|| Behavioral interviews

Teamwork / time management / ability to adapt

• situations - condense 60-day forecast into 30-day
• task - getting 40 analysts and 10 teams to function differently, short cycle, change controls, analytical rigor, process redesign
• action - 
• I put a premium on communication and cycle information quickly, leveraging slack channel, the confluence pages, office hours to do real-time info sharing
• I advocate a set of analysis on the common variables, such as volumes, market rates, saving analysts time as they won't have to pursue their own
• I institute analytical standard to address the needs of the analytics, year over year
• I also make sure I have quick 1x1 with leaders of the business to elevate from the numbers to the storytelling
• results - 
• high-quality product, analysis, meets the need, without dragging the teams to endless hours of repetitive works
• some of the learnings have influenced us to make a permanent enhancement to the forecast process

Difficult customers - different styles

• situation - a customer who is very detail-oriented, conservative and risk management focus
• challenge - teams are feeling tired and feel his questions are intimidating, the reputation of a difficult customer
• action - 
• I personally dive into details along with him, be a good listener as I learn why the details matter to the customer
• I also appropriately ask, how often do they occur, the variability of the drivers, what is the downside of not knowing all of it
• I raise awareness that not all things are equal of business leverage, and things require a different level of effort
• I also gather support, buy-in from his own team about where the models are strong with predictive power, where things will require attention
• I led the collective recommendation of simplifying the reviews, some in difference paces, different frequencies, also the monitoring and escalation plan
• result - again high-quality forecast, focusing on solving the real problems vs forecasting problems, better morale of accomplishments

Analytical Failure

• situation - brand new marketing campaign, market test varies a lot between 5% to 40% impact
• challenge - national advertising, applying market-based tests into the national scale; recency bias, availability bais, taking the easy route, making everyone happy bias ... at times, at the spur of the moment, we choose the safe bet
• act - 
• foster a personal board of director, marketing, product, cost in the ecosystem
• have the patience to ask everyone for what is the binding constraint, and how that impacts the business they are in
• have a disciplined framework, and have consistent usage of it
• result - people have trust, we look out for each other

Relationship Failure

• situation - one person was not responsive
• challenge - this person is in the upstream of creating the common variables of the forecast, his silence is making people feel being left out in the dark, frustration
• act - 
• I invited the analyst community to do a powerday, flow chart mapping, challenging each other why things need to happen the way this is
• I gathered inputs and calibrated, identifying that this person is the single person dependency because he takes on too much of the work and they all happen at about the same time
• I highlighted the constraint with accountable executives and proposed making the adjustment to the workflows
• I also coached this person to have dedicated communication work block, talking in the slack channel, have the base to support him as he breaks the news of many important things around account origination
• result - establishing trust across human beings, getting to the deeper iceberg and explore human traits

Goal setting

• situation - enablement score is 40% low, having the tools to get things done, it's difficult to do work
• challenge - there has been no top-down determination of a chosen systems
• action - smart goals
• I advocated 20/20, to create room to learn new skills, and initially, there is no stipulation as to what they learn
• I also study group with our most technical analyst leading everyone to download software and do coding, everyone learns at the same pace
• I measure, the number of hours, spent, share with the team, and eventually, we will measure how many of the team analysts are capable with SQL, Python, etc
• result - big turnaround, 70%; pay attention there will be result, prioritize, there will be result

Communication

• situation - during financial and business planning, the strategy calls for branch reduction
• challenge - there is a lot of myth, for instance, fear of sales loss, book of business ... made it really difficult to engage with good inputs
• act - 
• I am obsessed with context and transparent for what we know, where we put our bets, what risk mitigation actions exit
• I use data driven insights, for low to mid income people, de-mystifies the story
• I pay lots of visit to leadership offsite, panel discussions to share what I had learned during the financial planning work
• result - happiness to be part of the destination, learning new skills, creating new opportunities, give us good inputs

Successful presentation

• situation - military
• challenge - different background
• act - 
• get insider to tell me
• ask what they are interested in hearing
• simplify, simplify, more visual
• story as opposed to sharing fact
• highly recommended, so good, favorite ... at the same time, wall street talk

