September 1, 2023 • 29 mins
Discover the cutting-edge world of AI and technology with Les Matthews, Senior Vice President at Mastercard, in this enlightening episode. As he wraps up his insightful series, Les delves into the true value of AI, dispelling myths and revealing its long-standing presence. Join us as he shares how Mastercard has harnessed AI to safeguard members' finances, particularly benefiting small businesses. Gain invaluable insights into the role of technology in protecting your financial future.
Les also emphasizes the importance of mentorship and representation in the business world. Learn how Mastercard is championing the growth of black entrepreneurs and fostering an inclusive environment within the company. Tune in to explore the dynamic intersection of technology, finance, and empowerment as Les Matthews concludes his impactful journey on the Money Moves podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is such an important aspect of what we do
and what your listeners should be thinking about, particularly if
they're small businesses, because you know, even a lot of
large companies don't protect themselves, and you see they get
a hit oho, it's like they're going.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
To pay for it, right, And maybe a fortune five
money company can make a comeback from that, but.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
A small company, a small business might not be able to,
which is why it's even more important for them to
think about this as well.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
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the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
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(00:51):
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(01:14):
me on all things social at its Tanya Time to
stay locked in to new episode. Welcome back to Money Movers.
In our previous segments, we had the privilege of delving
into the captivating journey and innovative initiatives of Less Matthews,
a visionary leader at MasterCards. Today, we're excited to continue
our conversation exploring the transformative impact MasterCard has had in
(01:37):
the world of finance and technology, from fostering financial inclusion
to driving innovation. Less Matthews will shed light on MasterCards
pioneering efforts and how they're shaping the future. Get ready
for an enlightening discussion that promises to uncover insights into
the intersection of technology, finance, and social change. Without further ado,
(01:57):
let's dive right into the final segment of our conversation
with Lesnts. I am plagued every day by people having
this hysteria over AI, and I was like, this is
nothing new, you guys.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, it's not anything new. It's been around.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I mean, artificial intelligence has been around, right, I mean
as long as there's been computers.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
In a way to actually process information.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Artificial intelligence has been there, and we've been using it
ourselves to do things like protect payments, right, So we
use AI models to help understand where there might be
weaknesses and you know people's you know, payment systems around
the world. You know, we use it to do personalized offers,
right and to you know, things like that. But I
(02:46):
think why people are now a little concerned about it
is like all of this, like anything, right, all of
this extension has now come to it, and.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Now people are using artificial intelligence and negative ways, right,
like deep paid voices and deep images and things like that.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
And so I get it. But it's been around for us.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Yeah, it has has certainly been around for it.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
And you know, as you talk about some of the
negative ways, one of the early companies I was that
was a it's does basically anti anti fraud for large
volume banks, financial institutions, banking cards, et cetera.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
And so one of the things.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That they that we one of the things that we
do say the easiest way to rob a bank is
over the phone, because it's basically you have to social
engineer your way past a human which is kind of
easy sometimes and so this with deep fake voices and
stuff if you're calling in can there's a bigger.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Piece of that.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
But I will not digress into that, but I do
I do have to like might people's expectations of like
is this the end of the world or is this
just a new evolution? And I think there's always I
hate to use this expression, there's there's you know, good
and evil on both sides. But that's just the way
it is. Fraudsters that will constantly be using technology to
(04:00):
broad people and there's just as many people who and
MasterCard probably has hundreds of people who work just as
hard to make sure your money is safe and to
also thousands.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
We literally have thousands.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I mean, that's a big part of the business that
I run, you know, at least for North America. And
you know what I always tell people is you'll never
get rid of the fraud.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
You just have to be proactive and try and.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Stay aheady forever and never rightly.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
And that's yeah, forever and ever.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And that's a big part of our business and a
big part of what we do for our partners is
we help them manage that very oh man.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
That's that's also very comforting because I mean, you need
to know that, but it's just the reality of the
business and there's people out there doing the same thing
on the opposite side of the fence.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
But you know, master works harder.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Great, that is a big part of you know, it
has been, you know, a big part of our business.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
I mean, if you're if you're gonna have you.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Know, electronic payments and digital payments, if you're going to
have something that's going to be you know, in the
cloud online, it's always going to be susceptible to you know,
fraudsters to your point, right, they're always you know, and
they're so sophisticated these days, which.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Is kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I mean, they literally have shops set up in you know,
countries who don't care as much about catching you know,
you know, catching them, and.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
They run them like corporations, they run them like companies, right.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And I think what's really interesting about this is is
when you say that people like raise an eyebrow, But
whether it's outside of the US or whatever, there are
very talented broadsters who have PhDs and in this that.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
Are working really hard to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And it's it's funny, I think for the average person
to think that their that is their job, but that's how.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
They make money and feed their families.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
And it's super unfortunate for those of us who have
been victims of fraud, whether it's your parents, your grandparents,
or child's tuition funds. But it's a I'm sure it's
a huge factor in your business.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Absolutely, it is so much so and when you think
about you know, kind of going back to our comments
around small businesses, like they're as susceptible, right, and they
have to take action to protect themselves. And again, lots
of tools, lots of services out there, and you know
a lot of people are working on this. I mean
it's not just master Card, and we partner with a
(06:21):
lot of folks, but I mean there's some really cool
stuff that we do, whether it's with AI to help
protect fraud. Right, we use biometrics as well, so you know,
we can detect how you are typing on your keyboard,
we can how hard you're hitting the buttons. We can
detect if you're holding your phone in your left hand
or your right hand, or if it's at a certain angle.
