization. And I think I mentioned earlier one of my cultural learnings was actually how powerful different perspectives can be, because you can make better decisions because you take on lots of different opinions from people. And otherwise, we only look through our own perspective. And naturally we hire people who are like us because we're easier to it's easier for us to fit with someone or manage them. But actually, to get the best teams, you need people who are not all like you, you need lots of different people, which is what inclusion is. And that article is really about how limiting perspectives, so only hiring people like you, makes you make worse decisions. So a few things, I suppose. What can you do today? It's not probably just today, but how do you make sure you first of all you have a diverse team that feel included? So they're actually included and they're part of the decision and their opinions matter. So if you have the diverse team already, how are you making sure you're listening to all of the different perspectives around you and making sure that people have the ability to give those perspectives? Because not everyone's going to speak out without a forum to do so, and that doesn't necessarily mean in an open room with loads of people in. How are you collecting those perspectives? And if you don't have a diverse team, how are you going to diversify the perspectives that you have in when you're making decisions?
SPEAKER_01So you're clearly a strong advocate for diversity and equity, like we've mentioned before. You're not afraid to push the boundaries as well. What kind of legacy do you hope to have and
Leading Across Cultures In The Middle East
SPEAKER_01leave behind with this work?
SPEAKER_02I never thought about this question before. You know, I'm so far away from having to leave it hopefully. Of course you are. I like to create good leaders, right? So I like to give people the tools and the platforms to be able to be the very best they can be. And I think for me, knowing that people who have worked for me or I've mentored or coached are able to step up into the positions that they want to step up to, that will be perfect for me.
SPEAKER_01Earlier you spoke about walking into rooms and being the only uh woman there. In your opinion, what is the main obstacle we find to have better female representation, leadership role across financial services here or elsewhere? What are the biggest challenges that need more visibility?
SPEAKER_02I think there's no one single answer there. I think companies need to look why they're losing some of their stuff and how they can do that, or how people are getting stuck and not being able to move up the the ranks. And so I think that's one thing. I actually think as well, there's an element where we need to treat men equally also. So there's still this thing that women look after the kids, and if the kids are sick, the woman's okay to go and get them, but the man feels they can't, and that happens, right? And I think as leaders, we need to make sure actually parents are treated the same. It doesn't matter if it's the male nor the woman, because obviously if they're both working, at some point that will happen. So I think there's that. If you're talking more about the boardroom and people challenges there, I just think we need to make sure everyone has the ability to feel comfortable to speak piece earlier, where sitting in a room where you're maybe one of the only woman or maybe one of two women and a lot more men, we we think differently, right? And that's good. That's a really good thing. You don't want all women either. You need the broader perspectives, but it's everybody recognizing that everybody's opinion matters and everyone has a different perspective, being able to feel confident enough and comfortable enough to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01What's a clear sign to you if you walk into an organization that they made it, that they get it, that they're part of this change?
SPEAKER_02There's a few things. So, one, you would have women in the leadership, and not just women, but a really diverse leadership team. Um so that's obviously one thing that you could see. But also policies and policies like um do they have the right maternity and paternity and parental pieces? Do they have mentoring schemes and coaching schemes? How are they doing that? How do they do their recruitment? That side of things is all very important. Do they invest in certain things like International Women's Day, diversity events? Is it are all the things they do only about the sectors that they look at? Or do they actually think about industry and how do they make their industry better? So do they do um some of the diversity forums? Do they sponsor certain things? You know, that that's the side of things I I also look for.
SPEAKER_01And to finish this off, what's the best advice you've ever received from a federal leader when maybe you were mentored or from somebody you look up to?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I I could take this in two ways, but hire people smarter than you. I I could take that as I'm not that smart, so I should hire people smarter than me. Or in in the vein, I think it was meant, you know, hire people who you really know can do a really great job because it makes leading a lot easier. And I I truly
Recognition, Mentoring, And Paying It Forward
SPEAKER_02believe, you know, hire the best person you can to do that job and everything will be much easier for you.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you so much. It was a very insightful conversation. I really appreciate your time today and your perspective. I'll be sure to follow along what you do next and see what's up. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you very much.