#377 A Fireside Chat with Ramesh Subramanian on AI, Transformation, and the Modern CFO

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Mehmet: Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO show with Mehmet. Today I'm very pleased joining me Ramesh Subramanian. Ramesh, the way I love to introduce my guests is I keep it to them but you are a special guest to me because you are a transformation leader and a [00:01:00] CFO. I think very much of my audience would recognize you also as well but as I said I prefer my guests to introduce themselves so the floor is yours.

Ramesh: Hi Mehmet, so it's a pleasure talking to you. I know that, uh, This discussion for a fireside chat has been going on for a while. My apologies. I couldn't find the time before. Um, yes. So, you wanted me to introduce myself. So, I'm Ramesh Subramanian. I've been in this region for a long while. Um, I have worked in global multinationals like FedEx, Ericsson, Inchcape, ENY, but also, In government entities like BIC and Rakez

Ramesh: so what I'm very pleased is that, you know, having been in the region, I'm able to bring the best practices from all the global multinationals and then help. Uh, in organizations like the government entities. So you get the satisfaction of putting, uh, to use all the best practices that global [00:02:00] multilateral teaches you, right?

Ramesh: So, um, yeah, that's been my career. But, um, I have, I'm also in a few advisory boards and, uh, boards of companies here, uh, which gives me, uh, the chance to contribute back again. Uh, and yes, uh, Mehmet and I, we both have met each other in many of the conferences, so I'm very happy we are meeting now, uh, and, and thanks for all your, uh, questions.

Ramesh: They are very diverse questions. You, so, yeah, I might have to even refer to my notes because you're taking me In different areas, but looking forward.

Mehmet: Sure, sure. And again, Ramesh, this is an honor and pleasure for me to have an executive like yourself with this deep experience on the show. I'm sure like a lot of people will benefit out of it.

Mehmet: So, you know, I want to start, you know, from something you just touched base on, which is your experience, actually. So you seem to have a [00:03:00] tremendous experience in driving digital and business transformation end to end in different places in world leading MNCs, actually multinational companies as well as in government entities.

Mehmet: This is what you said in your introductions within the GCC region. So give me your views on why this transformation usually fail. We know that sometimes not everything goes as planned and what are like the formulas for success while developing a digital transformation roadmap for an organization?

Ramesh: Oh, excellent question.

Ramesh: Um. Do you know that 70 percent of, uh, AI use cases fail? So I'll start off with this very important statistics. And we know the reason that this is still an emerging and growing, uh, uh, technology. So it's going to happen. Um, but I think, uh, Since we use the word failure, let's start off with the formula.

Ramesh: What I have learned having worked in [00:04:00] global multinationals like FedEx, Ericsson, where they do it across 200 different countries and they do it all simultaneously. Uh, I have noticed that the transformation succeeds only if the sum total of all its vision, It's culture. It's steps. It's initiatives. All of them are more than the resistance to change.

Ramesh: Because remember, every time we talk about a digital transformation or the broader business transformation, there is a lot of pushback, because especially in legacy companies, a large organization, people have got used to certain ways of working. So the mistake I've noticed is that the reason why Things slip through the crackers.

Ramesh: The resistance to change is not properly assessed, and organizations rush into transformation without addressing that [00:05:00] critical part. If the resistance to change is very high, it's not going to happen. So I think the biggest learning I have is when you do a digital transformation. for it to be successful.

Ramesh: It's not just enough to start with the new transformed business model or strategies that you need to sell in the market. That's what everybody does. He goes to a McKinsey or a Bain or a Boston and comes up with these. What? What is the new strategy? What is the new business model? But they forget that even more important is to prepare the people, the employees.

Ramesh: Um, Ensure that their mindset, the culture is addressed. They understand why we are doing the transformation and they are fully empowered. So getting the buy in of the team, making sure it is done cross functionally, it's very, very important. So the culture transformation has to happen in parallel along with that is [00:06:00] capability transformation.