(06:42):
We use biometrics to help that, right, And so we
we have this approach where we say, okay, we're going
to protect the transaction, we're going to protect the person,
and we're going to protect the device. And so we
we incorporate all these different tools to be able to
do all of these, uh, you know, to to build
these protections. And we're constantly updating, right, We're constantly changing
(07:06):
where you know, we we've acquired companies that have skills,
and you know, we're constantly building internally because it's so
important and especially now you're thinking about identity theft and
account takeover and so a lot of the tools that
we have help to mitigate that and even things for.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Like Loyals e pot if you're signing up for a loads,
we can.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Help with that, right, we can help make sure that
there's not points fraud and things like that.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And so this is such an important aspect.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Of what we do and what your listeners should be
thinking about, particularly if they're small businesses, because you know,
even a lot of large companies don't protect themselves and
you see they get ahead, Oh it's kind of like
they're going to pay for it, right, And maybe a
fortune five hundred company can make a comeback from that,
(07:56):
but a small company a small business might not be
able to, which is why it's even more important for
them to think about this as well.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
And you know, I love talking about these things because.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Number one, it's it's certainly protective and sort of laying
out a strategy and reminding small business owners that they
need this strategy, you know, but also I peek out
on it, and I think that there's so many folks
that are listening when they're trying to be inspired about like.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Where do I want to go in my career? Like basically,
you guys are Cyber's superheroes.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
You're just like saving grandma's retirement fund, pension plans, like
even those loyalty plans points add up.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
So yeah, this is this is a really fun.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Part of the industry.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And I you know, for those of you who are
thinking of like where can I take my career next,
it's pretty exciting.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
That's right now. It cyber is for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
There's going to be lots of jobs and you can
make a really good look yeah in this space, and
so h it's uh, it is you know, it's ah,
you know, I don't want to say that we're training
on people's wives because that's not what it is, but
we're really working to protect yeah, right, and there's a
lot of satisfaction that comes from knowing that you have
(09:10):
done a job well in this space.
Speaker 6 (09:12):
Yeah. Absolutely, Oh I love that.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well, I'm glad we got to talk a bit about
the highs and lows of the business, and fraud certainly
is something that is a very important part because you
are protecting people's their money and there's that is something
that people are very protective of, as they should be.
So that's right, Yeah, certainly a big part.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Of the business.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Less as we move along, you know, I know at
the beginning of your story, you talked about how you
had a lot of people in the business that were
really integral and helping you sort of get to where
you are today. Mentorship has been something that's very important
to you, and you've spent a lot of time in
your career also trying to give back so that you
can help, you know, bring more you know, young people,
(09:55):
people of color into the business, into this into this
corporate world as well. Can you maybe share with us
some of the more memorable experiences you've had both as
a mentor and maybe as a mentee.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, you know, I'll start with the mentee because I
can remember that summer in New York and American Express,
and you know, I went to obviously historical Black College
and some of my colleagues, my classmates went up there
with me and more of my colleagues. But there was
a really strong contingent of black employees there, very visible,
(10:33):
were there for us as interns, and you know, it
took us out, showed us the city, and you know,
it took us to dinner, took us to drinks and
things like that. And you know, I can recall and
there was some pretty senior people at AMICX and Ken
Chinalt hadn't become the CEO, but he would.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Become the CEO. He was pretty visible. So having that
to look up to you.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And I to pause and say, tell us who Cancho is.
For those of you who don't, this was actually a
big deal because this was the black CEO of like
AMX at the time.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
So that's that's it was a big deal.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, he had he's he had been at Amicks since
the early eighties and he was elevated to CEO I
think in two thousand and he was the CEO for
I forget what year he retired, but you know, probably
more than ten years, maybe you know, closer to fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I mean, he's an icon. He's an icon in this
in this industry. He's an icon, right.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And I also I also say that because oftentimes people are.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Like, oh, you know that narrative of other black people
in tech, and there's yeah, there are there have been.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Some ogs that have been I mean, you think about
the early eighties, seventies, this that you know, rose, and
so I just wanted to shout him out as well,
like because look, I mean, this was an inspiration for you.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, I mean, and I didn't get to spend a
lot of time we can, but I remember seeing him
on the elevator one time, you know, and you know,
I looked.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
At him, I said, hi, said, I asked me what
I was doing, and I was I was still an intern,
you know, he was.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
He was personable, right, and and you know, having you.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Know, some of the other black leaders there and then
black employees there, I knew this was a place that
I wanted to come back to after my internship, right,
And it got me thinking differently and dreaming a little
bit about what this could really be for me. And
(12:27):
that was, you know, kind of the start of it
right for me. And and when I did go back,
I actually accepted another job, went to a place for
three months, decided that was the.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Wrong decision after business school then and then and then
took the job at Amax, and they welcomed me back.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I had a few different you know mentors there as
well that you.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Know, just kind of showed me the way right.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
And some of them were, you know, would probably not
give me the same advice as they would give me
a d maybe, you know, I think I said earlier,
which is you know, you know, a couple of them
were like, listen.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Your brother, you got to put your head down, you
gotta work harder, you gotta you know, don't you know,
don't don't go out there show And I took that
advice for a really long time, and I think at
the time it was the right advice and and.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
It helped me, but it also helped me back in
in some ways.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
And you know, I can talk about that in a minute,
but these were great guys that showed me the business.
They they told me where to lean in, they told
me where to put my energy and focus and learning right.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
So I could be effective because.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I knew I was kind of in over my head
and I was didn't understand the space, and so that
was super helpful.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
They also kind of helped me figure out how to
deal with some of the pressures and be one of
the only black people, right.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
We talked about those types of things, right, how do
you pursue your career without coming off as threatning, How
do you, you know, find the right areas that you can
be successful in? And so there was a lot of
coaching around around that as a as a mentee and
and listen, I certainly had white mental is right, mentors,
(14:01):
of women mentors, and all.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Sorts of different mentors throughout my career. It's been really important.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
But I think early on, you know, kind of aligning
myself with some of the black mentors, especially black men,
was was really important.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
For me in my growth early in my career.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You know, as I became more senior, right, getting some
years underneath my belt and started leading teams and doing
that myself, then I was more in a position to
be a mentor. And I take that really seriously, you know,
you know, especially here at MasterCard, where I'm you know,
one of the most senior Black people in the company.
