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7 Questions with Terry Boyland
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Jonno White
7 Questions with Terry Boyland
Name: Terry Boyland
Current title: CEO
Current organisation: CPQi
Terry is a board level professional and one of the leading names in the Americas for the investment banking, Digital Transformation and technology industries. With over twenty five years of senior experience he is currently Chief Executive of the CPQi Group, the leading IBTech services provider for the Americas and was a co-founder of Cubelogic (bought by Openlink) as well as MDX Technology.
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1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?
CPQi was set up in 2007 which is right before the global economic crisis of 2008/2009. With an initial focus on the European markets, offshoring to Brazil we faced two main issues. 1. The economic climate in Europe was deteriorating 2. People’s knowledge and acceptance of Brazil at the time was not strong.
2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?
I always had a strong interest in both banking and technology. At 13 years of age, I wrote to a British computer software company to ask for a job. Shockingly, they replied, sending me a kind and thoughtful message that included helpful material on building a career in technology. Their reply encouraged me in my pursuit.
I grew up in a working-class family in London, England, my work has enabled me to travel to four continents and execute ground-breaking projects for major companies. Prior to forming CPQi I worked for Centrica in a lead role. However, one of the most enjoyable roles in my career was serving as Chief Technology Officer and then as Global Business Manager for JP Morgan Chase Bank. So much of what I apply today was learnt from giants in these companies. I then decided to found my own company with the knowledge I had from these years of banking experience, and the rest is history!
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
I wake up early to have breakfast, shower and dress. I often spend time with my family in the mornings, going over the day and dropping off my daughter to school. I start work at the usual time, sometimes heading into the office, others working from my home office. I have a range of meetings checking up with the company ensuring everything's running well. Sometimes I finish at 5, but often I finish much later. I'll then cook dinner and spend more time with my family. Family and my religion are very important to me and I make sure to make time for them every single day.
4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
Sometimes, losing someone that felt essential to the business can be the change needed for the rest of the team to really grow.
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
The ideal team player written by Patrick Lencioni has helped me structure my organisation to ensure the right leaders and team members are found and nurtured. As a result of this book we ensure we always look for people who are hungry, humble and smart.
6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?
I have met many excellent people through my years first working in banking and then leading a company. I maintain communication with those that are truly leaders and through those meetings I've been fortunate to find people who have led with integrity and brilliance at every turn. Also, when hiring, maintaining those three principles of finding someone who is hungry, humble and has great people smarts ensures that we always find the right person to lead our team.
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?
A truly excellent story is how one bank in Brazil managed to implement a grassroots DevOps from within their organisation of over 8000 employees. They started with one workshop teaching 8 people how to work using DevOps and leveraging their current projects, and then expanded that one by one across the year into more and more workshops until the entire bank was running on DevOps. It was an excellent feat of mentorship, organisation and collaboration.