Ramesh: Because that's where the digital transformation comes in. You have very fancy ideas that you want to change the business model, go digital, but you really haven't looked inward and seen how good is your digital foundation. How strong are you to, uh, service the, uh, new needs of the customer, the emerging trends.

Ramesh: So, I think the first lesson I would say, or formula for avoiding, uh, failure is ensure that your digital transformation addresses all the three pillars simultaneously. In parallel, one transformation of the strategies and business model, transformation of people, culture and mindset and transformation of capabilities and technology.

Ramesh: If you don't do all three together or simultaneously using a very good change management program. It's not going to give the results you're looking for. It won't be [00:07:00] sustainable. It'll have a lot of errors and pitfalls. Um, and the second thing I would say is a lot of organization, especially the not so mature organization, their approach, digital transformation as let's call the I.

Ramesh: T. Director of CTO and tell them, I want to be digitally transformed. That's not gonna happen. It has to be topped around, top down. It should be driven by the board, uh, the csuite, uh, and all the leaders. Um, the CTO or the technology team should be only an enabler. That's where another mistake happens. They just push it on the, uh, IT department and they that, and instead of being an enabler, they are forced to become the thinkers that that doesn't really help.

Ramesh: Um. And the third point is tracking progress. It is important. Once you have a digital transformation road map in place, um, you [00:08:00] should make sure that they are convert their trans that they're translated into measurable metrics KP eyes and, um, Everything should be tracked to ensure accountability.

Ramesh: Otherwise, whatever you envision will not happen. Um, so this is what I would say as the formula for success. Uh, and then you asked me, what is the kind of road map one should look for? Right? So the most important point I would like to bring based on my experiences. It's important to have an outside in view when you start your, uh, Journey, especially when you're drafting the digital transformation roadmap, don't the first instinct is to do an inside out view of you or you say, Listen, I have all these E.

Ramesh: R. P. S. And these technologies. Let's do an incremental improvement. No, it should start with the market. What does the customer want? What are the changing trends? And then you should [00:09:00] customize what is it that you want to transform for the requirements of the changing market. Uh, if I'm rushing, please, uh, interrupt.

Ramesh: Uh, Yeah, absolutely. And we spoke about the I. T. Team. Once again, I underlined the importance of making sure that digital transformation should be driven by the business teams, the sales people, the people who engage with the customer who deal with the market. Uh, they should have ownership. Uh, the I. T. S should be.

Ramesh: Only a facilitator. And when you have that approach, it's going to succeed. And, uh, yes, it should have a very strong, every digital transformation should start off with building a very strong digital foundation. So, um, having data silos, unclean data, quality issues of data, unconnected data. unintegrated databases or data sets.

Ramesh: Um, they're not going to [00:10:00] help. You should try and have a converged architecture and data should all be integrated and connected. I think this is very important foundation. If you have that, then you can look at building on that with AI and machine learning and internet of things and various other new technologies that are coming now.

Ramesh: But if you have a not connected or a very, um, siloed data in your organization, it's not going to work. Um, then comes, uh, there is also another, uh, lesson that I have learned when an organization, um, embarks on digital transformation, they forget or fail to separate out the business as usual, um, initiatives from strategic transformational Digital initiatives.

Ramesh: Now, what, what are the two different things? So [00:11:00] if just because you put your Services online, or you have invested on technologies, ERP, you have a mobile app, doesn't mean you're digitally transformed. The essence of the criteria is, you should be able to ask this question, does all the data in the organization come together seamlessly at the time when you engage with the customer to, in order to give a very personalized service.

Ramesh: And, uh, comprehensive response to the customer. If that happens, then it's digitally transformed. That means all your systems and informations and data are aligning and converging. If they are not, then that's not a, a good thing. Digitally transformed initiative. So use this criteria when you look at the initiative.

