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In the tech sector, productivity and innovation go hand in hand. Linda Apsley knows that better than most. As the CEO of her own company, Apsley Consulting Group, and a Senior Advisor with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Apsley focuses on technology, data, and AI in the insurance and finance sectors. Previously GEICO’s CTO, Apsley has made a career out of leading businesses through transformative technology implementations and developments.
Linda Apsley has board experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, and is a member of the 3% of influential female technology leaders nationwide. Her leadership has been the deciding factor in the growth of many companies, and she’s agreed to share some of her insights with us.
Q: What does your typical productive day look like?
A: I start each day with 30 minutes of meditation, 30 minutes catching up on the news, and then exercising. My workouts alternate between a bike ride of 7+ miles followed by stretches and strength building exercises, and simple two-mile walks. Then, I prioritize my tasks and start work. Each day, I have three or four hours of meetings (client meetings and executive coaching) and the rest is spent on completing strategy and technical work for my clients. I ensure productivity by prioritizing the work for the day based on my client’s needs, my own commitments, and what learning opportunities are available.
Q: How do you stay up to date on industry trends and emerging technologies?
A: I stay intensely curious. I talk to tech leaders in my network about the work they are doing, I read technical news, and I read books varying from the technical to the business focused. I’m a good synthesizer and am able to contextualize information quite well for myself, my customers, and others. I also like to spend time thinking about how things could be done differently and sorting out creative solutions to problems.
Q: Can you recall a significant challenge or failure you face, and how you overcame it?
A: When someone tells me that something can’t be done, the first thing that goes through my mind is, “watch me.” One such challenge was designing a new data ecosystem at a financial services company and moving the organization over to using it. I wanted the system to be secure and reliable, but none of the cloud solutions at the time really met our needs. We needed to innovate. I developed a partnership with Snowflake, and we became the first financial services company to set up a system and migrate our data. I developed the strategy with my leaders, socialized it and got feedback, aligned my team to the challenge, ensured we had access to the right skills when we needed them, and then we marched forward with a full belief that we would be successful—and we were.
Q: What is your strategy for starting a new project?
A: I start by either developing a vision or understanding the vision if it has been articulated by business partners. Then, I drill down to specify which problems need solving and which ones are out of scope. Once that is in place, technical teams can start to ideate and problem solve to deliver solutions. I always believe that it is important to understand both the system you are working in and the people who are involved. You get a lot more information and are able to go farther faster if the people are working in concert with you.
Q: What is the toughest decision you’ve had to make in the past few months? What was the outcome, and would you do anything differently today?
A: I decided to start my consulting company, Apsley Consulting Group. This was a big change from my past 25 years in the industry. I wanted to have more flexibility in my life, and to have an impact on a broader set of companies and people. My company provides technology consulting services. We work with executive teams to develop their technology strategy and create the systems that will enable them to deliver it. I also have a team of strong experienced engineers who can go into companies and help solve intractable hard problems. Finally, I really enjoy working with leadership teams to assist them in working together in stronger ways, and as an individual coach and mentor helping people grow their leadership skills in technology. It’s been extremely satisfying, and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.
Q: What was the worst job you ever had, and what did you learn from it?
A: The worst job I ever had was my best teacher. I worked for a leader who was highly controlling with low skill and domain expertise in technology. He had longevity with the company and was in the trusted leadership circle, which was how he got his technical role. Because he wanted control and lacked expertise, I was challenged to articulate the technology in very simple terms, which stretched me in new ways. I developed a deeper skill in working with difficult people and learned how poor leadership leaves employees disempowered.
Q: What’s a skill you taught yourself, and how did you go about learning it?
A: I taught myself how to code when I first got out of college. I had a passion for computers and wanted to understand everything about how they worked. I got magazines on coding and started practicing and learning through trial and error. My first project was a simple children’s math game written with Basic.
Q: What people in your life or career have had the greatest impact on you, and how?
A: First I would say my children. I learned early on that they are mirrors of the behavior of the adults around them. This challenged me to be the best I can be so that I could help them grow up to be highly functioning, balanced people with a desire to do well and do good.
I’ve also had some great mentors. The one that I find myself thinking about the most is Dave Thompson, an engineering VP at Microsoft who I worked under for many years. He is a smart (and many times wise) engineering leader who demanded excellence, and working under him challenged me to be better and stretch and learn constantly. I particularly respected how he was always thinking not only about himself, the technology and the team, but also the customer.
Two other people who stick out are Terrell Cox and Erin Chapple – two women whom I highly respect and admire. Both of them taught me a lot about deeply caring for people in organizations. Erin reminded me all the time to default to the “most respectful interpretation of events.” If you start there, you can remove emotional baggage in how you respond. That thinking has saved me from being upset over trivial events and led me to learn instead.
Q: What do you think makes you successful?
A: I’m intensely curious, constantly learning, empathic, and I listen and learn. I believe that at the end of the day we are the sum of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Keeping that as a baseline to my thinking and behavior helps me speak and act in ways that allow me flexibility to be successful. I also learn a lot from the people I engage with.
Q: What is one book that you recommend everyone should read, and why?
A: Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success, where he delves into what makes the brightest, most famous and most successful people achieve great heights. I like that he gives us new ways of looking at success, and that he’s done research to back up his innovative ideas.
A close second is Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking – difference between knowledge and wisdom, or, as he states it, knowledge without understanding. As I have mastered various skills in my life, I often find that I intuitively know what to do, and often stop to ask myself how and why I knew. Usually, I can recall having seen a similar situation at some other point in my life, and realize that the conditions are similar. This has helped many technology teams who are in the depth of trying to solve outage situations get to restoration and root cause faster.
Linda Apsley and her unique expertise and leadership qualities mark her as a person to follow in the technology sector. Her excellence in innovative team building and technology solution guidance has let her drive technical change across tech, retail, media, banking and insurance agencies. Her impressive resume and skill set makes her a boon to any company in need of guidance or tech leadership, and we’re grateful for her for sharing her insights with us.
