Clare Scherrer

I spent 26 years in investment banking, most of which as a partner [at Goldman Sachs], and Smiths was a long-time client. Our chief executive, Paul Keel, asked, would I want to be considered for the CFO role here at Smiths. It's really an example of out-of-the-box thinking because no head-hunter would have ever put me on the shortlist, even despite my qualifications and experience. But it's also an important example of Paul not presuming what my response would be. He didn't think, ‘Why would Clare want to move from investment banking to industry?’ He thought the opposite. He thought, ‘Why wouldn't Clare find this a really interesting opportunity and why don't I ask her?’ So, I'm grateful for the out-of-box thinking and I'm really enjoying the new role and responsibility.

When you look at what are the paths to CEO in either investment banking or in industry, we're looking for people who have experience with customers, P&L responsibility, risk management, and inspiring and empowering people. There’s also not only the experience but the exposure.

So, something that I think in both industries the really thoughtful leaders are thinking about is, how do you create not only the skills but the exposure? Because when decisions are made to put someone in a new role with new responsibility, there is a bias toward a person who is known, because it can feel like a less risky choice. So, it's important in developing diverse talent that we focus not only on skills, but at the same time give them exposure to people who have influence over those decisions that are going to be made, and that when we take decisions, we're not always taking the most obvious candidate.

Lots of academic studies and real-life practice shows the most obvious candidate is not always the best candidate for the role. One of the things that at Smiths we ask ourselves to think about is not just one's experience, but also their potential, and to really take both into account when we take decisions about moving people into new roles and responsibilities.