S7 E7 'Preparing future leaders' with Richard Rowntree

The Business of Being Brilliant podcast

S7 E7: 'Preparing future leaders'
with Richard Rowntree

Monday 26 February 2024

Richard Rowntree is the Managing Director of Mortgages at Paragon Bank, overseeing the entire mortgage business. With 30 years of experience in the industry, he has held senior leadership roles at Bank of Ireland, RBS, Santander, Cheltenham and Gloucester, and Halifax. In 2019, he chaired UK Finance's Mortgage Product Board and continues as a Board member. Richard served on the Advisory Board for the City of London Corporation Socio-economic taskforce and is currently a Board Member for Progress Together. Recognized for his contributions to socio-mobility, he received the "Freedom of the City" award and was named Mortgage Personality of the Year in 2023 by Mortgage Strategy.

Perspectives from Richard

On careers

There's broadly three stages of your career: you can go from managing yourself to managing others and then from managing others to managing managers, and they're the big step ups.

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On diversity

I think that we still try to fix people rather than the process. And a lot of organizations reward fit and polish over performance.

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On progression

There's so much more organizations can do to tap into that rich talent we have and not always necessarily go for experienced hires externally.

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