Sunday, April 28, 2019

|| The art of an innovation collaboration system

39. The art of an innovation collaboration system

As the exhibit “The Four Ways to Collaborate” shows, there are four basic modes of collaboration: a closed and hierarchical network (an elite circle), an open and hierarchical network (an innovation mall), an open and flat network (an innovation community), and a closed and flat network (a consortium).

When you use a closed mode, you are making two implicit bets: that you have identified the knowledge domain from which the best solution to your problem will come, and that you can pick the right collaborators in that field.

When you use a closed mode, you are making two implicit bets: that you have identified the knowledge domain from which the best solution to your problem will come, and that you can pick the right collaborators in that field. 

Innovation mall - Open modes work best when the spread between the ideal solution and the average solution is not big and the consequences of missing out on a much better solution from an elite player are small.

Innovation community - You need ideas from many parties, and the best ideas may come from unexpected sources. » Because you don’t know all possible user requirements, you want to share the costs and risks of innovation with outsiders. » Participating in the network is easy. » The problem is small or, if large, can be broken into modular parts. » You don’t need to own the intellectual property underlying the solution.

Consortium - » You know the knowledge domain from which the best solutions are likely to emerge. » The problem is large and cannot be broken into modular parts. » Having the best experts is important, and you have the capability to pick them. » Contributors won’t participate unless they share power. » The expertise of all participants is needed. » You can share the resulting intellectual property with the other participants.

Another requirement of open modes is that participating in them must be easy. This is possible when a problem can be partitioned into small, well-defi ned chunks that players can work on autonomously at a fairly low cost.

In the hierarchical form, a specific organization has this authority, which provides it with the advantage of being able to control the direction of the innovation efforts and capture more of the innovation’s value. In the flat form, these decisions are either decentralized or made jointly by some or all collaborators; the advantage here is the ability to share with others the costs, risks, and technical challenges of innovating.  Hierarchical governance is desirable when your organization has the capabilities and knowledge needed to define the problem and evaluate proposed solutions.

Designing incentives – both financial and nonfinancial – that attract external collaborators is crucial with any of the four modes of collaboration. Nonfinancial rewards like high visibility in the job market, an enhanced reputation among a peer group, the psychological fulfillment of pursuing a strong interest, and the chance to use solutions in one’s own business can replace or complement monetary rewards. There are no hard rules about which incentives work best with particular forms of collaboration. Although people often associate psychological fulfillment with innovation communities, it can be a powerful incentive in the other modes as well.

Flat modes are also appropriate when collaborators all have a vested interest in how a particular problem is solved and will participate only if they get some say in the decisions.

Developing an effective approach to collaboration starts with a solid understanding of your company’s strategy. What is the business problem you want innovation to solve? Are you (like Alessi) trying to create a distinctive product that breaks boundaries? Are you (like IBM) trying to keep up with larger rivals (like Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor) in an intense technology race? Or are you (like Apple today) looking to broadly expand the applications of your product? Companies must also ask what unique capabilities they bring to the collaborative process. Firms with deep relationships in a space, for example, are much better positioned to exploit an elite circle mode than a newcomer is.

|| Introvert Revolution

38. Networking for introverts

  • Public speaking, start small, safe environment, private moments; practice in private life
  • Train to look at people who look happy with your speaking; the nervous people will look at the more grumpy people instead
  • Choose your business or career wisely, good for your temperament, choose a line of work that fits you ... but we want to be doing the work that is super passionate, which requires them to come out of the comfort zone, act out of character mindfully then you come back you go into space and you have a life where you want to work, feel entitled to be able to do that
  • Networking purpose, reframe to make it work for you ... look for the person you really want to connect, kindred spirits, social events, movie and seminar, who is that one person to have great conversations.  Take the pressure off
  • Power of partnerships, finding your temperamental compliments, idea and grounded finance for instance, draw the natural strengths out of everyone

|| Difficult messages

37. Deliver difficult messages

How to Deliver Difficult Messages
Difficult conversations are tough for all parties, but, when done well, they are constructive and help get work done, remove obstacles, help people learn and grow, and advance objectives. Use the following 3 step process to prepare for and have constructive conversations on difficult topics.

1. Prepare
Adopt a Positive Mindset
First, it’s helpful to reframe how you approach the conversation by adopting a positive mindset. Instead of dwelling on your concern over the conversation not going well, focus on the positive aspects of confronting the issue. For example, instead of thinking, "I'm worried about how they'll respond," instead think, "This will be a tough conversation, but in the long run, this will strengthen our relationship." Or, if it’s someone you don’t have a relationship with, honest communication will help you both work through a challenge, build trust, and achieve success for the organization. In this way, the conversation is constructive and aims for a positive outcome.

