Adventures of Gina Leong Vice President Deutsche Bank

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Adventures of Gina Leong
Vice President Deutsche Bank
Whenever we think about ourselves I suspect we rarely think that there’s anything remarkable about us as
individuals and yet having read so many amazing stories from some of the inspirational women who have
contributed to the Zars media I feel privileged and even humbled to be asked to contribute.
Before we start I should tell you a few things about myself. I’m a Vice President at Deutsche Bank - one of the
largest investment banks in the world and have held similar positions in several other large companies
globally. I should also add that I’m 5’ 2”, am half Chinese/half English and spent my formative years in
Singapore and Australia.
In writing my story, I’ve tried to think about what possible useful messages I could give you that I have
learned through my career so far. Sometimes these are elusive and it’s only in the act of reflection that these
are clarified, so hopefully writing this may be as much use to me as it may be to some of you. As I sip on my
glass of Sauvignon Blanc there are three reflections that I would like to share with you.
First reflection: Relationships with the men
Whether we like it or not, men have a huge impact on our personal and working life. When I left the UK to
live with my father in Singapore in quite a traditional Chinese family I found that women were encouraged to
be home makers and men were seen as the dominant bread winners.
After going to university in Australia, I learned that this didn’t have to be the case and started my career as an
accountant, joining one of the “Big Four” accountancy firms as an auditor, largely because I loved accounting
at school and was encouraged by my father to take it as a safe career choice. I did this for quite a few years and
became qualified as a Chartered Accountant. While this gave me a great opportunity to understand business
and finance, I increasingly realised that I was more interested in influencing change than reporting on it after
the fact.
I moved to the Australian and New Zealand Bank in Australia and became a key player in implementing the
first “Chip & Pin” debit and credit card for the Bank, something I loved doing. I developed an excellent
working relationship with my boss who thankfully recognised my skills and application and rapidly promoted
me to more senior roles.
Unfortunately the more successful I became at work, my life at home struggled, to the point that my husband
became insecure and decided we should move to England to further his career. I was faced with the tough
choice between my career and my husband. Despite being offered another promotion by my boss, I made the
difficult decision to give it all up and moved to England with my husband. I expect you can guess that things
didn’t pan out to be as rosy as I’d hoped. I rebuilt my career in my new surroundings. The culture was very
different but fortunately the UK was also rolling out “Chip & Pin” so I secured a role in a specialist payment
systems company and was soon promoted to Director. My husband found this hard and eventually the
relationship gave way.
I threw myself more into work and study, taking an MBA with the London Business School to help increase
my network in the UK, improve my leadership and strategic skills and because I’d always wanted to do an
MBA with this great London institution. I moved into consulting with one of the “Big Four” accountancy
firms, specialising in programme management. I found this was something I loved and after several years
honing my skills I moved to RBS and latterly Deutsche Bank.

2. I think my main reflection about the men in my life is that we all need to make choices about the people in our
lives. Our relationships – be they work, family or personal need to support us and help us grow. If they aren’t
the right relationships, we all have the ability to take action to change.
Second reflection: Work Life Balance
I’m one of those really lucky people who loves my work, which is very fortunate as it can be very demanding.
I normally wake up at about 5.30am in the morning to go to work for what is usually a very full day. Every day
is different as when you work on programmes, different issues often arise, but I love the variety and challenge
that it brings. I try to work out several times a week, although this can be quite challenging when I get home
late or have events after work to attend. I’m also very lucky to have an extremely understanding partner who
supports me in my career and lifestyle. I should also add that if this isn’t bad enough – I’m a foodie! I love
eating out, entertaining and cooking. The work, relationship, workout, equation is a tricky one and is
particularly hard for me!
Working in Financial Services in London seems to make this conundrum even harder. There are pressures to
eat and drink socially with work colleagues and the working hours are never as described in our employment
contracts.
I think if I had a lesson here that truly worked, I’d write a book and be able to retire on the proceeds! The only
thing I can say is that of me personally I have to keep working hard at each element. I try hard to combine
elements where I can – but my personal lesson is that of persistence. The best laid plans and resolutions are
always attacked by entropy and unexpected deadlines. We need persistence to forget the failures and get back
on track.
Third reflection: Valuing diversity
In my current role I’m programme managing a global IT system rollout, which means I’m often in
teleconferences or video conferences with people in several countries on most days and have to accommodate
the different time zones (early morning meetings with Singapore/ Hong Kong and afternoon meetings with
New York). As a result, something that’s really important in my role is communication skills and cultural
awareness.
People often say that as a woman, working in a male dominated industry such as Banking can be hard. I would
agree with this and during my career have often found myself to be the only woman in meetings. I guess you
take it in stride and nowadays whileI may notice that I’m the only woman –it doesn’t faze me and this seems to
happen less so in Deutsche Bank, where I now work. In general, I do believe that women bring a different
dynamic to what can be a very hard working environment, in that they consider `how’ things are done and the
impact on individuals and morale as much as whether the desired outcome is achieved. I think that they can
also bring more balance to the working environment, although I’ve seen some fantastic male leaders in my
career who also have this ability.
For young women starting out in their career, I would give them three pieces of advice. I would advise them to
really think about and be clear on what they want to do and focus on their long term goals. I would also say
that having key sponsors who are able to help them further their career is vital to help navigate a complex work
environment and help to unblock or remove any barriers. I’ve been fortunate enough in my career to have
several bosses (all men) who had faith in my abilities and were willing to trust me to deliver and recognise my
abilities. Finally, having a role model or mentor is also very helpful. Early on in my career I had a female
manager who I have the upmost respect and admiration for. I’m still friends with her and know that if I have a
problem that I need guidance on, she will be willing to listen and advise.
One of the questions that I’ve been asked to consider is “how would you rate your success”. I think that
success can be measured in lots of ways. I love the work that I do and the challenge and variety that it brings.
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some amazing people and love my friends and family. I don’t think that I
would have wanted to make any different decisions regarding my career, but I occasionally wonder what
would have happened if I hadn’t left Australia to live in the UK. The main thing that I’d like to do now is to
start giving back to the community by doing volunteer work, as it’s important for me to help others.
Finally, as I work in an industry where there’s a lot of pressure to change and become “one of the boys”, a
quote that I really resonate with, is “learn to be yourself – only better”.
As I come to the end of my glass of wine, I hope that this has been of use and I wish you good luck in all
your endeavours!
Gina Leong
Vice President
Deutsche Bank