Stand Up and Succeed - Leadership tips for Technology - Bijal Sejpal
As part of our ongoing commitment to our specialist communities, we interview accomplished leaders on a monthly basis to bring you insights on their career progression and advice that will help you progress your career further.
Bijal Sejpal – COO, Group Data and Analytics, QBE Insurance
Bijal is a strategic transformation leader and accomplished change architect. She has been instrumental in accelerating organisational response to the rapidly evolving technology and data landscape within the financial services industry. Bijal's strong foundation in shaping and driving strategic and sustainable change within the public and private sectors has enabled organisations to fast-track their digital agendas and realise positive business outcomes. Her expertise in embedding critical technology pillars and a data-driven mindset has fuelled the execution of generative AI and data analytics initiatives that propel performance and optimisation. She is deeply passionate about bringing people together and challenging the status quo while effecting inspired change, growth and progress.
1. What factors do you think have been critical to the success you have achieved in your career?
I believe that success is driven by one’s ability to be open, listen to other perspectives, speak up and share ideas while always keeping the big picture in mind. I am passionate about strategic and sustainable change, and have a deep interest in data, analytics, and technologies such as AI. This has truly driven the direction of my career.
It’s important to be able to execute and deliver as planned, and the foundation of this is all about bringing people together. When you’re working alongside and leading people who also have passion, expertise and commitment, great things can happen.
My first transformation role was when I worked with the NSW Police Force and then went on to drive transformation with the ABC and then at QBE.
During my career, I have had mentors who contributed to my growth and leaders who recognised my strengths. I’ve been encouraged to stretch myself in my career and to have the confidence to strive and grow as a leader.
On a more personal note, growing up within a culture of traditional values, I realised the importance for women, myself included, to be self-dependent. I have been very sincere in investing in myself – whether it's education, health, having the right people around me, making difficult choices or taking some calculated risks. This has given me the ability to forge a truly positive path and some great experiences.
2. What's the most valuable piece of advice you have received in your career and how did it help you?
Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent. You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or problem becomes very different. When you assume negative intent, it takes you two steps back straight away. If you make a conscious decision to shift your mindset and assume positive intent, you will be amazed at how different the experience becomes.
It's also important to have courage and confidence (be willing to speak up and out), good communication skills (you cannot over-invest in becoming a better communicator), consistency (you can change your mind, but only against a consistent framework) and a moral compass (integrity is critical in a leader’s job).
An important attribute of success is to be yourself. Never hide what makes you, you.
3. What’s the most challenging situation you have faced in your career and how did you overcome it?
It’s not often talked about openly, but the challenges of being a full-time working professional, a full-time parent, a full-time house manager, a full-time daughter and a full-time partner and friend can sometimes feel overwhelming. I see myself making a choice daily, sometimes hourly, on what role to play in any given moment. I think that’s the reason women are great at multitasking.
Rather than look at how I could ‘overcome’ it, I embraced all of it as an opportunity. We all have the same 24 hours in one day, and I am thoughtful about the things I choose to prioritise in any given moment. Learning to say ‘no’ was also a big turning point in my life – it enabled me to put the things that are important front and centre.
If you were starting your career now, what would you do differently?
If I could give 20-year-old Bijal advice, it would be this: “Be curious, stay open, see challenges as opportunities and trust the path. Also be kinder to yourself and always know your worth. The world is bigger than you think it is and your worries aren't as important as you think they are. Just be you.”