Focus on the outcome
Second, it’s important to focus on the outcome you want to achieve. For example, imagine your team member has missed another project deadline. What do you really want to discuss: the missed deadline or the overall impact missed deadlines have on the project? Though you may be inclined to focus on one specific situation, there may be a bigger issue to discuss. Likewise, imagine you have a strong disagreement with a peer on another team about how to address a client need. The conversation is heated and you’re at a stalemate as to how to proceed. You could focus on getting the other person to see your point of view. Or, you could take a step back and focus on a shared outcome…what would be the best decision for the client.

Consider the context
Third, consider the context of the conversation. Difficult conversations will go much better when you are in the right environment. For example, it’s important to share disappointing news in a private setting instead of in a team meeting so the person feels you are respecting their privacy.

Determine the timing
Finally, determine the timing of the conversation. Ideally, you would have the conversation as soon as possible, but you may need to consider what else is going on for you and the other person that day. Schedule the conversation at a time when both of you can fully focus, distractions are minimal, and you won’t feel rushed.

2. During the Conversation
Be direct
First, be direct. It’s tempting to soften the message, but that can be harmful. You need to be honest about the situation for the conversation to be productive. Avoid minimizing or diluting the message.
Remember the scenarios you considered earlier. Think about how you’d address the team member who was late on a project deadline. Using an indirect approach, you might say: “I really appreciate all that you’re doing, and that you’re always willing to take on new projects. I just noticed you missed a project deadline. I’m sure it’s because you’re so busy. What can I do to help make things less hectic for you?” By not directly addressing the purpose of the conversation, the person may misunderstand your message. They may have heard, “It’s okay to miss deadlines because you’re so busy..” which was not the message you were trying to send. A more direct approach would be, “Let’s talk about that missed project deadline and how we avoid this in the future.” The first approach avoids directly addressing the issue. The second approach is to the point. It is still polite, and does not send a mixed message about your intent.

Be Clear
Similarly, be clear in your language. Be intentional with the words you use during the conversation. Avoid using complicated or vague terms to make sure your recipient is clear on what you are communicating and any next steps. For example, saying "As a project manager, you need to make sure that each team member is clear about their roles and responsibilities" is better than saying, "You need to improve your leadership." And, finally, ensure shared understanding by reiterating your key message, if necessary.

Be Inclusive
No one in a conversation always has a complete understanding of the issue so, it’s important that both parties share their perspectives. Keep the dialogue open to make sure the other person feels heard and understood. Ask them how they see things instead of just advocating for your point of view. For example, asking “What do you think?” versus “Don’t you agree that things will be better this way?” makes the person feel more comfortable to share their point of view, as opposed to the latter, which can feel one-sided.
Another technique to be inclusive of the other person is to genuinely listen and acknowledge what they say. Ensuring the other person feels heard is a powerful way to keep the conversation constructive and move it forward.

Take a neutral perspective
Finally, take a neutral perspective in the conversation. There are three perspectives in any conversation: the 1st perspective is the way you see it, the 2nd perspective is the way the other person sees it, and then, there’s the third perspective, which is more neutral and objective. It’s natural to describe the situation from your perspective, but that may make the other person feel defensive. Review the examples to see a neutral perspective in action.

3. After the conversation
Follow up
It’s easily forgotten, yet a very important final step: follow up with the person after the conversation. People often have new thoughts or questions after having time to process the conversation. Following up ensures you and the person have a mutual understanding of the situation and any potential next steps. And, if you haven't already, it allows you to let them know you appreciate working with them to resolve the issue.

Schedule another conversation if needed
If it feels like the situation wasn’t fully addressed or you may have more questions, it’s critical to have a second conversation. If needed, schedule a follow-up conversation shortly after the first so that you can more quickly move towards understanding and resolution

|| Extreme negotiations

36. Sunday morning not so pleasure readings for difficult conversations

This Sunday morning I was catching up on the BetterUp coaching materials for difficult conversations, conflicts, extreme negotiations.

Those in extremis negotiators solicit others’ points of view, propose multiple solutions and invite their counterparts to critique them, use facts and principles of fairness to persuade the other side, systematically build trust and commitments over time, and take steps to reshape the negotiation process as well as the outcome.

