MY CAREER IN SIX SPOTLIGHT

Pia Ellis

Head of Client Connectivity, Europe

HSBC

Sharing her career journey by answering the six questions below.

Who or what has been your biggest source of inspiration throughout your career?

My mum, though I didn’t realise it at the time. I remember going to work experience with her at a large American bank and proudly announcing to her and her colleagues that I was going to work in fashion — never in banking, like them. They must have thought I was a spoiled brat, and they’d have every right to. But looking at where I am now, I like to think they would have had the last laugh.

Would you say your success is primarily due to luck or hard work?

My heart says luck, my head says hard work. It can feel lucky when someone backs you and takes a risk on you — but they’re not gambling, they’re reading your reputation. And reputations aren’t built by luck — they’re built one decision at a time.

What is the driving force behind your career aspirations?

Honestly, my grandmother — for whom good was never quite good enough.

We had a wonderful relationship, but she had a gift for moving the goalposts just as I thought I’d cleared them. I’ve realised I’ve done exactly the same to myself throughout my career, from a comms intern at Bloomberg to Head of Europe Client Connectivity at HSBC — never quite letting myself feel like the expert, always reaching for the next bar. It’s kept me a little uncomfortable, but it’s also kept me growing.

If given the chance to do one thing differently in your career, what would it be and why?

It’s tempting to look at the deep subject-matter experts around me and wish I’d spent 20 years in Payments instead of moving around, but that would sell my own journey short. Comms taught me stakeholder management and influencing at the most senior level; business management taught me how strategy is built and executed, and client connectivity has taught me how treasury underpins every business, and how people and digitisation together make it trusted and scalable. Every step gave me something the last one couldn’t.

What was your most favourite job/role and why?

Not a job, but a moment — volunteering as a trustee at Just Homes, a homelessness charity in Newham, and bringing my daughter to their Christmas party. We sang, danced, and ate together, and the day was a real testament to their CEO, Christina, and her team. On the way home I told my daughter I felt sad that our gifts might be the only ones those children received — and she, at seven years old, told me not to feel sorry for people who were happy; they’d had a hard start, but they’d found joy anyway. I’ve never forgotten it.

Do you have a favourite motto or quote that guides your professional life?

I listen to my gut. It keeps me balanced, helps me be brave when I need to be, and tells me when to say no — and it lets me sleep at night. It’s less a quote than a way of living, one I try to pass on to my team, my friends, and my family: Your gut is your sixth sense, and it’s usually right.”