Building a future-ready workforce: Neurodiversity, ethical AI & leadership

For the latest of our client conversations, we speak to Pete Brown of Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) about neurodiversity, sustainability, monoliths and the transferrable skills of being a referee.

Pete Brown, Engineering Lead at Lloyds Banking Group, grew up with dyslexia. As a child, he wore blue-tinted glasses and attended extra tutoring sessions in an effort to manage the condition. But as an adult, Pete has found that his strengths in maths and computing, together with the use of AI tools to help him overcome reading challenges, have become critical assets in his career.

The latest episode of Being A Digital Leader – The Good, Bad AND Ugly of Digital Transformation is a powerful client conversation that touches on personal values, sustainability, ethical AI and transforming monolithic applications.

Pete shares his 15-year journey from graduate scheme entrant to digital lab leader. It’s a journey that underscores the importance of strengths-based leadership, harnessing neurodiversity, and advocating for diverse skill sets in the workplace.

Also in this episode:

Transforming monoliths:

We examine the transformation of monolithic applications into microservices within the insurance and wealth sectors. Scottish Widows, a part of LBG, has used modern cloud technology to increase scalability, resilience, and cost-effectiveness. But what does that mean for security? How do you learn from transformation setbacks? And when is the right time to halt initiatives? Pete explains.

Ethical AI:

As digital transformation becomes increasingly reliant on AI, how do financial institutions approach responsible, ethical governance in its deployment?

Carbon neutrality by 2050:

LBG has made a commitment to achieving net carbon neutrality by 2050. To deliver on that commitment, the bank has taken a three-dimensional approach which involves people, suppliers and, critically, technology. Pete looks at the ways optimising tech infrastructure can support sustainability.

Filling the skills gap:

For all the talk of filling the digital skills gap, it can often feel like practical successes are hard to come by. But not at Scottish Widows, where a teacher, a policeman, and a garden centre worker have successfully retrained to become skilled developers. How did LBG achieve this?

Pete discusses the power of storytelling in shaping leadership and team transformation. He explores the important role personal values play in leadership. And he highlights the value in providing opportunities for others to succeed.

Leadership on and off the pitch:

Finally, Pete reflects on his experiences as a semi-professional referee, and considers how the skills he’s developed on the pitch – resilience, conflict management, making smart decisions in high pressure situations, not to mention balancing professional commitments with family priorities – are just as important in his leadership role. As ever, it’s an episode brimming with personal insight, inspiring stories and important takeaways for work and life in the digital world.

Listen to the full podcast now.