Paul Twite of Toluna: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a C-Suite Executive
It’s not enough to have broad oversight or big ideas. Executives must be able to listen to external customers and internal teams, understand challenges and concerns, identify opportunities and align the right teams around the right challenge. In essence, it’s driving purpose, engagement, alignment and execution.
As part of our series called “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading My Company”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Twite of Toluna.
Paul is a digital technology leader who applies extensive experience and knowledge to his role of Managing Director, EMEA & LATAM for Toluna.
He joined Toluna in 2010, tasked with growing Toluna’s UK business and successfully increased the number and depth of client relationships in the research and technology sectors.
Whenever brands want agile, actionable insight, they can put millions of people behind their decision making simply and effectively. Toluna empowers marketers to make better decisions with innovative technology that generates real-time insights from consumers anywhere around the world.
Before joining Toluna, Paul led divisions at United Business Media in Hong Kong and Haymarket in London.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
My early aspirations were to be a lawyer but I had a fabulous friend who ran a political PR firm, which inspired me to focus on journalism. After gaining a postgraduate qualification in journalism I was fortunate to hold editorial roles, which ultimately led to becoming a publishing director at Haymarket. As someone who called on research throughout my journalism career, I found myself drawn to the idea of understanding what people are thinking and feeling at any given moment. I’ve been part of the Toluna team ever since.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
The end of my postgraduate studies coincided with a huge recession in the UK. (Of course, that recession does not compare to the market challenges we’ve seen this year, but it was quite a serious economic downturn at the time.) Asia was still enjoying double digit economic growth, so I decided to fly to Hong Kong and interview for media roles there. I landed a job as an editor at one of Hong Kong’s largest B2B publishers. I worked for a brilliant Singaporean named Mike Tan and learned so much. I had expected to graduate and work on Fleet Street, and instead I moved to Hong Kong only knowing one person on the whole island. I left 4 years later with a set of lifelong friends and a more dynamic experience than I would have gained in London. Long story short: I learned the importance of managing in a diverse environment, how to identify opportunities intelligently and have the courage to take them.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
Tactically speaking, never send an email tired or late in the day. Draft it, re-read it in the morning, edit it, then send it. You’ll always be glad you didn’t send it the night before.
Philosophically speaking, my boss in Hong Kong had a saying that I always live by. He would say, ‘If you’re flying a plane, it’s as important to look out the window than to stare at the dials.’ I always thought this was beautiful because you must look at everything in context, not just obsess over the numbers. Don’t be blinded by the data; you can stare at numbers all day but if you look out the window you might find you are about to fly into a mountain. It’s critical to always be present and in the moment.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on your leadership style? Can you share a story or an example of that?
When I worked in Hong Kong, I led a large and diverse team of 24 people from 16 countries. I needed inspiration to help me make the most of my dynamic team. I read a book by Ricardo Semler, a Brazilian entrepreneur, called Maverick. Its thesis is that you must let your team do their jobs so you can focus on yours. They will likely do the job differently than how you would, but in most cases their way might be better than yours. This was critical for me as a leader because I previously had a habit of giving people work to do and then watching them do it to ensure they matched my working style. It was invaluable for me to understand that your team can and will do things differently, and you need to let them show their brilliance without interference. Maverick helped me to not micromanage my team into inefficiency, because you will always learn something from their ideas and build better business practices.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Toluna is amazing because it’s been pushing the research industry toward innovation since its inception. We’ve always been an agile business with technology at the core, and continuously invested in building the next generation of technology to solve our clients’ biggest pain points. We’ve already helped some of the world’s largest businesses develop their strategies based on real-time, robust insights gleaned from our platform.
Toluna has always maintained a strong vision that technology will help companies evolve with their customers, so we decided to launch our technology stack Toluna Start in the midst of a challenging and unpredictable year. It was a bold decision, but one we knew would meet our clients’ needs. We’ve now seen incredible adoption of the product year over year. Toluna’s vision for the long-term future of research has accelerated the emergence of research tech and new, inventive ways to access research critical to the businesses of tomorrow.
The road to success is hard and requires tremendous dedication. This question is obviously a big one, but what advice would you give to a young person who aspires to follow in your footsteps and emulate your success?
Focus on things you enjoy. If you are genuinely interested and enthusiastic about something, commit to that. If you do everything with enthusiasm and focus, it will have a positive impact on the teams you work in and the customers you serve.
Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. Can you share a story about advice you’ve received that you now wish you never followed?
Though it sounds strange, the worst advice I’ve received is to treat people as you expect to be treated yourself. People want to be treated how they want to be treated. That’s a subtle but hugely important distinction. For instance, I want to get up every morning and work very early, cycle for a bit, and then work some more. Just because I’m online does not mean everyone else must be. Everyone should be allowed to operate in a way that gets the best out of their own performance — so it’s critical to understand everyone’s individuality and treat them how they want to be treated.