Ramesh: For example, Somebody wants to automate a back office function that will bring some efficiency fine But you need to ask is this a [00:12:00] digital transformation initiative or is it improving efficiency? reducing manpower, uh cost reduction because if you get If you don't differentiate, you're not, you will miss the big critical projects, the customer facing projects, the ones that give you the competitive edge in the market.

Ramesh: You're doing a digital transformation in order to be able to service your customer best, right? Give them the value. So this ability to segregate business as usual initiatives from true business transformation initiatives are important.

Mehmet: Ramesh, you know, like you covered a lot, I think here, which you know, I think This is like a masterclass, I would say.

Mehmet: If you have any questions, I'm happy to discuss. Yeah, no, just like just a couple of two cents from my side, I would say, before we move forward. You know, like, if you allow me to summarize, because what you mentioned is something, uh, Really [00:13:00] important. So organizations, they need to have what I like to call end in mind.

Mehmet: So why actually they are embarking on this journey. The second you mentioned, and you highlighted a lot, and thank you for doing this, which is, you know, getting everyone, you know, in the organization, the buy in for that, which is basically the communication for that. Uh, so this is, I think also another point you, you, you highlighted very well.

Mehmet: And the last point, which I like, which you mentioned at the end. Are we ready actually to embark on such journey? Do we have the base, you know, like it's, I always tell people like it's, you know, going and, uh, putting a full building on, on a, uh, bad soil, right? So you cannot just put that there. It's going to fall down.

Mehmet: So, so, so really I, I appreciate, you know, all these, uh, once Ramesh. Yeah.

Ramesh: I would like to add one more point, which again, I'm sharing my experience, uh, having made a lot of mistakes and learn from them. [00:14:00] Uh, Even today, when you look at a big, large organization, which wants to go into a digital transformation, it's very important that they approach it the right way, which is, uh, yes, you can go to a digital transformation consultant and take inputs.

Ramesh: But most importantly, the. Leaders, the CXOs have to really understand what is AI, what is machine learning, what is internet of thing, how it's going to really improve our value to the customer if they are. And to be very honest, not everybody at the C level are very digitally savvy and it's not their fault.

Ramesh: It's just that this technology has moved, come into the world very, very rapidly. Now, the most important. thing is board and the stakeholders should ensure that the CXOs, the leaders, are fully trained, understand the [00:15:00] full value of digital transformation, understand what is AI, what is machine learning, what is Gen AI, AGI.

Ramesh: These are fast changing concepts. So, and they should ensure that No C level is embarrassed to say, listen, I need a course. I need help because if the C level doesn't understand it, he's not going to percolate it down well, and it's going to create chaos because of the insecurity. So what I always suggest to the board is make sure there's good foundation laid in making sure that the C levels, the leaders are trained and they own the project only when they are fully trained and they understand how Uh, the technologies are going to translate into value to the customer or improve your speed and improve your cost effectiveness only then will it succeed.

Ramesh: So that's something that nobody talks about it, but it's very important. [00:16:00]

Mehmet: Absolutely. It's very important. So if you allow me, Ramesh to move to the to the next question now. Uh, so you mentioned AI a lot and you know, I'm very keen to know from your perspective, what is your view on, of course, it's a rapid change, like, you know, even for someone like myself who work in this domain for a long time, the changes that have happened recently are very, very fast, right?

Mehmet: So. AI, Gen AI, AGI. So have you seen any, some, you know, AI use cases that you feel have delivered successful results? And what are like some of the emerging areas in your opinion?

Ramesh: Great. So I'm, I, because, uh, you're touched on an area, which is my passion. Uh, I have my notes. I'm going to make sure that I'm going to refer to the notes to make sure I don't miss out on.

Ramesh: Sure. Important. So yeah. Uh, your question is. Where have I seen AI being successful? Because the way I look at it, [00:17:00] as somebody who's an expert on digital transformation from a user perspective, from a organizational effectiveness perspective, um, I want to share where I have personally seen AI working and adding value.

