Simon Crabb
Managing Director
Standing in the River
Every so often, a year arrives that reshapes direction rather than simply extending it. Not incrementally, not comfortably, but fundamentally. When it happens, it tends to bring equal measures of possibility and apprehension. Opportunity is rarely neutral. It asks something of us.
For Lutine Bell, 2025/26 has been such a year. It has been a year of deliberate adaptation. Of letting go of inherited assumptions. Of choosing to aim higher, even where the path was not yet fully visible. After 27 years in recruitment, I can say with honesty that much of my professional life has led to this moment. That realisation has been exhilarating, and at times uncomfortable, but it has also been necessary.
Markets have shifted. Expectations of leadership have shifted. The work we do remains valuable, but the context in which it sits has changed profoundly. Faced with that reality, we resisted the temptation to protect what was familiar and instead focused on what could be built if we were willing to evolve.
A good friend once told me that when change is unavoidable but unclear, the only thing you can do is stand in the river every day and let it shape you. This year, we chose to do exactly that.
Filling jobs, or placing people?
I founded Lutine Bell to support GRC professionals when it matters most, and to help institutions appoint leaders they trust to deliver. That purpose has never changed. But longevity does not guarantee relevance, and success does not remove the responsibility to adapt.
From our experience at board and executive level, we have seen client strategies struggle not because they were flawed, but because the human capability required to deliver them was misaligned.
There is often a gap between strategic intent and the behaviours, judgement and cultural maturity needed to execute it. This form of human drag is rarely visible in formal reporting, yet it consistently undermines momentum and outcomes. Closing that gap has become central to our purpose, how we think, and why we engage.
The biggest compliment
A clear measure of success is when good ideas are taken up by others. Arguably, this is the highest compliment. For instance, we have seen our events charter adopted widely across the market, which affirms the value of the thinking behind it.
At the same time, it reinforces an important distinction. Replication extends what already exists; creativity, curiosity and purpose create what comes next. It is not the idea itself that sustains relevance over time, but how human capability is understood, developed and aligned. Ultimately, that is what determines which organisations continue to evolve with confidence and clarity.
During 2024/25, we faced a simple but uncomfortable choice: to preserve what was working, or to respond honestly to what we were learning. To continue filling roles, or to focus on closing the gap between strategy and human capability. To tread water, or to innovate.
We chose the latter.
That decision has reshaped Lutine Bell. Not away from what we do well, but closer to why it matters. It has pushed us to engage more deeply at board level, to ask harder questions about alignment, accountability and purpose, and to focus our work on enabling people to deliver what strategy alone cannot.
It has been a demanding shift. It has also been the most rewarding chapter in our journey so far.
Reaching the heart of the matter
We began by listening. Over the year, we spoke with more than a thousand Non-Executive Directors, alongside CROs, Audit Directors and Group Legal and Compliance leaders, many of whom were navigating the transition into portfolio careers. Those conversations reshaped our thinking.
What we learned was striking in both its consistency and depth.
In executive careers, progress is largely deterministic. Outcomes are measurable. Advancement is structured. Skill, logic and experience provide clear advantage.
In second careers, something changes.
Fulfilment and purpose move to the foreground. Experience is assumed. What differentiates impact is not only what leaders know, but why they do what they do and how they influence others. This is where logic intersects with behaviour. The 'what' meets the 'why'.
Second careers are inherently probabilistic. They require judgment, adaptability and self-awareness. They engage both analytical and creative thinking. That distinction matters, particularly in financial services, a sector conditioned to favour certainty at a time when certainty is increasingly elusive.
People, purpose and probability
We may be living through one of the most significant technological shifts since the printing press. Not because of any single innovation, but because digital infrastructure, data, artificial intelligence and emerging quantum technologies are converging to reshape how information is created, processed and trusted. This shift is not simply improving process; it is altering signal, judgement and pace. It is therefore unsurprising that institutions built for deterministic outcomes feel unsettled.
The question for boards is not how to control this change, but how to lead through it responsibly. The most successful organisations recognise that technology does not remove uncertainty, it amplifies it. What matters is not the speed of adoption, but clarity of purpose, why this matters to us, and how it serves our reason for being.
I am unashamedly biased. I believe the answer begins with people.
Diversity of thought shapes culture. Culture determines behaviour. And culture aligned with purpose becomes a strategic asset worth investing in.
When we developed Lutine Bell Partners, we used the phrase 'placing human intelligence first'. This was never intended as a challenge to technology. It was an acknowledgement that without alignment, technology accelerates fragmentation rather than progress.
To play that role credibly, we had to change how we worked. We needed to move beyond filling roles towards aligning capability with strategic intent. Anyone who operates at board level understands the difference.
Everything we have done since has been focused on that alignment. Understanding human capability. Measuring accountability. Connecting skills, behaviour and energy to organisational ambition.
When you start at the heart of the matter, everything else sharpens.
When headlines meet balance sheets
Over the past year, we have convened Board Directors, INEDs and executive leaders from across global financial services. Their insights shape this report and our monthly white papers, covering regulation, geopolitics, technology, transformation and culture.
The themes are consistent and complex.
Boards are navigating geopolitical instability alongside unprecedented technological change. Regulators are working to keep pace. Cultural debates around meritocracy, representation and purpose are becoming more nuanced and more urgent.
INEDs sit at the point of influence, often without the luxury of certainty. We have spoken with FTSE 350 organisations that have made meaningful progress on representation yet struggle to articulate purpose beyond the next cycle.
We have seen start-ups rich in technological capability but thin on organisational memory. We have worked with insurers managing deeply interconnected global risks.
Across all of these environments, one question dominates: how organisations enable and inspire human outcomes.
The common thread is no longer how success is defined through rules and controls, but how environments are shaped to allow people to adapt, exercise judgement and pursue opportunity responsibly.
Looking ahead
This report represents a first step beyond a conventional view of success. One that assumes good ideas, strong skills and sound regulation automatically lead to good outcomes.
Our experience suggests something deeper.
Human alignment builds culture. Culture enables opportunity. And how we choose to embrace those opportunities will shape the future of our organisations.
We remain deeply committed to our GRC recruitment practice and our executive forums. They continue to matter. What has changed is our willingness to raise the bar, to engage more deliberately at board level, and to let that perspective shape everything we do. These are demanding and exciting times, and we are just getting started.
The river is still moving, and so are we.