Why is that important to you?  Propose solutions for critique: “Here’s a possibility—what might
be wrong with it?”  Learn the other party’s motivations and concerns. Propose multiple solutions and
invite your counterparts to improve on them.  The skilled in extremis negotiator focuses on turning negotiation into side-by-side problem solving rather than a test of wills.   Seeking to draw the elders out and engage them as partners, he asked, “What would be wrong with this idea?”

Use facts and the principles of fairness, rather than brute force, to persuade others. Arm them with ways to defend their decisions to their critics, and create useful precedents for future negotiations. 

  • Appeal to fairness: “What should we do?” 
  • Appeal to logic and legitimacy: “I think this makes sense, because.…” 
  • Consider constituent perspectives: “How can each of us explain this agreement to colleagues?”

Explore how a breakdown in trust may have occurred and how to remedy it.  Make concessions only
if they are a legitimate way to compensate for losses owing to your nonperformance or broken commitments.  Treat counterparts with respect, and act in ways that will command theirs.

Build Trust First Deal with relationship issues head-on. Make incremental commitments to encourage trust and cooperation. 

Avoid Acting without gauging how your actions will be perceived and what the response will be
Ignoring the consequences of a given action for future as well as current negotiations.

Instead Talk not just about the issues but about the negotiation process: “We seem to be at an
impasse; perhaps we should spend some more time exploring our respective objectives and constraints.” Slow down the pace: “I’m not ready to agree, but I’d prefer not to walk away either. I think this warrants further exploration.” Issue warnings without making threats: “Unless you’re willing to work with me toward a mutually acceptable outcome, I can’t afford to spend more time negotiating.

Control and power can be asserted most effectively by slowing down the pace of the negotiation, actively leading counterparts into a constructive dialogue, and demonstrating genuine openness to others’ perspectives. That isn’t giving in. It is being strategic rather than reactive. It’s thinking several moves ahead about how your actions might be perceived. And it’s making tactical choices that elicit constructive responses and advance your true objectives.


Saturday, April 27, 2019

|| Earnings Insiders and Outsiders

35. Earnings insiders and outsiders

It's the earnings season.  This quarterly earnings call was interesting because there were multiple short dialogues that implied a much deeper context behind some of these questioning and answering that's completely not understood by anyone else.
- we introduced a complex target of operating efficiency, not straight-forward, not mainstream, one that was coined to serve the needs of certain investors' or analysts' needs
- a few analysts reacted with their conclusions on some of the missing pieces to bring back to the mainstream understanding of the shareholder returns.  Hardly anyone could do that on the spot, and certainly, they have not just crunched numbers from any of the newly released earnings reports
- the answers had many pauses, long and very long pauses, searching for answers or searching for the exact words or searching for that sentimental reactions or attitudes to be given

A number of times people tell me that the finance meetings are dreadful and over time, the attendance thins out.  Because the dialogues have a strong connotation of there are untold context, without some of it re-introduced, either on the spot or going back, it would be difficult to follow and to contribute.  Inclusion can be more difficult than what you think you can do, some people continue trying, and others give up.  Now thinking about what I have done in some of these situations, I choose to motivate myself to learn and to climb up and up until maybe the end of life.

|| Tesla ride

34. Tesla ride into a futuristic globe of imagination

I took a ride with Janet in her Tesla model s on the way back to the office.  This was a ride of a lifetime experience, to be in a thing called a car but really it was a transporter disguised in the traditional car shape.  Elon Musk, if you have not liked him enough, you would certainly respect him as someone who is daring enough to imagine, to design, and to produce. The drama in the media will not confuse or distract the market that Tesla offers a superior driving experience with an imagination out of this world.  There were not too many of the force wakening moment for all the things that we buy, but when they did present in front of us, we would know.

- the imagination has liberated human beings to win over of all species in the environment
- the design is to put intelligence into the machines to establish/deepen the relationship with the humans, eg. think about how much time we'd spend on our smartphones
- the product commercializes the imagination and the design and make them mainstream and changes the society

There is such an influence that bestows on me.  We are more capable than what we can see or touch at the moment, it's the imagination and the courage that gets us to exceed the moment.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

|| Opportunity and opportunistic

33. Opportunity and opportunistic

This week's biggest news, Zoom IPO, Vicky saying she struggles with the cybersecurity new director and Tao and I saying farewell at our usual Japanese lunch place at the Galleria.  This week has been full of the ups and downs of taking on the opportunity and being opportunistic.

Being pushed to change vs change from within. 