Learning new jobs

• situation - change from card to bank
• act - 
• interview predecessors, people first, finding my allies
• interview business customers, team members, people first
• process - workshop to document workflows, hands on to see data lineage, level of effort, forecast methodologies, cycle information very quickly
• process - tell people what worked for my prior life before, see if they are interested in something
• product - the look and feel, the brand of it, new name, new look etc
• happy customers

Change management

• be obsessed with context
• always learning, curiosity
• bring everyone along, workgroups, sessions, measurements, enablements

Time management / major project

• forecast improvements
• I organize the powerday, 200 ideas
• I invented the weight system 
• I do exec share out, analyst share out, 1x1 counseling
• invite design thinking, product managers, different perspectives
• ownership
• pod style self-management

|| What do I bring

64. What do I bring

• enable better decision making through effective forecasting
• financial control analysis converted into digestible insights and recommendations
• rate vs volume
• assumptions vs decisions
• translates into available levers decision-makers can pull
• Self-service access to data through the latest and greatest software application has always sounded compelling. Taking the additional step enables stakeholders to focus on running their business or function, leveraging credible insights and recommendations to make better decisions, ultimately improving business performance
• Alignment with enterprise priorities and the questions stakeholders need answers to
• Relevance and linked to performance drivers and levers
• Context outlining the big picture and organizational interconnectedness
• Clarity through simplification and visual articulation of findings
• Support outlining sources and approaches to provide credibility
• To maximize effectiveness, business planning processes need to result in plans and budgets that drive organizational focus and alignment around choices and priorities. Everyone needs to be included and working off the same playbook. Strategic priorities should cascade into operational priorities, and enterprise priorities should cascade into business unit and functional priorities, where responsibility center leaders are fully empowered to own their plans. Finally, choices need to be fully reflected in both long-term and short-term financial plans so that execution can be measured
• Example Business Review Agenda: 1) External Trends & Developments a) Macroeconomic Updates b) Industry Updates c) Competitive Updates d) Customer / Supplier Updates 2) Operational Review a) Enterprise Business Review Scorecard b) Enterprise Priority Status Scorecard c) Enterprise Financial Review d) Business-Unit Review i. BU [A] ii. BU [B] iii. BU [C] e) Functional Review i. Function [A] ii. Function [B] iii. Function [C] 3) Special Attentional Review a) SAR Scorecard b) At-Risk Performance & Initiatives c) Emerging Opportunities d) Business Cases & Post Audits e) Insights & Recommendations
• As Peter Drucker once said, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” Establishing priority goals and objectives is only half the battle – stakeholder accountability is essential to delivering outcomes on plan, and regular business reviews are a proven method to measure performance and progress. Effective business reviews require all accountable executives to be in attendance and ‘present’ with a clear and consistent agenda serving four core purposes: 1) Provide a regular progress report 2) Review insights and recommendations 3) Drive accountability 4) Create a culture of collaboration and problem solving
• Future of Finance value proposition
• It’s the aspiration for most FP&A professionals to evolve from a support function to a true operating partner. To achieve this, FP&A teams should focus on serving three core purposes that enable enhanced decision-making to drive business performance. First, facilitate full stakeholder focus and alignment around strategic and operational priorities. Second, drive enterprise-wide accountability to performance against goals and progress in delivering objectives. Third, create clarity and transparency into business performance drivers through the power of facts, data, and insight.
• Redefining FP&A as an Operating Partner Evolving from a support function to an operating partner requires FP&A professionals to break away from the status quo, and think differently about how the role adds value to the business. ❑ Traditional FP&A: Through foundational planning, budgeting, modeling, forecasting, reporting, and analyzing, traditional FP&A has always been effective at informing which questions decisionmakers should be asking. ❑ Enterprise Analytics: With effective data extraction & transformation, descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics generating rich insights, the answers to decision-makers questions become accessible and actionable. ❑ Fortune 500 Management Systems: Creating a culture where the right things get done right requires performance goal & objective setting, action plan development, business performance & progress reviews, special attention reviews, and accountability scorecards. FP&A redefined at the center of these three capabilities will not only enable FP&A to emerge as a true operating partner, but will also create a new systematic way to manage business performance – a system where focus, alignment, accountability, clarity, and transparency are at the forefront of decision-making
• Insight Creation The last few years have seen a considerable rise in software solutions intended to make data “selfservice” for executives. However, what busy executives are really looking for are distilled insights and recommendations, delivered by credible strategic partners. Through proactive collaboration and analytics, producing actionable insights and recommendations that drive clarity and transparency into performance drivers should become a core focus for all FP&A teams
• Working Together Organizational focus and alignment starts with a business planning process where everyone is included, and choices and assumptions are supported by quality insight. Strategic choices should cascade into enterprise priorities, which should further cascade into segment and functional priorities. With plans set, establishing regular business reviews drives accountability by serving as a recurring forum to review actual performance and progress while instilling a culture of collaboration and problem-solving
• Collaboration is the Path to Strategic Partnership Questions are one of the simplest and most effective ways to develop stakeholder partnerships. Ask the right questions to build your own context and inform what should be analyzed. Answer the questions stakeholders have with facts, data, and insight. This simple “ask-answer” recipe will become the foundation for a credible relationship where finance is thought of as a strategic partner. Additionally, it’s important to build an enterprise perspective – regular touchpoints with stakeholders spanning all business units and functional areas will maximize the value of collaboration.
• Lever Analysis Focus Areas Example questions lever analyses can answer: Growth: ❑ Pricing: Which products have the least elastic demand and can best support price increases? ❑ Volume: Will a decrease in prices improve volume sales enough to be a net sales improvement? ❑ Mix: Which products should we be focused on growing to improve both net sales and margins? Profitability: ❑ Pricing: What is the expected impact to gross margin if we change prices? ❑ Variable Costs & Expenses: What variable costs & expenses can we reduce to improve our contribution margin? ❑ Fixed Costs & Expenses: What fixed costs can we reduce to improve our operating margin? Cash Flow: ❑ Operating: How do we decrease our working capital requirements to improve our operating cash flow while we grow? ❑ Investment: What is the net cash flow impact to growth accelerating capital expenditures? ❑ Financing: How much runway do we have if we take on debt financing?
•  

