By James Bunting, CEO, Leighton
As the year draws to a close, it’s a time for reflection and celebration at Leighton. In this article, Leighton’s CEO, James Bunting shares the highlights, challenges, and personal growth experienced as he’s led the North’s leading AWS software development business over the past year.
What did you set out to achieve this year?
Along with continuing to grow our business and a number of other key initiatives, at the beginning of the year, we set out to attain AWS Advanced Partner status. Achieving this milestone required a multifaceted approach involving team training so colleagues could gain AWS certifications, delivering more AWS solutions to customers to demonstrate our expertise, and ensuring high customer satisfaction scores. I’m thrilled to announce that in October, Leighton successfully became an AWS Advanced Partner, which is a testament to the dedication of the entire team.
Has everything gone according to plan?
Of course not! I suspect we’re not the only business that can’t say that everything has gone to plan either. What I will say is that whilst we have delivered on most of our key initiatives for this year, a couple have fallen short of our expectations. This has typically been as a result of resource constraints. Personally, I think it is one of the more important roles of a CEO to ensure the team have the resources they need to be successful, so it’s really frustrating when I don’t achieve that for them.
What are you most proud of this year?
Reflecting on the year, several achievements stand out that I’m really proud of. This year Leighton was officially recognised as “A Great Place to Work” and one of the “Best Places to Work in Tech” by Great Place To Work® acknowledging our commitment to nurturing top talent. We also received recognition from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for the work we do with British Airways in ensuring its digital products are accessible for all – it’s always a proud moment when our customers receive recognition.
What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve received this year?
One piece of advice that has stuck with me this year is that not everything needs to be perfect. If I lead the team to focus on achieving perfection, we will be slow, things won’t get done and tasks and work will build up. Focusing on making sure everything is the best it can be in the time we have, helps us achieve momentum and is empowering for our teams. We can always come back and improve in the future.
Tell us about your team…
Where do I start? The team at Leighton is now nearly 100 colleagues strong! We’ve got experts who cover the entire software development lifecycle from analysts and architects to software and quality engineers and UX/UI designers. Our entire team embody our values. Everyone is so nurturing, naturally curious, super transparent and accountable, passionate about their profession and incredibly collaborative. They really challenge and encourage me to be the best version of myself, every day.
What have you learned about yourself this year?
There are two big takeaways for me this year. Firstly, I think I’ve learnt a lot about my resilience. As I said earlier, not everything has gone according to plan professionally. At the same time, my wife and I, our three kids and our dog have lived in a caravan for six months while we have developed our house. Another project that hasn’t gone entirely to plan. But despite the setbacks along the way, I’ve found that I’ve always been able to pick myself up (and others) and find alternative ways to achieve our goals. Secondly, I’ve learnt that I can dream big again! The pandemic very much knocked my confidence professionally. I found that as we were building back up, I was very risk-adverse. I think that probably stunted our growth, as I delayed making decisions. Now a couple of years on, I feel that I’m starting to dream bigger again and take more calculated risks to achieve those dreams.
Describe 2023 in three words…
Growth. Challenge. Collaboration.
What are your aims for 2024?
Looking ahead, the focus for 2024 is to bring Leighton’s expertise to two or three new customers in the North East. We’d love to bring a few more AWS-based solutions to market next year, whether it be a proof of concept or enterprise application. So, if you’re looking for a custom software solution, you know where to find us.
leighton.com