  • Being pushed to change but I have to be the one having the best interest of me.  I am constantly reminding myself to split the energy between how much I put up the defense and how much I explore to develop that change from within
  • Being pushed to change but remains calm and positive.  Tao has amazing pass-over for all the craziness and irrational happenings of the world.  He has the vocal, body and state of mind of being opportunistic, he is both looking ahead and open to coming back, but goes all in for every possible outcome
  • Being pushed highlights the need for networking for strategic mentors, sponsorships and proteges.  I need my own brand of leadership, mission statement and followers to turn around and to have my own change timelines from within



|| Zugata may not be for everyone

32. Zugata fails fast

Birst was declared no longer being the chosen cloud-based reporting tool.  And Zugata was nowhere on the scene after the new year's bell struck.  People had a lot of trust and confidences about the stories we tell, hey this is good vitamin and you should take them.  The stories hardly tell you what health problems the vitamins would address, and how we should testify ourselves for how the vitamins helped make us better.  Zugata hypes as people remember they are the leader boards, the points and etc, reminding me none other than the "likes" in all of the popular social apps, looking for external approval, recognition, but it's hardly that Zugata was trying to address. 

What Zugata advertised was the failure to serve the real purpose of the app, and that is real-time feedbacks, making it more personable, actionable, spontaneous, conversational, constructive and natural.  Zugata wants to take out the intimidation, embarrassment, hesitation ... The result is it's hardly as effective as that.  I personally feel coaching, feedbacks, inputs are best for in person in the flow of the conversations.  Now it's gone, after that laughter of it "failed fast", we should think about how we gather feedbacks outside of the performance management system.  Having genuine and frequent check-ins with clients for the inputs to get our works more effective, our relationships closer and the humans of us having more energy of embracing that tomorrow.

Saturday, April 13, 2019

|| Small Job

31. Small Job

Life is not good and not getting better, from work pressure, the loss of the advanced parole letter in the mail also friends are not offering any mental support.  Frustration seems to be a lonely thing, my friends don't want it, my mother screens out of it, and it is only stuck with me.

I am offered a small job, smaller than who I think I am.  At times we say some people are the chosen one, what if the chosen path is smaller than what I want to be, 1) personal brand and the perceived brand are not matching 2) the strengths and the contribution values are less than the "market value", and in this case, an internal market valuation 3) the pressure comes from outside of me that does not involve me. 

As suspected, despite the talks of diversity, inclusion, choosing your own paths, the corporate world is a snobbish one.  It will have to give and take, and at times, it's the soul.  If I am not willing to give my free soul, I will need to think about the practical path.

How do I decline a small job?  My professional brand is all-in-economics with slight more specialization in FTP, capital and consumer credit.  The skills I want to work on are strategy thinking, executive influence, trade-off hard decisions, board service, workshop content creation, social equity.  The happy job moments for me are when I create a path to solve financial problems, when I bring the big picture state of the union business update for product managers for awareness that their works are contributing to the bottom line, when the folks I chat with telling me that I just said something that inspired them.  The jobs that will interest me and also will use the biggest of my knowledge and skills, if I think inside the box, CFO jobs; and if I think outside of the box, corporate development, corporate strategy, account / asset business acquisition.

|| Hectic New York Trip

30. Hectic New York Trip

Aging infrastructure, horrific traffic, massive uber presence, very diverse demographics, somewhat orderly humans, tiny living spaces, people bragging about the Hamilton tickets ... new york way of life.  The boutiques, the Japanese restaurant clusters, are all small and not grand.  They seem to be lacking the old money glamor that the older new yorkers would be characteristics of.  Maybe this is the culture, that the space is really small both physical and mental.

Inside the 114 office, digital lab business casual, curiosity, smart people, young and restless, the banker visitors, somewhat rigid and stupid on the panel seats.  They tend to be sticking to themselves most of the time.

Jenny came to have breakfast with me.  She looks tired, a bit frazzled, but down under, she has not changed, she brags about the noble connections but none of them will be productive for her.

Kadar came for a visit.  He looks wavering, a high attrition risk, he is disappointed that there isn't a banking relationship per se after losing the products, the locations and the yield curve will not add any positive flavor to a direct banking model.

Hectic trip and I'm glad that it has ended.

Sunday, April 07, 2019

|| CEOs and Chiefs

29.  CEOs and Chiefs at the 2019 CBA Live

Four keynote speeches between the CEOs and the Chiefs, and they were impressive. 


