Today women are seen handling the leadership positions and leading from the front. However, back in the 70s, the situation for women was not the same. At that time, women were almost unknown in engineering and had limited career opportunities in many other sectors. As a woman of the 70s era, Dr Jacqui Taylor (Founder and CEO at FlyingBinary) emerged as an inspirational figure for others. She had potential and skills but did not get the opportunity to put this into practice in her chosen career.
Jacqui shared her journey with Mirror Review on how she gracefully swayed all the roadblocks and overcame the failures. Here are the excerpts,
Transforming Education
What is the story behind the establishment of FlyingBinary?
I was professionally trained to be in aerospace but could not pursue my career in it due to the stereotypical limits. So I began my career in IT. In 2009, I chose to leave a lucrative IT career to support a group of young people, one of whom was our son. I embarked on fundamental web research to understand how these young people leverage technology to unlock their talents. This led me to build a technology platform they could use within school and in their examinations.
I established FlyingBinary with a fellow engineer who also had mastered software engineering principles. The foundation of the company was based on an inclusion agenda delivering Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s vision of the World Wide Web, it’s for everyone. My research in education with the transformation of the examination system formed the basis of the foundational web science we have created today.
Deeptech Services for Industrial IoT
Can you pinpoint the one unique quality of FlyingBinary that distinguishes it from its competitors?
That one unique quality is that we build deeptech services for the Industrial IoT. I’m proud to say that unlike almost all companies in our field we have never taken investment. Most companies have needed millions but we have been profitable from month one rather than taking years to be profitable. In a recent market analysis of European companies, we were recognized as the only company to create deeptech services using secured and accredited services with no reliance on the EU/US Privacy Shield.
Being Straightforward With Failures
How did you embrace the failures you encountered in the journey?
Failures and obstacles were a big part of my journey. This has made my approach to failure quite straightforward. I go by the mantra of risk winning every day by failing forward …fast. One can learn more from failure than success and I did too. The failures have often rewarded me with a new perspective about myself and taught me how and where I can improve.
The Unknown Is the Daily Routine
How do you describe your day? Do you have a schedule/routine that you follow throughout the day?
To be honest, I have no routine and that itself has its own challenges. The deep tech we build is part of the security response for Europe which means that the unknown/unknown is my daily life.
I do have a pattern though, I am a lark and like to start work early. I have written seven books and when I start the next book I will structure my days around completing my writing in the first part of my day. I plan on a 90-day horizon and schedule in the next 30 days. Goals in concrete, but due to the nature of our work plans are often in the sand.
Turn Challenges to Opportunities
How do you keep yourself and your team members motivated through the challenges?
Challenges become your opportunities or define the evolution of your business; day to day tasks are the foundation of everything we do. For me, the young people we support with the technology we build are my passion and my motivation. With any challenge no matter how many there are on any day, I view them as my opportunity to improve and learn. This is true for our team too.
When you can measure the impact of what you do across 60% of the world’s GDP that is motivation in itself. We have a mentoring system in our company which uses a meritocracy business model. Mentors support our journeys and they are invaluable as a support for us all particularly when we are required to overcome unexpected or difficult challenges.
Moving Beyond Digital Savvy
What are your future plans for the company?
Currently, in the era of Industrial IoT, there is a change needed to achieve entrepreneurial success. Once you create more than 10% of your revenue online an entrepreneur needs to move beyond Digitally Savvy and become a CyberSafe entrepreneur. The skills required are quite different from digital. The pivot we have just done is to build the technology for 1 million entrepreneurs to become CyberSafe.
I have also created a download based on World Economic Forum research for the readers which explains the Cyber risks which need to be addressed. This is my free gift to readers and can be downloaded from https://wef.jacqui.online. If we meet online or in-person please do say hello, in the meantime… risk winning.
Self-Care Is Priority
Despite your busy schedule, how do you keep yourself healthy?
Self-Care is of utmost importance and in the busy schedule, I try to keep up with it. I include a self-care routine in my everyday life. I keep a gratitude journal, meditate and exercise to keep me fit and ready to meet the day. In an always-on web world, it is vital to unplug to keep some sense of perspective, at least one day in every seven is mine to keep up with the folks’ dearest to me and pursue my many hobbies.
