The value of listening and learning from failure: FNB CEO Harry Kellan shares his leadership lessons

FNB CEO Harry Kellan's family had dreams of him becoming a medical doctor, but his trajectory change has led to a successful finance and banking career.

Raised in Lenasia outside Soweto in Gauteng (bar a few early years with his grandparents in Durban), Kellan grew up in a family that valued education.

When he failed to get into medicine at university and then dropped out of his default option BSc studies after his first year, his parents were disappointed, Kellan says.

In the community of Lenasia, a career in medicine was seen as the most prestigious - 'doctor was always at the back of your head; that's why you choose subjects like biology at school.'

"We lived in an entry-level house. I don't come from wealthy privilege, but when you look at where South Africa is and if you're coming from an ok middle class position, you ARE privileged. So I always see myself as coming from a privileged household where education was valued and my parents (a teacher mother and barber father) gave me the opportunity to study."

After making the switch to a BCom degree followed by an Honours in accounting, Kellan completed his articles as a chartered accountant with US-based company Arthur Andersen, which also gave him the valuable opportunity of a secondment to London.

Following years of experience within the finance sector, Kellan joined FirstRand, and was appointed as CEO of FNB in 2024.

He'd been appointed chief financial officer (CFO) at the relatively young age of 35 after two years at FNB, and recalls the difficult questions he was asked at the time.

"I joined FNB in the early part of Michael Jordaan's tenure, so I was probably lucky to be the right person at the right time, and then two years later the opportunity arose and he appointed me CFO. In my first two years as head of Group Finance for FNB I'd had lots of interactions with him, and because I came from a corporate finance background perhaps I wasn't talking like a traditional finance person - it was always 'what is the story behind the numbers' and not about the numbers themselves."

Even back then, Kellan says he used to tell staff to give him the insights, not the information.

Because of his age and the fact that he had relatively less experience in a banking role than older managers, he was often asked how he dealt with that.

Kellanemphasizes the role of some of the most important lessons his career has taught him - the value of listening, and the value of adaptability.

Another guiding principle is that people don't work for him, but with him, and here Kellan also credits the empowering culture at the group.

"But also, an empowering culture doesn't mean that you're left alone... it's empowerment together with working as a team. So, it's a trick about age - age is not relevant. Sometimes people you're working with are much more experienced but that's good, because then you have knowledge that you can lean on."

The trick, says the FNB CEO, is to always be happy to ask questions. While people get to the point where they feel if they ask perhaps they don't look as clever as people think they are, this doesn't matter, he remarks.

"It's not about 'clever'. Business talks about solving things, figuring out what customer needs are, and if you're never going to ask you're never going to know."

Expanding on his leadership style, Kellan refers o the old adage that you should surround yourself with people better or cleverer than you are.

"You agree on a direction, on a strategy; and then, stay out of the way. But it doesn't mean that you're not there - leadership is about trust as well, so I always tell my team 'I have your back, don't stress'."

He points out that failure is part of business - 'If you're not willing to fail you're not willing to learn, and if you're not willing to learn, well then we'll never be innovative and change things."

While a leader's role is to support their team, this doesn't mean you can't have tough conversations, he adds.

Keep in mind that here it is always about playing the ball, not the person, Kellan says, or the individual will not be able to learn from the conversation.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the in-depth interview with the CEO of FNB