  • CEOs both end with a mission that is more about humanity than the business, being fair, being accessible, with humanity.  They build their cases from two very different angles, one envokes emotions and inspires with personal stories whereas the other tells stories about the social values for every banking business decision
  • Chiefs have very similar regulatory agenda, being fair, being accessible, safety and soundness on the financial systems.  Earlier in the DC random chatter, the commentators had already complained that the new chiefs have been slow, have not substantiated the new imperatives, plenty of overlaps ... here one of them, in playful barbs, says taking the time to have lunches in the cafeteria, baking brownies, and cookies, outreach while the other one says he could do one single metric, could go solo on getting things done.  Interestingly both are on the board of the other agencies
The audience simply finds their own inspirations and virtual mentors.  The world is full of differences, but seeing that differences can co-exist and being somewhat equally effective and thriving, that is priceless for what I really got out of the conference.

|| 2019 CBA at the National Harbor

28.  CBA Live at the National Harbor

This is a consumer banking conference, but technology has dominated everything the bankers want to hear about and chat about.  Investing in technology has received 50% of the bankers' votes.

The core of the banking economics is the ability to borrow funds cheaply then lend it out with good risk management.
- good risk management, fighting fraud, fighting financial crime with unsupervised learning, AI while not disrupting the lives of the rest of the 99% of the good standing consumers.  The conference also calls for a deep reckoning of the social responsibilities of the banking institutions to fight organized crimes which have gotten very sophisticated in synthetic fraud and money laundering schemes
- good risk management, modernizing the multi-decade long regulations of community reinvestment act, consumer protections, the role of fintechs, the national banking charter.  Many agencies have set up an office of the innovations, warm hand-offs, outreach programs, and harmonizing the agency demands etc
- borrow funds cheaply, is really about being inclusive and making banking accessible to the banked, un-banked, smart pricing ... 1) invest in real time payment rails such as bill pay, reducing the dependence on the intermediaries 2) reinvent small-dollar lending 3)  deposit pricing segmentation, multi-product pricing, cracking the code

|| Advisory

27. Advisory

What is advisory, having or consisting in the power to make recommendations but not to take action enforcing them.

  • is personally and professionally interested in being an advisor, more than "check the box"
  • genuinely listens constructively, attempting to hear all aspects of the business clients expressed problems
  • attempts to understand the concerns from a client's point of view, incl. the business drivers, challenges
  • knows finance principles and best practice in sufficient details to provide clients with accurate, usable information
  • refers clients to other sources of information and assistance when necessary
  • views long-range planning as well as immediate problem-solving as an essential part of effective advising
  • continually attempts to improve both the style and substance of his/her advising role
Skills are, trustworthiness, knowledge, communication skills, compassion and optimism.


Communication Skills
To effectively communicate their advice, advisers must have strong communication skills. These communication skills should include the ability to both listen and speak. If the individual is not skilled at listening, she won't be able to obtain the information she requires to give advice to the advisee. Similarly, if the individual is not skilled in speaking, she won't be able to verbally communicate her advice with much success.

Compassion
Sometimes the topics on which advisers are giving advice are emotional in nature. When an adviser is going to speak about topics that are tied to human emotions, it is beneficial if he is compassionate. If he lacks compassion, he may not be able to effectively present the emotionally charged advice in a manner that the advisee can appreciate.

Optimism
While not entirely requisite, optimism is a useful trait for an adviser to possess. If an adviser is optimistic, she can more likely make the individuals she is advising feel good during the advice-giving process. This ability to put individuals at ease and see the bright side in potentially difficult situations can make the adviser enjoyable to be around and potentially more desirable to those seeking advice.

|| The Chosen One

26. "The chosen one ..."

These days the chosen one turns off people for not being inclusive, potentially bias driven decision making.  The same may be going on with choosing the computing or reporting tools at the workplace.  Society is full of options for human beings who should master their own destinies.  

In the field of the coding, for instance, there are literally masses of other languages that we can use for data science, but, in comparison with R and Python, they are slightly not so well-suited and general-purposeful.  1) ease of learning the syntax 2) a growing community and open source, the richness of the library 3) applications of both data cleaning, modeling, searching, mathematical functioning, web application, compatibility, etc.

