Future Leader profile: Travis Newton
 

Position: Software Engineering Manager at Sky’s Monitoring & Observability team 

I worked as a business analyst in various IT roles which utilised data to make business decisions, then joined Sky's Monitoring & Observability team as a Senior Business Analyst. This then morphed into being the manager of the Software Engineering element of Sky’s Monitoring & Observability team. 

Leadership philosophy: Leadership is providing direction, setting an example and motivating others to try and achieve targeted goals 

I watch a lot of sport, so feel that leadership can be performed in a number of ways and doesn't even have to always come from ‘above’. 

Motivations as a Future Leader: To inspire others 

I thought it was a good opportunity to inspire others from a similar background to myself to push themselves into more diverse, less traditionally predictable, career paths. 

Role models: My line manager at the Foreign Office, and Jose Mourinho 

My line manager always stressed the importance of maintaining regular contact with those that you are formally leading so that they feel they can come to you with anything (no matter how trivial seeming) and deal with issues and aid development at the first possible opportunity. I also like Jose Mourinho because he recognises that a different approach is required with different personalities and circumstances.  

Childhood dream job: to be an F1 driver  

I’m not sure what my dream job is now, but I’m looking to progress my career – there is always scope for it to go in weird and wonderful directions. 

Advice to aspiring data scientists: Data is powerful, do not underestimate what it can be used to achieve 

Hobbies: Watching and playing sports and running  

I also have three children (two of them twins), and they take up a lot of my spare time, including being the assistant manager of my 9-year-old's football team.