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Derek Champagne talks with Rohit Agarwal, CEO of The Weather Company. Rohit Agarwal is the CEO of The Weather Company, the world's most accurate forecaster. In this role, Rohit is responsible for setting the strategic vision that spans the company's digital consumer properties, including The Weather Channel app and weather.com, as well as its enterprise business across media,advertising, aviation, defense, and a variety of other industries. He stands behind the belief that high-performing teams are critical to innovation, growth, and impact, and diverse backgrounds and thinking benefit the end customer.Prior to joining The Weather Company, Rohit was the chief product and revenue officer at SoundCloud, the world's largest online community of artists, bands, DJs, and audio creators, where he led the vision, strategic execution, and revenue. This included overseeing business and product strategy, delivery and operations, design, product marketing, and growth. Through Rohit's leadership, SoundCloud refactored the product, doubled its subscriber base, and meaningfully improved its ads business, leading the company to its first profitable year in its 16-year history.Rohit previously served as chief product and growth officer at CNN. Throughout his career, he has driven 2-3x user and revenue growth across leading companies in industries including music (Last.fm, CBS), media(CNN/WarnerMedia, The Economist, Bild), banking (HSBC), B2B SaaS (Trustpilot, Akamai), and consumer internet (AOL). Rohit is a frequent speaker at leading conferences (Google I/O, SXSW, CES, RISE, WebSummit, Product Summit), an active advisor and investor in startups, and launched his own startup in the past. He is also a committed supporter of diverse and inclusive education initiatives – both as a board member of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and as a board member of Leap Year, a unique program based in metro Atlanta dedicated to improving college access and early adolescent reading skills to under-represented youth.Rohit lives in Atlanta with his wife and two daughters. An avid sports fan, he also enjoys playing soccer and tennis, painting, and cooking, and he acknowledges that his creative endeavors make him a better leader.Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576
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What happens when curiosity, resilience, and storytelling collide over a lifetime of building something meaningful? In this episode, I welcome Nick Francis, founder and CEO of Casual Films, for a thoughtful conversation about leadership, presence, and what it takes to keep going when the work gets heavy. Nick's journey began with a stint at BBC News and a bold 9,000-mile rally from London to Mongolia in a Mini Cooper, a spirit of adventure that still fuels how he approaches business and life today. We talk about how that early experience shaped Casual into a global branded storytelling company with studios across five continents, and what it really means to lead a creative organization at scale. Nick shares insights from growing the company internationally, expanding into Southeast Asia, and staying grounded while producing hundreds of projects each year. Along the way, we explore why emotionally resonant storytelling matters, how trust and preparation beat panic, and why presence with family, health, and purpose keeps leaders steady in uncertain times. This conversation is about building an Unstoppable life by focusing on what matters most, using creativity to connect people, and choosing clarity and resilience in a world full of noise. Highlights: 00:01:30 – Learn how early challenges shape resilience and long-term drive. 00:06:20 – Discover why focusing on your role creates calm under pressure. 00:10:50 – Learn how to protect attention in a nonstop world. 00:18:25 – Understand what global growth teaches about leadership. 00:26:00 – Learn why leading with trust changes relationships. 00:45:55 – Discover how movement and presence restore clarity. About the Guest: Nick Francis is the founder and CEO of Casual, a global production group that blends human storytelling, business know-how, and creativity turbo-charged by AI. Named the UK's number one brand video production company for five years, Casual delivers nearly 1,000 projects annually for world-class brands like Adobe, Amazon, BMW, Hilton, HSBC, and P&G. The adventurous spirit behind its first production – a 9,000-mile journey from London to Mongolia in an old Mini – continues to drive Casual's growth across offices in London, New York, LA, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong and Greater China. Nick previously worked for BBC News and is widely recognised for his expertise in video storytelling, brand building, and corporate communications. He is the founding director of the Casual Films Academy, a charity helping young filmmakers develop skills by producing films for charitable organisations. He is also the author of ‘The New Fire: Harness the Power of Video for Your Business' and a passionate advocate for emotionally resonant, behaviorally grounded storytelling. Nick lives in San Francisco, California, with his family. Ways to connect with Nick**:** Website: https://www.casualfilms.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@casual_global Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualglobal/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasualFilms/ Nick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickfrancisfilm/ Casual's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/casual-films-international/ Beyond Casual - LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6924458968031395840 About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson 01:21 Well, hello everyone. I am your host, Mike hingson, that's kind of funny. We'll talk about that in a second, but this is unstoppable mindset. And our guest today is Nick Francis, and what we're going to talk about is the fact that people used to always ask me, well, they would call me Mr. Kingston, and it took me, as I just told Nick a master's degree in physics in 10 years to realize that if I said Mike hingson, that's why they said Mr. Kingston. So was either say Mike hingson or Michael hingson. Well, Michael hingson is a lot easier to say than Mike hingson, but I don't really care Mike or Michael, as long as it's not late for dinner. Whatever works. Yeah. Well, Nick, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're Nick Francis 02:04 here. Thanks, Mike. It's great to be here. Michael Hingson 02:08 So Nick is a marketing kind of guy. He's got a company called casual that we'll hear about. Originally from England, I believe, and now lives in San Francisco. We were talking about the weather in San Francisco, as opposed to down here in Victorville. A little bit earlier. We're going to have a heat wave today and and he doesn't have that up there, but you know, well, things, things change over time. But anyway, we're glad you're here. And thanks, Mike. Really looking forward to it. Tell us about the early Nick growing up and all that sort of stuff, just to get us started. Nick Francis 02:43 That's a good question. I grew up in London, in in Richmond, which is southwest London. It's a at the time, it wasn't anything like as kind of, it's become quite kind of shishi, I think back in the day, because it's on the west of London. The pollution from the city used to flow east and so, like all the kind of well to do people, in fact, there used to be a, there used to be a palace in Richmond. It's where Queen Elizabeth died, the first Queen Elizabeth, that is. And, yeah, you know, I grew up it was, you know, there's a lot of rugby played around there. I played rugby for my local rugby club from a very young age, and we went sailing on the south coast. It was, it was great, really. And then, you know, unfortunately, when I was 10 years old, my my dad died. He had had a very powerful job at the BBC, and then he ran the British Council, which is the overseas wing of the Arts Council, so promoting, I guess, British soft power around the world, going and opening art galleries and going to ballet in Moscow and all sorts. So he had an incredible life and worked incredibly hard. And you know, that has brought me all sorts of privileges, I think, when I was a kid. But, you know, unfortunately, age 10 that all ended. And you know, losing a parent at that age is such a sort of fundamental, kind of shaking of your foundations. You know, you when you're a kid, you feel like a, you're going to live forever, and B, the things that are happening around you are going to last forever. And so, you know, you know, my mom was amazing, of course, and, you know, and in time, I got a new stepdad, and all the rest of it. But you know, that kind of shaped a lot of my a lot of my youth, really. And, yeah, I mean, Grief is a funny thing, and it's funny the way it manifests itself as you grow. But yeah. So I grew up there. I went to school in the Midlands, near where my stepdad lived, and then University of Newcastle, which is up in the north of England, where it rains a lot. It's where it's where Newcastle Football Club is based. And you know is that is absolutely at the center of the city. So. So the city really comes alive there. And it was during that time that I discovered photography, and I wanted to be a war photographer, because I believe that was where life was lived at the kind of the real cutting edge. You know, you see the you see humanity in its in its most visceral and vivid color in terrible situations. And I kind of that seemed like an interesting thing to go to go and do. Michael Hingson 05:27 Well, what? So what did you major in in college in Newcastle? So I did Nick Francis 05:31 history and politics, and then I went did a course in television journalism, and ended up working at BBC News as a initially running on the floor. So I used to deliver the papers that you know, when you see people shuffling or not, they do it anymore, actually, because everything, everything's digital now digital, yeah, but when they were worried about the the auto cues going down, they we always had to make sure that they had the up to date script. And so I would be printing in, obviously, the, you know, because it's a three hour news show, the scripts constantly evolving, and so, you know, I was making sure they had the most up to date version in their hands. And it's, I don't know if you have spent any time around live TV Mike, but it's an incredibly humbling experience, like the power of it. You know, there's sort of two or 3 million people watching these two people who are sitting five feet in front of me, and the, you know, the sort of slightly kind of, there was an element of me that just wanted to jump in front of them and kind of go, ah. And, you know, never, ever work in live TV, ever again. But you know, anyway, I did that and ended up working as a producer, writing and developing, developing packets that would go out on the show, producing interviews and things. And, you know, I absolutely loved it. It was, it was a great time. But then I left to go and set up my company. Michael Hingson 06:56 I am amazed, even today, with with watching people on the news, and I've and I've been in a number of studios during live broadcasts and so on. But I'm amazed at how well, mostly, at least, I've been fortunate. Mostly, the people are able to read because they do have to read everything. It isn't like you're doing a lot of bad living in a studio. Obviously, if you are out with a story, out in the field, if you will, there, there may be more where you don't have a printed script to go by, but I'm amazed at the people in the studio, how much they are able to do by by reading it all completely. Nick Francis 07:37 It's, I mean, the whole experience is kind of, it's awe inspiring, really. And you know, when you first go into a Live, a live broadcast studio, and you see the complexity, and you know, they've got feeds coming in from all over the world, and you know, there's upwards of 100 people all working together to make it happen. And I remember talking to one of the directors at the time, and I was like, How on earth does this work? And he said, You know, it's simple. You everyone has a very specific job, and you know that as long as you do your bit of the job when it comes in front of you, then the show will go out. He said, where it falls over is when people start worrying about whether other people are going to are going to deliver on time or, you know, and so if you start worrying about what other people are doing, rather than just focusing on the thing you have to do, that's where it potentially falls over, Michael Hingson 08:29 which is a great object lesson anyway, to worry about and control and don't worry about the rest Nick Francis 08:36 for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, it's almost a lesson for life. I mean, sorry, it is a lesson for life, and Michael Hingson 08:43 it's something that I talk a lot about in dealing with the World Trade Center and so on, and because it was a message I received, but I've been really preaching that for a long time. Don't worry about what you can't control, because all you're going to do is create fear and drive yourself Nick Francis 08:58 crazy, completely, completely. You know. You know what is it? Give me the, give me this. Give me the strength to change the things I can. Give me the give me the ability to let the things that I can't change slide but and the wisdom to know the difference. I'm absolutely mangling that, that saying, but, yeah, it's, it's true, you know. And I think, you know, it's so easy for us to in this kind of modern world where everything's so media, and we're constantly served up things that, you know, shock us, sadness, enrage us, you know, just to be able to step back and say, actually, you know what? These are things I can't really change. I'd have to just let them wash over me. Yeah, and just focus on the things that you really can change. Michael Hingson 09:46 It's okay to be aware of things, but you've got to separate the things you can control from the things that you can and we, unfortunately aren't taught that. Our parents don't teach us that because they were never taught it, and it's something. That, just as you say, slides by, and it's so unfortunate, because it helps to create such a level of fear about so many things in our in our psyche and in our world that we really shouldn't have to do Nick Francis 10:13 completely well. I think, you know, obviously, but you know, we've, we've spent hundreds, if not millions of years evolving to become humans, and then, you know, actually being aware of things beyond our own village has only been an evolution of the last, you know what, five, 600 years, yeah. And so we are just absolutely, fundamentally not able to cope with a world of such incredible stimulus that we live in now. Michael Hingson 10:43 Yeah, and it's only getting worse with all the social media, with all the different things that are happening and of course, and we're only working to develop more and more things to inundate us with more and more kinds of inputs. It's really unfortunate we just don't learn to separate ourselves very easily from all of that. Nick Francis 11:04 Yeah, well, you know, it's so interesting when you look at the development of VR headsets, and, you know, are we going to have, like, lenses in our eyes that kind of enable us to see computer screens while we're just walking down the road, you know? And you look at that and you think, well, actually, just a cell phone. I mean, cell phones are going to be gone fairly soon. I would imagine, you know, as a format, it's not something that's going to abide but the idea that we're going to create technology that's going to be more, that's going to take us away from being in the moment more rather than less, is kind of terrifying. Because, I would say already, even with, you know, the most basic technology that we have now, which is, you know, mind bending, compared to where we were even 20 years ago, you know, to think that we're only going to become more immersive is, you know, we really, really as a species, have to work out how we are going to be far better at stepping away from this stuff. And I, you know, I do, I wonder, with AI and technology whether there is, you know, there's a real backlash coming of people who do want to just unplug, yeah, Michael Hingson 12:13 well, it'll be interesting to see, and I hope that people will learn to do it. I know when I started hearing about AI, and one of the first things I heard was how kids would use it to write their