|| Presence Art

59. Presence Art

Much of the time spent on my own has been to catch up with the data world and the fancy data visualizing tools which I had for years resisted, the tableau, the snowflake, the python ... etc.  It is actually fun and it's amazing how much youtube has developed itself in training the novices.  Yet, the daunting week is ahead of me, so I picked up this book of the Presence to help me as I feel weak and vulnerable.

Many people say that less need for external validation of their self-concepts; stronger listening, observing, and synthesizing skills.

• A truly confident person does not require arrogance; knowing and believing in her identity carries tools, not weapons
• Presence is when all your senses agree on one thing at the same time

Self-affirmation - and expressing your authentic best self

• What are the three words that describe you as an individual
• a curious mind (ask questions, blue, learn new things) to avoid acceptance risks
• analyzing everything, problem-solving (why, causal relationships)
• expansive thinking, like to have choices, options; dislike being in a box, working on a template ... at times it's costing me time because I'm going too far
• what is unique about you that leads to your happiest times and best performances
• conversations that build on understanding human beings, history, future
• situations when I express my core values and they are useful for the listeners
• being surrounded by nature things and freedom of life, farmers market, mountains, and road trips
• independent thinking and decision making, building my own judgment systems and being self-sufficient
• Reflect on a specific time when you are acting in a way that felt natural and right
• 1x1 catch up, what things are you spending time, "how does your day go"
• figured something out, becomes more self-sufficient
• What are your significant strengths, and how do you use them?
• curious ... I always listen first, everyone has a story to tell;
• analyzing ... I always consider that helps me build up the disciplines on decision making, inclusive thinking
• expansive thinking ... obsessed with obtaining context and giving context
• Leadership traits
• everyone has a story to tell and is the leader of himself or herself; vs the chosen one
• distributed power builds a stronger team as everyone creates a legacy and shape the way or the brand of the team
• use the human capital to build on career strengths, eg. learning from your peers, express the point of view and use a personal board of directors to work 
• I value
• being free thinking and having choices in life
• being knowing the whereabouts and the history in the making
• helping to see the future, ie. what's ahead of today

Moments that threaten the self tend to hinge on feelings of social disapproval or rejection: not being admitted to a university, losing a job, a breakup, making a mistake in front of an audience, opening ourselves up to someone who responds judgmentally.