Ramesh: So, uh, I don't want to get into theory, need to be practical use cases, which I hope. personally rolled out and I'm experiencing the benefit. So, um, I'll start off with customer service chatbots, uh, personalized marketing, um, predictive maintenance and manufacturing in manufacturing industry, fraud detection in finance, contract review and revenue recognition in finance.

Ramesh: Healthcare diagnostics, uh, even universities, now they're setting papers using AI and correcting papers. So these are some of the examples I'm going to touch on. But I'll start out with the first one, which is very, very important. [00:18:00] Sure. Customer service chat bots. or eliminating old traditional customer service methods.

Ramesh: This is very, very important that relays heavily on human agents leading to long waiting times, high operational cost, inconsistent service quality. Uh, since they use, uh, NLP, which is natural language processing to understand and respond to customer queries real time, this is a massive area and it's happening everywhere.

Ramesh: So I'm starting with the most common use case. Personalized marketing, that's been going on for a while now. So AI algorithms analyze vast amount of customer data to understand the behavior, preferences, and purchase history. This enables the creation of highly personalized marketing campaigns that target individual customers with tailored messages and offers.

Ramesh: This results in increased customer engagement, higher conversion rate, improved customer [00:19:00] loyalty, reduction of churn. So this is a very, very, very important area where most of the organizations are doing, doing it, especially in the service industry. Predictive maintenance and in manufacturing, again, uh, it uses AI to analyze data from the sensors on the equipments to predict when the failure is likely to occur.

Ramesh: So this brings in. The capability to do things in just in time, prevent unexpected breakdowns, optimize maintenance schedules. So again, speed, real time reaction, uh, cost savings, massive, uh, contract reviews. Again, you know, organizations have really matured, uh, in, in this area where all their customer contracts are reviewed and revenue recognition.

Ramesh: Once you, Build the algorithm to understand how revenue should be recognized. It does it automatically. And this is, this is a very important, uh, [00:20:00] efficiency that has come in, in organization, global organizations where there are so many contracts, so many customers, uh, it's a manually, it has taken a lot of, a lot of time.

Ramesh: Uh, fraud detection is another area. Um, It can, uh, AI and machine learning models can analyze transaction data in real time to detect unusual patterns and behaviors indicating a fraud. This is huge. And then I touched upon healthcare diagnostics, uh, Diagnosing disease quickly can be challenging due to the vast amount of medical data and need for specialized knowledge.

Ramesh: AI systems, particularly those using deep learning, can analyze medical images, uh, genetic data, electrical health records to us to assist in diagnosing the disease faster. So I'm just reading some of the notes I have, uh, so that, you know, I give you a very diverse range of areas [00:21:00] where AI has really started giving value.

Ramesh: And the most interesting thing is, uh, in the education field, the universities are setting question paper using AI and answers are, and the results are published real time. Now, is it bad or good? Uh, I think it is good. up to a certain level, uh, where you have the basics areas where multiple choice question kind of exams, it's a wastage of time to have the same questions put in manual forms and corrected manually.

Ramesh: The, the AI really helps you. But, um, of course, when it comes to higher education, uh, research, uh, AI obviously is yet to get there, but, but to me, AI is going to only improve. efficiency, remove a stage big time, and it's biggest value would be the real time, uh, impact that it brings to everything, all decision making.

Mehmet: Uh, [00:22:00] Ramesh, like, uh, the, the use cases that you mentioned are really, and, and thank you for, you know, taking, uh, the, I would say the non chat GPT use cases, because honestly, you just summarized to us that AI is not just the chatbot. Of course you mentioned about like customer support. That's fine. But I mean, the other, the, use cases you gave, there are real examples of what the real AI and machine learning is.

