Editor’s note: "A Day in the Life" is a series of interviews with finance leaders and business leaders that aims to inspire FutureCFO’s audiences comprising senior finance and business executives as well as aspiring finance and accounting professionals.
If you—as a finance or business leader—would like to share your typical day as well as insights you’ve gained from your professional experience and activities outside work , please contact Nigel Standley ([email protected] ) or Teresa Leung ([email protected]).
In our first interview of the series, Rupert Roberts (pictured), Head of Corporate Risk & Broking, Southeast Asia, WTW shares with us his typical day and what inspires his professional growth inside and outside of work.
FutureCFO: What does a typical day look like for you?
Rupert Roberts (RR): Usually, my day begins being woken very early by my two young children who make sure I know what the most pressing priority in my day is.
In the office, I will try to block time each day, first thing in the morning, before any meetings or appointments to work on something which requires uninterrupted concentration, deeper thought or greater creativity.
Often this will be either a strategic issue, planning related or a specific client matter. Beyond this block of time, I’m then privileged to be in a role where every day is different but there are some general trends:
The clients we provide risk advisory and insurance broking services to represent every major sector of the global economy and their opportunities, challenges and risk landscapes are extremely dynamic. So, to ensure that we are serving them as effectively as possible, almost every day will involve direct client and/or insurance market engagement around a set of specific risk issues for myself and each member of our leadership team.
We also have a very clear set of strategic priorities, focused on growing our business, underpinned by a high-performance culture across our wider team.
Most of the remaining time in my day is then spent collaborating with a diverse range of colleagues across different countries, corporate functions and specialty areas in our business on ongoing projects which progress these priorities.
FutureCFO: What excites you the most when you work with CFOs and finance functions?
RR: I work with an incredibly talented and collaborative finance team at WTW. They bring an informed perspective to discussions which is vital to how we set strategy and manage the business. The team are also the architects and owners of several mission critical strategies.
My most exciting CFO interactions are with CFOs as clients. Fundamentally, we work with CFOs to find ways they can optimise their risk financing strategies through a suite of solutions they can utilise across their risk portfolio. We then help their companies enhance the efficient and effective matching of risk to capital at the right price.
The elevation of risk-related topics to board level and the transition in ownership of risk and insurance towards the finance function, from other areas of our clients’ businesses, has also facilitated a much deeper and more sophisticated level of discussion when we speak to CFOs now.
Most major companies have risk management processes in place to identify, assess and respond to current and future risks to their business. Yet many are finding these processes inadequate for today’s volatile and uncertain environment.
As risk advisors, we engage with CFOs to help them understand the critical, enterprise-wide risks that can affect their company’s ability to reach all of their strategic aspirations so that they can make smarter choices to which risks to take, the risk-return trade-offs, in addition to managing risks when the unexpected happens.
As our client base has evolved, so has the risk management industry with a significantly greater emphasis on sophisticated risk modelling and analysis techniques which provide quantitative insights into risk.
FutureCFO: Can you share an experience which was key to your professional growth?
RR: I relocated to Singapore from the UK early on in my career to take on a regional role with an international insurance broker in Asia. The experience in my 20’s of working overseas in an international and dynamic market like Singapore was extremely stretching.
I was exposed to different cultural nuance and a vastly different corporate and (re)insurance market profiles.
Compared to the experience I have gained in Europe, it was simultaneously an exciting and confronting one. This necessitated the development of a new suite of soft skills and a level of self-awareness and honest reflection on my own limitations and development areas, which were not previously present.
In addition, this experience taught me the value of taking calculated risk in your career and that career progression is rarely linear or aligned with a pre-conceived plan.
I’m grateful to have benefited from some extremely supportive sponsors who have pushed me to take on new challenges throughout my career.
Being challenged in an unfamiliar environment early in my career provided the confidence for me to take on these new opportunities, however unexpected, as they arose.
This in turn has allowed me to challenge myself across different domains, work with and learn from some incredible leaders and in so doing, build transferable skills.
FutureCFO: Is there anything outside work—such as a travel experience, a book, participation in a sport event or any volunteering experience—that serves as an important inspiration to your work or life? Can you tell us more about it?
RR: I have been an enthusiastic participant in a wide variety of sports throughout my life, including football, tennis, running, cycling and others.
Sport holds many important lessons and inspirations for my professional life, including the value of teamwork, the importance of grit and dedication and that few successes or failures are final.
