Sue Douthwaite

After an executive career in senior banking roles, Sue Douthwaite approached her next stage of work with the same discipline that had shaped her career. Rather than assuming opportunities would simply appear - which so many believe at this stage of life - she worked at the transition like a full-time job in its own right.

For 3 months, she worked her network with intent and with the UK still in the pandemic lockdown, she reached out to people for virtual meetings and coffees. She sought and listened to advice, asked for recommendations and introductions and all in spite of the challenges of Covid. Too often the unretired generation feel they have to talk about themselves but she used the art of intelligent questions to understand markets and issues, gaining nuggets to include in her applications and at interview.

Crucially, Sue made herself visible. Like most senior people she had not been active on LinkedIn but she began sharing interesting articles, adding insights and quickly built a large following.

As roles started to emerge, she invested in herself rather than relying on past experience alone. Recognising the growing importance of technology and risk at board level, she completed a six-week online programme on AI at Oxford Saïd Business School, ensuring she could properly challenge and support organisations as they navigated the opportunities and risks of AI.

Since stepping away from full-time executive roles, Sue has built a substantial portfolio. This includes Chair of NHS Business Services Authority, responsible for processing payments to every NHS employee and contractor in England each week, alongside chair roles at Melton Building Society and until recently, its subsidiary NEXA Finance, among others and spanning public service, mutuals, government-backed finance and private enterprise - reflecting breadth and credibility of her experience.

Sue spent some time working out how her deep executive experience could be applied to the non-executive role - particularly around governance, regulation, risk and complex stakeholder environments.

Sue says, "Experience is hugely valuable, but it isn't enough on its own. As a chair or non-executive you have a responsibility to stay current - particularly on technology and AI - so you can ask the right questions, understand the risks and help organisations use these tools well. Boards don't need people who are coasting on what they knew ten years ago - they need curious people who are still learning. Too often, leaders rely on their IT teams to bring in new technology strategically - the truth is, we leaders have to be responsible for that. It is not something to delegate but to lead and guide on as we do in every other area."

Sue continues to network and build new skills, conscious that in today's changing markets a strong portfolio of non-exec roles can quickly change with mergers, new government policies and technology developments themselves.

What can we learn from Sue's approach?

• Treat unretirement like a job - with structure, time and intent
• Work your network systematically - coffee by coffee - and offer help to others
• Be clear in your own mind as to what you offer and test that thinking in the market - but don't 'talk about yourself'
• Use LinkedIn to add value to your network and keep you in people's minds
• Don't assume senior experience is enough - keep building new skills
• Invest in understanding technology and risk so you stand out at board level