(14:40):
Right there's there's a few of us, but there's not
a lot of us right now, and we're working hard
to kind of fix that.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
But you know, we have different programs, different mentoring programs.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I'm the global executive sponsor of our Black BORG our
Business Resource Group as well, so that puts me sort of,
you know, right at the center of you know, what
are our black employees thinking about, what are they doing,
what are their concerns. You know, we've you know, over
the years, I've taken younger black men and black women
(15:09):
under my wing and just kind of help them with
their careers and how to think about their careers. And
currently we run a program called Uplift, which is a
mentoring program out of our Black BRG where and it
was you know, really came out of a we did
a survey and then black men.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Said we want more mentorship, so we created this program.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And so right now we're just kicking off the second
the second round of it where we'll do two times
a month for six months, two times a month for
three months, and then I take on you know, two
mentees the one mentor and we have you know, ten
or fifteen of the most black people in the company
signed up to take on mentors and this is very specifically,
(15:52):
you know, for black men and helping them figure out
how do they manage their careers or what else.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
They want to talk about.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
In those conversations, they they they go all over the place,
but they're always enjoyable.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I mean, it is really a special It is a
very special thing. So you know, if no one has
told you today like thank you for your service, because
you know, oftentimes it's those great conversations like that you said, like, hey,
how do I handle the stress of this? Like how
do I integrate into water cooler talk or you know,
but also show up as my true self? And so
(16:24):
being able to have those conversations is a really special thing.
And I think in particular, you know, post the pandemic
and George Floyd, do you feel like you're do you
feel like the change has been evidenced or do you
think that you know, we're seeing I don't even know
(16:47):
how we sort of track those changes, but how do
you feel?
Speaker 6 (16:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I the way I truly feel is that I feel
like a lot of the commitments that have been made
generally are then now people are starting to back off
of right, which is unfortunate. You know, you saw a
lot of progress for about a year, maybe eighteen months,
(17:14):
and now people are expenses and you're starting to see
you know, D D E I teams dismantleving to see
lack of commitment to that right, which is which is
disappointing and unfortunate.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
H you know how that translates into.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Opportunity for for black people people of color? I don't
know yet, right, I mean there's still not enough you know,
of us in the c suite, there's still not enough
of us on boards, there's still not enough of us around, right.
I also feel very fortunate to work at a company
(17:51):
that has not where their commitment has not weighed right.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
And while you know, we made half a billion.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Dollar commitment, wow when you know a few years ago
after you know, the George Floyd uh murder happened, and
we made a huge commitment, right and to invest in
underserved communities and to you know, particularly help the black community.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
And we're continuing to really focus on this, you know,
And have we made the progress we want to make?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Probably not.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's been a little slower going than what we wanted
to see. But what's really great for someone like me
is that I know that I'm supported.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Right now, they call me a lot for.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
A lot of stuff to help out, But like I
can go out and have conversations like this that are
super candid, and you know, I'm going to get a
pat on the back right for saying, you know, good luck,
you know, good job for you know being real.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
You know, my bosses, that's a big thing.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
Like that's a big thing.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
You know, oftentimes, especially in the in the corporate world,
Like you know, they're like, well, we appreciate you saying that,
but we're not we don't want that out there. As
you know, you know, you're a representation of mass So
that is a huge thing that you have the free
to speak freely and you know, be able to implement programs.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Yeah, and it's you know, I can be myself and
I can also mentor people that way, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Right.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
So you know, these these brothers are talking to me,
we're having conversations and they're hearing me be myself, right,
and they're hearing me, you know, speak the truth and
be super authentic and candidate about what's going on.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
You know, nothing's ever going to be perfect.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But you know, we work at a place that you
know is super committed, right, and they're going to continue
to stay committed until they reach the goal, and then
they're going to keep potion past that.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
And I feel confident about that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And so you know, listen, I've had opportunities to go
other places, but I stay because of the culture. I say,
what I'm able to you know, how I'm able to
be myself and how I'm able to show up every day.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
That's a big part of what I why I stay
right and mass part.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Is is great at, you know, making people feel comfortable
and welcome.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And so I want to see more in the macro environment.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I want to see continued commitment from other Fortune five
hundred companies. And you know, if they want to see
an example of how to do it right, all they
have to do is look over at MasterCard is certainly
doing something right.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
Well. I can certainly vogue for that.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
And even you know, in partnership with Greenwood, it's been
a really beautiful thing and we are definitely very appreciative
to have such big dogs working with us, people like yourself.
As we sort of run out of time today, I
have a couple of last questions. Number one, what keeps
you up at night? Like, what is the thing that
wakes you up out of bed?
Speaker 6 (20:53):
Like? Oh no, in this space.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well, we'll say, first, I sleep pretty well. Somebody asked
me the other thing, Right, you know, I sleep pretty well.
But if there was something that was going to keep
me up, it is staying ahead of the innovation, right,
and the invention Things are moving so rapidly in this space.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
They change so.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Quickly that you may go to literally go to sleep
one day and the next day something has totally changed.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Your ability to react to that and respond for is
what is going to keep you fresh and keep you
in the game. And it doesn't matter if you're a
Fortune five hundred company or if you're a mom and
pop shot. Right, That's what keeps me up at night,
is is making sure that we can keep up with
the pace of the trends and the things that we
(21:49):
need to change.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
And do we know what these things are? Right?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That's a big like, are we are we educating ourselves
so that we know what's happening?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Right? It's not k caught on our back foot. So
I'm talking to my team and coaching them and helping them.
That's a lot of what I talk about is.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Hey, we got to be we got to self educate,
we got to be ahead of this. And if we
see something, we got to say something. If we've got
to we got to flag it to our global product teams,
we got to build something, we got to buy something.
Let's move quickly. So that's the thing that probably keeps
me up at night. And there's a company that's been
in growth mode over the last ten years.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
I mean when I started it was four thousand people.
Now it's over thirty thousand.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Wow, right, And so it's been a big growth is that,
you know, making sure that we don't become too bear
product or too slow and let's let's.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Keep in that growth mode. So that's the thing that
probably keeps me up.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Oh well, I'm glad you do sleep well at night.