Mehmet: So allowing us, and I know like for someone who has been a CFO, like from financial perspective, any organization would worry about, okay, how I can shrink the time to production, how I can increase my revenue, how I can Save on the cost of manufacturing and so on and you know, all the use cases you you mentioned our music to the ears of of the cfo and actually the whole board because You know, you are doing more with less and to your [00:23:00] point ramesh.

Mehmet: I agree with you 100 percent The ai is to allow us Whether whatever the size of our company is to do more with less, right? It's all about optimization It's all about you know, how we can get things fast I like when you mentioned about the real time and I was lucky enough also to talk to other founders actually In this space who are leveraging the ai especially in education technology in ed tech and hr tech and you know Like it's fascinating what we can do and i'm very excited about the future So I think we can move to the next question Ramesh, right?

Mehmet: Cool. So now this is something which is, I would say, like touch on actually the main role that you have done, which is a CFO, a very successful, very strategic and versatile CFO in your mind. And because we are talking about technology and the future. So what are the expectations from a modern CFO. Like what do boards [00:24:00] and stakeholders look for in a CFO of the future?

Ramesh: I'll start off with, um, CFO is the storyteller, right? Of the business. He tells the story behind the number. He's the chief storyteller of the business performance to stakeholders and investors. Hence initiatives like end to end digital transformation, et cetera, is normally something that he's able to add a lot of value.

Ramesh: He's also the end to end value integrator of the organization. So this is something that I want to stress a little bit more. The value creation process. Uh, is something which, uh, people don't really focus on any organization, especially a service organization. What do you sell? You sell a value to the customer.

Ramesh: So the value, knowing the value creation process, challenging whether if [00:25:00] there is any unnecessary fluff, unnecessary spend is the job of the CFO today because he has that visibility. And most important, it's not only Being a value integrator, he also should have the ability to monetize the value. What is the point of doing so many things for the customer?

Ramesh: If you don't know how to monetize it, or you are unable to monetize it. So his job as the value integrator is critical because he is very much involved in the value creation. And also ensures that it's monetized. Um, he's the scorekeeper of the long term business plan is the strategic, or we call it as a strategic plan, right?

Ramesh: He's normally 12 to 24 months ahead and looking backwards so that he's able to answer investors, the board, the stakeholders, um, the risk registries with him. He, he takes care of the enterprise wide risk register. Uh, he's, uh, In that sense, I say he's [00:26:00] involved in future proofing the organization, uh, and it's a very important term, and I believe in that very deeply because in order to future proof, you should be leading the trends very well, you should be fully involved in the business operationally, uh, and from a strategic marketing customer point of view, as well as financial reporting and financial management.

Ramesh: Um, And then he also in the current context is the owner of the ESG, uh, which is again a massive topic. Um, sustainability is becoming a game changer and every, uh, investor decision, uh, ESG topic comes up. So he. Plays a key role in being the, uh, champion of ESG, I would say in a lot of organization. I'm not saying only he, he's qualified.

Ramesh: A lot of times the CEO takes on that role or the COO takes on the role. Um, so I'm, I'm just [00:27:00] giving you a flavor of what the modern day a CFO does.

Mehmet: So Ramesh, you know, like, I think also you, you know, correct me if I'm wrong. So the role of the CFO, uh, Like have shifted. Also, it went with its own transformation as well because off of a technology.

Mehmet: But what I would take from you, I like when you started that he's the storyteller of the business. So, you know, if I want to imagine it like If, if someone wants to take a picture of the current business status. So this is where the CFO would be able to say, Hey, this is, you know, how the business is doing now.

Mehmet: This is like, how much revenue we have. But I think to your point, like the role started to go outside only, you know, from numbers and keeping books to more strategic approach. Am I, am I correct?

Ramesh: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Right. So. Technology and digitization has freed the CFO to [00:28:00] really adding value, as you rightly said.