It's about having easier cognitive access to the core value and the story content.  Sometimes you feel like you are trudging through the mud, not getting anywhere, you can't take flight with it.  Then sometimes you just feel like very alive.  When you become present, you allow others to present, be seen, and ask for it.

People prioritize warmth over competence.  It's crucial to our survival to know whether a person deserves our trust.  Presence is the medium through which trust develops and ideas travel.  When you listen to someone, it's the most profound act of human respect.  Real listening can't happen unless we have a sincere desire to understand what we are hearing.  Listening meant resisting the urge to do what they did best - preach or judge.  Then be a part of the problem-solving...

How you carry yourself - your facial expression, your posture, your breathing - all clearly affect the way you think, feel, and behave.  Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances.   The slow speech demonstrates a kind of openness, when people speak slowly they run the risk of being interrupted by others.  In speaking slowly one indicates that he or she has no fear of interruption.  Expanding your body language - through posture, movement, and speech, makes you feel more confident and powerful, less anxious and self-absorbed, and generally more positive.  Positive posturing also clears for creativity, cognitive persistence, and abstract thinking.  It overrides your instinct to fight or flee, allowing you to be grounded, open, and engaged.

Slowing down is a power move.  Just as speaking slowly, taking pauses, and occupying space are related to power, so, too, is taking your time to figure out how to respond and slowing down your decision-making process in high-pressure moments.

Doing nothing is doing something.  It tempered my feeling of threat.  Doing nothing reminded me that I do have some power to slow the runaway train.  And it freed me to see and respond to the situation with fully functioning cognitive machinery - better working memory, greater clarity, and the ability to adopt several different perspectives.  Slowing down becomes self-reinforcing.

Nudge myself through countless sludgy days.  Each tiny personal experience of improvement becomes a new source of both inspiration and information for me.  Each time I go through a pressure without panicking when I struggled to cognitively process what I was hearing - a tiny victory.  We encourage ourselves to feel a little more courageous, to act a bit more boldly, to step outside of the walls of our own fear, anxiety and powerlessness.

Nudges are small and require minimal psychological and physical commitment.  They operate psychological shortcuts.  And attitudes follow from behaviors.

Fake it till you become of it.

|| Hard work

58. Hard work for everyone, everything

The most entertaining shows have been the hip-hop singing and the street-style dancing competitions.  The performers bring unique styles, unique attitude from the street to the stage.  But nothing is as easy as you see on television, most of the performers have years of experiences with brand name companies, training, networking, staging, innovating, competing ...

Maybe all world things are survivors of a competition of a sort.  To stand out means to excel means to do an enormous amount of hard work that can't be seen and can't be talked about.

Until the time that they can be recognized, and they will be.

Continue learning, learning for life.

|| Design Thinking Fantasy

55. Design Thinking Fantasy

Spent a day in the design thinking training, a complete waste of time.  But it says something about design thinking in the first place, it's probably just common sense thinking.

• human-centered
• quadrant
• customer know the need, solution unknown - "ask what do you need, what makes you happy"
• customer doesn't know the need, solution unknown - "empathy interview"
• customer know the need, solution know - make to learn
• customer doesn't know the need, solution unknown - "explore ideas"
• the visual wall is better
• idea blogging, noodling
• fluster then focus, "targeted customer and objectives"