papers, and it was a horrible thing, and they were trying to figure out ways so that teachers could tell us something was written by AI, as opposed to a student. And I almost immediately developed this opinion, no, let AI write the papers for students, but when the students turn in their paper, then take a day to in your class where you have every student come up and defend their paper, see who really knows it, you know. And what a great teaching opportunity and teaching moment to to get students also to learn to do public speaking and other things a little bit more than they do, but we haven't. That hasn't caught on, but I continue to preach it. Nick Francis 13:08 I think that's really smart, you know, as like aI exists, and I think to to pretend somehow that, you know, we can work without it is, you know, it's, it's, it's, yeah, I mean, it's like, well, saying, you know, we're just going to go back to Word processors or typewriters, which, you know, in which it weirdly, in their own time, people looked at and said, this is, you know, these, these are going to completely rot our minds. In fact, yeah, I think Plato said that was very against writing, because he believed it would mean no one could remember anything after that, you know. So it's, you know, it's just, it's an endless, endless evolution. But I think, you know, we have to work out how we incorporate into it, into our education system, for sure. Michael Hingson 13:57 Well, I remember being in in college and studying physics and so on. And one of the things that we were constantly told is, on tests, you can't bring calculators in, can't use calculators in class. Well, why not? Well, because you could cheat with that. Well, the reality is that the smart physicists realized that it's all about really learning the concepts more than the numbers. And yeah, that's great to to know how to do the math. But the the real issue is, do you know the physics, not just the math completely? Nick Francis 14:34 Yeah. And then how you know? How are the challenges that are being set such that you know, they really test your ability to use the calculator effectively, right? So how you know? How are you lifting the bar? And in a way, I think that's kind of what we have to do, what we have to do now, Michael Hingson 14:50 agreed, agreed. So you were in the news business and so on, and then, as you said, you left to start your own company. Why did you decide to do that? Nick Francis 14:59 Well, a friend of. Ryan and I from University had always talked about doing this rally from London to Mongolia. So, and you do it in an old car that you sort of look at, and you go, well, that's a bit rubbish. It has to have under a one liter engine. So it's tiny, it's cheap. The idea is it breaks down you have an adventure. And it was something we kind of talked about in passing and decided that would be a good thing to do. And then over time, you know, we started sending off. We you know, we applied, and then we started sending off for visas and things. And then before we knew it, we were like, gosh, so it looks like we're actually going to do this thing. But by then, you know, my job at the BBC was really taking off. And so I said, you know, let's do this, but let's make a documentary of it. So long story short, we ended up making a series of diary films for Expedia, which we uploaded onto their website. It was, you know, we were kind of pitching this around about 2005 we kind of did it in 2006 so it was kind of, you know, nobody had really heard of YouTube. The idea of making videos to go online was kind of unheard of because, you know, broadband was just kind of getting sorry. It wasn't unheard of, but it was, it was very, it was a very nascent industry. And so, yeah, we went and drove 9000 miles over five weeks. We spent a week sitting in various different repair yards and kind of break his yards in everywhere from Turkey to Siberia. And when we came back, it became clear that the internet was opening up as this incredible medium for video, and video is such a powerful way to share emotion with a dispersed audience. You know, not that I would have necessarily talked about it in that in those terms back then, but it really seemed like, you know, every every web page, every piece of corporate content, could have a video aspect to it. And so we came back and had a few fits and starts and did some, I mean, we, you know, we made a series of hotel videos where we were paid 50 quid a day to go and film hotels. And it was hot and it was hard work. And anyway, it was rough. But over time, you know, we started to win some more lucrative work. And, you know, really, the company grew from there. We won some awards, which helped us to kind of make a bit of a name for ourselves. And this was, there's been a real explosion in technology, kind of shortly after when we did this. So digital SLRs, so, you know, old kind of SLR cameras, you know, turned into digital cameras, which could then start to shoot video. And so it, there was a real explosion in high quality video produced by very small teams of people using the latest technology creatively. And that just felt like a good kind of kick off point for our business. But we just kind of because we got in in kind of 2006 we just sort of beat a wave that kind of started with digital SLRs, and then was kind of absolutely exploded when video cell phones came on the market, video smartphones. And yeah, you know, because we had these awards and we had some kind of fairly blue chip clients from a relatively early, early stage, we were able to grow the company. We then expanded to the US in kind of 2011 20 between 2011 2014 and then we were working with a lot of the big tech companies in California, so it felt like we should maybe kind of really invest in that. And so I moved out here with some of our team in 2018 at the beginning of 2018 and I've been here ever since, wow. Michael Hingson 18:44 So what is it? What was it like starting a business here, or bringing the business here, as opposed to what it was in England? Nick Francis 18:53 It's really interesting, because the creatively the UK is so strong, you know, like so many, you know, from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones to, you know, and then on through, like all the kind of, you know, film and TV, you know, Brits are very good at kind of Creating, like, high level creative, but not necessarily always the best at kind of monetizing it, you know. I mean, some of those obviously have been fantastic successes, right? And so I think in the UK, we we take a lot longer over getting, getting to, like, the perfect creative output, whereas the US is far more focused on, you know, okay, we need this to to perform a task, and frankly, if we get it 80% done, then we're good, right? And so I think a lot of creative businesses in the UK look at the US and they go, gosh. Firstly, the streets are paved with gold. Like the commercial opportunity seems incredible, but actually creating. Tracking it is incredibly difficult, and I think it's because we sort of see the outputs in the wrong way. I think they're just the energy and the dynamism of the US economy is just, it's kind of awe inspiring. But you know, so many businesses try to expand here and kind of fall over themselves. And I think the number one thing is just, you have to have a founder who's willing to move to the US. Because I think Churchill said that we're two two countries divided by the same language. And I never fully understood what that meant until I moved here. I think what it what he really means by that is that we're so culturally different in the US versus the UK. And I think lots of Brits look at America and think, Well, you know, it's just the same. It's just a bit kind of bigger and a bit Brasher, you know, and it and actually, I think if people in the US spoke a completely different language, we would approach it as a different culture, which would then help us to understand it better. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, it's been, it's been the most fabulous adventure to move here and to, you know, it's, it's hard sometimes, and California is a long way from home, but the energy and the optimism and the entrepreneurialism of it, coupled with just the natural beauty is just staggering. So we've made some of our closest friends in California, it's been absolutely fantastic. And across the US, it's been a fantastic adventure for us and our family. Michael Hingson 21:30 Yeah, I've had the opportunity to travel all over the US, and I hear negative comments about one place or another, like West Virginia, people eat nothing but fried food and all that. But the reality is, if you really take an overall look at it, the country has so much to offer, and I have yet to find a place that I didn't enjoy going to, and people I never enjoyed meeting, I really enjoy all of that, and it's great to meet people, and it's great to experience so much of this country. And I've taken that same posture to other places. I finally got to visit England last October, for the first time. You mentioned rugby earlier, the first time I was exposed to rugby was when I traveled to New Zealand in 2003 and found it pretty fascinating. And then also, I was listening to some rugby, rugby, rugby broadcast, and I tuned across the radio and suddenly found a cricket game that was a little bit slow for me. Yeah, cricket to be it's slow. Nick Francis 22:41 Yeah, fair enough. It's funny. Actually, we know what you're saying about travel. Like one of the amazing things about our Well, I kind of learned two sort of quite fundamentally philosophical things, I think, you know, or things about the about humans and the human condition. Firstly, like, you know, traveling across, you know, we left from London. We, like, drove down. We went through Belgium and France and Poland and Slovenia, Slovakia, Slovenia, like, all the way down Bulgaria, across Turkey into Georgia and Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea, and through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, into Russia, and then down into Mongolia. When we finished, we were due north of Jakarta, right? So we drove, we drove a third of the way around the world. And the two things that taught me were, firstly that human people are good. You know, everywhere we went, people would invite us in to have meals, or they'd like fix our car for not unit for free. I mean, people were so kind everywhere we went. Yeah. And the other thing was, just, when we get on a plane and you fly from here to or you fly from London, say to we, frankly, you fly from London to Turkey, it feels unbelievably different. You know, you fly from London to China, and it's, you know, complete different culture. But what our journey towards us, because we drove, was that, you know, while we might not like to admit it, we're actually quite, you know, Brits are quite similar to the French, and the French actually are quite similar to the Belgians, and Belgians quite similar to the Germans. And, you know, and all the way through, actually, like we just saw a sort of slowly changing gradient of all the different cultures. And it really, you know, we are just one people, you know. So as much as we might feel that, you know, we're all we're all different, actually, when you see it, when you when you do a drive like that, you really, you really get to see how slowly the cultures shift and change. Another thing that's quite funny, actually, was just like, everywhere we went, we would be like, you know, we're driving to Turkey. They'd be like, Oh, God, you just drove through Bulgaria, you know, how is like, everything on your car not been stolen, you know, they're so dodgy that you Bulgarians are so dodgy. And then, you know, we'd get drive through the country, and they'd be like, you know, oh, you're going into Georgia, you know, gosh, what you go. Make, make sure everything's tied down on your car. They're so dodgy. And then you get into Georgia, and they're like, Oh my God, you've just very driven through Turkey this, like, everyone sort of had these, like, weird, yeah, kind of perceptions of their neighbors. And it was all nonsense, yeah, you know. Michael Hingson 25:15 And the reality is that, as you pointed out, people are good, you know, I think, I think politicians are the ones who so often mess it up for everyone, just because they've got agendas. And unfortunately, they teach everyone else to be suspicious of of each other, because, oh, this person clearly has a hidden agenda when it normally isn't necessarily true at all. Nick Francis 25:42 No, no, no, certainly not in my experience, anyway, not in my experience. But, you know, well, oh, go ahead. No, no. It's just, you know, it's, it is. It's, it is weird the way that happens, you know, well, they say, you know, if, if politicians fought wars rather than, rather than our young men and women, then there'd be a lot less of them. Yeah, so Well, Michael Hingson 26:06 there would be, well as I tell people, you know, I I've learned a lot from working with eight guy dogs and my wife's service dog, who we had for, oh, gosh, 14 years almost, and one of the things that I tell people is I absolutely do believe what people say, that dogs love unconditionally, unless they're just totally traumatized by something, but they don't trust unconditionally. The difference between dogs and people is that dogs are more open to trust because we've taught ourselves and have been taught by others, that everyone has their own hidden agenda. So we don't trust. We're not open to trust, which is so unfortunate because it affects the psyche of so many people in such a negative way. We get too suspicious of people, so it's a lot harder to earn trust. Nick Francis 27:02 Yeah, I mean, I've, I don't know, you know, like I've been, I've been very fortunate in my life, and I kind of always try to be, you know, open and trusting. And frankly, you know, I think if you're open and trusting with people, in my experience, you kind of, it comes back to you, you know, and maybe kind of looking for the best in everyone. You know, there are times where that's not ideal, but you know, I think you know, in the overwhelming majority of cases, you know, actually, you know, you treat people right? And you know what goes what goes around, comes around, absolutely. Michael Hingson 27:35 And I think that's so very true. There are some people who just are going to be different than that, but I think for the most part, if you show that you're open to trust people will want to trust you, as long as you're also willing to trust Nick Francis 27:51 them completely. Yeah, completely. Michael Hingson 27:54 So I think that that's the big thing we have to deal with. And I don't know, I hope that we, we will learn it. But I think that politicians are really the most guilty about teaching us. Why not to trust but that too, hopefully, will be something we deal with. Nick Francis 28:12 I think, you know, I think we have to, you know, it's, it's one of the tragedies of our age, I think, is that the, you know, we spent the 20th century, thinking that sex was the kind of ultimate sales tool. And then it took algorithms to for us to realize that actually anger and resentment are the most powerful sales tools, which is, you know, it's a it's something which, in time, we will work out, right? And I think the problem is that, at the minute, these tech businesses are in such insane ascendancy, and they're so wealthy that it's very hard to regulate them. And I think in time, what will happen is, you know, they'll start to lose some of that luster and some of that insane scale and that power, and then, you know, then regulation will come in. But you know whether or not, we'll see maybe, hopefully our civilization will still be around to see that. Michael Hingson 29:04 No, there is that, or maybe the Vulcans will show up and show us a better way. But you know, Nick Francis 29:11 oh, you know, I'm, I'm kind of endlessly optimistic. I think, you know, we are. We're building towards a very positive future. I think so. Yeah, it's just, you know, get always bumps along the way, yeah. Michael Hingson 29:24 So you named your company casual. Why did you do that? Or how did that come about? Nick Francis 29:30 It's a slightly weird name for something, you know, we work with, kind of, you know, global blue chip businesses. And, you know, casual is kind of the last thing that you would want to associate with, a, with a, with any kind of services business that works in that sphere. I think, you know, we, the completely honest answer is that the journalism course I did was television, current affairs journalism, so it's called TV cadge, and so we, when we made a film for a local charity as part of that course. Course, we were asked to name our company, and we just said, well, cash, cash casual, casual films. So we called it casual films. And then when my friend and I set the company up, kind of formally, to do the Mongol Rally, we, you know, we had this name, you know, the company, the film that we'd made for the charity, had gone down really well. It had been played at BAFTA in London. And so we thought, well, you know, we should just, you know, hang on to that name. And it didn't, you know, at the time, it didn't really seem too much of an issue. It was only funny. It was coming to the US, where I think people are a bit more literal, and they were a bit like, well, casual. Like, why casual, you know. And I remember being on a shoot once. And, you know, obviously, kind of some filmmakers can be a little casual themselves, not necessarily in the work, but in the way they present themselves, right? And I remember sitting down, we were interviewing this CEO, and he said, who, you know, who are you? Oh, we're casual films. He's like, Oh, is that why that guy's got ripped jeans? Is it? And I just thought, Damn, you know, we really left ourselves open to that. There was also, there was a time one of our early competitors was called Agile films. And so, you know, I remember talking to one of our clients who said, you know, it's casual, you know, when I have to put together a little document to say, you know, which, which supplier we should choose, and when I lay it on my boss's desk, and one says casual films, and one says agile films, it's like those guys are landing the first punch. But anyway, we, you know, we, what we say now is like, you know, we take a complex process and make it casual. You know, filmmaking, particularly for like, large, complex organizations where you've got lots of different stakeholders, can be very complicated. And so, yeah, we sort of say, you know, we'll take a lot of that stress off, off our clients. So that's kind of the rationale, you know, that we've arrived with, arrived at having spoken to lots of our clients about the role that we play for them. So, you know, there's a kind of positive spin on it, I guess, but I don't know. I don't know whether I'd necessarily call it casual again. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not, but, oh, Michael Hingson 32:00 it's unique, you know? So, yeah, I think there's a lot of merit to it. It's a unique name, and it interests people. I know, for me, one of the things that I do is I have a way of doing this. I put all of my business cards in Braille, so the printed business cards have Braille on them, right? Same thing. It's unique completely. Nick Francis 32:22 And you listen, you know what look your name is an empty box that you fill with your identity. They say, right? And casual is actually, it's something we've grown into. And you know it's we've been going for nearly 20 years. In fact, funny enough for the end of this year is the 20th anniversary of that first film we made for the for the charity. And then next summer will be our 20th anniversary, which is, you know, it's, it's both been incredibly short and incredibly long, you know, I think, like any kind of experience in life, and it's been some of the hardest kind of times of my entire life, and some of the best as well. So, you know, it's, it is what it is, but you know, casual is who we are, right? I would never check, you know? I'd never change it. Michael Hingson 33:09 Now, no, of course not, yeah. So is the actual name casual films, or just casual? Nick Francis 33:13 So it was casual films, but then everyone calls us casual anyway, and I think, like as an organization, we probably need to be a bit more agnostic about the outcome. Michael Hingson 33:22 Well, the reason I asked, in part was, is there really any filming going on anymore? Nick Francis 33:28 Well, that's a very that's a very good question. But have we actually ever made a celluloid film? And I think the answer is probably no. We used to, back in the day, we used to make, like, super eight films, which were films, I think, you know, video, you know, ultimately, if you're going to be really pedantic about it, it's like, well, video is a digital, digital delivery. And so basically, every film we make is, is a video. But there is a certain cachet to the you know, because our films are loved and crafted, you know, for good or ill, you know, I think to call them, you know, they are films because, because of the, you know, the care that's put into them. But it's not, it's, it's not celluloid. No, that's okay, yeah, well, Michael Hingson 34:16 and I know that, like with vinyl records, there is a lot of work being done to preserve and capture what's on cellular film. And so there's a lot of work that I'm sure that's being done to digitize a lot of the old films. And when you do that, then you can also go back and remaster and hopefully in a positive way, and I'm not sure if that always happens, but in a positive way, enhance them Nick Francis 34:44 completely, completely and, you know, it's, you know, it's interesting talking about, like, you know, people wanting to step back. You know, obviously vinyl is having an absolute as having a moment right now. In fact, I just, I just bought a new stylist for my for my record. Play yesterday. It sounded incredible as a joy. This gave me the sound quality of this new style. It's fantastic. You know, beyond that, you know, running a company, you know, we're in nine offices all over the world. We produce nearly 1000 projects a year. So, you know, it's a company. It's an incredibly complicated company. It's a very fun and exciting company. I love the fact that we make these beautifully creative films. But, you know, it's a bit, I wouldn't say it's like, I don't know, you don't get many MBAs coming out of business school saying, hey, I want to set up a video production company. But, you know, it's been, it's been wonderful, but it's also been stressful. And so, you know, I've, I've always been interested in pottery and ceramics and making stuff with my hands. When I was a kid, I used to make jewelry, and I used to go and sell it in nightclubs, which is kind of weird, but, you know, it paid for my beers. And then whatever works, I say kid. I was 18. I was, I was of age, but of age in the UK anyway. But now, you know, over the last few 18 months or so, I've started make, doing my own ceramics. So, you know, I make vases and and pictures and kind of all sorts of stuff out of clay. And it's just, it's just to be to unplug and just to go and, you know, make things with mud with your hands. It's just the most unbelievably kind of grounding experience. Michael Hingson 36:26 Yeah, I hear you, yeah. One of the things that I like to do is, and I don't get to do it as much as I would like, but I am involved with organizations like the radio enthusiasts of Puget Sound, which, every year, does recreations of old radio shows. And so we get the scripts we we we have several blind people who are involved in we actually go off and recreate some of the old shows, which is really a lot of fun, Nick Francis 36:54 I bet, yeah, yeah, sort of you know that connection to the past is, is, yeah, it's great radio. Radio is amazing. Michael Hingson 37:03 Anyway, what we have to do is to train some of the people who have not had exposure to old radio. We need to train them as to how to really use their voices to convey like the people who performed in radio, whatever they're doing, because too many people don't really necessarily know how to do that well. And it is, it is something that we're going to work on trying to find ways to get people really trained. And one of the ways, of course, is you got to listen to the old show. So one of the things we're getting more and more people to do when we do recreations is to go back and listen to the original show. Well, they say, Well, but, but that's just the way they did it. That's not necessarily the way it should be done. And the response is, no, that's not really true. The way they did it sounded natural, and the way you are doing it doesn't and there's reality that you need to really learn how to to use your voice to convey well, and the only way to do it is to listen to the experts who did it. Nick Francis 38:06 Yeah, well, it's, you know, it's amazing. The, you know, when the BBC was founded, all the news readers and anyone who appeared on on the radio to to present or perform, had to wear like black tie, like a tuxedo, because it was, you know, they're broadcasting to the nation, so they had to, you know, they had to be dressed appropriately, right, which is kind of amazing. And, you know, it's interesting how you know, when you, when you change your dress, when you change the way you're sitting, it does completely change the way that you project yourself, yeah, Michael Hingson 38:43 it makes sense, yeah, well, and I always enjoyed some of the old BBC radio shows, like the Goon Show, and completely some of those are so much fun. Nick Francis 38:54 Oh, great, yeah, I don't think they were wearing tuxedo. It's tuxedos. They would Michael Hingson 38:59 have been embarrassed. Yeah, right, right. Can you imagine Peter Sellers in a in a tux? It just isn't going to happen. Nick Francis 39:06 No, right, right. But yeah, no, it's so powerful. You know, they say radio is better than TV because the pictures are better. Michael Hingson 39:15 I agree. Yeah, sure, yeah. Well, you know, I I don't think this is quite the way he said it, but Fred Allen, the old radio comedian, once said they call television the new medium, because that's as good as it's ever going Nick Francis 39:28 to get. Yeah, right, right, yeah. Michael Hingson 39:32 I think there's truth to it. Whether that's exactly the way he said it or not, there's truth to that, yeah, but there's also a lot of good stuff on TV, so it's okay. Nick Francis 39:41 Well, it's so interesting. Because, you know, when you look at the it's never been more easy to create your own content, yeah, and so, you know, and like, in a way, TV, you know, he's not wrong in that, because it suddenly opened up this, this huge medium for people just to just create. Right? And, you know, and I think, like so many people, create without thinking, and, you know, and certainly in our kind of, in the in the world that we're living in now with AI production, making production so much more accessible, actually taking the time as a human being just to really think about, you know, who are the audience, what are the things that are going to what are going to kind of resonate with them? You know? Actually, I think one of the risks with AI, and not just AI, but just like production being so accessible, is that you can kind of shoot first and kind of think about it afterwards, and, you know, and that's never good. That's always going to be medium. It's medium at best, frankly. Yeah, so yeah, to create really great stuff takes time, you know, yeah, to think about it. Yeah, for sure, yeah. Michael Hingson 40:50 Well, you know, our podcast is called unstoppable mindset. What do you think that unstoppable mindset really means to you as a practical thing and not just a buzzword. Because so many people talk about the kinds of buzzwords I hear all the time are amazing. That's unstoppable, but it's really a lot more than a buzzword. It goes back to what you think, I think. But what do you think? Nick Francis 41:15 I think it's something that is is buried deep inside you. You know, I'd say the simple answer is, is just resilience. You know, it's, it's been rough. I write anyone running a small business or a medium sized business at the minute, you know, there's been some tough times over the last, kind of 1824, months or so. And, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine who she sold out of her business. And she's like, you know, how are things? I was like, you know, it's, it's, it's tough, you know, we're getting through it, you know, we're changing a lot of things, you know, we're like, we're definitely making the business better, but it's hard. And she's like, Listen, you know, when three years before I sold my company, I was at rock bottom. It was, I genuinely thought it was so stressful. I was crushed by it, but I just kept going. And she's just like, just keep going. And the only difference between success and failure is that resilience and just getting up every day and you just keep, keep throwing stuff at the wall, keep trying new things, keep working and trying to be better. I think, you know, it's funny when you look at entrepreneurs, I'm a member of a mentoring group, and I hope I'm not talking out of school here, but you know, there's 15 entrepreneurs, you know, varying sizes of business, doing all sorts, you know, across all sorts of different industries. And if you sat on the wall, if you were fly on the wall, and you sit and look at these people on a kind of week, month to month basis, and they all present on how their businesses are going. You go, this is this being an entrepreneur does not look like a uniformly fun thing, you know, the sort of the stress and just, you know, people crying and stuff, and you're like, gosh, you know, it's so it's, it's, it's hard, and yet, you know, it's people just keep coming back to it. And yet, I think it's because of that struggle that you have to kind of have something in built in you, that you're sort of, you're there to prove something. And I, you know, I've thought a lot about this, and I wonder whether, kind of, the death of my father at such a young age kind of gave me this incredible fire to seek His affirmation, you know. And unfortunately, obviously, the tragedy of that is like, you know, the one person who would never give me affirmation is my dad. And yet, you know, I get up every day, you know, to have early morning calls with the UK or with Singapore or wherever. And you know, you just just keep on, keeping on. And I think that's probably what and knowing I will never quit, you know, like, even from the earliest days of casual, when we were just, like a couple of people, and we were just, you know, kids doing our very best, I always knew the company was going to be a success act. Like, just a core belief that I was like, this is going to work. This is going to be a success. I didn't necessarily know what that success would look like. I just but I did know that, like, whatever it took, we would map, we'd map our way towards that figure it out. We'd figure it out. And I think, you know, there's probably something unstoppable. I don't know, I don't want to sound immodest, but I think there's probably something in that that you're just like, I am just gonna keep keep on, keeping on. Michael Hingson 44:22 Do you think that resilience and unstoppability are things that can be taught, or is it just something that's built into you, and either you have it or you don't? Nick Francis 44:31 I think it's something that probably, it's definitely something that can be learned, for sure, you know. And there are obviously ways that it can there's obviously ways it can be taught. You know, I was, I spent some time in the reserve, like the Army Reserve in the UK, and I just, you know, a lot of that is about teaching you just how much further you can go. I think what it taught me was it was so. So hard. I mean, honestly, some of the stuff we did in our training was, like, you know, it's just raining and raining and raining and, like, because all your kits soaking wet is weighs twice what it did before, and you just, you know, sleeping maybe, you know, an hour or two a night, and, you know, and there wasn't even anyone shooting at us, right? So, you know, like the worst bit wasn't even happening. But like, and like, in a sense, I think, you know, that's what they're trying to do, that, you know, they say, you know, train hard and fight easy. But I remember sort of sitting there, and I was just exhausted, and I just genuinely, I was just thought, you know, what if they tell me to go now, I just, I can't. I literally, I can't, I can't do it. Can't do it. And then they're like, right, lads, put your packs on. Let's go and just put your pack on. Off you go, you know, like, this sort of, the idea of not, like, I was never going to quit, just never, never, ever, you know, and like I'd physically, if I physically, like, literally, my physical being couldn't stand up, you know, I then that was be, that would be, you know, if I was kind of, like literally incapacitated. And I think what that taught me actually, was that, you know, you have what you believe you can do, like you have your sort of, you have your sort of physical envelope, but like that is only a third or a quarter of what you can actually achieve, right, you know. And I think what that, what the that kind of training is about, and you know, you can do it in marathon training. You can do it in all sorts of different, you know, even, frankly, meditate. You know, you train your mind to meditate for, you know, an hour, 90 minutes plus. You know, you're still doing the same. You know, there's a, there's an elasticity within your brain where you can teach yourself that your envelope is so much larger. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, like, is casual going to be a success? Like, I'm good, you know, I'm literally, I won't I won't stop until it is Michael Hingson 46:52 right, and then why stop? Exactly, exactly you continue to progress and move forward. Well, you know, when everything feels uncertain, whether it's the markets or whatever, what do you do or what's your process for finding clarity? Nick Francis 47:10 I think a lot of it is in having structured time away. I say structured. You build it into your calendar, but like, but it's unstructured. So, you know, I take a lot of solace in being physically fit. You know, I think if you're, if you feel physically fit, then you feel mentally far more able to deal with things. I certainly when I'm if I'm unfit and if I've been working too much and I haven't been finding the time to exercise. You know, I feel like the problems we have to face just loom so much larger. So, you know, I, I'll book out. I, you know, I work with a fan. I'm lucky enough to have a fantastic assistant who, you know, we book in my my exercise for each week, and it's almost the first thing that goes in the calendar. I do that because I can't be the business my my I can't be the leader my business requires. And it finally happened. It was a few years ago I kind of, like, the whole thing just got really big on me, and it just, you know, and I'm kind of, like, being crushed by it. And I just thought, you know what? Like, I can't, I can't fit other people's face mask, without my face mask being fit, fitted first. Like, in order to be the business my business, I keep saying that to be the lead in my business requires I have to be physically fit. So I have to look after myself first. And so consequently, like, you know, your exercise shouldn't be something just get squeezed in when you find when you have time, because, you know, if you've got family and you know, other things happening, like, you know, just will be squeezed out. So anyway, that goes in. First, I'll go for a bike ride on a Friday afternoon, you know, I'll often listen to a business book and just kind of process things. And it's amazing how often, you know, I'll just go for a run and, like, these things that have been kind of nagging away in the back of my mind, just suddenly I find clarity in them. So I try to exercise, like, five times a week. I mean, that's obviously more than most people can can manage, but you know that that really helps. And then kind of things, like the ceramics is very useful. And then, you know, I'm lucky. I think it's also just so important just to appreciate the things that you already have. You know, I think one of the most important lessons I learned last year was this idea that, you know, here is the only there. You know, everyone's working towards this kind of, like, big, you know, it's like, oh, you know, when I get to there, then everything's going to be okay, you know. And actually, you know, if you think about like, you know, and what did you want to achieve when you left college? Like, what was the salary band that you want? That you wanted to achieve? Right? A lot of people, you know, by the time you hit 4050, you've blown way through that, right? And yet you're still chasing the receding Summit, yeah, you know. And so actually, like, wherever we're trying to head to, we're already there, because once you get there, there's going to be another there that you're trying to. Head to right? So, so, you know, it's just taking a moment to be like, you know, God, I'm so lucky to have what I have. And, you know, I'm living in, we're living in the good old days, like right now, right? Michael Hingson 50:11 And the reality is that we're doing the same things and having the same discussions, to a large degree, that people did 50, 100 200 years ago. As you pointed out earlier, the fact is that we're, we're just having the same discussions about whether this works, or whether that works, or anything else. But it's all the same, Nick Francis 50:33 right, you know. And you kind of think, oh, you know, if I just, just, like, you know, if we just open up these new offices, or if we can just, you know, I think, like, look, if I, if I'd looked at casual when we started it as it is now, I would have just been like, absolute. My mind would have exploded, right? You know, if you look at what we've achieved, and yet, I kind of, you know, it's quite hard sometimes to look at it and just be like, Oh yeah, but we're only just starting. Like, there's so much more to go. I can see so much further work, that we need so many more things, that we need to do, so many more things that we could do. And actually, you know, they say, you know, I'm lucky enough to have two healthy, wonderful little girls. And you know, I think a lot of bread winners Look at, look at love being provision, and the idea that, you know, you have to be there to provide for them. And actually, the the truest form of love is presence, right? And just being there for them, and like, you know, not being distracted and kind of putting putting things aside, you know, not jumping on your emails or your Slack messages or whatever first thing in the morning, you know. And I, you know, I'm not. I'm guilty, like, I'm not, you know, I'm not one of these people who have this kind of crazy kind of morning routine where, like, you know, I'm incredibly disciplined about that because, you know, and I should be more. But like, you know, this stuff, one of the, one of the things about having a 24 hour business with people working all over the world is there's always things that I need to respond to. There's always kind of interesting things happening. And so just like making sure that I catch myself every so often to be like, I'm just going to be here now and I'm going to be with them, and I'm going to listen to what they're saying, and I'm going to respond appropriately, and, you know, I'm going to play a game with them, or whatever. That's true love. You know? Michael Hingson 52:14 Well, there's a lot of merit to the whole concept of unplugging and taking time and living in the moment. One of the things that we talked about in my book live like a guide dog, that we published last year, and it's all about lessons I've learned about leadership and teamwork and preparedness from eight guide dogs and my wife's service dog. One of the things that I learned along the way is the whole concept of living in the moment when I was in the World Trade Center with my fifth guide dog, Roselle. We got home, and I was going to take her outside to go visit the bathroom, but as soon as I took the harness off, she shot off, grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog. Asked the veterinarians about him the next day, the people at Guide Dogs for the Blind, and they said, Well, did anything threaten her? And I said, No. And they said, there's your answer. The reality is, dogs live in the moment when it was over. It was over. And yeah, right lesson to learn. Nick Francis 53:15 I mean, amazing, absolutely amazing. You must have taken a lot of strength from that. Michael Hingson 53:20 Oh, I think it was, it was great. It, you know, I can look back at my life and look at so many things that have happened, things that I did. I never thought that I would become a public speaker, but I learned in so many ways the art of speaking and being relaxed at speaking in a in a public setting, that when suddenly I was confronted with the opportunity to do it, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Nick Francis 53:46 Yeah, it's funny, because I think isn't public speaking the number one fear. It is. It's the most fit. It's the most feared thing for the most people. Michael Hingson 53:57 And the reality is going back to something that we talked about before. The reality is, audiences want you to succeed, unless you're a jerk and you project that, audiences want to hear what you have to say. They want you to be successful. There's really nothing to be afraid of but, but you're right. It is the number one fear, and I've never understood that. I mean, I guess I can intellectually understand it, but internally, I don't. The first time I was asked to speak after the World Trade Center attacks, a pastor called me up and he said, we're going to we're going to have a service outside for all the people who we lost in New Jersey and and that we would like you to come and speak. Take a few minutes. And I said, Sure. And then I asked him, How many people many people were going to be at the service? He said, 6000 that was, that was my first speech. Nick Francis 54:49 Yeah, wow. But it didn't bother me, you know, no, I bet Michael Hingson 54:54 you do the best you can, and you try to improve, and so on. But, but it is true that so many people. Are public speaking, and there's no reason to what Nick Francis 55:03 did that whole experience teach you? Michael Hingson 55:06 Well, one of the things that taught me was, don't worry about the things that you can't control. It also taught me that, in reality, any of us can be confronted with unexpected things at any time, and the question is, how well do we prepare to deal with it? So for me, for example, and it took me years after September 11 to recognize this, but one of the things that that happened when the building was hit, and Neither I, nor anyone on my side of the building really knew what happened. People say all the time, well, you didn't know because you couldn't see it. Well, excuse me, it hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. And the last time I checked X ray vision was fictitious, so nobody knew. But did the building shake? Oh, it tipped. Because tall buildings like that are flexible. And if you go to any tall building, in reality, they're made to buffet in wind storms and so on, and in fact, they're made to possibly be struck by an airplane, although no one ever expected that somebody would deliberately take a fully loaded jet aircraft and crash it into a tower, because it wasn't the plane hitting the tower as such that destroyed both of them. It was the exploding jet fuel that destroyed so much more infrastructure caused the buildings to collapse. But in reality, for me, I had done a lot of preparation ahead of time, not even thinking that there would be an emergency, but thinking about I need to really know all I can about the building, because I've got to be the leader of my office, and I should know all of that. I should know what to do in an emergency. I should know how to take people to lunch and where to go and all that. And by learning all of that, as I learned many and discovered many years later, it created a mindset that kicked in when the World Trade Center was struck, and in fact, we didn't know until after both towers had collapsed, and I called my wife. We I talked with her just before we evacuated, and the media hadn't even gotten the story yet, but I never got a chance to talk with her until after both buildings had collapsed, and then I was able to get through and she's the first one that told us how the two buildings had been hit by hijacked aircraft. But the mindset had kicked in that said, You know what to do, do it and that. And again, I didn't really think about that until much later, but that's something that is a lesson we all could learn. We shouldn't rely on just watching signs to know what to do, no to go in an emergency. We should really know it, because the knowledge, rather than just having information, the true intellectual knowledge that we internalize, makes such a big difference. Nick Francis 57:46 Do you think it was the fact that you were blind that made you so much more keen to know the way out that kind of that really helped you to understand that at the time? Michael Hingson 57:56 Well, what I think is being blind and growing up in an environment where so many things could be unexpected, for me, it was important to know so, for example, when I would go somewhere to meet a customer, I would spend time, ahead of time, learning how to get around, learning how to get to where they were and and learning what what the process was, because we didn't have Google Maps and we didn't have all the intellectual and and technological things that we have today. Well intellectual we did with the technology we didn't have. So today it's easier, but still, I want to know what to do. I want to really have the answers, and then I can can more easily and more effectively deal with what I need to deal with and react. So I'm sure that blindness played a part in all of that, because if I hadn't learned how to do the things that I did and know the things that I knew, then it would have been a totally different ball game, and so sure, I'm sure, I'm certain that blindness had something to do with it, but I also know that, that the fact is, what I learned is the same kinds of things that everyone should learn, and we shouldn't rely on just the signs, because what if the building were full of smoke, then what would you do? Right? And I've had examples of that since I was at a safety council meeting once where there was somebody from an electric company in Missouri who said, you know, we've wondered for years, what do we do if there's a fire in the generator room, in the basement, In the generator room, how do people get out? And he and I actually worked on it, and they developed a way where people could have a path that they could follow with their feet to get them out. But the but the reality is that what people first need to learn is eyesight is not the only game in town. Yeah, right. Mean, it's so important to really learn that, but people, people don't, and we take too many things for granted, which is, which is really so unfortunate, because we really should do a li
En este nuevo episodio de la sexta temporada de Análisis BIVA, nos acompaña José Carlos Sánchez, Mexico Chief Economist de HSBC, quien nos habla sobre el cierre del 2025 materia económica, las perspectivas para el 2026 y la última decisión en materia de política económica por parte de Banxico. Conducido por Salvador Leal, Director de Comunicación de BIVA.
Ben Youngs and Dan Cole are joined by HSBC ambassadors and Rugby World Cup winners Ellie Kildunne and Ruby Tui to crown the For The Love Of Rugby 2025 Awards!
Bij kwantum computing kennen we 3 concepten, namelijk: superpositie, verstrengeling en interferentie. Deze 3 concepten kunnen gebruikt worden om complexe problemen op te lossen. Hoe dan? Dat vragen we aan Wim Peeters, Technical Leader en Quantum Ambassador bij IBM. We bespreken o.a. de laatste kwantum ontwikkelingen bij IBM, de laatste use cases met o.a. HSBC, de gevaren van kwantum en natuurlijk hoe jij met IBM Quantum aan de slag kan gaan.
What does it take to build truly product-driven engineering teams? In this episode, Matt Watson — founder and CEO of Full Scale and author of Product Driven — joins Lily and Randy to challenge the longstanding silos between product and engineering. Drawing on 25+ years of experience and four tech ventures, Matt makes the case for why developers need more than just code to care about: they need context, ownership, and clarity.From redefining “done” to the evolving role of AI in software teams, this conversation dives into how product leaders can foster a culture where engineers aren't just implementers, but co-creators of customer value.Chapters0:00 – Why “no feedback” is a warning sign, not success1:46 – Matt's journey: from developer to founder2:58 – Thinking outside the code: how the book Product Driven started4:50 – Why many engineers don't think about the customer5:57 – The rise of product managers and the walling off of engineers6:56 – Redefining the role of PMs in cross-functional teams9:01 – Metrics, measurement, and the illusion of progress10:57 – Ownership as the root of productivity13:04 – Code monkeys, culture, and killing creativity14:55 – Communicating context: five minutes that save weeks17:04 – AI and the changing definition of developer productivity20:32 – External value vs internal tech debt22:48 – The Product Driven model: Vision, Focus, Clarity, Shared Ownership, Courage27:08 – Why courage is the starting point for changeOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.