Mehmet: Right, right. Now you mentioned, uh, Ramesh ESG and I know like you have, you've been successful in embedding sustainability and ESG and everyone knows, you know, today, all organizations, the reason we talk about ESG because, you know, and sustainability because we want to reach some goals, right? So for you, Ramesh, as someone who successfully embedded, you know, sustainability and ESG framework in organization you work for, Can you give a summary of what is ESG actually and why should organizations embrace it?

Mehmet: Why it's important, especially in this part, maybe of the world also as well.

Ramesh: Excellent. Um, I'm not going to answer this, uh, uh, as a CFO, but from a compliance point of view saying, IFRS has come up with a new standard and you need to report. That's the, that's the wrong way of looking at it. So let me just, uh, dig into my notes because this is a very [00:29:00] interesting topic.

Ramesh: So I, I took some air with, uh, with you. Um, see, I want to start off with the topic of sustainability is critical to all of us as the world is struggling with a loss and destruction of nature. Climate emergencies, social inequalities, inequalities with persistent poverty, a need to improve governance and transparency on sustainability efforts.

Ramesh: So I think this is very important to understand. It's a global issue. These are existential threats to the world and therefore poses a business risk to all organizations all over the world. And these problems that I have highlighted are so massive and so overwhelming that they cannot be solved by one country.

Ramesh: They cannot be solved by one sector. We will definitely need the regulatory power of all governments, the inventiveness of academia, the moral [00:30:00] consciousness of, uh, civil society, and the drive that private sector can bring to get things done. If you're going to solve these problems. Um, this is very important that I spell this out, which is why I'm digging into my notes.

Ramesh: So I see business very much at the center of solving these biggest problems that the world is facing. And I'm not talking about just greenwashing and marketing gimmicks, you know, the greenwashing gimmicks, where you really are not committed to it, but you do that through for a quick marketing profile change.

Ramesh: Um, Consumers of today, particularly consumers of tomorrow, really care about what they are spending, where they are spending their money. A big market research has studied many product categories and observed that brands which Uh make a sustainable claim around the environment fast outgrowing the rest of the category two to one This is a one very [00:31:00] important Researched information that I wanted to share the second and this is something all of us miss You Most importantly, young people, the Gen Z's, want to join organizations whose value align with their own.

Ramesh: As an example, Unilever, which is world very famous for its commitment to ESG, um, has a graduate recruitment program. In 52 companies, countries around the world. Eight years ago, they were the employer of choice in 17 out of these 52 countries. Last year, they were the employer of choice in 50 out of 52.

Ramesh: This proves that if you want to attract the best and the brightest talent, you better be clear on what your position is on these important world problems. This is the true business case for ESG. And of course, IFRS has introduced Sustainability Disclosure Standard, they call it S1, S2, which comes into force from 2024 [00:32:00] onwards.

Ramesh: Uh, yes, so I had to give you some inputs from my notes, but I didn't want to miss out anything on this, uh, because we, we should look at it as a global problem. And it's something that we don't have a choice. The future will not be what it should be if we don't address the sustainability concerns.

Mehmet: Absolutely Ramesh. And I think it's everyone's, uh, responsibility, uh, to make sure that we're leaving the world, uh, a better place for, for the people who are going to come after us. So, so this is a hundred percent. And you know, like what made me happy is I start to see this awareness more and more across, you know, even startups as well, who from day one, they commit to, to be, you know, uh, you know, sustainable, you know, following the ESG best practices.

Mehmet: And it's not as to your point. It's not like something anymore, like just mimic of marketing and so on. So really [00:33:00] appreciate, you know, for you enlightening us with this. So as we are almost coming to the end, Ramesh, so, uh, You know, I really am enjoying this fireside chat with you today. And, you know, if, if you want to share some of your life lessons and, you know, something you would pass to all CXOs, CFOs and future leaders, what would that be?

Ramesh: Yeah. Um, Thanks. It's a very important question and I didn't want to miss out on anything important. So I took some my some notes to ensure that I share my learnings of the last 25, 30 years. So let me just quickly break the lessons into two buckets, personal life lessons, and then business lessons. Um, I think.