We should understand the choice of a language remains just a tool in a programmer’s hands. Naturally, it is substantial to manipulate it confidently to generate a superior solution. But, in the first place should represent the developer’s skill.  

|| Living in the Greater DC

25. Living in DC

  • Diverse demographics - lots of resources of food, culture, scenes, lifestyles ... such as farmers marketing, games, concerts, embarking deeper thinking of life existence and co-existence
  • Political influence - it's invigorating to see the flourishing innovations as people take on the century-old social challenges, equal voting rights, and political involvements, pay equity, national security ...

|| Founders and Funders

24. Founders and Funders

  • Founders - 
    • many are clueless and talk without much of a purpose
    • several wanting to improve on digital product management skills, marketing skills, design and UX skill
    • none have asked for financial planning or business planning advice
    • several mentioned that they started from consulting and strategy background, "I do business development"
    • 3 of the 4 presenters could do better with explaining business models, funding roadmaps and etc.  They all come from consulting pipeline, then developing software for sale.  Team composition is 1 BD, 1 CTO, 10-15 data/engineers
  • Funders - 
    • they smell money, corporate talk, sharp questioning
    • seem to be more eager with talking to the rest of the investor community, incl. institutional sponsors and funders
  • Politics matter a lot - 
    • some of the venture presentations just threw big names of prior directors from NSA, NIH ... make you feel it's so hard to be an entrepreneur in DC, you need political influence
    • several related to a social cause in storytelling, pay equality, national security
  • Networking -
    • founders and founders, investors and investors, 10-word speed dating style networking

|| Getting into the 2019 ACC Class

23. Getting into the 2019 ACC class

  • Advanced credit college presents the leadership of structured thinking and structured communication.  
  • 1) deposit pricing and servicing decisions 2) education of decision sciences in the operations area 2) forecast model integrity
  • It is set in a heavy credit environment as most of the consumer credit products do risk-based pricing.  I would like to think that deposit pricing could use a similar line of self-interrogation and integrity only that the credit losses are expanding into all costs which also include operating resource costs (branches) and operating losses
  • I recently learned Erlang C model of the call center model that gives the insight that changing service level is not strong leverage in cost savings but has outsized risks with the only a small amount of staffing decreases
  • We recently had a forecast power day.  The various forecast approach, regression testing, has the opportunity of instituting consistency and standards
  • Long term career - 1) I do feel committed to the bank because of the unfinished businesses, the desire to create a legacy of a new forecast system and a new forecast community for the above reasons.  2) I am less interested in the detailed marketing campaigns that modify the creatives, the plastics.  What's best of the use of my experiences, the knowledge of many consumer financial product plus the enhanced training of structured thinking, would be a strategic development for a certain deal, for a certain customer segment or for a policy development, which involves credit and/or value creation

|| The Future of the Finance Skills

22. The future of the finance skills
  • The global finance data lakes, the basic needs of our Global Finance work
  • Even before getting the news that MAPS is gone, there were overwhelming voices from the analyst community that the Hyperion Essbase data template is not supporting the more advanced visual tools of such as Tableau, and we want the true source of the MAPS data (you can think of it as a financial actuals data lake).  Just recently Lessbase has been enabled using a backdoor, so that analyst could use the flat files directly, eliminating the excel formatting efforts, and directly feed into the Tableau expense reporting
  • This skill of data queries is becoming more important, as the choice of the front end has really proliferated, tableau designs, web-based forms, python models and etc.  Each may have a unique data feed requirement, btw they are usually very flat file looking.  The understanding of the underlying data and data extraction skills are critical as we design the FP&A products for our business customers
  • Now let's talk about some of the more advanced work of an LoB finance analyst
  • CAP is an internal and analytical system, is something we want to learn today.  It's another data lake concept which has account level financial information, first started in both card and auto, as finance was looking for our own insights of vintage quality and segment quality of account performances, we debated heavily for the lack of an eighth dimension, the channel from a long time ago, an decided that the channel split will be addressed by the DID set-ups.  It's a data link without the Hyperion Essbase front end, so both business analysts and financial analysts use SQL and now snowflakes to retrieve somewhat raw data out of it
  • Pennywise should be coming online very soon.  This is an internal and analytical system sponsored by the bank business
  • The powerday is pointing to the creation of the global assumptions lake with much more contents, system storage, version control, and more frequent update
  • Finally, peer pressure may be building up.  I want to share the experience that I recently had at the Andrew director + innovation update.  The question is, do you think the managers need to learn the data skills, pulling data from the source system?  Shane/Steve had all gotten training on python

