The Hot 100 career quiz: Bank of England GC Sonya Branch

What’s your most vivid memory from being a trainee?

I am not sure I can put my finger on one most vivid memory from that stage in my career [which perhaps tells you all you need to know about the blur of joining a magic circle law firm straight out of university and law school and the rapid ascent of that learning curve in your early 20s!]. The key residual memory is my lack of a female role model who I aspired to, and whose career and approach to work I wanted to follow.

What is the thing in your professional career that has terrified you or taken you out of your comfort zone the most?

Joining the Bank of England as General Counsel after several years of non-legal, Policy senior roles across Whitehall – in a career path that had taken me to the Board of the OFT, the Nudge Unit at Number 10, Cabinet Office and Defra and then the Board of the CMA. Not necessarily natural ‘bedfellows’ with the Bank of England!

What is the wisest thing anyone ever said to you (and who said it)?

I am not sure that the person considered themselves to be conveying wisdom at the time, but I recall one of the partners who was made up around the same time as me in another magic circle law firm remarking that she admired my total lack of fear of failure on hearing of my move to Defra. I was at first taken aback, and then felt oddly flattered. She was of course right – I do not let fear hold me back. However, that is not to say that I do not have my self-doubts and anxieties around performance.

I think it is because I have never had any project or role go wrong without being able to extract some positive lessons which have stood me in good stead since. There is a good quote by the Italian economist Pareto on failure: “Give me a fruitful error any time, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections”. I have drawn on that quote many times in my career!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get to where you are/do the job you do?

Always to maintain your own resilience, no matter what is being thrown at you.

Personally, this resilience comes from my own sense of perspective, which is largely founded on my activities beyond the work context – my commitments as a mother of four children, and as a trustee of two charities, Now Teach and Target Ovarian Cancer.

I am also fortunate in having a positive disposition in life. A Charlie Chaplin quote sums it up well: ‘you’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down.’

That said, there are certainly things that employers can do to make it easier to maintain resilience. Wellbeing is a well-established philosophy for the Bank – this includes psychological, physical and social wellbeing. We are all encouraged to seek help when it is needed, to take steps to proactively look after our own wellbeing, and to support our colleagues. Services such as on-site counsellors, meditation and resilience training help to facilitate that.

What’s your best friend from law school doing now?

One is teaching Maths in an inner city Senior School, and the other is based in Singapore, breeding race horses [believe it or not!]. Suffice to say, not one of my chums from Law School is still in law!