Ramesh: The personal life lessons are very important, relevant for the youngsters of today who are aspiring to, um, grow in the corporate world into a leadership role. So I took a lot [00:34:00] of effort to pen down a few of them. So the first one is change is a constant welcome change and diversity and be a change agent.

Ramesh: I think this is, you know, The starting point that, uh, every professional should understand. And we are going to, we are embarking in a journey now worldwide technology disruption, everything changing. So the welcoming change has to be the first major mindset. A second. Listen more and talk less. I know it's a old grandmother value system, but it still works.

Ramesh: Uh, be decisive, be the custodian of the ethical and moral compass of the organization. It's very important. Have a growth mindset, stay relevant and keep learning newer things. Again, very, very important. Um, there are [00:35:00] textbooks written on growth mindset. So I think in a nutshell, wanting to keep yourself updated is, is, is the starting point.

Ramesh: Um, think like your boss. So, develop end to end thinking, design thinking, system thinking, I'm not going to go deep into these buzzwords, but I think developing an end to end thinking is very important. You should not look at siloed thinking. Uh, don't chase after recognition of growth. If you focus on excellence, delivering the best value, whatever you are looking for will come to you, be a team player, team builder, and promote talent and people.

Ramesh: I think that's very, very important. If you, your leader is one who inspires the team. So, so this, this is a very important quality. And then the last is At a personal level, have a good work life integration. I don't [00:36:00] use the word balance. I don't like the word work life balance because you really can't balance both.

Ramesh: So I think. A smart professional would be one who knows that both of them will have huge demands on his time and he needs to make sure that he has a proper work life integration. So, as an example, when you start your life, you finish your graduation, you get your professional degrees, and then you join an organization, you're trying to make your impact in the organization.

Ramesh: Here, all your time is on the book. You work seven by 24, at least the mindset, uh, and you're trying to, uh, add value and learn and become a better leader. The next phase in your life is, uh, you, you, you marry, you have children, you start having a family that brings in a different type of growth in you. That is the emotional intelligence.

Ramesh: You start, uh, Understanding the other [00:37:00] person's point of view more, you learn how to collaborate. It starts with your wife and your children, and then you take it into your workplace. So that's where the empathy and emotional intelligence develops when you have a family and you grow. And that's generally when you're in the middle management.

Ramesh: And the third part is once the children grow up, uh, and you have also moved on to the top management. Again, there is a shift there. You, you again, go back to. Uh, focusing on creating a real value purpose being, uh, making sure that you leave a legacy. You, uh, you, you create something that, uh, you're proud of.

Ramesh: So you have more time again at that point on the work side because the children have flown the coop and, uh, Your wife is also having other activities. So you have the time. Um, so I think this is what I would [00:38:00] call as work life integration that I have understood. Um, now I'll move to the business lessons, but do you have any questions on the, on, uh, on the personal lessons?

Ramesh: Oh,

Mehmet: I

Ramesh: will, I

Mehmet: will put my notes at the end.

Ramesh: So lessons are very, very important. So I, again, I took my notes and I'm going to share some of them. Um, successful organizations, always have an execution focus. They have a bias for action and transparency. They believe in empowerment. They invest on people. They understand that change is a constant, so they do whatever it takes to be successful there.

Ramesh: Second is speed to market and agility are more important than just having a vision, mission. Uh, it's all about customer service, customer experience, customer intimacy, customer attention, customer loyalty. This is my [00:39:00] big life lesson. Whether you are a CFO or you're a CTO or a COO or a CMO, it starts and ends.

Ramesh: With customer and customer is at the core of the business. I think that is a very important life lesson that everybody should understand.

Ramesh: Offering customized solution, personalization of marketing and sales effort, connecting with business design team. Um, so let me elaborate a little bit more. For example, what I have learned here is Organizations which are very customer centric or, uh, focus on customer more, um, they generally don't talk to the procurement teams of the prospective customers.

