Yes, internal politics play a massive part in the process, and with every new CEO assignment the inevitable reshuffle creates opportunities as well as challenges based on existing alliances !!!
FinTech's (or disrupter's across other industries) tend to have started either as a pure start-up by young entrepreneur's or mature/seasoned executives who wish to do things differently. Think of Anne Boden's Starling Bank versus Valentin Stalf/Maximilian Tayenthal with N26. Anne was a seasoned banking professional with AIB, whereas the other guys came from a very different background.
However, a lot of disrupter companies reach a tipping point where the investors will want to bring on 'established' professionals in their domain.
I am exactly in this position in my role at the moment. The investors want consultants on board as they feel it will reduce overall risk - one throat to choke !! Its a complex situation to be in, but its a very difficult to circumvent ! Money talks ultimately
Absolutely agree with this - its all about the personal brand image as a leader. But this will include speaking at conferences/forums (if it makes sense in your role), writing articles supporting the approach you wish to take (think disrupter challenging convention versus the traditional challenging certain innovations) and maintaining an active social media 'professional' presence
The key to all of that is understanding the direction you wish to head, and where you think the opportunities will reside, both in terms of industry and type of company. Also need to consider the range of industries you wish to explore (hard to be knowledge across all of them etc). I would personally love to move into the technology side of fund management, but would be very difficult to break into at the moment given the 'closed shop' nature of the industry !
