Mogale steers FNB Freemium with a firm grip
Executive advocates inclusive leadership style
Joan Mogale was always destined to have a blossoming career in the financial services sector.
The CEO of FNB Freemium sees herself as someone who always enjoyed the challenge of providing solutions, instead of focusing on problems.
The Mamelodi-born executive joined FNB in 2017 as head of customer value propositions and was tasked with designing a value proposition for the then middle market.
“I worry about solving customers’ needs and creating value for them beyond just banking. Customers are demanding more from us as brands and competition is rife. An entry point is no longer a cool cheque account. You need holistic lifestyle solutions that will be game changers and truly demonstrate a deep understanding of customer needs,” Mogale said.
She has since risen through the ranks of the lender and is today one of the people who are at the centre of creating beyond banking technology-driven solutions, not only for the bank’s customers but also those who do not bank with FNB.
Mogale subscribes to Katie M’s philosophy that “a problem shared is a problem halved”.
The business unit she currently heads was established in 2021 during lockdown. She says one of the biggest challenges was building the business unit remotely and the team fully embraced it and stepped up to the challenge.
Leadership is about empowering individuals to bring the best version of themselves and think outside the box to solve business problems. When teams are empowered and buy into the vision, I don’t have to work hard to motivate, it becomes their why,” she says.
“I don’t want what I do to feel like a job. I am trusting people to do what they said they would do. In terms of my leadership style, I would say that am inclusive, but assertive to get the results. Shareholder value and all those business metrics are important, and we need to deliver results, but you also want to have fun and be authentic to who you are in a consistent manner. Consistency is critical. I don’t want to have to check the weather app on a human being to ascertain their mood, so I try to be the kind of leader I would want for myself.”
The married mother of a five-yearold daughter recently graduated with an Mphil in corporate strategy at GIBS Business School.
Leadership is about empowering individuals to bring out the best version of themselves
She is an avid reader. She says some of the books that have influenced her are Think Again by Adam Grant, Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger. Mogale’s work ethic has been shaped by the army of “hard-working” women who raised her.