July 27, 2025 • 32 mins
The payments landscape is undergoing dramatic transformation, demanding new approaches to leadership and innovation. Karen Xu, Chief Financial Officer for North America at Ingenico, brings a fresh perspective on navigating this evolution while balancing personal and professional priorities.
Growing up in Shanghai's French Concession sparked Karen's curiosity to explore the world, eventually leading her to America with a full scholarship to Emory University. After building expertise at consulting powerhouses and industrial giants like GE and Honeywell, Karen made the pivotal transition to Ingenico seeking greater impact in a private equity-backed environment. Within months of joining, she transformed the North American region into the company's top performer across all financial metrics.
Karen shares a defining moment when her first-grade son wished for "mommy to be happier," prompting her career pivot from a demanding global CFO role requiring 70-hour workweeks to her current position. This recalibration allowed her to maintain leadership impact while reclaiming family time - a decision she reflects on with satisfaction rather than regret.
The conversation explores why payments is more welcoming to women than traditional manufacturing sectors, and why this matters when women influence 70-80% of payment decisions. Karen believes women's natural empathy, collaborative approach, and diverse perspectives drive innovation essential for the industry's future.
For emerging professionals, Karen offers wisdom gained from mentors who shaped her approach to leadership: "bloom where you are planted" and develop the ability to see what others cannot. The most successful payment solutions will combine trust, ease of use, and scalability - with women leaders positioned to excel by staying close to customer needs and leveraging data insights.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast,
where we talk to C-level leadersfrom across the payments
landscape.
We'll be discussing theproducts and services that
impact the payment space today,as well as trends and
predictions for the future ofpayments.
We will also hear stories fromour guests about their journeys
to the top.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
I'm your host, Greg Myers, andthis episode is part of our
Women Leaders in Payments month,something we do every year in
the month of July, and it's oneof my favorite times of the year
.
This year's theme is redefiningleadership, influence, impact
and innovation.
So those are some of the thingsyou're going to be hearing
about during the month of July.
So first, a special thank youto our sponsors.
(00:41):
Our title sponsor is WorldPay,Our participating sponsors are
VisiPay and PayRock, and ourepisode sponsors are the
Clearinghouse, Ingenico andPaySafe.
So special thanks to thosecompanies.
Today, I'm honored to have asour special guest Karen Hsu, the
Chief Financial Officer forNorth America at Ingenico.
So, Karen, thank you so muchfor being here and welcome to
(01:02):
the show.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Hi, greg, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
All right.
Well, let's start with a littleicebreaker, if you don't mind.
A little fun question If youcould have dinner with any woman
in history, past or present,who would it be, and why and
what kind of restaurant wouldyou go to?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I would like to meet with Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD.
She's an incredible womanleader.
As an immigrant from Taiwan,she was able to stand out in a
male-dominated industry andbreak the glass ceiling.
She increased the valuation ofAMD 100 times within 10 years
(01:39):
since taking over, so that'sreally incredible.
That shows the resilience, thecourage, the tenacity she has.
So I will be very interested tomeet with her and probably take
her to a dim sum place whereshe can try the authentic
xiaolongbao.
Who can say no to that?
It's actually very difficult tofind a xiaolongbao, you know,
(02:01):
truly authentic.
I was in Paris last month andhappened to find a Chinese
restaurant offer that, and weended up going there three days
in a row.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So I guess you won't be taking her anywhere in
Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I haven't found any place in the US actually.
Okay, that can remind me of thexiaolongbao I had in my
childhood.
Only found that place in Paris.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Okay, well then you guys can go to Paris.
I'm sure she would be fine withthat.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Close to Ingenico's headquarter Good.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
There you go.
There you go, all right.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout your background and career
.
So, if you don't mind, give usa quick snapshot of your
background, maybe where you grewup, where you studied, and then
kind of what led you into theworld of payments.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Sure, I was born and raised in Shanghai.
China Spent my childhood andteenager years living in the
French concession in Shanghai,surrounded by tree-lined streets
, european-style architectureand a unique atmosphere distinct
from the rest of Shanghai.
I had a curious mind when I wasyoung and always wished I could
(03:05):
explore the world when I grewup.
So I had my undergrad inShanghai, majored in finance,
worked in the buy side in thebanking in my early days and
then, luckily, I got merit-basedfull scholarship for my MBA at
Emory.
So I told my parents it's goingto be a free ride, I'm living
to see the world.
So that's how I came to theStates in 07 and started my
(03:30):
adventure.
After graduation I joined inconsulting, mainly with EY and
Deloitte, worked on manystrategy and operational
projects with a focus on finance.
