Global Head of People at Natterbox - 'The moment we stop learning is the moment we die'

Shona Miller's career began in a NatWest typing pool, four days before her 17th birthday. Three decades on, as Global Head of People at Natterbox, she's leading a workforce through its own AI transformation.

From the typing pool to the trading floor

"I never went to uni. Instead, I was sent to learn to type after school," Miller says. That job at NatWest was where the world of work began for her. "Looking back, I was really lucky to get a job, and I started to notice the difference that earning money made. I made a decision then to be master of my own destiny."

That resolution stuck, and she quickly realised the path to a better income was gaining more qualifications. After a few years at NatWest, she saw an advert in the Evening Standard for a job at ING UK. It was 1994, the year the TV show Friends premiered and Nelson Mandela was elected as President of South Africa.

"Back then it was a Dutch bank. I was encouraged to take up my studies, and it was only by earning at the same time as studying that I could afford to do my HR qualification," she recalls. A year after she joined, in 1995, Barings Bank collapsed after Nick Leeson's rogue trading racked up losses of roughly £827-862 million. Her employer, ING, bought what was left of it for £1.

A front-row seat to a banking collapse

"It was such a crazy time. We went from being a pretty unknown bank to the one known for buying Barings. I remember the first time going into their office and they were massively out of their depth, they had butlers serving staff. It really highlighted to me how, as a leader, you can be operating at the top of the chain and not have a clue what's really going on underneath you. Everyone assumed Nick Leeson knew what he was doing and trusted him," she reflects.

Single and young at the time, Miller was working long hours while learning to value what she was being paid to do. "I remember getting some great advice at the time from a female colleague, who told me the importance of retaining empathy. I still remember that today, that I can do my job and be empathetic."

Four years later, another advert caught her eye, this time for Deutsche Bank. It was 1998, and she joined as a Global Human Resources Advisor. Where Barings had fallen, her new employer was at the height of its success.

"It was an incredible time. At one point, the whole company was sent to New York for a week's training and conference. They flew everyone out business class, and my PA at the time asked if that included her, it was great to tell her yes. It was a business that knew how to spend money. Back then, their solution to many challenges was to buy their way out of things," she remembers. It was the dot-com boom, and the global role broadened her HR experience considerably.