But also I'm glad that you're coaching like just this
visionary mindset that has definitely contributed to keeping you in
the game and obviously you know, for the growth of
MasterCard as well.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
So as we.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Wrap up, I want to make sure can you tell
us less how people can you know, stay connected with you.
There's a social media you'd like to share or perhaps
some of MasterCards partnership programs that you'd like to plug. Now,
we just are money movers, always like to follow up
and are just you know, hungry for more information. So
tell us where to find you.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah, yeah, so you can find me.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I'm not super social media savvy, but I'm on LinkedIn,
so you can always find me as Matthew's MasterCard on LinkedIn.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
You know, that's a great way to find me.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, I won't put my email dress out on air,
but you know I'm usually pretty responsive to to folks
on LinkedIn, Right, I do pay attention there, you know.
I think in terms of you know, things that you
know I'd like to plug. I think particularly for the
small business space. You know, go spend some time looking
(23:47):
on our website.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
We have you know programs out there. One of them
is called Visual Doors. It's an online business resource center.
We launched that in twenty twenty. So that's a good
thing for small businesses. We have tons of information at
MasterCard dot.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Com, you know, for how to uh you know.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Contact partners or uh you know, you know, suppliers or
things like that that would you know, help enable your business.
You know, if you are interested in master Cards of career,
I also you to take a look at our career website.
We are opening an office in Atlanta in the fall,
(24:25):
so look more around around that and I've been on.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
The team that's focused on finding the space. It's going
to be over there in the Pont City.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Great, you know, and so we're we're going to be
coming to a in a in a pretty big way.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
But yeah, I think I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I mean, there's there's lots of information and like I said,
if you if you do find me on LinkedIn, I'll
try and be as responsible as possible.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Oh this was so good, Lesson, this was amazing. Thank
you so much for your time. Thank you so much
for your insights and you know, continuing continue to blaze
a trail at MasterCard. I appreciate you and this partnership
as well.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah. No, thank you for having me Tanya anytime. This
was great. This is fun. So I like talking about
the business. And don't be afraid to tap on me
if you need me.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
We will do that. And money Movers, thank you so
much for tuning in today.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
That's all the time we have for today, but make
sure you check out less and all the incredible things
that are happening at MasterCard. Here's a sneak peak of
next week's episode.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I went to the I found out.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
What I did was I put another account in his
office to go through stuff and just say, hey, man,
go in and see what's going on in the office
and let me come back and get me a report
on it. And so he came back and said, man,
I got some crazy news for you. So well, you
about to get hit with a million dollar tax problem
that you hold. I rest a million dollars and you
have half a million dollars that came in and went out.
(25:50):
We don't know where it went.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Whoa hey, money movers.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Has anyone told you today how awesome you are? If
not hear it from me? And I want to take
a moment to express my gratitude for your continued support
and engagement. Our journey through discussions with remarkable guests and
entrepreneurs has the nothing short of inspiring and empowering for
me and I hope for you too. I encourage you
to catch up on any episodes you might have missed
(26:14):
or those that you might want to go back and revisit.
In fact, let me share a quick clip from one
of my favorite conversations. And you know, the advice you
might have received from your mentors back in the day
is probably a lot different than you would advise young
people going into the industry.
Speaker 8 (26:29):
We're seeing a rise of streaming.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
People are making five minute movies on Instagram. Yes, So
how would you sort of shape the advice that you
give out.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
Now, that's a great question.
Speaker 9 (26:40):
Back when I was starting off, it was very difficult
just to make a movie. You had to go and
buy film and editing equipment, and you know.
Speaker 8 (26:49):
Have like film cameras.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
You know, we were shooting on super sixteen milimeter film if
we really had a budget to shoot on thirty five
milimeter film.
Speaker 8 (26:58):
Now we're in a digital environment now, or an environment
where social.
Speaker 9 (27:01):
Media is the way that you reach pole and the
way that you can distribute content. So when I was
coming up, people told me, hey, just try to get
your movie made.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
It wasn't about, you know, necessarily what the content was.
Speaker 9 (27:14):
It was just get it made if you can just
get it made ahead of the game.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
Right. So these days, when I'm.
Speaker 9 (27:21):
Talking to that next generation of filmmakers, what I'm telling
them is it's not enough to just get your movie made.
Now you've got to show that there's the audience for
your project. You've got to go out and show millions
of views on YouTube's or Instagram or TikTok, whatever that
platform is.
Speaker 8 (27:39):
You've got to show that you.
Speaker 9 (27:40):
Have an ability to find that audience and accumulate that audience.
Because then you have people like myself and others that
will say, you know what if they were able to
do that shooting it on their iPhone and editing it,
and I mean.
Speaker 8 (27:54):
What would they do with real resources?
Speaker 9 (27:56):
Because I see they have talent, and I see they
have the ability to find an audien.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
So that's very different advice.
Speaker 9 (28:02):
It's much more competitive now because it's an oversaturated content environment.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
Everybody's making stuff right.
Speaker 9 (28:08):
It's like you, your podcast is successful because it cuts through.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
There are a lot of people who are podcast out
there with your voices.
Speaker 9 (28:15):
You need your subject matters, you need your guests or
unique like everything. You have to do something that's going
to stand out now because there is a sober saturation.
But what that means is that the cream will rise
to the top, as it always does. You just got
to work harder to make sure that you're one of
those that stands out in the environment where everybody is,
you know, a mini movie maker.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Do you feel that this opens up more access and
a little bit more equality these days?
Speaker 8 (28:41):
I do.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (28:42):
I think it's the democratization content creation that really really
do because now the barriers aren't there.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Thanks for listening to today's episode. If we help you
make your money move, please share it with your community,
Subscribe and leave us a review on iHeartRadio and Apple podcasts.
Follow us on social media at Greenwood and visit us
at Gogreenwood dot com for more financial tips and remember,
money movers, If this.