|| Data Blueprint

21. Data blueprint

  • Financial data are actuals and forecasts
  • MAPS is a management accounting system with the primary objective of being the system of record for external reporting; CAP is an internal and analytical system
  • Let's talk about MAPS. MAPS has actuals and forecasts.  Originally CFAR, the Hyperion Essbase reporting system existed for as long as when I joined the company
  • Where do actuals come from?  1) every product line has its own processor with account level transaction information from tsys, impacs / systematics, profile, ALS, ACBS etc., and data links extracts and aggregates the account level information to feed into MAPS 2) accounting systems feeds maps with real cash operating accounts into our general ledgers
  • Where do the forecasts come from?  1) financial analysts forecasts into Direx and Forecast and data links feeds into MAPS 2) MAPS itself has calculations on the derived items, such as capital, top of house items
  • MAPS will end its support in 2020, Oracle will only offer a brand new system with a completely different look and feel.  MAPS is mainframe, not cloud compatible.  It requires 26K+ lines of codes to implement a change of its interaction with the rest of the cloud-ready system or table.  It is time to say farewell, and it's no way of going back
  • MAPS will be replaced with OneStream

|| Space X, the Future

10. Space X, the Future

- Looking to the future
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”

- Publicity, selling the idea and getting the investors, sponsors
SpaceX has pulled off a couple of generally impressive achievements very publicly. Furthermore, Elon Musk is very good at managing hype as marketing, so SpaceX has a lot of excitement around it.

- From an engineering standpoint, SpaceX has so far been pretty impressive when it comes to tech- reusability of the rocket itself is new and they've managed to get it to work; furthermore, it's somewhat cheaper compared to other vehicles with similar payload capacities.  For instance, the russians are charging some 80M to lift up the US astronauts to the ISS.

A private company, successfully automatically connected to the ISS docking station.

|| Imagination

9. Imagination

Banking re-imagined, that's a trademark that is worth something, it's interesting why we would entertain ourselves and rewarding ourselves to be imagining things.  Without imagination what will happen ...

This week I read the article of how the dell business model died over the last ten years.  Once upon a time, I was myself a Dell customer, desktop and laptop.  These are machines of value, but only mediocre value, three years of battery life.  These are machines with minimal design or innovation thinking, I now read that their R&D budget was less than 1% of its annual revenue.  While the world is imagining new consumer technology devices, tablet, mobile, wearables, smart home, cloud based offering proliferations, etc.  The early PC growth obscured the fact that Dell was and remains a follower.  Without its own imagination of how the mass consumer tech goes to, makes it a perennial follower and even following slower than what the market wants it to be.

It's important that we spend the time to reflect, to imagine and to plan for the future.  It's important that we invest financial resources and human resources to get us there to the future.

|| Taking Calculated Risks

8. Take calculated risks (life event story #4)

Winter is the least favorite season of mine.  Snow days are especially tricky.  I figure these would be the best of times for the forecasters, they have big beaming smiles on television, you hear about the US model vs the European model, you see the color blocks marking the lines between 1-2 inches and 3-4 inches, school closures, branch misison control, code red status ... almost always at the end of their elaborate analysis, they will say, your own assessment, safety is the most important thing and you should do your own assessment and make decisions.

This is very similar to the NPMIGs you often hear me talking about.  Before change enters into the system, you have all the subject matter experts opine on the potential change management process requirements, operational readiness, reputation risks, compliance risks, legal claims etc.  It's risk all over everything.

In reality, we are all masters of analyzing information and making decisions with some risks.  The part of the calculation is very important, it always feels better when you know the people who know risks, consult for ranges of the outcome, mitigation strategies.  "What do you worry about the most, what's the worst thing that can happen to me ..., and take actions on mitigating, monitoring, maybe also preparing a way out, an alternative.

|| Farmers Market

7. Farmers market (life event story #3 or what do you do at the weekend)

Farmer's market is always an abundance of joy.  1) fresh produce brings nature back to human beings in its original form 2) display art demonstrates the design creatives from the farm owners/workers 3) casual/random conversations with people who love food, cooking, and simple way of life.

This is also a place that I pay attention to the kind of payment method the micro vendors use over time, it's becoming more diversified these days, both cash and the mobile swipes are quite popular.

|| Learning New Tech

6. Learning new technology (life event story #2)

My story of learning technology is not that glory one, I am not an early adopter, and often times, I am forced into a certain new thing out of necessity.  1) Cathy called me to make several copies for her 9am meeting 2) operate the consoles for video conferencing, VGA, HDMI ... 3) more recently, teams post priorities in confluence, Gantt chart becomes JIRA, models moved to GitHub, vintage cube discontinued ... they are in CAP so you need Teradata or snowflakes, HR dashboard goes to snowflakes.