|| Refreshing the statistical tools for business analytics

51. Refreshing the statistical tools for business analytics

• Kurtosis is really a measure of the outliers (tails) of the distribution. Kurtosis is really a measure of the outliers (tails) of the distribution. ... Low kurtosis, rather than being a measure of “flatness,” indicates a distribution that is less outlier-prone than is the normal distribution
• Standard deviation / variance to the mean
• 1 standard deviation is 68%
• 2 standard deviation is 95.5%
• 3 standard deviation is 97%
• Covariance measures the degree to which the two variables move together, eg. age and income
• Sum((X-mean X) (Y-mean Y)) / (n-1)
• R, the correlation coefficient measures the strength of the linear relationship between two variables
• Sum((X-mean X) (Y-mean Y)) / Square of ((Sum(X-mean X)^2 * Sum(Y-mean Y)^2)
• R close to zero, no correlation
• Regression analysis is a set of processes to estimate the relationships amongst variables
• Random error in linear regression after intercept and slope
• = Actual - estimated using the linear regression
• Types of regression
• linear regression, most common in business analysis
• logistic regression, most common in business analysis
• polynominal regression
• stepwise regression
• ridge regression
• lasso regression
• elastic net regression
• ANOVA, analysis of variance
• SST, total sum of squares, Sum (actual y - mean of y)^2
• SSE, total of sum of error, Sum (actual y - estimated y)^2
• SSR, total of sum of regression, Sum (estimated y - mean of y)^2
• SST = SSR + SSE
• Standard error of estimate SEE = square (MSE) = square (SSE / N-2)
• R squared = explained variation / total variation 
• F test measures how well the dependent variable is explained by the independent variables collectively 
• MSR, MSE, N (number of observations), K (number of independent variables)
• Decisioning rules
• reject null hypothesis if F statistics > critical value
• Weight of evidence
• Log (distribution of good/distribution of bad)
• Information value
• Sum ((DG-DB)*WOE)
• VIF, multiple variable

|| Dark Days with just a slice of light or lightening

50. Dark Days with just a slice of light or lightning

These are the dark days and I worry that the darker days are coming in the week.  These attacks go much deeper into personal pride.  Baiju said I should ask for the money, but money can't solve for the frustration and freedom of choices of my own is a higher ground of exit for what I can accept for my own sake.

The slice of light, although plenty of signs of "he is an interesting person, making a significant investment in managing, getting very involved ...", but this could be exactly what I need to learn as quickly as possible into a new brand.

Acquisition credit policy -

• Qualities of the applicants, from their questions, and answers, to infer product options, their behaviors (credit and spend) into multiple credit policy to determine the product A/D, line assignment, APR, valuations.  Also part of the customer authentication is KYC
• Do credit decisions in modulas and chunks
• Learn problem-solving in hypothesis, the tools, and the process to get into a recommendation
• Analyze rigorously the delta effect, the snapshots, the profile swaps, gut check intuition
• Low grounding is using intuition; high grounding is using foundation test

Project W - 

• quality of applicants
• volume, responses
• product amongst branded, upmarket - lower lines, mainstreet lower line
• downsell, private label, secured card
• trend and distribution against the benchmark
• assessing the decisions we've made
• PLCC max 35-40%
• assess FIW
• AMP tech implementation, minimum uniqueness on the branded

Skill - 

• coaching 
• credit analytics
• communication
• organizing works, efficiency, priority
• distill takeaways and insights
• decks and slides
• stakeholders, AMP, Legal and Compliance, CRM
• initiate what ought to be done or worked on, less established structure, less standard way of analyzing
• creativity, white space thinking, break down the problem, customer impacts, integrated central point of contact / dimensions
• be careful of data rabbit hols
• validate data, traps, biases

|| What is strategy

49.  What is strategy?

Strategy is the art of making decisions.

• provide guidance for major decisions about where D&S will focus over the coming years
• develop the overall strategy going forward, in conjunction with a wide variety of stakeholders 
• driven by a fact-based about our current business economics, market dynamics, and competitive position
• drive focus for new product development, M&A, partnerships, vertical focus, and other resource trade-offs
• create an ongoing "Strategic Agenda"
• sourcing and evaluating new product ideas, expect many ideas will come from the broader organization, and it will be critical that we facilitate broad involvement and not act as an "ivory tower"
• organized into generalists, FI experts, and R&C experts
• take a project-based consultative approach to working, with team members working on flexible engagements with varied team composition focused on specific objectives

|| Learning the day to day

48. How do I describe the way I work?

• fact-based strategic mindset, feel comfortable of saying "I have concerns" or "I would advise", even when politically challenging, when that is what the fact-based supports