Speaker 6 (29:07):
Were easy, everyone would do it.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
So take the lessons you've learned from this episode and
apply it to your life. Money Moves is an iHeartRadio
podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts from. Make sure to
(29:32):
tune in Monday, Wednesday and Friday and subscribe to the
Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood so that you too
can have the keys to financial freedom you so rightly deserve.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Until next time,
This is such an important aspect of what we do
and what your listeners should be thinking about, particularly if
they're small businesses, because you know, even a lot of
large companies don't protect themselves, and you see they get
a hit oho, it's like they're going.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
To pay for it, right, And maybe a fortune five
money company can make a comeback from that, but.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
A small company, a small business might not be able to,
which is why it's even more important for them to
think about this as well.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from
the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
and more. I'm your host, angel investor, technology enthusiasts, and
media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests
who are making significant strides in their fields and learn
(00:51):
how they are making their money move. If you're someone
who's looking to make your money move, you're in the
right place, so open up your notes app and lock
us in, because this podcast will give you the keys
to the kingdom of financial stability, wealth and abundance you
so rightly deserve. Before we start the episode, i'd like
to remind you to check us out at Gogreenwood dot
com and follow us on social media at Greenwood and
(01:14):
me on all things social at its Tanya Time to
stay locked in to new episode. Welcome back to Money Movers.
In our previous segments, we had the privilege of delving
into the captivating journey and innovative initiatives of Less Matthews,
a visionary leader at MasterCards. Today, we're excited to continue
our conversation exploring the transformative impact MasterCard has had in
(01:37):
the world of finance and technology, from fostering financial inclusion
to driving innovation. Less Matthews will shed light on MasterCards
pioneering efforts and how they're shaping the future. Get ready
for an enlightening discussion that promises to uncover insights into
the intersection of technology, finance, and social change. Without further ado,
(01:57):
let's dive right into the final segment of our conversation
with Lesnts. I am plagued every day by people having
this hysteria over AI, and I was like, this is
nothing new, you guys.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Yeah, it's not anything new. It's been around.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I mean, artificial intelligence has been around, right, I mean
as long as there's been computers.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
In a way to actually process information.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Artificial intelligence has been there, and we've been using it
ourselves to do things like protect payments, right, So we
use AI models to help understand where there might be
weaknesses and you know people's you know, payment systems around
the world. You know, we use it to do personalized offers,
right and to you know, things like that. But I
(02:46):
think why people are now a little concerned about it
is like all of this, like anything, right, all of
this extension has now come to it, and.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
Now people are using artificial intelligence and negative ways, right,
like deep paid voices and deep images and things like that.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
And so I get it. But it's been around for us.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Yeah, it has has certainly been around for it.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
And you know, as you talk about some of the
negative ways, one of the early companies I was that
was a it's does basically anti anti fraud for large
volume banks, financial institutions, banking cards, et cetera.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
And so one of the things.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That they that we one of the things that we
do say the easiest way to rob a bank is
over the phone, because it's basically you have to social
engineer your way past a human which is kind of
easy sometimes and so this with deep fake voices and
stuff if you're calling in can there's a bigger.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Piece of that.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
But I will not digress into that, but I do
I do have to like might people's expectations of like
is this the end of the world or is this
just a new evolution? And I think there's always I
hate to use this expression, there's there's you know, good
and evil on both sides. But that's just the way
it is. Fraudsters that will constantly be using technology to
(04:00):
broad people and there's just as many people who and
MasterCard probably has hundreds of people who work just as
hard to make sure your money is safe and to
also thousands.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
We literally have thousands.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I mean, that's a big part of the business that
I run, you know, at least for North America. And
you know what I always tell people is you'll never
get rid of the fraud.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
You just have to be proactive and try and.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Stay aheady forever and never rightly.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
And that's yeah, forever and ever.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And that's a big part of our business and a
big part of what we do for our partners is
we help them manage that very oh man.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
That's that's also very comforting because I mean, you need
to know that, but it's just the reality of the
business and there's people out there doing the same thing
on the opposite side of the fence.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
But you know, master works harder.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Great, that is a big part of you know, it
has been, you know, a big part of our business.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
I mean, if you're if you're gonna have you.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Know, electronic payments and digital payments, if you're going to
have something that's going to be you know, in the
cloud online, it's always going to be susceptible to you know,
fraudsters to your point, right, they're always you know, and
they're so sophisticated these days, which.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Is kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I mean, they literally have shops set up in you know,
countries who don't care as much about catching you know,
you know, catching them, and.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
They run them like corporations, they run them like companies, right.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And I think what's really interesting about this is is
when you say that people like raise an eyebrow, But
whether it's outside of the US or whatever, there are
very talented broadsters who have PhDs and in this that.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
Are working really hard to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And it's it's funny, I think for the average person
to think that their that is their job, but that's how.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
They make money and feed their families.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
And it's super unfortunate for those of us who have
been victims of fraud, whether it's your parents, your grandparents,
or child's tuition funds. But it's a I'm sure it's
a huge factor in your business.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Absolutely, it is so much so and when you think
about you know, kind of going back to our comments
around small businesses, like they're as susceptible, right, and they
have to take action to protect themselves. And again, lots
of tools, lots of services out there, and you know
a lot of people are working on this. I mean
it's not just master Card, and we partner with a
(06:21):
lot of folks, but I mean there's some really cool
stuff that we do, whether it's with AI to help
protect fraud. Right, we use biometrics as well, so you know,
we can detect how you are typing on your keyboard,
we can how hard you're hitting the buttons. We can
detect if you're holding your phone in your left hand
or your right hand, or if it's at a certain angle.
