​Can a good leader help solve the tech industry’s empathy deficit? Yes! A culture of empathy and inclusion starts from the top, and it benefits everyone in a space that’s calling out for a human touch.

Stakeholders, customers, and employees; the empathetic approach can help leaders build stronger relationships across the board, foster a more positive working environment, and drive better business outcomes.

It sounds good, but how do we do it? We discussed all of this, and a whole lot more, at our recent Women in DevOps event in Leeds!

We delved into:

  • How to give and receive empathy

  • Empathy’s Role in a data-driven world

  • The power of active listening

  • How to prioritise wellbeing

  • The Importance of emotional intelligence in user outcomes

​Our panel included:

  • Lauren Langdell - Host & Chair, Founder @ Women in DevOps

  • Katie Roberts - Head of Engineering @ NearForm

  • Chris Yeow - Head of Architecture & Engineering @ Schroders Personal Wealth

  • Alex Nicolaides - Head of Technology, Business and Risk @ Schroders Personal Wealth

​Alex Nicolaides
Alex Nicolaides joined Schroders Personal Wealth in February 2020 to head up the Technology Business Management and Risk Team, transferring over from Schroder Investment Management Limited where she was part of the Technology Business Management team.
Spanning 30 years, Alex's career started as an office junior for a company hosting conferences for Legal and Banking professionals. From there she transferred into Financial Services and specifically Technology within Financial Services. Alex has since gained a wide breadth and depth of industry skills and knowledge, covering financial, programme, supplier and contract management, alongside people management skills including coaching and mentoring.

Katie Roberts
Katie is the Head of Engineering at NearForm where she leads over 200 fully remote engineers across mobile, Dev, Data, DevOps, Test and Engineering Management across 27 different countries. Prior to joining NearForm she worked as a Software Engineering Manager at the BBC where she lead the modernisation of the BBC Search Platform, and supported the re-platforming of BBC Homepage, Bitesize and BBC Food sites to the cloud. In her spare time, she plays guitar and bass, and makes lots of pots in her mini ceramics studio.

Chris Yeow
Chris joined Schroders Personal Wealth in April 2022 to head up the Architecture and Engineering functions. Prior to joining Schroders Personal Wealth, Chris worked as Head of Architecture at The Openwork Partnership where he was responsible for a team of architects and the technology strategy. Chris’ career has always been within technology, starting work as a systems engineer for a local IT business, building PCs, servers and networks. From there, Chris has carried out various support, engineering, operations, management and leadership roles. A large part of Chris’ career has been spent within the Financial Services sector, predominately within advice services across wealth, mortgages and protection products.

Thank you to our fabulous panel and in-person attendees for joining us!