Kidd

Linoy Kidd, CIO of HSBC, shares the inspirational story of how she climbed the corporate ladder while raising money to build schools for children.

I want to think of ways to be a better leader to improve myself day on day, to help those around me and to change their lives in whatever small way I can, to keep on working on giving people the toolkit to step out of poverty, to give them the same viewpoint on life that anything is possible when you bring people together. No one wanted to go on this school build, and it was very risky because it was in the middle of COVID-19. I gave birth to a son during the pandemic; it was brutal as no one was allowed to be in the delivery room with me. I knew that I wanted to emulate those that help others and to action change in the world in whatever small way I could. I had to have an emergency C-section because the baby went into distress, and I got a double infection that I couldn’t fight while in labour. At Google, they have the 10% principle: carve out 10% of your work week to try and innovate, to do something new that is not part of your day's work. I had a manager in Hong Kong who told me that it is the ‘think outside of the box’ ideas that make the difference. I wake up and check it, and I go to sleep checking it. With Infusion100, I want to show women around the world that there is no glass ceiling. As soon as I became a leader of men/women I knew this was my calling in life. I moved on to Manager and then CIO in Mexico, before becoming CIO in MENAT for MSS (Markets Security Services). I joined HSBC 17 years ago and started in foreign exchange options as a support analyst, then worked my way to team leader.