(06:42):
We use biometrics to help that, right, And so we
we have this approach where we say, okay, we're going
to protect the transaction, we're going to protect the person,
and we're going to protect the device. And so we
we incorporate all these different tools to be able to
do all of these, uh, you know, to to build
these protections. And we're constantly updating, right, We're constantly changing
(07:06):
where you know, we we've acquired companies that have skills,
and you know, we're constantly building internally because it's so
important and especially now you're thinking about identity theft and
account takeover and so a lot of the tools that
we have help to mitigate that and even things for.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Like Loyals e pot if you're signing up for a loads,
we can.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Help with that, right, we can help make sure that
there's not points fraud and things like that.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And so this is such an important aspect.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Of what we do and what your listeners should be
thinking about, particularly if they're small businesses, because you know,
even a lot of large companies don't protect themselves and
you see they get ahead, Oh it's kind of like
they're going to pay for it, right, And maybe a
fortune five hundred company can make a comeback from that,
(07:56):
but a small company a small business might not be
able to, which is why it's even more important for
them to think about this as well.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
And you know, I love talking about these things because.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Number one, it's it's certainly protective and sort of laying
out a strategy and reminding small business owners that they
need this strategy, you know, but also I peek out
on it, and I think that there's so many folks
that are listening when they're trying to be inspired about like.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Where do I want to go in my career? Like basically,
you guys are Cyber's superheroes.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
You're just like saving grandma's retirement fund, pension plans, like
even those loyalty plans points add up.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
So yeah, this is this is a really fun.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Part of the industry.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
And I you know, for those of you who are
thinking of like where can I take my career next,
it's pretty exciting.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
That's right now. It cyber is for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
There's going to be lots of jobs and you can
make a really good look yeah in this space, and
so h it's uh, it is you know, it's ah,
you know, I don't want to say that we're training
on people's wives because that's not what it is, but
we're really working to protect yeah, right, and there's a
lot of satisfaction that comes from knowing that you have
(09:10):
done a job well in this space.
Speaker 6 (09:12):
Yeah. Absolutely, Oh I love that.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well, I'm glad we got to talk a bit about
the highs and lows of the business, and fraud certainly
is something that is a very important part because you
are protecting people's their money and there's that is something
that people are very protective of, as they should be.
So that's right, Yeah, certainly a big part.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Of the business.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Less as we move along, you know, I know at
the beginning of your story, you talked about how you
had a lot of people in the business that were
really integral and helping you sort of get to where
you are today. Mentorship has been something that's very important
to you, and you've spent a lot of time in
your career also trying to give back so that you
can help, you know, bring more you know, young people,
(09:55):
people of color into the business, into this into this
corporate world as well. Can you maybe share with us
some of the more memorable experiences you've had both as
a mentor and maybe as a mentee.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, you know, I'll start with the mentee because I
can remember that summer in New York and American Express,
and you know, I went to obviously historical Black College
and some of my colleagues, my classmates went up there
with me and more of my colleagues. But there was
a really strong contingent of black employees there, very visible,
(10:33):
were there for us as interns, and you know, it
took us out, showed us the city, and you know,
it took us to dinner, took us to drinks and
things like that. And you know, I can recall and
there was some pretty senior people at AMICX and Ken
Chinalt hadn't become the CEO, but he would.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Become the CEO. He was pretty visible. So having that
to look up to you.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
And I to pause and say, tell us who Cancho is.
For those of you who don't, this was actually a
big deal because this was the black CEO of like
AMX at the time.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
So that's that's it was a big deal.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, he had he's he had been at Amicks since
the early eighties and he was elevated to CEO I
think in two thousand and he was the CEO for
I forget what year he retired, but you know, probably
more than ten years, maybe you know, closer to fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I mean, he's an icon. He's an icon in this
in this industry. He's an icon, right.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
And I also I also say that because oftentimes people are.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
Like, oh, you know that narrative of other black people
in tech, and there's yeah, there are there have been.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Some ogs that have been I mean, you think about
the early eighties, seventies, this that you know, rose, and
so I just wanted to shout him out as well,
like because look, I mean, this was an inspiration for you.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, I mean, and I didn't get to spend a
lot of time we can, but I remember seeing him
on the elevator one time, you know, and you know,
I looked.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
At him, I said, hi, said, I asked me what
I was doing, and I was I was still an intern,
you know, he was.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
He was personable, right, and and you know, having you.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Know, some of the other black leaders there and then
black employees there, I knew this was a place that
I wanted to come back to after my internship, right,
And it got me thinking differently and dreaming a little
bit about what this could really be for me. And
(12:27):
that was, you know, kind of the start of it
right for me. And and when I did go back,
I actually accepted another job, went to a place for
three months, decided that was the.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Wrong decision after business school then and then and then
took the job at Amax, and they welcomed me back.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I had a few different you know mentors there as
well that you.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Know, just kind of showed me the way right.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
And some of them were, you know, would probably not
give me the same advice as they would give me
a d maybe, you know, I think I said earlier,
which is you know, you know, a couple of them
were like, listen.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Your brother, you got to put your head down, you
gotta work harder, you gotta you know, don't you know,
don't don't go out there show And I took that
advice for a really long time, and I think at
the time it was the right advice and and.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
It helped me, but it also helped me back in
in some ways.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
And you know, I can talk about that in a minute,
but these were great guys that showed me the business.
They they told me where to lean in, they told
me where to put my energy and focus and learning right.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
So I could be effective because.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I knew I was kind of in over my head
and I was didn't understand the space, and so that
was super helpful.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
They also kind of helped me figure out how to
deal with some of the pressures and be one of
the only black people, right.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
We talked about those types of things, right, how do
you pursue your career without coming off as threatning, How
do you, you know, find the right areas that you can
be successful in? And so there was a lot of
coaching around around that as a as a mentee and
and listen, I certainly had white mental is right, mentors,
(14:01):
of women mentors, and all.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Sorts of different mentors throughout my career. It's been really important.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
But I think early on, you know, kind of aligning
myself with some of the black mentors, especially black men,
was was really important.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
For me in my growth early in my career.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You know, as I became more senior, right, getting some
years underneath my belt and started leading teams and doing
that myself, then I was more in a position to
be a mentor. And I take that really seriously, you know,
you know, especially here at MasterCard, where I'm you know,
one of the most senior Black people in the company.