What keeps me going with positive thinking 1) I recognize all good things may come to the end of life so 2) I trust that human beings are smart animals, we have to see the brighter side before we jump in there 3) I am a curious person, I ask a lot of questions, I am also willing to try new things to have my own judgment for its potentials 4) I want to look like a contemporary person and that means I have to keep up with the new things in society.

|| Some Career Decisions

5. Career decision and change moment and learning (life event story #1)

There were two important capital one career change moments.  Both times I re-programmed my work and life routines to learn new skills for the new jobs.

1) in 2007, I started supporting the credit card acquisition business and felt a lot of pressure for not being able to have a fluent business conversation.  People are so smart, they effortlessly talk about the financial market, competitive products, credit turns.  Will I ever become one of them?  At one time, I finally started paying cable TV because I want to watch CNBC and Bloomberg.  I'm also cutting back on my redundant routines so that I could read more books of the Americal political and financial structures, history and etc, that's how I trained myself to be jumpy and intellectual in conversing business and financial topics.

2) fast forward into 2012, I took a new job supporting the bank business, and immediately the pressure was mounting as I met with people with diverse backgrounds, eg. the card legacy vs the bank culture.  Analytics drive business decisions, but business results require motivating people at their heart to take actions.  Will I ever be seen as a people leader?  I prioritized my times towards understanding humans and adjusting my problem-solving approach with more context, more storytelling, more inspirational conversations, more empowering.  I cut back on the desire of knowing the tactics or the details of from A to B or simply knowing everything.

As human beings, we learn in our lifetime.  When there is a will, there is a way to learn.  At times, they require some hard work, trade-offs, awkwardness, getting out of the comfort zone.  The efforts always pay off.  It's always the brighter side that is waiting for us.

|| Bias

4. Bias

We’re all biased, but there’s hope.  Eradicating our biases is just about impossible. And that’s likely for the best. We use assumptions based on previous experience to get through our lives efficiently. But, if left unchecked, biases can go too far. While we can’t eliminate our biases, we can keep them under control. One way to start? Spend time with lots of different people and things, Chamorro-Premuzic suggests. The more diverse our experiences, the greater the range of assumptions we can make.

Global Finance bias ambassador program was implemented at the 2018 year-end performance management calibration discussions.  The ambassador calls out where the same behavior, eg. direct communication style, was presented with different connotations or when a certain assumption was applied to the competencies without actual behavioral demonstrations.  The ambassadors help the people managers to focus on presenting the behavioral examples to getting to whether they contribute to results or whether they are opportunities.

|| Bitcoin

3. Bitcoin?  45 seconds

It's a dark coaster ride if you follow the news of the market crash or the trading platfrom breaching of trust for even Jamie Dimon saying bitcoin is a complete fraud.  I, on the other hand, focuses on reading the blockchain technology itself, particularly interested in some of the use cases for the financial service industry 1) distributed ledger that tracks financial transactions a lot more efficiently 2) smart contract to protect the privacy of b2b, b2c, and c2c obligations 3) supporting digital asset.  They should all lead to instantaneous trading and payment, less fraud and AML burdens, basically cheaper financial services.  Tons of blogs, news on the wild wild web of the internet, they are really fun to read.

|| Q1 2019 All Associate Survey

2. Q1 All Associate Survey  60 seconds

All associate survey is the most important report card on org effectiveness.  Here are the high level read out of the Q1 survey -

  • 9 responses on the team, that is 100% participation
  • Engagement score - are you bringing the 100% of yourself to work; we are at 100%
  • People index score - are we providing inclusion, empowering, learning and development opportunities; we are at 80-100%
  • Enablement - do we have the right tools, do we take out the barriers and things are easy to get done ... the mid-70s, a noticeable lift from the prior quarter, still lots of room to get to the highest level of work functionality 
  • Brand new insights on where the team wants to work on, mid 60s score 1) volunteering, several of our bank finance councils have expressed interests, we will want to walk the walk this year, set a target and put the plan together 2) workplace solution, the 1750 slack channel to put in our recommendations

|| Role in women's network

1. What is your role in facilitating the women's networking activities?  41 seconds

It's an honor working for a team of amazing women, on topics that are near and dear to our hearts. 1) I bring resources that inspire the women, the research papers, articles, videos, movies, books.  2) I encourage the women to come to our townhall style quarterly discussion.  Women want to help women elevate our presence, contribution, and accomplishments in workplace.  3) Also, last year we invited all associate, women, and men, to come and learn about pay equality.  We are exploring new ideas this year, such as women networking, volunteer to help the women in the local community and collaborate with the D&I council to learn about the hidden bias.  It's going to be a journey and we are just at the beginning of it.