• enjoy working on consultative goal-driven teams, with variation in day-to-day responsibilities/priorities, the highest quality standards, and a will-to-win mentality

• Conducts data-driven analysis, including economic analysis, strategic "tailwind" and "headwind" identification, competitive analysis/benchmarking, and business case creation

• Partners with a diverse set of stakeholders across the organization to solicit ideas, conduct outstanding analysis and to generate buy-in to proposed directions

• Maintains an objective position, bringing facts and insights to the organization with "no dog in the hunt"

• Can come up to speed quickly on a wide range of topics, and enjoys the process of continuous learning

• Cares more about getting the right outcome than getting credit

• Manages work efficiently, seamlessly teaming with others to work through our agenda quickly and pushing back on work that should be done elsewhere in the organization

• Has successfully managed and developed others

• Writes concise written materials and presents in a compelling, data-driven way, with the ability to stand one's ground without alienating others

• Drives a data-driven, agile culture as a role model and influencer within S&I, all of D&S, and the region

|| 20 Minutes

47. 20 Minutes is a lot of time and not enough time

- 2min intro, 17 years with capital one, started with corporate planning, then splitting 50/50 between card finance and bank finance. 

• working with card acquisition leaders, lisa fischer, troy jamison, cetin, rick elliott, celia, iskender, poenitz, weathered the storm, resiliency really means a lot for me, valuation, marketing, and credit ... card act scenarios, cash-based cashflows into GAAP based cashflows, Basel capital implementation, rewards accounting into the sas models, impacts to valuation and marketing
• more recent years, on the other side of the balance sheet, are with the bank between small business banking and consumer banking, building the forecast eco-system to incorporate the people/intermediaries in the bank value chain; SBB national endeavor not successful, but the consumer national endeavor has been a lot better ... too much growth too fast
• Have wanted to get into ACC for a number of years.  The first week, absolutely love it, love the depth of the analytical conversations, disciplined, self-reflecting, the self-drive for excellence, not afraid of the uncertainty, new challenges, I belong to the group.  Want to get into the business analytics work,  ... congrats on SBC figured out how to crack the code of the super spenders, product simplicity, brand equity ...  / 2) charge-card, the transaction based underwriting expertise will be so valuable
• I heard there may be roles on the team, would love to know about the opportunities, and build connections ...

|| 2019 ACC Persona (May)

46. || 2019 ACC (May), the most admirable are the people

Skill, craft, decision making, flaws, bias, etc, etc, but these are all traits of people, and the opportunity to observe and to judge shall not be missed.

Disciplines go both in business life and in personal life

• being indifferent gets us the best deals and the best terms, that goes along in personal life, says Murray
• being well groomed and fit and in contemporary clothing is part of the package for being on stage, and front and center
• sounding genuine and humble takes more time than the exact seven bullets of the decision traps or craft of the trades
• all just loving "sparkling water", married with kids, looking attractive and fit, well dressed, speaking 3x the speed of a normal person
• sounding robotic and confident while talking business, without admitting and denying anything, repeating the keywords as if they are acknowledging but the reality is that they may not do it
• getting that phone call ...
• the path and the other alternative path does exist
• be aggressive and be young and going as high as you see the top of it

|| 2019 ACC Framework (May)

45. 2019 ACC (May), where we learn from failures

• What did you fail at today in ACC
• What or who has made a significant impact on your experience today
• How does what you learned today impact your own personal credit decision-making framework

Principles -

• There is an analytical approach to every single problem, so don't miss the opportunity of exercising your brain power.  How many dimes are in the US monetary system, and if you want to be having the confidence of +/- 50% range, what are the numbers?
• Decision traps
• Anchoring trap
• benchmark in and outside of the box
• call out the anchor, form an initial opinion before asking others
• seek data to broaden your perspectives
• ask others but don't anchor them by telling them what you think first
• Confirmation trap
• look for early data to confirm what we want to believe
• neglect to seek contrary evidence
• ask colleagues to challenge your thinking, find that devil's advocate
• actively seek evidence that may undercut your hypothesis
• Availability trap
• our tendency to rely on information that we can easily recall
• we need comprehensive data
• Status quo trap
• overestimate the cost of changes
• Sunk cost trap
• justify the past investment when making the decision by overestimating the probability that "good money has gone bad"
• Prudence trap
• sandbagging
• Framing trap
• different answers when using a different frame