A la espera de citas en diferentes bancos centrales, miramos a Continental, Thyssenkrupp Nucera y HSBC, de la mano de Alberto Roldán, de la Universidad Europea.
Despite the almost four-hour runtime of Part 5, the show must go on as the self-imposed Christmas deadline inches closer and closer. Andy and Brendan are once again joined by PJ and KVV to chat through a set of four events following Rory's win at the Masters. Before the Year in Review gets back underway, the four recap this week's biggest news: Alejandro Tosti's performance at PGA Tour Q-School. Everyone is giddy to have Tosti back for another season on the big tour and they commend him for fighting through Q-School for a second time. Andy, Brendan, and Kevin also discuss some late-breaking golf news regarding the National Links Trust and the Trump administration's plan to renovate the three public golf courses in Washington D.C. The Year in Review resumes with a look back at the RBC Heritage and the immediate wake of one of the greatest wins in golf history. PJ runs through a week's worth of Rory reactions before unveiling the important stuff, such as Grant Horvat's Barracuda exemption (unused) and Wesley Bryan's PGA Tour suspension (still seemingly ongoing). Justin Thomas returned to the winner's circle in Hilton Head, getting over the finish line for the first time since the 2022 PGA Championship. Andy is next up with the Zurich Classic, where Rory McIlroy made his return to golf in a team event alongside Shane Lowry. Andy rediscovers the backboarding that occurred at a disastrous Chevron Championship and the power outage that led to the golf world being exposed to a Champions Tour Sunday on national TV. He also shares that one of the great technological achievements of our time happened this week! Brendan has the honor of recapping PGA Tour history, as Scottie Scheffler burned down TPC Craig T. Nelson Ranch and tied the all-time scoring record in a runaway win. All that may be great, but Brendan is most excited about the children in attendance chanting while a bulldozer wrecked the practice green ahead of Lanny's renovation. KVV comes in to close things out again, handling the first-ever Truist Championship. His findings lead the group down a rabbit-hole of past HSBC photo shoots, complete with a flying Henrik Stenson and Yao Ming. The 2025 Year in Review returns on Wednesday with the long-awaited Rise of Rea.
15 Dec 2025. It’s Christmas-nomics. We break down festive spending in 2025 - from turkeys and chocolates to premium treats, with Spinneys. Plus, Talabat CEO Tomaso Rodriguez on why he’s stepping down, and our C-Suite Series with HSBC continues as Kitopi co-founder Saman Darkkhan talks about scaling a UAE unicorn and what comes next.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Boon Keat (BK) Chua, CEO of Glife Technologies, joins Jonathan Yip, Asia Head of HSBC Innovation Banking, and Neil Falconer, Head of HSBC Innovation Banking in Singapore. They discuss BK's transition from the military to the commercial sector, leading to his role at Glife Technologies, a Singapore-founded agritech firm committed to improving the food supply chain's efficiency and transparency, by connecting farmers with F&B operators. BK discusses the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and growth opportunities for ASEAN startups, emphasising a proactive approach to regional growth and the advantages of Singapore's startup ecosystem.This episode was recorded during the launch-week of HSBC Innovation Banking in Singapore on 28 October 2025.Disclaimer: Views of external guest speakers do not represent those of HSBC.
Sanofi, Juventus, Enel y HSBC son los protagonistas. Lo analizamos con Pablo Garcia, director general de Divacons-Alphavalue.
Od politycznych starć na linii Musk-UE, przez twarde lekcje biznesu z polskiego podwórka, aż po miliardowe przejęcia. Wojtek, Tomek i Sebastian biorą na warsztat okres pełen skrajnych emocji w świecie tech!
Join us this week for The Tech Leaders Podcast, where Gareth sits down with Rupy Malizia, Chief Operating and Transformation Officer, HSBC Innovation Banking. Rupy talks about transitioning Silicon Valley Bank UK into HSBC, the cultural differences between small and large businesses, and the impact AI will have on organisations of all sizes. On this episode, Rupy and Gareth discuss whether Agentic AI is ready, what can be done to support female entrepreneurs, and if Quantum Computing might be closer than we think… Timestamps (estimated): Good leadership and early years (2:30) Joining Silicon Valley Bank and the ensuing turmoil (6:00) The SVB UK acquisition and the transition (back) to HSBC (12:35) The AI impact on organisations large and small (21:00) HSBC Innovation and New Tech (31:15) Female entrepreneurship (38:00) Emerging Tech and Skills (42:45) Advice to 21-year-old Rupy and Entrepreneurs (46:30) https://www.bedigitaluk.com/
Bienvenue dans ce nouvel épisode de Private Equity VOX !Aujourd'hui, nous recevons Carole Barkatz, Directrice Générale de Maddyness, le média référence de l'entrepreneuriat, de la tech et de l'impact en France. C'est sa première prise de parole publique depuis son arrivée en octobre 2024.Carole a construit une expertise unique de plus de 15 ans dans le digital et les médias, avec un fil rouge constant : l'économie de l'attention. Diplômée de l'Université Paris Dauphine (Master New Technologies & Marketing), son parcours l'a menée de Condé Nast à AuFeminin, puis à la direction du marketing digital chez HSBC pendant six ans. Plus récemment, elle a été Chief Growth Officer chez Hipto où elle a managé plus de 60 personnes spécialisées dans la lead generation.En quelques mois à la tête de Maddyness, Carole a lancé une transformation ambitieuse : création de Maddyness IA en février 2025, organisation de la première MKIA à la Salle Gaveau en avril, et signature d'un partenariat stratégique avec Perplexity en juin - faisant de Maddyness le premier média français à s'engager avec un acteur de nouvelle génération.Dans cet épisode, Carole nous explique :→ Comment elle a appris à décrypter l'économie de l'attention depuis l'époque des forums digitaux jusqu'aux LLM d'aujourd'hui→ La transformation digitale de HSBC : digitaliser une banque de détail dans un environnement ultra-régulé→ Son diagnostic à l'arrivée chez Maddyness : une marque forte, une audience fidèle (33% des lecteurs viennent tous les jours), mais un secteur média en pleine mutation→ Pourquoi lancer Maddyness IA immédiatement : "L'IA est déjà là. On n'a pas grand-chose à perdre"→ MKIA : créer un forum business pour donner des clés d'action concrètes sur l'IA→ Le partenariat avec Perplexity : un pari volontaire et risqué qui fait aujourd'hui de Perplexity le 2ème levier de trafic du média→ Le concept de B2A (Business to Agent) : comment les médias doivent apprendre à parler à la machine pour mieux parler à l'homme→ Les LLM qui redonnent la primeur aux médias grâce à la fraîcheur et la pertinence des contenus→ Sa vision 2025 : Maddyness comme plateforme qui combine média digital, événementiel et écosystèmeCarole défend une conviction forte : un média n'est pas seulement là pour informer, mais pour orienter, clarifier et connecter un écosystème entier. Dans un monde où l'attention devient l'actif le plus rare, la transformation ne peut plus être subie - elle doit être volontaire, méthodique et collective.Un épisode essentiel pour comprendre comment les médias peuvent non seulement survivre à l'ère de l'IA, mais prospérer en embrassant la transformation avec méthode et vision. Carole nous rappelle aussi que "la méthode permet la créativité" - du test and learn chez Nextedia aux expérimentations IA chez Maddyness, c'est cette rigueur pragmatique qui permet d'innover.Avec 1 million de lecteurs mensuels et une communauté extrêmement engagée (entrepreneurs, investisseurs, décideurs corporate), Maddyness s'impose comme un acteur incontournable de l'écosystème innovation français. Et sous l'impulsion de Carole, le média ne se contente plus d'observer les transformations - il les vit et les anticipe.Bonne écoute !Retrouvez tous nos épisodes sur : https://www.pe3.io/fr/private-equity-vox/Suivez-nous sur LinkedIn : PE CubeContact : arnauld.comparot@pe3.ioHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
In this episode, Prerna Singh, CPTO at Avaaz, walks us through how AI is reshaping the way we prototype, learn and build digital products. Rather than replacing teams or skipping straight to production, she argues that AI shines when used as a “thought partner” to accelerate early‑stage experimentation. Through her own journey building a community platform on weekends, she demonstrates how tools like ChatGPT, Lovable (and later Claude / Replet) and Figma AI enabled her to move from blank page to clickable prototype in hours — while retaining the human insight, iteration and context that underpin good product work. The conversation reframes common assumptions about “fast‑AI = bypass human work,” and instead proposes a balanced adoption path: start in “sandbox mode,” learn and play — before graduating to “architect mode” where the real value to business begins.Chapters00:00 – Introduction & AI's impact on product cycles01:43 – Meet Prerna Singh: her background in product and community building03:50 – The community problem: logistics over connection05:11 – Turning to AI to solve her own problem06:50 – What AI can't do: user insight and human judgment08:08 – From waterfall to short-cycle prototyping10:54 – Using ChatGPT as a Socratic thought partner13:07 – Working solo vs team: where AI fits17:17 – From prompt to prototype: using Lovable19:06 – Iterating with Figma AI and other tools23:00 – Real feedback from real users25:02 – Creating a feedback knowledge base with AI26:16 – AI vs design sprints: same principles, new toolsOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.
10 Dec 2025. Abu Dhabi and Dubai both rank highly in a new global financial centres index unveiled at Abu Dhabi Finance Week. We break down what it means with one of the minds behind the rankings. Plus, we speak to the head of the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority on the policy direction for the year ahead. And Presight signs a major AI deal with HSBC, we find out what it means for banking in the region.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happens when two of the sharpest minds in analytics, decision science, and entrepreneurship sit together to decode how data shapes businesses and how intuition and persistence shape a founder's journey? In this episode, we speak with Anunay Gupta, former analytics leader at JPMorgan & HSBC and now Managing Director at Xcelyst Partners and Bhupendra Khanal, serial entrepreneur and founder of Dogsee and Himalayan Natives, known for building global consumer brands powered by data. What You Will Learn in This Episode How data quality impacts decisions and business outcomes When to trust intuition over dashboards The realities of starting a company after 35 Why data-thinking transfers across every industry How algorithms shape opinions and create echo chambers Together, they bring decades of experience building companies, leading teams, and making decisions that changed their lives. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:40 – Data vs Intuition: Which One Wins? 4:17 – How Marketelligent & Simplify360 Were Built 10:10 – Satya Nadella's Bold Prediction: Will SaaS Die? 13:39 – Real-World Use Cases of Data 18:30 – How a Data Background Accelerates Your Career 22:42 – Applying Data to Build Better Businesses 33:16 – Good Data vs Bad Data: How to Tell the Difference 42:39 – The Future is Automated: Data Without Humans 44:59 – How Social Media Rewires Your Brain 51:39 – Why Staying Private Is Becoming Expensive 57:37 – The Fear Holding 30–40 Year Olds Back 1:01:49 – Scale vs Impact: What Truly Matters? 1:06:29 – Using Data to Improve Your Personal Life 1:08:19 – Finding Your Best Business Idea Want to join us live in the studio as an audience member? Fill out this form: https://forms.gle/xZi8yptyoxkkc6aa8 ✉ Reach out to us at partners@doersnepal.com
Ellick Tsui, Deputy CEO and CFO, CTF Life, joins Fiona Horsewill, Global Head of Securities Services, HSBC, and Lisa O'Connor, Global Head of Client Change in Securities Services, HSBC, to discuss the pivotal role insurance and asset servicing play in fortifying Hong Kong as a leading international financial hub.This episode was recorded on 14 October 2025.Disclaimer: Views of external guest speakers do not represent those of HSBC.
It's panto season and panto villains don't come much bigger than Simon Cowell.The music mogul's made a career and fortune playing the Bad Guy on TV talent shows. But is there more to him - and crucially, is it good PR for him to show a different side?This week, David Yelland and Simon Lewis wade through the blizzard of publicity created ahead of Simon Cowell's latest show - to piece together a PR jigsaw that hints at his attempts to stay relevant while also offering glimpses into his world that he may not have intended.On the extended edition on BBC Sounds, what happens when a CEO goes missing in action? The good people of Tunbridge Wells are once again disgusted - following a drinking water crisis in the spa town. And their mood has not been helped by the boss of South Eastern Water, David Hinton, refusing to give any interviews. If the buck stops with you, do you have a duty to show your face in public - or can there be very good reasons for staying invisible when everything is going wrong?Also, what is going on at HSBC? There's a distinct whiff of chaos around the search for a new CEO. George Osborne had been heavily touted, only for the job to be given to a 76-year-old internal candidate who, by all accounts, might not be hanging around for long. Given it's one of the most prestigious roles in global finance, where is the succession planning? And what does all this confusion at the top mean for the bank's reputation?Producer: Duncan MIddleton Editor: Sarah Teasdale Executive Producer: Eve StreeterMusic by Eclectic Sounds. A Raconteur Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Goncalves speaks with Paul Bloxham from HSBC and Stuart Roberts from Stocks Down Under about why the RBA decision to leave interest rates on hold at its December board meeting and the increasing chance the next move in rates will be up, not down.
