Kirsty Lynagh – People at the Heart of Performance

For Kirsty Lynagh, leadership has always been about one thing: creating environments where people and organisations can succeed together.

Throughout a career spanning more than 20 years across the UK and Australia, Kirsty has worked with organisations navigating growth, transformation and change. Whether supporting fast-growing technology businesses or, more recently, helping Baillie Gifford modernise while preserving its culture, one principle has remained constant.

“At the heart of my career has been people and performance.”

Inspired by parents who both ran successful businesses; Kirsty developed an early interest in what makes organisations successful. More importantly, she became fascinated by the role people play in creating high-performing teams and sustainable businesses.

Looking back, Kirsty sees a clear thread running through every role she has held, helping organisations evolve while ensuring people remain at the centre of that journey.

Growing Through Change

Much of Kirsty’s career has been spent in organisations experiencing significant transformation, with one period in particular standing out. During her time in a rapidly growing technology business, Kirsty experienced continual change, from start-up and scale-up through to acquisition and private equity ownership. At the same time, she stepped into her first Chief People Officer role, supporting leadership teams while continuing to develop her own leadership style.

“I look back and I think that was really rocket fuel for my career, because I was every year in a new and unfamiliar environment.”

Supporting others through uncertainty while continuing to develop her own leadership style required Kirsty to embrace uncertainty herself. Rather than feeling she needed to have every answer, the experience reinforced that leadership is often about remaining curious, continuing to learn and creating the conditions for others to succeed.

Community, Confidence and Perspective

It was during this period of significant professional growth that Kirsty joined the Executive Women in Leadership (EWIL) programme.

Nearly a decade on, Kirsty says three aspects of the programme have stayed with her: community, confidence and perspective.

“My biggest takeaways from the programme are actually beyond the programme. It’s the people that I met and those relationships and friendships I’ve extended now for a decade today.”

For Kirsty, those relationships have become far more than a professional network. They have become a trusted group of peers who continue to provide encouragement, challenge and support throughout her career.

Having people from different sectors and backgrounds to share ideas with has provided a valuable sounding board, helping her navigate challenges with greater confidence and perspective.

“You don’t have to have all the answers. It’s quite lonely at times in the role that I do.”

The programme also encouraged Kirsty to broaden her perspective beyond her own functional expertise. It gave her greater confidence to engage with business strategy and the commercial drivers of organisations, reinforcing the close connection between people, performance and business success. Just as importantly, hearing from leaders across different sectors challenged her thinking and reinforced the value of bringing diverse perspectives into leadership conversations.

Looking Ahead

Looking back, Kirsty believes the value of the programme extends far beyond the time spent in it. The relationships, conversations and different perspectives continue to shape how she approaches leadership almost a decade later.

For Kirsty, people and performance have never been separate. Her career reflects a belief that when people are supported to grow, organisations grow with them. Nearly a decade after completing EWIL, that philosophy continues to shape not only how she leads, but how she supports others to lead too.

Executive Women in Leadership Alumni Spotlight Series

This article forms part of our Executive Women in Leadership Alumni Spotlight Series, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the EWLP programme in September 2026, and has been developed collaboratively with the support of Judy Wagner, Director of FWB Ltd and Prof Susan Murphy of The University of Edinburgh Business School, (who co-founded the EWLP), the EWIL Advisory Board, programme contributors, and interview participants.

The EWLP has since evolved into the Executive Leadership Programme (ELP), delivered in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Business School and open to leaders of all genders across the private, public and third sectors.

For more information about joining the 2026 cohort, please contact elp@fwbltd.com.