(14:40):
Right there's there's a few of us, but there's not
a lot of us right now, and we're working hard
to kind of fix that.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
But you know, we have different programs, different mentoring programs.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I'm the global executive sponsor of our Black BORG our
Business Resource Group as well, so that puts me sort of,
you know, right at the center of you know, what
are our black employees thinking about, what are they doing,
what are their concerns. You know, we've you know, over
the years, I've taken younger black men and black women
(15:09):
under my wing and just kind of help them with
their careers and how to think about their careers. And
currently we run a program called Uplift, which is a
mentoring program out of our Black BRG where and it
was you know, really came out of a we did
a survey and then black men.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Said we want more mentorship, so we created this program.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And so right now we're just kicking off the second
the second round of it where we'll do two times
a month for six months, two times a month for
three months, and then I take on you know, two
mentees the one mentor and we have you know, ten
or fifteen of the most black people in the company
signed up to take on mentors and this is very specifically,
(15:52):
you know, for black men and helping them figure out
how do they manage their careers or what else.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
They want to talk about.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
In those conversations, they they they go all over the place,
but they're always enjoyable.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I mean, it is really a special It is a
very special thing. So you know, if no one has
told you today like thank you for your service, because
you know, oftentimes it's those great conversations like that you said, like, hey,
how do I handle the stress of this? Like how
do I integrate into water cooler talk or you know,
but also show up as my true self? And so
(16:24):
being able to have those conversations is a really special thing.
And I think in particular, you know, post the pandemic
and George Floyd, do you feel like you're do you
feel like the change has been evidenced or do you
think that you know, we're seeing I don't even know
(16:47):
how we sort of track those changes, but how do
you feel?
Speaker 6 (16:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
I the way I truly feel is that I feel
like a lot of the commitments that have been made
generally are then now people are starting to back off
of right, which is unfortunate. You know, you saw a
lot of progress for about a year, maybe eighteen months,
(17:14):
and now people are expenses and you're starting to see
you know, D D E I teams dismantleving to see
lack of commitment to that right, which is which is
disappointing and unfortunate.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
H you know how that translates into.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Opportunity for for black people people of color? I don't
know yet, right, I mean there's still not enough you know,
of us in the c suite, there's still not enough
of us on boards, there's still not enough of us around, right.
I also feel very fortunate to work at a company
(17:51):
that has not where their commitment has not weighed right.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
And while you know, we made half a billion.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Dollar commitment, wow when you know a few years ago
after you know, the George Floyd uh murder happened, and
we made a huge commitment, right and to invest in
underserved communities and to you know, particularly help the black community.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
And we're continuing to really focus on this, you know,
And have we made the progress we want to make?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Probably not.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
It's been a little slower going than what we wanted
to see. But what's really great for someone like me
is that I know that I'm supported.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Right now, they call me a lot for.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
A lot of stuff to help out, But like I
can go out and have conversations like this that are
super candid, and you know, I'm going to get a
pat on the back right for saying, you know, good luck,
you know, good job for you know being real.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
You know, my bosses, that's a big thing.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
Like that's a big thing.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
You know, oftentimes, especially in the in the corporate world,
Like you know, they're like, well, we appreciate you saying that,
but we're not we don't want that out there. As
you know, you know, you're a representation of mass So
that is a huge thing that you have the free
to speak freely and you know, be able to implement programs.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Yeah, and it's you know, I can be myself and
I can also mentor people that way, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Right.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
So you know, these these brothers are talking to me,
we're having conversations and they're hearing me be myself, right,
and they're hearing me, you know, speak the truth and
be super authentic and candidate about what's going on.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
You know, nothing's ever going to be perfect.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But you know, we work at a place that you
know is super committed, right, and they're going to continue
to stay committed until they reach the goal, and then
they're going to keep potion past that.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
And I feel confident about that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And so you know, listen, I've had opportunities to go
other places, but I stay because of the culture. I say,
what I'm able to you know, how I'm able to
be myself and how I'm able to show up every day.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
That's a big part of what I why I stay
right and mass part.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Is is great at, you know, making people feel comfortable
and welcome.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And so I want to see more in the macro environment.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I want to see continued commitment from other Fortune five
hundred companies. And you know, if they want to see
an example of how to do it right, all they
have to do is look over at MasterCard is certainly
doing something right.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
Well. I can certainly vogue for that.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
And even you know, in partnership with Greenwood, it's been
a really beautiful thing and we are definitely very appreciative
to have such big dogs working with us, people like yourself.
As we sort of run out of time today, I
have a couple of last questions. Number one, what keeps
you up at night? Like, what is the thing that
wakes you up out of bed?
Speaker 6 (20:53):
Like? Oh no, in this space.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well, we'll say, first, I sleep pretty well. Somebody asked
me the other thing, Right, you know, I sleep pretty well.
But if there was something that was going to keep
me up, it is staying ahead of the innovation, right,
and the invention Things are moving so rapidly in this space.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
They change so.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Quickly that you may go to literally go to sleep
one day and the next day something has totally changed.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Your ability to react to that and respond for is
what is going to keep you fresh and keep you
in the game. And it doesn't matter if you're a
Fortune five hundred company or if you're a mom and
pop shot. Right, That's what keeps me up at night,
is is making sure that we can keep up with
the pace of the trends and the things that we
(21:49):
need to change.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
And do we know what these things are? Right?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
That's a big like, are we are we educating ourselves
so that we know what's happening?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Right? It's not k caught on our back foot. So
I'm talking to my team and coaching them and helping them.
That's a lot of what I talk about is.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Hey, we got to be we got to self educate,
we got to be ahead of this. And if we
see something, we got to say something. If we've got
to we got to flag it to our global product teams,
we got to build something, we got to buy something.
Let's move quickly. So that's the thing that probably keeps
me up at night. And there's a company that's been
in growth mode over the last ten years.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
I mean when I started it was four thousand people.
Now it's over thirty thousand.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Wow, right, And so it's been a big growth is that,
you know, making sure that we don't become too bear
product or too slow and let's let's.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Keep in that growth mode. So that's the thing that
probably keeps me up.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Oh well, I'm glad you do sleep well at night.
But also I'm glad that you're coaching like just this
visionary mindset that has definitely contributed to keeping you in
the game and obviously you know, for the growth of
MasterCard as well.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
So as we.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Wrap up, I want to make sure can you tell
us less how people can you know, stay connected with you.