08 Dec 2025. We’re live from Al Maryah Island for Day 1 of Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025, as global leaders gather to shape the future of capital and investment. Fintech Times editor Mark Walker joins us on what the UAE wants to achieve this year. Plus, travel chaos in India over new pilot fatigue rules with aviation expert Mark D Martin, and why UAE firms may be benefiting from tariff uncertainty, with HSBC’s Deyana Cherneva.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Venture capital is often perceived as a game of high stakes and strategic bets. Rohit Agarwal, Managing Director of Peak XV, joins Dave Sabow, Global Head of HSBC Innovation Banking, to provide an in-depth look. Their conversation explores the nuances of capital deployment in Asia for 2026, the sectors attracting investment, and the evolving landscape for venture capitalists.This episode was recorded in Singapore during the launch of HSBC Innovation Banking on October 28, 2025.Disclaimer: Views of external guest speakers do not represent those of HSBC.
Bond-market investors worry that the leading candidate for Fed chair is too close to US President Donald Trump, while HSBC finally picks its new chair. Plus, the EU has a last-minute plan to fund Ukraine's economic revival. Mentioned in this podcast:Bond investors warned US Treasury over picking Kevin Hassett as Fed chairHSBC appoints Brendan Nelson as chair after chaotic searchBrussels floats ‘emergency' powers to raise €210bn from Russian assetsTell us whether your spending habits have changed this holiday season. Email Marc at marc.filippino@ft.com Note: The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts Today's FT News Briefing was hosted and edited by Marc Filippino, and produced by Fiona Symon, Victoria Craig and Sonja Hutson. Our show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Additional help from Michael Lello. The FT's acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show's theme music is by Metaphor Music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of The Product Experience, host Randy Silver speaks with Teresa Huang — Head of Product for Enablement at global health‑insurer Bupa — about the often‑overlooked world of platform product management. They explore why building internal platforms is fundamentally different and often more challenging than building user‑facing products, how to measure the value of platform work, and practical strategies for gaining stakeholder alignment, driving platform adoption and demonstrating business impact.Chapters0:00 – Why “efficiency” alone no longer cuts it — measuring platform impact in business terms1:02 – Teresa's background: from business analyst to head of product in health insurance6:20 – What we mean by “platform product management” — internal tools vs marketplace vs public‑API platforms7:44 – Why you need to “hop two steps”: address developer needs and end-customer value10:24 – Types of platforms: internal APIs, marketplace ecosystems, public‑facing platforms (e.g. like Shopify)10:55 – Reframing platform work: building business cases instead of chasing “efficiency” metrics13:16 – Linking platform initiatives to core business goals and joint OKRs15:47 – The importance of visualisation — using prototypes and role‑plays to communicate platform value20:57 – Internal showcases: keeping stakeholders engaged with real‑world scenarios23:28 – Success metrics for platforms: adoption, usage, reliability, ecosystem growth26:00 – Retiring legacy services: deciding when low-use tools should be decommissioned28:55 – From cost centre to enabler: shifting the narrative to show value creationOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.
In this episode of The Product Experience, host Randy Silver speaks with Teresa Huang — Head of Product for Enablement at global health‑insurer Bupa — about the often‑overlooked world of platform product management. They explore why building internal platforms is fundamentally different and often more challenging than building user‑facing products, how to measure the value of platform work, and practical strategies for gaining stakeholder alignment, driving platform adoption and demonstrating business impact. Chapters0:00 – Why “efficiency” alone no longer cuts it — measuring platform impact in business terms1:02 – Teresa's background: from business analyst to head of product in health insurance6:20 – What we mean by “platform product management” — internal tools vs marketplace vs public‑API platforms7:44 – Why you need to “hop two steps”: address developer needs and end-customer value10:24 – Types of platforms: internal APIs, marketplace ecosystems, public‑facing platforms (e.g. like Shopify)10:55 – Reframing platform work: building business cases instead of chasing “efficiency” metrics13:16 – Linking platform initiatives to core business goals and joint OKRs15:47 – The importance of visualisation — using prototypes and role‑plays to communicate platform value20:57 – Internal showcases: keeping stakeholders engaged with real‑world scenarios23:28 – Success metrics for platforms: adoption, usage, reliability, ecosystem growth26:00 – Retiring legacy services: deciding when low-use tools should be decommissioned28:55 – From cost centre to enabler: shifting the narrative to show value creationOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager's Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon's music stores in the US & UK.
Motheo Khoaripe speaks to Isaah Mhlanga, Chief Economist at RMB about the recent uptick in South African business confidence and what it means for the economy going forward. In other interviews, FNB CEO Harry Kellan, talks about his career from audit manager at Arthur Andersen to HSBC associate director, joining FNB in 2005, becoming CFO at 35, serving over a decade as FirstRand Group CFO, and now leading FNB since April 2024. The Money Show is a podcast hosted by well-known journalist and radio presenter, Stephen Grootes. He explores the latest economic trends, business developments, investment opportunities, and personal finance strategies. Each episode features engaging conversations with top newsmakers, industry experts, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and politicians, offering you thought-provoking insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape. Thank you for listening to a podcast from The Money Show Listen live Primedia+ weekdays from 18:00 and 20:00 (SA Time) to The Money Show with Stephen Grootes broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show, go to https://buff.ly/7QpH0jY or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/PlhvUVe Subscribe to The Money Show Daily Newsletter and the Weekly Business Wrap here https://buff.ly/v5mfetc The Money Show is brought to you by Absa Follow us on social media 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/Radio702 CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Motheo Khoaripe interviews FNB CEO Harry Kellan, who reflects on his career from audit manager at Arthur Andersen to HSBC associate director, joining FNB in 2005, becoming CFO at 35, serving over a decade as FirstRand Group CFO, and now leading FNB since April 2024. He discusses his leadership philosophy, digital banking’s growth in South Africa, and FNB’s status as the country’s top retail bank. Kellan holds a Bachelor of Accounting (Honours) from Wits. The Money Show is a podcast hosted by well-known journalist and radio presenter, Stephen Grootes. He explores the latest economic trends, business developments, investment opportunities, and personal finance strategies. Each episode features engaging conversations with top newsmakers, industry experts, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and politicians, offering you thought-provoking insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape. Thank you for listening to a podcast from The Money Show Listen live Primedia+ weekdays from 18:00 and 20:00 (SA Time) to The Money Show with Stephen Grootes broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show, go to https://buff.ly/7QpH0jY or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/PlhvUVe Subscribe to The Money Show Daily Newsletter and the Weekly Business Wrap here https://buff.ly/v5mfetc The Money Show is brought to you by Absa Follow us on social media 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/Radio702 CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This Day in Legal History: John Brown AssassinatedOn December 2, 1859, abolitionist John Brown was executed by hanging in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), following his conviction for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection. Brown had led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry in October, attempting to seize weapons and incite a large-scale slave uprising. His plan failed, with most of his men either killed or captured, and Brown himself wounded and arrested by U.S. Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. The legal proceedings against him were swift: Brown was indicted within days, tried in state court, and sentenced to death less than a month after the raid.His execution was a national event, drawing immense media coverage and polarized public reaction. In the North, many abolitionists hailed him as a martyr who sacrificed his life to end the moral atrocity of slavery. In the South, he was widely viewed as a terrorist whose actions confirmed fears of Northern aggression and interference. Brown's trial and punishment underscored the deepening legal and moral divide between free and slave states, particularly regarding states' rights, federalism, and the use of violence to oppose injustice. The charges of treason and insurrection also raised complex constitutional questions, since Brown was prosecuted under state, not federal, law — despite attacking a federal facility. His case set the stage for intensifying legal and political disputes over the limits of protest, the legitimacy of armed resistance, and the definition of loyalty to the state.Brown's final words, predicting that “the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood,” would prove prescient less than two years later when the Civil War began.A federal appeals court has ruled that Alina Habba, a former personal attorney to Donald Trump, was unlawfully appointed as the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court's finding that the Trump administration violated federal appointments law in installing Habba without Senate confirmation or proper legal authority. This decision disqualifies her from overseeing federal cases in the state, potentially disrupting numerous active prosecutions.The case was brought by defense attorneys who argued that the Justice Department used procedural workarounds to improperly extend Habba's tenure after New Jersey's district judges declined to reauthorize her. In response, DOJ fired her court-appointed successor and tried to reassign Habba under a different title, which the court rejected. The ruling is significant because it's the first appellate decision pushing back on Trump-era efforts to place loyalists in key legal roles without Senate oversight.Habba, who had no prior prosecutorial experience, previously represented Trump in high-profile civil litigation, including the defamation case involving E. Jean Carroll. During her controversial tenure, she was criticized for politicized statements and for filing charges against a Democratic congresswoman. Similar appointment disputes are playing out in other states, and this decision sets a strong precedent against bypassing constitutional and statutory nomination processes. The administration is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court.Court disqualifies Trump ally Habba as top New Jersey federal prosecutor | ReutersHSBC has announced a multi-year partnership with French start-up Mistral AI to integrate generative AI tools across its global operations. The bank plans to self-host Mistral's commercial AI models and future upgrades, combining its own tech infrastructure with Mistral's cutting-edge AI capabilities. The collaboration aims to boost automation, productivity, and customer service, with use cases spanning financial analysis, multilingual translation, risk assessment, and personalized client interactions.By adopting Mistral's tools, HSBC expects to significantly reduce time spent on routine, document-heavy tasks, such as those in credit and financing teams. Already active in AI applications like fraud detection and compliance, the bank sees this deal as a way to accelerate innovation cycles and roll out new features more efficiently. The move comes amid a broader industry trend as banks seek to scale generative AI solutions, while addressing ongoing concerns around data privacy. HSBC emphasized that all deployments will comply with its responsible AI governance standards to ensure transparency and protection.HSBC taps French start-up Mistral to supercharge generative-AI rollout | ReutersPresident Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of David Gentile, the former CEO of GPB Capital Holdings, who was convicted under the Biden administration for his role in what prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme. Gentile had been serving a seven-year sentence after being found guilty of securities fraud in 2024. The DOJ argued that GPB misled investors by using new investor funds to pay returns, rather than profits from legitimate operations.However, in announcing the commutation, a White House official pushed back on the prosecution's claims, arguing that investors had been clearly informed about the firm's payment practices and that prosecutors failed to directly link fraudulent misrepresentations to Gentile during trial. The official also alleged misconduct, claiming the government elicited and failed to correct false testimony.The commutation comes amid heightened political scrutiny of financial fraud prosecutions and continues Trump's trend of intervening in controversial white-collar cases. The Department of Justice has not yet responded to the decision.Trump frees former GPB Capital CEO after Biden admin's Ponzi scheme sentence | ReutersMy column for Bloomberg this week is about … the penny. The official end of penny production may seem trivial, but it's creating real legal headaches for retailers and tax administrators alike. Without the one-cent coin, states are facing ambiguity about how to round sales tax totals for cash transactions—should it happen before or after tax, and who absorbs the rounding loss? These questions go largely unanswered, and in the absence of clear rules, businesses are improvising, which risks inconsistent compliance and enforcement challenges. There's also a legal tension where cash transactions require rounding but card payments do not—potentially running afoul of laws banning payment-method discrimination or even the Internet Tax Freedom Act.Streamlined Sales Tax rules add more complexity, limiting when and how rounding can occur and cautioning against systems that enrich the state at consumers' expense. I argue that instead of patchwork fixes, this moment should push states to modernize their sales tax systems with mandatory e-invoicing and real-time reporting. This would standardize how tax is calculated and rounded, reduce compliance uncertainty, and shrink the window for fraud. Paired with something like a receipt lottery—used successfully in countries like Brazil and China—states could turn customers into compliance allies by rewarding them for scanning and validating receipts.Ultimately, automating rounding decisions and reporting in point-of-sale systems would lift the burden off retailers and give governments cleaner data with lower enforcement costs. The penny may be dead, but this is a rare chance to bring sales tax enforcement into the 21st century. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
The opportunities and potential for tokenisation to support global liquidity management alongside traditional payments are there for the taking. Lewis Sun, Global Head of Domestic and Emerging Payments, Global Payments Solutions, HSBC, talks to TMI about the options for treasurers.