Ramesh: They try to talk to the business and design teams because what they do is they will sit down with the customer and say, how can I, add more value into your processes, uh, in your value chain and be a [00:40:00] collaborative partner with you. They are not interested in talking to the procurement and supplying a very commoditized offering.

Ramesh: So I think that's a very important, uh, lesson I've learned. Uh, the new trend is building an ecosystem. Successful organizations believe in building an ecosystem. They build it. They believe in being part of a strategic clusters of creating a cluster. So it's about being more involved in the ecosystem in which you, your customers and suppliers thrive.

Ramesh: It's not just being a small cog in the wheel, but being a creator of the ecosystem itself. This is the mindset that will help. And again, I spoke about value creation process. I'm a big believer that successful organizations. Really, really, really focuses on end to end value creation. Everybody in the leadership team needs to [00:41:00] understand why are the values added by the organization to the customer's pain points and monetizing those values were important.

Ramesh: Um, and then we talk about, we should talk about diversity and inclusiveness. This is a topic where, um, a lot of people, even in some regions, I won't say Any one country or one specific region, but generally 10, 15 years back, it was a HR initiative that we should show our diversity and inclusive KPI is increasing and improving.

Ramesh: Organizations were not that committed to this value, but today they realize it's actually a big, big advantage if your organization is diverse. Um, now what, what does that bring to you? You will bring in diversity of thought. You will bring in new ideas. Your team will bring in, look at the [00:42:00] problem from different angles.

Ramesh: So I think the, Embracing diversity and inclusiveness is no longer just a HR exercise. I think it's a, it's becoming a very important business differentiator. If you have a team which is diverse and you are empowering them and you are including them in all the decision making, you are then in a, you're best.

Ramesh: The position to adapt, uh, make changes very quickly and be aligned with the customer requirements. Um, I think these are would be some of the, um, business lessons,

Mehmet: ramesh, like, you know, uh, why I, when you asked me, when you asked me if I had a question, so, but I was very touched by the life lessons smores because, uh, I think they are a masterclass by themselves, you know, for, for people.

Mehmet: And I always repeat like everything we do, because you mentioned about the mindset and the growth mindset. And you mentioned about, you know, The purpose, like everything we [00:43:00] need to do, whether it's like in life or in business, and I'm a big believer in this, it needs to have a purpose. And you touched base on that.

Mehmet: That's why you saw me like a little bit smiling when you were talking, because it was like, it's like, as I was talking to myself and, but of course, in your own voice. And when it comes to business, uh, Yeah, things are changing, and I'm happy also, Ramesh, because you shared this, and I think one of the, uh, traits that I have seen in you, Ramesh, is like, you're very adaptable to, to, to the new trends and very adaptable to, to the changes.

Mehmet: And I think this is maybe the secret of you having, you know, this Massive experience 25 plus experience being a transformation leader and and CFO So really I I really appreciate your time with me today Ramesh. I really appreciate you know, you spend You know your precious time sharing your experience whether in life whether in in business digital transformation The future, uh, specs of, of the CFO and what is [00:44:00] expected from the modern CFO.

Mehmet: And of course your, your life experience as well. And we touched on the ESG and the inclusion, which are very important topics. So thank you very much for all that. And as you will, this is for the audience is how we end every episode. So thank you very much for tuning in. I am sure that, uh, you know, you enjoyed today.

Mehmet: So I appreciate if you can leave your comments, your suggestions and, uh, be in touch with me. So, Thank you very much for tuning in. We'll meet again very soon. Thank you. Bye bye.

Ramesh: Thank you, Mehmet. It was a pleasure interacting with you and thanks again for your time. And, uh, I hope, uh, some of the, uh, inputs I gave would be of value to the listeners.

Ramesh: Thank you.

Mehmet: Thank you.