"Your weaknesses will never develop, while your strengths will develop infinitely."
Robert Hyde has over 20 years of experience delivering technology-based solutions and digital strategy to a variety of firms. He is a skilled executive business leader who works collaboratively with clients, colleagues, and partners to deliver progressive, multi-disciplinary solutions to business problems. Over his career, Robert has worked as a project manager, sales & marketing professional, strategy consultant, and technologist. Before his position with Payment Source, Robert was Director, Client Services for Architech, a professional services technology firm where he was accountable for Client Delight, Project Alignment, and Delivered Revenue from all existing clients.
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Table of Contents
Tell us a little bit about your current projects. What exciting milestone would you like to share with our readers? (Don’t hesitate to delve into your achievements, they will inspire the audience)
Robert Hyde: Payment Source is dedicated to making payments accessible for everyone by reducing friction from payments processes and offering business and government solutions so that all Canadians have access to pay, and be paid, how they prefer. Through our mission to provide payments choice, convenience, and speed for all Canadians, Payment Source will soon launch its newest solution, a service that will leverage Interac e-Transfer as a payment option for e-commerce transactions. Canadians have demonstrated their trust in Interac through its predominant use in-store and the thriving Interac e-Transfer service for peer-to-peer payments. The new solution will not only drive down the cost of payments for merchants and retailers, but recent research conducted by the company indicates it will give more Canadians access to online shopping and help them manage their finances (55 percent of Canadians have abandoned a shopping cart because of the payment experience, a percentage that climbs to 60 percent among those uncomfortable sharing their credit card details online). These are central aspects of financial inclusion and literacy.
Was there somebody in your life that inspired you to take that specific journey with your business?
Robert Hyde: From day one, I saw the late George DeMarchi as a mentor and industry inspiration. In my early 20s, George took a chance on me – a fresh university graduate – and hired me to work on special projects. I didn’t even have a title at first as the role didn’t exist! George built companies, nurtured relationships, and had a strong work ethic that I truly admired. At such a young age, he allowed me to work on many projects and offered enough space for me to make mistakes. Any failures were seen as great learnings and life lessons that I carry through in my management style today.
What are the most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs make and what would you suggest they do?
Robert Hyde: Entrepreneurs tend to think they need to be good at everything to succeed, and in turn, are afraid to show weakness. By doing that, especially in the start-up phase, they may limit who they surround themselves with which impacts their overall growth in the industry. Instead, entrepreneurs should acknowledge and embrace those weaknesses, and seek mentors or colleagues who have those skills to help them learn and grow. Not only will this allow entrepreneurs to build their skills toolkit, but it will also expand their professional network while allowing them to focus more on the current areas where they already feel comfortable excelling.
Has the pandemic and transitioning into mostly online shopping affected your company positively or negatively?
Robert Hyde: To best meet Canadian financial inclusion needs, Payment Source keeps up to date on payments trends to support product innovations. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated Canadians’ payment preferences towards digital, showcasing the need for payment providers and our government to keep pace. As bricks and mortar retailers faced capacity limits and closures over the last 18 months, Canadian businesses and consumers turned to e-commerce. While credit cards are popular, not everyone wants to use them, nor does everyone have access to them. That makes online shopping a challenge, given credit cards are the primary payment option for e-commerce in Canada. Our newest alternative digital solution currently in development will support Canadians’ seismic shift towards online shopping while expanding and providing more payments choice to consumers.
In your opinion, what makes your company stand out from the competition?
Robert Hyde: The Payment Source platform and ubiquitous retail network enable more ways for Canadians to pay and be paid. We recognized early that different people want to pay in different ways, which is why we built an ecosystem of payers and payees to provide Canadians with as many payment solutions as possible. Through our retail network, we offer prepaid cards and vouchers and enable Canadians to make payments or load accounts with cash or debit via face-to-face transactions at a trusted retail location. And for those preferring a digital experience, we build custom mobile and web-based solutions.
When we approach payments, we come at it in a different way to drive an omnichannel solution. While our foundational legacy business is traditional payments to build digital tools for businesses, we can also distribute products through our national retail network – a strategic asset that can’t be replicated. We now work with the largest and most innovative companies in the industry including Amazon, PayPal, Paytm, Canada Revenue Agency, Canada Post, Intuit, Mastercard, VISA, and Paysafecard to bring the best possible product mix to retail environments.
Delegating is part of being a great leader, but what have you found helpful to get your managers to become valiant leaders as well?
Robert Hyde: In my experience, it’s very important as a leader to not get caught in your reality bubble, or your own set of processes. A leader must lead through listening and take the time to hear different perspectives across the business. By gathering others’ feedback, you often see your way through a problem you may not have initially been able to see on your own. For me, being a consultative leader has empowered others to be more creative and provided opportunities for people to contribute to the solution – a chance they may not have typically been granted.
It is also important to create an environment where your managers can take risks comfortably and feel accountable that they can deliver a solution. To do this, a leader should encourage their managers to be open about their strengths and weaknesses – similar to my earlier sentiment around entrepreneurs – to be able to put them in situations / solve problems where they can excel but still feel comfortable asking for support if needed.
What have you learned about personal branding that you wish you had known earlier in your career?
Robert Hyde: Throughout my career, I’ve learned that you must understand yourself and acknowledge your interests/strengths to authentically define your brand first. This self-awareness will help you identify the roles and professional network that will align with your values. If the company you work for has a set of values that is not aligned with yours, you’ll constantly be at odds and others will see that. Similarly, your brand must reinforce and be reinforced by the company to truly reach self-actualization. We must all remember that as you advance in your career, it’s natural for your values to change. It’s important to embrace these changes and seek a new or different role to continue aligning with your brand.
What’s your favorite leadership style and why?
Robert Hyde: I believe in Servant Leadership. Our job is to find ways to support our teams and remove the barriers that are preventing them from being successful. To me, success is measured less by my own completed tasks, and more by the environment I’ve created for others to be successful. At the end of the day, leaders must point the way. Being calm, hopeful, and trustworthy in the team around you gives people the confidence they need to speak up. My role is to raise people and get them to believe in their abilities. We need to clear the way for them to do what they need to do and give them the space they need to be successful.
Do you think entrepreneurship is something that you’re born with or something that you can learn along the way?
Robert Hyde: I believe entrepreneurship is both. Learning how to run a business, be a leader and generate strong ideas can be learned through experiences. However, many entrepreneurs are born with a high tolerance for uncertainty and to be risk-taskers. These personality traits will inherently attract them to entrepreneurship and give them the drive to put ideas into action.
What’s your favorite “leadership” quote and how has it affected the way you implement your leadership style?
Robert Hyde: “Your weaknesses will never develop, while your strengths will develop infinitely” – Donald Clifton
I really like this quote because too often we try to improve what we are inherently bad at, rather than what we are good at. This means you need to really think about what you do well and what you don’t, meaning constant self-reflection and checking your ego at the door. Many leaders are afraid to show weakness, but the moment I started embracing my weaknesses was the moment I could move past them and find a place where my weaknesses were less important to my success. I then surrounded myself with others who could make up for my weaknesses.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Robert Hyde for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Robert Hyde or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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