On today's Tech and Science Daily from The Standard, we look at Puma's massive new Oxford Street flagship store, Stansted and Southend finally joining London's contactless rail network, and how wetter winters are forcing the UK transport system to adapt. We also speak to Tim Johnson from the Civil Aviation Authority about staying safe from Travel Tuesday holiday scams, break down HSBC's new AI partnership with French startup Mistral AI, and run through December's biggest game releases – plus the best Cyber Monday tech deals for Londoners.For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
由一口都不想浪費的【味味一品】贊助播出!忙碌一天後,來碗熱騰騰的泡麵,湯暖胃,麵入味,瞬間忘卻加班的疲勞,療癒你的是那熟悉的溫暖感。味味一品,讓你每一次的疲憊都能得到舒緩。全台各大通路熱賣中! https://fstry.pse.is/8ek2t4 —— 以上為 Firstory Podcast 廣告 —— 由一口都不想浪費的【味味一品】贊助播出!忙碌一天後,來碗熱騰騰的泡麵,湯暖胃,麵入味,瞬間忘卻加班的疲勞,療癒你的是那熟悉的溫暖感。味味一品,讓你每一次的疲憊都能得到舒緩。全台各大通路熱賣中! https://fstry.pse.is/8ek2m2 —— 以上為 Firstory Podcast 廣告 —— 大潤發改名「大全聯」後,不僅LINE Pay、街口支付全砍,僅剩信用卡與全支付,只能寫上一個「慘」字;雪上加霜的是,自2026年起更有多家銀行更取消刷卡回饋,到底該怎麼支付,才有高%回饋? 別怕別怕,寶可孟教你破解:改在「LINE禮物」或「PChome」買禮券,就能用LINE Pay賺網購高回饋。比如說,使用「星展傳說對決卡」綁定LINE Pay在「LINE禮物」上買大全聯即享券可賺10%現金積點,記得需解帳戶扣卡費的綁定任務;而富邦 J 卡若是新戶申辦,那麼綁定LINE Pay支付一樣可在「LINE禮物」上購買大全聯即享券,可享有 10%回饋;聯邦LINE Bank卡則是有網購好康,推薦你在「Pchome 24h」上買大全聯即享券來支付,新戶最高 9%現金回饋;最後是玉山Unicard,也可綁定LINE Pay支付在「LINE禮物」上購買大全聯即享券,最高7.5%玉山e point回饋,其實都是「轉個彎」就吃得到回饋啦! ➤推薦1:#JCB悠遊卡目動加值-最高10%回饋,需月月登錄 ➤推薦2:#永豐DAWHO現金回饋卡自動加值-新戶10%/舊戶5% ➤推薦3:#永豐現金回饋Green卡自動加值 -4% ➤推薦4:#遠東快樂世界商務卡自動加值 - 5% ➤推薦5:#台銀綠行卡一卡通自動加值- 5% ➤推薦6:#星展傳說對決聯名卡-不分新舊戶LINEPay 10% ➤推薦7:#富邦J卡-新戶LINE Pay10% ➤推薦8:#聯邦LINEBank卡-網購新卡首辦9%/舊卡4%回饋 ➤推薦9:#永豐現金回饋Green卡-綠色通路5% ➤推薦10:#玉山Unicard卡-新戶7.5% / 舊戶4.5% LINE Pay ➤推薦11:#永豐現金回饋JCB卡-網購4%回饋 ➤推薦12:#樂天Panda J卡-3%現金回饋 ➤推薦13:#國泰世華CUBE卡-「來支付」LINE Pay2%回饋 ➤推薦14:#永豐DAWHO現金回饋卡-2%現金回饋 ➤推薦15:#HSBC旅人卡-哩程回饋王者18元/哩無上限 相關的15種支付攻略,可參考下文的排行,還有本集節目,我都一一解說給你聽! ➤來寶可孟YouTube頻道上收聽節目:https://pokem.me/PokemYTPodcast ➤每月45元支持寶可孟創作更多優質影片|https://pokem.me/JoinPokemYT -- ➤15種支付方式賺回饋攻略:https://pokem.me/3JbSily -- 加入會員,支持節目: https://pokemcard.firstory.io/join 留言告訴我你對這一集的想法: https://open.firstory.me/user/ckdpsqfmxifcf0862q6efk1qa/comments Powered by Firstory Hosting
The journey to building a million-dollar company is often seen as a mix of a great idea, smart people, and a bit of luck. Anand Jain, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of CleverTap, joins Jonathan Yip, Head of Innovation Banking, Asia, HSBC to offer a deeper insight. Their discussion delves into the complexities of entrepreneurship, the pivotal moments in CleverTap's journey, and the broader implications for startups in the region.This episode was recorded in Mumbai during the launch of HSBC Innovation Banking in India on October 7, 2025.Disclaimer: Views of external guest speakers do not represent those of HSBC.
בפרק היומי של "מפת החום – מהדורת אחד ביום", אני עושה סדר בכל מה שקרה ב־24 השעות האחרונות בעולם הכלכלה – מהשוק המקומי ועד הגלובלי.נושאים :1. הדוח של HSBC והמשמעות על השווקים הפיננסים2. סיום הQT3. טיפים להתנהלות פיננסית - קצה המזלג.נתונים מאקרו־כלכליים, דיווחים חשובים, כותרות שזעזעו את השוק, דוחות כספיים של חברות, צעדים רגולטוריים, שינויים במדיניות ותחזיות מפתיעות – כל מה שצריך כדי להבין את התמונה המלאה.זהו פודקאסט קצר, חד ותמציתי – בלי רעש מיותר, רק תובנות פרקטיות וסקירה מקצועית של היום שהיה.הפרק מתעדכן מדי בוקר – ומעניק לכם יתרון אמיתי על שאר המשקיעים.לפתיחת חשבון מסחר במיטב:https://landing.meitav.co.il/he-IL/landing/trade/tradeleads?utm_source=%D7%92%D7%99%D7%90+%D7%A0%D7%AA%D7%9F&utm_medium=%D7%92%D7%99%D7%90+%D7%A0%D7%AA%D7%9Fלאינסטגרם שלי:https://www.instagram.com/guynatan9/לאתר שלי:https://www.guynatan.com/
Stocks, crypto fall to start December as the risk-off trade continues. HSBC's Max Kettner breaks down the market action. T. Rowe Price's Tony Wang talks top tech stocks on the three-year anniversary of the AI bull market. Black Friday winners and losers with Goldman Sachs' Kate McShane. New MongoDB CEO CJ Desai on the company's latest quarter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
AI lab Anthropic, digital bank Revolut, Chinese social network Xiaohongshu and supply chain specialist Zetwerk count among Baillie Gifford's most recent private growth company investments. These bold pioneers are part of an expanding asset class, representing some of the world's fastest growing and most disruptive businesses. Investment manager Robert Natzler tells host Leo Kelion how and why we backed them on behalf of our clients. Background: Robert Natzler is an investment manager on our Private Companies Team and deputy manager of The Schiehallion Fund. In this conversation, recorded as part of our annual Disruption Week briefings, he brings you up to date on his team's recent activity, bringing our tally of private company investments to more than 160, with a total value of over $10bn. Companies discussed include: Mottu – the motorcycle rental and service provider, serving gig workers and others in Latin America. Revolut – the digital bank that has surpassed HSBC and other traditional lenders in terms of its customer count. Anthropic – the frontier AI lab behind the chatbot and coding champion Claude. Xiaohongshu – the Chinese social network, also known as RedNote, with a strong and growing following, especially among young women. Zetwerk – the outsourcing specialist giving western brands and manufacturers the ability to broaden their supply chains beyond China. Resources:About Robert Natzler Disruption Week From code to culture: private companies shaping the world Private Companies Team Private growth: looking over the overlooked Short Briefings on Long Term Thinking hub Why we are backing Anthropic Companies mentioned include: Anthropic ByteDance Mottu Revolut Xiaohongshu (RedNote) Zetwerk Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction – Mottu CEO Rubens Zanelatto's masterstroke 02:20 Investing in ‘real' companies with ambitious leaders 05:20 Helping growth-stage companies prepare to go public 08:35 Exceptional companies in California and beyond 09:55 Mottu: providing motorcycles and maintenance to an underserved segment 13:10 Revolut: pursuing a different playbook to traditional banks 16:35 Gaining conviction in AI lab Anthropic 23:40 Dario Amodei's appeal to other AI talent 24:30 Xiaohongshu (RedNote)'s popularity among women in China's wealthiest cities 26:25 Zetwerk: expanding access to factories around the world 28:37 How Baillie Gifford clients can access private companies 29:35 Taking a global perspective on private companies
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Black Friday secrets 2) Google may sell its TPUs to Meta and financial institutions 3) Nvidia sends an antsy tweet 4) How does Google's TPU stack up next to NVIDIA's GPUs 5) Could Google package the TPU with cloud services? 6) NVIDIA responds to the criticism 7) HSBC on how much OpenAI needs to earn to cover its investments 8) Thinking about OpenAI's advertising business 9) ChatGPT users lose touch with reality 10) Ilya Sustkever's mysterious product and revenue plans 11) X reveals our locations --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here's 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of FP&A Unlocked, host Paul Barnhurst sits down with Rishi Sapra to explore how finance professionals can leverage business intelligence tools like Power BI to drive better decision-making. Rishi discusses how the role of FP&A is evolving with technology, and why it's essential for finance teams to not only consume data but to create and model it in ways that deliver actionable insights.Rishi Sapra is a Group Manager at Avanade, a global technology consulting firm, and a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP). With over 20 years of experience in major firms such as Deloitte, KPMG, HSBC, and Accenture, Rishi combines his financial expertise with cutting-edge data and AI solutions. Rishi is also the founder of Power Platform Finance, where he runs an accelerator program to teach finance professionals how to use tools like Power BI, Power Query, and semantic modeling to transform business data into actionable insights.Expect to Learn:Why learning Power Query is a must-have skill for every finance professionalThe mindset shift from being a consumer of data to becoming a creator of data solutionsHow to build simple, effective data models and dashboards using Power BITips for applying semantic models and data storytelling in financial reportingHow AI and business intelligence tools are changing the role of FP&A professionalsHere are a few quotes from the episode:“As a finance professional, you need to understand not just the data, but how to create the solutions that bring out insights from it.” – Rishi Sapra“It's less about learning every tool, and more about understanding the fundamentals that remain the same, regardless of the software.” – Rishi SapraRishi Sapra highlights the importance of shifting from being a consumer to a creator of data solutions within finance teams. By mastering tools like Power BI and embracing a mindset of data storytelling, finance professionals can unlock actionable insights and drive meaningful change. Rishi's advice empowers finance teams to not just adapt to technology, but to lead the way in transforming business intelligence.Campfire: AI-First ERP:Campfire is the AI-first ERP that powers next-gen finance and accounting teams. With integrated solutions for the general ledger, revenue automation, close management, and more, all in one unified platform.Explore Campfire today: https://campfire.ai/?utm_source=fpaguy_podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=100225_fpaguyFollow Rishi:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsaprano/Website - www.rishisapra.comCompany 1 - www.msfabrictraining.comCompany 2 - www.learndatainsights.comCompany 3 - www.powerplatformfinance.comEarn Your CPE Credit For CPE credit, please go to earmarkcpe.com, listen to the episode, download the app, answer a few questions, and earn your CPE certification. To earn education credits for the FP&A Certificate, take the quiz on Earmark and contact Paul Barnhurst for further...
En el episodio de hoy de VG Daily, Andre Dos Santos y Eugenio Garibay abren la conversación con una mirada profunda al reporte de HSBC que estima que OpenAI necesitaría levantar más de 207 mil millones de dólares para sostener el ritmo actual de inversión en infraestructura y cómputo detrás de ChatGPT. Luego, el episodio se adentra en el nuevo estudio del MIT, que calcula que la fuerza laboral estadounidense podría ser reemplazada técnicamente por IA con las capacidades ya disponibles hoy. Eugenio y Andre discuten qué significa esto.Finalmente, cierran con el caso de Meta y Blue Owl, donde la compañía de Mark Zuckerberg estructura un financiamiento para data centers de inteligencia artificial que, gracias a ingeniería financiera, apenas toca su hoja de balance. Un ejemplo perfecto para ilustrar cómo las grandes tecnológicas están reinventando no solo la IA, sino también la forma de financiarla.
TMI's Tom Alford sits down live with Gavin Maclean (HSBC) to discuss how recent changes in instant payments regulation are likely to affect corporate treasurers. Gavin explores the practical impact of Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) on treasurers, from transaction limits and fraud prevention to handling 24/7 payment volumes. He also discusses key findings from HSBC's 2025 Treasury Pulse Survey, including automation, AI, account rationalisation, cash pooling, and strategic bank management, highlighting how technology and digitisation are driving efficiency and insight.