• Rigorous decision model
• know your assumptions
• know your sensitivities
• know your business bets
• avoid pattern recognition failures, attack decision traps
• reduce overconfidence, highlight assumptions that need the most attention
• the last line of defense against decision traps; enable trade-offs and risk management
• ask how likely this will surprise
• ask how likely this will break

• How do we create our own framework
• put the thoughts together
• surprises, breaks
• calibrate my brain
• seek challenger
• everything can be analyzed
• how do I become indifferent

Cases

• double jeopardy - controls, and processes of hold out, double clipping
• ghost in town - null value, inactive, fraud
• lot loan, auto prime - understand the intermediaries as incentives / motivation will incent behavioral differences and deliver results differently; markets are different between leader and attacker; can't model your way out

Credit as a craft

1. every incremental credit decision we make into the system
2. how do we monitor, comprehensive, design, growth management reporting
3. what is the process to monitor
4. manage emerging risks, eg. student debt, digital experiences, improving underwriting tools
5. what do we want to test so that we are not flying blind, can we do decisions without the tests
6. learn from the regulators, who don't care about the culture, but only simply sort the highest and the lowest
7. feedback, credit review, audit, appreciate "seeking out the truth"
8. know what your system is, end to end process, try to make it better

Super spender

• focus on what drives the margin, eg. spend margin
• focus on the end customer
• bound the size of the best to allow yourself to be appropriately aggressive
• reforecast and reassess your level of decision, get more granular as results come in
• in need of a model on payment behavior, could be a splitter
• discover the transaction differences, customers go after different ticket sizes after getting the clip

Credit framework and culture

• Better decision makers
• clear objectives
• look both ways, competitors
• get paid for the risks that you take, not minimizing the risks
• manage the margin vs average (eg. interchange margins)
• understand the P&L
• when will we know (early reads, multiple early reads)
• document the future
• actionable monitoring translates and takes actions
• Talent development
• more experienced does not mean that you are smarter
• there are lots of ways that you can be wrong
• there are also lots of ways that you can be right
• resist the mini-me temptation
• diversity approach and rigorous decision making
• Representatives of the credit community
• a step, a process in the better decisions
• shroud of mystery, closed community, elitism
• are you helping or hurting, drive out the cynicism
• you are the credit analyst does not mean that you are smarter
• Career
• first 20 years are your choices
• second 20 years will be determined by your experiences, diverse knowledge and skills are important

CLIP case

• rigorous about model swaps
• know the world is changing, what does this mean
• be paranoid and action-oriented in monitoring, with action triggers that express in the economic terms for impact

Partnerships

• like branded card returns
• our company led brand
• the same tech path
• unassailable product and Val prop
• monitor and adjust
• launch foundational test soon, test test test
• slope lines based on highest wallet line
• use stated intended spend on card to downslope the lines
• adverse selection downward spiral, adverse selection, low risk, line lines, low utilization, high risk

|| Digital venture investing skills

44. Digital venture investing skills

• The right time, the right place

• Early stage success

1. market, paying visionary customers the compelling reasons to buy
2. product, working core technology
3. team, capable CEO experiences
4. financial, viable business model, sufficient runway

• Mid stage success

1. critical mass pragmatic customers
2. whole product
3. complete healthy team dynamics
4. healthy gross margin, sufficient runway

• Late stage success

1. proven value in multiple niche, marquee customers
2. scalable product, product development continuity
3. execution track record, board of directors, no blow ups
4. healthy net margin

• roles

1. middle man
2. structuring, align the interests of parties involved so that they are mutually protected
3. VCs must understand historic technology waves as well as predict emerging waves
4. A savvy Network Connector for sales, customer feedback, and business development. A great VC network includes Sales, Customer Service, Business Development, and Channel Partners
5. a talent resource for hiring
6. a brand creator
7. a technology consultant
8. leadership and management

|| 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

|| 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.

|| 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.