There's a social media you'd like to share or perhaps
some of MasterCards partnership programs that you'd like to plug. Now,
we just are money movers, always like to follow up
and are just you know, hungry for more information. So
tell us where to find you.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah, yeah, so you can find me.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I'm not super social media savvy, but I'm on LinkedIn,
so you can always find me as Matthew's MasterCard on LinkedIn.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
You know, that's a great way to find me.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know, I won't put my email dress out on air,
but you know I'm usually pretty responsive to to folks
on LinkedIn, Right, I do pay attention there, you know.
I think in terms of you know, things that you
know I'd like to plug. I think particularly for the
small business space. You know, go spend some time looking
(23:47):
on our website.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
We have you know programs out there. One of them
is called Visual Doors. It's an online business resource center.
We launched that in twenty twenty. So that's a good
thing for small businesses. We have tons of information at
MasterCard dot.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Com, you know, for how to uh you know.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Contact partners or uh you know, you know, suppliers or
things like that that would you know, help enable your business.
You know, if you are interested in master Cards of career,
I also you to take a look at our career website.
We are opening an office in Atlanta in the fall,
(24:25):
so look more around around that and I've been on.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
The team that's focused on finding the space. It's going
to be over there in the Pont City.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Great, you know, and so we're we're going to be
coming to a in a in a pretty big way.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
But yeah, I think I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I mean, there's there's lots of information and like I said,
if you if you do find me on LinkedIn, I'll
try and be as responsible as possible.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Oh this was so good, Lesson, this was amazing. Thank
you so much for your time. Thank you so much
for your insights and you know, continuing continue to blaze
a trail at MasterCard. I appreciate you and this partnership
as well.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah. No, thank you for having me Tanya anytime. This
was great. This is fun. So I like talking about
the business. And don't be afraid to tap on me
if you need me.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
We will do that. And money Movers, thank you so
much for tuning in today.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
That's all the time we have for today, but make
sure you check out less and all the incredible things
that are happening at MasterCard. Here's a sneak peak of
next week's episode.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I went to the I found out.
Speaker 7 (25:29):
What I did was I put another account in his
office to go through stuff and just say, hey, man,
go in and see what's going on in the office
and let me come back and get me a report
on it. And so he came back and said, man,
I got some crazy news for you. So well, you
about to get hit with a million dollar tax problem
that you hold. I rest a million dollars and you
have half a million dollars that came in and went out.
(25:50):
We don't know where it went.
Speaker 6 (25:52):
Whoa hey, money movers.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Has anyone told you today how awesome you are? If
not hear it from me? And I want to take
a moment to express my gratitude for your continued support
and engagement. Our journey through discussions with remarkable guests and
entrepreneurs has the nothing short of inspiring and empowering for
me and I hope for you too. I encourage you
to catch up on any episodes you might have missed
(26:14):
or those that you might want to go back and revisit.
In fact, let me share a quick clip from one
of my favorite conversations. And you know, the advice you
might have received from your mentors back in the day
is probably a lot different than you would advise young
people going into the industry.
Speaker 8 (26:29):
We're seeing a rise of streaming.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
People are making five minute movies on Instagram. Yes, So
how would you sort of shape the advice that you
give out.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
Now, that's a great question.
Speaker 9 (26:40):
Back when I was starting off, it was very difficult
just to make a movie. You had to go and
buy film and editing equipment, and you know.
Speaker 8 (26:49):
Have like film cameras.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
You know, we were shooting on super sixteen milimeter film if
we really had a budget to shoot on thirty five
milimeter film.
Speaker 8 (26:58):
Now we're in a digital environment now, or an environment
where social.
Speaker 9 (27:01):
Media is the way that you reach pole and the
way that you can distribute content. So when I was
coming up, people told me, hey, just try to get
your movie made.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
It wasn't about, you know, necessarily what the content was.
Speaker 9 (27:14):
It was just get it made if you can just
get it made ahead of the game.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
Right. So these days, when I'm.
Speaker 9 (27:21):
Talking to that next generation of filmmakers, what I'm telling
them is it's not enough to just get your movie made.
Now you've got to show that there's the audience for
your project. You've got to go out and show millions
of views on YouTube's or Instagram or TikTok, whatever that
platform is.
Speaker 8 (27:39):
You've got to show that you.
Speaker 9 (27:40):
Have an ability to find that audience and accumulate that audience.
Because then you have people like myself and others that
will say, you know what if they were able to
do that shooting it on their iPhone and editing it,
and I mean.
Speaker 8 (27:54):
What would they do with real resources?
Speaker 9 (27:56):
Because I see they have talent, and I see they
have the ability to find an audien.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
So that's very different advice.
Speaker 9 (28:02):
It's much more competitive now because it's an oversaturated content environment.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
Everybody's making stuff right.
Speaker 9 (28:08):
It's like you, your podcast is successful because it cuts through.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
There are a lot of people who are podcast out
there with your voices.
Speaker 9 (28:15):
You need your subject matters, you need your guests or
unique like everything. You have to do something that's going
to stand out now because there is a sober saturation.
But what that means is that the cream will rise
to the top, as it always does. You just got
to work harder to make sure that you're one of
those that stands out in the environment where everybody is,
you know, a mini movie maker.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Do you feel that this opens up more access and
a little bit more equality these days?
Speaker 8 (28:41):
I do.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (28:42):
I think it's the democratization content creation that really really
do because now the barriers aren't there.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Thanks for listening to today's episode. If we help you
make your money move, please share it with your community,
Subscribe and leave us a review on iHeartRadio and Apple podcasts.
Follow us on social media at Greenwood and visit us
at Gogreenwood dot com for more financial tips and remember,
money movers, If this.
Speaker 6 (29:07):
Were easy, everyone would do it.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
So take the lessons you've learned from this episode and
apply it to your life. Money Moves is an iHeartRadio
podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts from. Make sure to
(29:32):
tune in Monday, Wednesday and Friday and subscribe to the
Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood so that you too
can have the keys to financial freedom you so rightly deserve.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Until next time,
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