You are a successful business leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Enthusiasm. I cannot overstate the importance of passion. I’ve taken many turns in my career all driven by enthusiasm and interest in what I’m working on. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t be truly satisfied or able to create something of value. It’s in the passion for your work that innovation is born.
Honesty and clarity. It’s imperative to not only have bold ideas, think creatively and be unabashedly honest, but to express those views respectfully and transparently. Great companies, products and people all have one thing in common: they are brave enough to be disruptive when required. If you have an idea you feel strongly about, communicate it.
Empathy. When building and leading a team, you must always lead with empathy. Understand differences and embrace them. Remember that everyone is human, and be flexible enough to meet people where they are. Diversity will provide invaluable ideas and energy.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what an executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of other leaders?
It’s not enough to have broad oversight or big ideas. Executives must be able to listen to external customers and internal teams, understand challenges and concerns, identify opportunities and align the right teams around the right challenge. In essence, it’s driving purpose, engagement, alignment and execution.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive? Can you explain what you mean?
Structural rigidity used to be a sign of strength in corporations that had a ‘model’ for growth. Behavioral shifts now move so fast and with such scale that unless companies have an obsession with innovation they will eventually be caught out. The important thing is to strike a balance, where the team has strong teamwork and a shared purpose but the agility to innovate and look for new opportunities.
What are the most common leadership mistakes you have seen leaders make when they start leading a new team? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Stifling creativity and originality. You pay people to do a job, so let them do it. They may do it differently than you, but their way might be better.
Less is more. Especially in today’s virtual environment, schedule fewer meetings and make sure the point of the meeting is clear — and that attendees know what is expected of them.
In this era, you can contact everybody all hours of the day, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for employees’ well-being. It’s critical to communicate your message to employees and check in on them, but fun is also important, free time is also important, and time to focus on work without interruption is very important.
Keep the human element, which is easier said than done. Try to make time around the edges of meetings to keep the human element. People work for people; they don’t work for 30-minute time slots in the diary with agendas. Keep it human.
In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
The importance of agility. We learned this year that you simply cannot prepare for everything. You must be flexible and continuously evolve your strategy with new information and new perspectives. It’s best to inform your pivots with proven data to support them, but you must be bold enough to make those decisions quickly. There’s a temptation to make carefully detailed plans far in advance and stick to them. But the companies who remained agile through the past year of disruption and evolved with the dynamic market are those that have emerged most successful.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Began Leading”? Please share a story or an example for each.
Build a diverse team. If you build a team of people who think similarly to you, you won’t innovate. Look for team members that have different perspectives, backgrounds and approaches. These differences will enable collaboration and drive creativity that pushes your company and your industry forward.
Never underestimate the importance of transparency. Complete transparency is critical to building a strong team. It’s a mistake not to give your team and organization full visibility into the success, failures and challenges of the business. Have conversations with everyone on your team, no matter how brief. If you want a trusting and cohesive team, always be transparent about the bad and the good. No one wants to work for a company they don’t feel they have ownership in.
Encourage a culture of bold thinking. At Toluna, we have a policy that anyone who has an idea they believe in should share that idea. If someone on the sales team has an interesting idea, they share with the development team and that idea may very well go into production and completion. Champion a culture of innovation and embrace those who think outside the box. Reward bravery.
Keep your eye on a long-term strategy, but be ready to make sharp pivots. It’s important to have a short, medium and long-term vision which Toluna has for the past 21 years. However, it’s just as critical to be agile and flexible enough to understand how your market is changing and evolve to adapt quickly. Always be ready to adjust your execution quickly, while working towards your goals.
Put the customer at the center of everything you do. You must prioritize the customer above all else and build your business strategy on the foundation of customer-centricity. It’s important to remember your customer base is both internal and external. If you don’t engage with your customers in real time consistently and constantly to understand their challenges and needs — you cannot stay relevant.
In your opinion, what are a few ways that executives can help to create a fantastic work culture? Can you share a story or an example?
One of the main reasons I’ve been with Toluna for 11 years is my team. We embrace our differences. We maintain the ethos that you are allowed to say (in a respectful way, of course) what you think about any situation or express any idea you have. Our CEO Frederic Charles Petit and our executive leadership team welcome everyone’s input and encourage a culture of honesty with camaraderie at heart. This is where great ideas and success are born.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I’ve always wanted to set up a website called A-Okay, as a place for everyone to share acts of kindness from other people. I believe that people are intrinsically good, kind and loving and that goodness should be more widely reflected. Now more than ever, people give each other positive support and I think we should celebrate this. For instance, when I’m on my street people are shopping for each other during the pandemic, checking on each other or greeting each other out walking their dogs. People are truly looking after each other these days, and I don’t see that recorded anywhere at the moment. So, my movement would capture the goodness of humanity and the ways in which we uplift each other.
How can our readers further follow you online?
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-twite-a7031313/
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