This episode is sponsored by Fidelity Investments and the all-new Fidelity Trader+ platform. Try Fidelity's most powerful trading experience yet: https://www.fidelity.com/trading/trading-platforms?immid=100734&imm_pid=430504639&imm_aid=a&dfid=&buf=99999999 Views, opinions, products, services, and strategies discussed are not endorsed or promoted by Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC Dan Nathan and Guy Adami welcome Danny Moses to discuss various market trends and investment strategies. The discussion spans topics such as AI's impact on the market, the performance of key sectors like healthcare, energy, and technology, and the challenges posed by economic indicators and geopolitical factors. They delve into the volatility and potential reshuffling within 'The Magnificent Seven' tech stocks and the implications for the broader market. The episode also highlights the private credit market's sketchy valuations, the Federal Reserve's position on potential rate cuts, and the dynamics within the cryptocurrencies market, including Bitcoin and its associated treasury companies. Finally, they touch on their favorite NFL picks for the week's slate. Show Notes On The Tape Feed (Apple | YouTube) WAWD (Substack) Comparing The Top AI Chips: Nvidia GPUs, Google TPUs, AWS Trainium (YouTube) Google Further Encroaches on Nvidia's Turf With New AI Chip Push (The Information) OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates (FT) Private Credit's Sketchy Marks Get Warning Shot From Wall Street's Top Cop (Bloomberg) —FOLLOW USYouTube: @RiskReversalMediaInstagram: @riskreversalmediaTwitter: @RiskReversalLinkedIn: RiskReversal Media
On the last trading day before Thanksgiving, the AI trade once again takes center stage. Carl Quintanilla, David Faber and Sara Eisen explored Alphabet nearing a $4 trillion valuation versus Nvidia's rough November. The anchors reacted to a note from HSBC — it says OpenAI might need to raise at least $207 billion in financing by 2030.Dell shares rose after its upbeat guidance overshadowed a revenue miss. Also in focus: Airlines and the Thanksgiving travel rush, Deere falls despite an earnings beat, the healthcare sector rally, bitcoin slump effect, Campbell's controversy, how AI is transforming the holiday season, Santa visits the NYSE ahead of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Stu Bradley, CFA, CFP — Wealth Advisor at Hightower St. Louis — joins Scarce Assets to explore how bitcoin fits into modern portfolio design, the illusion of market “cycles,” and why peace of mind matters more than price charts.With decades of experience across HSBC, UBS, Vision Capital, and now Hightower, Stu brings a global investor's perspective on inflation, fiscal dominance, and the future of wealth management in a K-shaped economy.This episode cuts through the hype to reveal how advisors are quietly rethinking sound money, digital assets, and intergenerational planning — all while clients question the meaning of risk, time, and value in a rapidly changing financial system.Stu Bradley on LinkedIn // Hightower Wealth Advisors // Stu's Presentation, Understanding Bitcoin // Connect with Onramp // Onramp Institutional // Jackson Mikalic on XWHAT WE COVER:- From HSBC and UBS to Hightower: a career across global markets- How a $20 smoothie became the “wake-up call” on inflation- Why Bitcoin represents optionality, not speculation- Fiscal dominance, QT's end, and the K-shaped economy- The psychological side of wealth: why “peace of mind” beats alpha- How advisors are integrating BTC exposure through ETFs & custodial platforms- The coming wealth transfer and how next-gen clients will reshape the advisory modelKEY INSIGHTS DISCUSSED:- Expectations = suffering — and 2025 proved it- Bitcoin is entering its “IPO moment” as long-term holders distribute- Fiscal dominance and policy inertia make inflation a structural feature, not a bug- The top 10 mega-cap stocks now represent 75% of U.S. GDP — a concentration risk hiding in plain sight- Owning a small allocation of the most tamper-resistant asset in history may be the best form of risk management- The future of advice: meeting clients where they are, not where the market says they should beSTU'S THESIS: “Bitcoin isn't about getting rich — it's about staying solvent. When money itself is changing, optionality becomes the ultimate form of wealth.”WHO IS STU BRADLEY?- Wealth Advisor — Hightower St. Louis (managing $1.6B for 400+ families)- Former Institutional Investor — HSBC, UBS, Vision Capital Advisors- CFA & CFP Charterholder — Bridging traditional finance with digital assets- Career Coach & Educator — Founder, J. Stuart Bradley Consulting- Advocate for sound money, long-term stewardship, and client-first financial planningCHAPTERS:00:00 - Intro & Stu's Background03:00 - From Wall Street to Hightower06:00 - The $20 Smoothie & the Inflation Epiphany10:30 - Bitcoin as Stewardship, Not Speculation15:00 - Longevity Risk & Portfolio Construction21:00 - Peace of Mind Over Price Action27:00 - How Advisors Discuss Bitcoin with Clients33:00 - 2025: No Blow-Off Top, No Problem38:00 - Fiscal Dominance & QT's End44:00 - The K-Shaped Economy Explained50:00 - Inflation, Inequality, and the Role of Scarce Assets56:00 - The Great Wealth Transfer01:00:00 - Preparing for the Future of Advice01:03:00 - Outro & ResourcesScarce Assets: a biweekly podcast presented by Onramp which delves into the emergent role of bitcoin in finance professionals' strategies and outlooks. Hosted by Jackson Mikalic, Scarce Assets provides invaluable insights for wealth managers aiming to outperform their peers in the decades ahead. Finance professionals everywhere know about stocks and bonds, but the macroeconomic outlook requires that serious investors pay close attention to another category: Scarce Assets.Please subscribe to Onramp Media channels and sign up for weekly Research & Analysis to get access to the best content in the ecosystem weekly.
In this episode of The Product Experience, host Randy Silver sits down with product veteran John Cutler to explore why creating great products remains one of the hardest things organisations do. They dive into why so many companies adopt off‑the‑shelf models (“Spotify”, “SAFe”, etc) and still struggle, and how the secret often lies not in what you build but how you build it—specifically the game you design for how you work.Chapters00:00 — The stigma around “how you work”00:54 — Introducing John Cutler (again)01:25 — What John's building at Dotwork02:46 — From fun to formal: doing discovery at scale04:04 — Why process became a bad word05:10 — The “cavalier PM” mindset06:28 — Empowered teams vs. harsh realities08:00 — What great pockets of practice have in common09:03 — Managing up vs. doing the right thing10:24 — Playing the game vs. designing the game11:20 — What makes a great internal game12:33 — Defining success: thriving, surviving, progressing13:46 — Environmental design: why leaders hesitate15:10 — Making intentional design less intimidating16:42 — Tools, rituals, and the power of checkpoints18:23 — The behaviour design playbook20:41 — Removing blockers: access, repetition, reflectionWe're taking Community Questions for The Product Experience podcast.Got a burning product question for Lily, Randy, or an upcoming guest? Submit it here. Our HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She's currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She's worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath. Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury's. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group's Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He's the author of What Do We Do Now? A...
Dan Nathan and Guy Adami welcome Danny Moses to discuss various market trends and investment strategies. The discussion spans topics such as AI's impact on the market, the performance of key sectors like healthcare, energy, and technology, and the challenges posed by economic indicators and geopolitical factors. They delve into the volatility and potential reshuffling within 'The Magnificent Seven' tech stocks and the implications for the broader market. The episode also highlights the private credit market's sketchy valuations, the Federal Reserve's position on potential rate cuts, and the dynamics within the cryptocurrencies market, including Bitcoin and its associated treasury companies. Finally, they touch on their favorite NFL picks for the week's slate.Show NotesOn The Tape Feed (Apple | YouTube)WAWD (Substack)Comparing The Top AI Chips: Nvidia GPUs, Google TPUs, AWS Trainium (YouTube)Google Further Encroaches on Nvidia's Turf With New AI Chip Push (The Information)OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates (FT)Private Credit's Sketchy Marks Get Warning Shot From Wall Street's Top Cop (Bloomberg)--ABOUT THE SHOWFor decades, Danny has seen it all on Wall Street and has built his reputation on integrity, curiosity and skepticism that he will bring with him each week. Having traded through the Great Financial Crisis and being featured in "The Big Short" is only part of the experiences Danny wants to share with the listener. This weekly podcast cuts through market noise, offering entertaining and informative discussions with expert guests giving their views of the financial world and the human side of it. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just getting started, On The Tape provides something for all listeners.Follow Danny on X: @dmoses34The financial opinions expressed are for information purposes only. The opinions expressed by the hosts and participants are not an attempt to influence specific trading behavior, investments, or strategies. Past performance does not necessarily predict future outcomes. No specific results or profits are assured when relying on this content.Before making any investment or trade, evaluate its suitability for your circumstances and consider consulting your own financial or investment advisor. The financial products discussed in 'On The Tape' carry a high level of risk and may not be appropriate for many investors. If you have uncertainties, it's advisable to seek professional advice. Remember that trading involves a risk to your capital, so only invest money that you can afford to lose. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
MRKT Matrix - Tuesday, November 25th Dow rallies nearly 700 points on increased hope for a December rate cut (CNBC) Consumer confidence hits lowest point since April as job worries grow (CNBC) Market Volatility Underscores Epic Buildup of Global Risk (NYTimes) Nvidia says its GPUs are a ‘generation ahead' of Google's AI chips (CNBC) Google, the Sleeping Giant in Global AI Race, Now ‘Fully Awake' (Bloomberg) OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates (FT) Oracle-Linked Borrowing Binge Worries Lenders (The Information) Private Credit's Sketchy Marks Get Warning Shot From Wall Street's Top Cop (Bloomberg) --- Subscribe to our newsletter: https://riskreversalmedia.beehiiv.com/subscribe MRKT Matrix by RiskReversal Media is a daily AI powered podcast bringing you the top stories moving financial markets Story curation by RiskReversal, scripts by Perplexity Pro, voice by ElevenLabs
En el episodio de hoy Eugenio Garibay y Juan Manuel de Los Reyes discuten la volatilidad del mercado el día de ayer tras los comentarios de Mary Daly, presidenta de la Reserva Federal de San Francisco, que se inclinaban por bajar tasas de interés e impulsaron el mercado al alza. También, analizan los datos del empleo por ADP que salieron por la mañana y comparten su perspectiva del mercado laboral y la influencia que tiene en la decisión de la Fed. Por otro lado, mencionan los pronósticos para el S&P 500 al cierre del 2026 por parte de algunos de los bancos más importantes en EE.UU. y Europa. Morgan Stanley y Wells Fargo estiman que el índice cierre en un nivel de 7,800, mientras que HSBC estima 7,500 y Deutsche Bank en 8,000. Eugenio y Juan Manuel discuten el rol de la IA en el mercado y el índice, y lo que ellos piensan de estos pronósticos.
Christine Lowthian, Head of Regulatory Compliance at HSBC, on her career journey, the importance of seizing opportunities and building a supportive network. She highlights her experience leading global teams, particularly in commercial banking and the U.S., and the challenges of managing multicultural teams. Lowthian stresses the role of technology, particularly AI, in enhancing compliance efficiency but noted the need for clean data. She advises aspiring leaders to embrace opportunities, maintain open communication with boards and regulators, and focus on strategic thinking and continuous improvement. SHOW NOTES 02:12 Career Journey 05:46 Leading Global Teams 08:50 Managing Multicultural Teams 16:27 Skills for the Compliance Officer of the Future 17:57 Engaging with Boards and Regulators 26:29 Handling Challenging Personalities 29:05 Advice for Women Starting Out Transcript and more GRC content: https://www.riskywomen.org/2025/11/podcast-s813-leading-global-teams-managing-with-impact-christine-lowthian/
Crypto News: Bitwise XRP ETF launching tomorrow and Grayscale and Franklin Templeton's XRP ETF expected to launch Monday. BlackRock is planning to file for a Staked Ethereum ETF. Crypto exchange Kraken submits confidential US IPO filing.Brought to you by
The cryptocurrency market is struggling as bitcoin has lost all its gains from this year, and HSBC leaders cannot agree on the bank's next chair of the board. Plus, the US House of Representatives votes on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files today, and the Financial Times' Alison Killing explains why an estimated multitrillion-dollar infrastructure project in Saudi Arabia may take decades to get done. Mentioned in this podcast:Crypto market sheds $1.1tn as traders shun speculative assetsHSBC board at odds over candidates to succeed Mark Tucker as chairDonald Trump backs vote to release Jeffrey Epstein filesEnd of The Line: how Saudi Arabia's Neom dream unravelledToday's FT News Briefing was produced by Victoria Craig, Fiona Symon, Persis Love, and Marc Filippino. Our show was mixed by Kent Militzer. Additional help from Gavin Kallmann, Michael Lello and David da Silva. The FT's acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show's theme music is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.