So I was on the road for manyyears until I had a baby.
I realized I could no longertravel extensively.
So after my consulting career Ijoined General Electric and
(03:52):
later on Honeywell Both are theleading industrial conglomerates
when they were on the journeyto transform from a traditional
manufacturer to a technologycompany like the Tesla in the
industrial world.
So I was excited to work inthis epicenter, in the growth
(04:13):
engine to scale the SaaSbusiness and the industrial IoT
business, while selling thehardware and the services.
So I was quite passionateduring these roles and also at
the same time, growing my careerfrom original CFO to global CFO
for several key businesssectors.
(04:34):
And then, after the pandemic, Ilearned a town from GE in
Honeywell.
I like the operation rigor, theoperating systems.
These are really like the WestPoint for corporate finance.
But at the same time I alsorealized in these large
companies, in the publiccompanies, there's constraint.
(04:54):
You have to wait for a longtime to get certain approvals
and as a CFO I always had tofight for the budget to fuel the
growth of my business.
Oftentimes there's frictionamong the business divisions.
So I think, what if I work fora smaller-sized company maybe
medium-sized, pe-backed and willI be able to make an impact
(05:18):
more quickly?
So that's how I started to stepinto the PE portfolio company.
So it was the group CFO forOpcom.
That's a company used to stepinto the PE portfolio company.
So it was the group CFO forOpcom.
That's a company used to belisted on NASDAQ, an industrial
IoT company, and now withIngenico in the payment industry
and backed by Apollo.
So that's how I came to my jobtoday.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Okay, and I would assume there's a lot of
similarities between Ingenicobeing sort of a manufacturer and
then sort of your pastexperience with GE and Honeywell
and others.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I would agree, greg.
I would say what's similaramong these companies is they
are all going through thisjourney to transform from a
hardware dominant business to abusiness model providing
integrated solutions.
So it's not only hardware butalso services and the software,
both on-prem and the cloud.
(06:11):
So I think I've been there.
I've done that several times.
Maybe that's something I canhelp Ingenico about.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Okay, great.
So another kind of little funquestion If you were asked to
walk on stage at a conferenceand you had to have a hype song,
what would your hype song be,and why?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I think my hype song is going to be Bon Jovi's it's
my Life.
It's such an inspirational song.
I'm sure you've heard it manytimes.
I feel the passion every timelistening to it.
It's about taking control ofyour own destiny and living life
to the fullest.
So make your own choices, takesome risks and be resilient.
Don't be held back by fear orself-doubt.
(06:52):
I think that's a veryencouraging song.
Sometimes I listen to it whenI'm in downtime or feeling, you
know, there's not much energyinside me.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Sure, sure, no, I love it.
I love that.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour role today at Ingenico and
maybe what excites you the mostabout what you're working on.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
My current role is the CFO for North American
region at Ingenico.
I think what excites me is Ican make an impact and create
value in a relatively shortperiod of time, and that
probably can only happen in a PEportfolio company, not a public
company where you have toreport your earnings to Wall
(07:34):
Street every quarter.
So, for example, I joinedIngenico last August when the
company was in transit becauseit's PE backed it's typical PE
going to come to flip the houseand the industry was also in
transit.
I'm sure you're familiar withthat.
This industry has plenty ofdisruptions and a fierce
(07:54):
competition, especially inrecent years.
We see a lot of players fromAsia being very competitive,
especially in the emergingmarket, and also you know
companies like Stripe Ardian.
These companies 10 years agowere still startups, but now
they are taking a larger marketshare and being quite successful
.
(08:14):
So when I joined Ingenico, Ithink the company at least my
region was missing numbers andstruggling to achieve the
business performance and outcomethe board requested.
So I joined and I quicklyidentified where are the
problems, where I can put myfingers on right.
So cash is the oxygen.
I was trying to improve thefinancial performance and the
(08:37):
cash position immediately.
So by the end of the year.
So that's about four or fivemonths out.
So by the end of the year, sothat's about four or five months
out.
We were able to hit our numbersfor two consecutive quarters,
both Q3 and Q4, across allmetrics, if you look at revenue
(08:59):
margin earning, ebitda, cashposition all much stronger,
we've been hitting the numbersfor four consecutive quarters
and is the number one region interms of earnings.
You know the financial healthat Ingenico so the board was
quite impressed with this.
Financial results, the outcomeso I feel you know it's
meaningful, like the efforts youput into the work can lead to
(09:20):
good business results.
Okay, okay great.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So let's talk a little bit about leadership and
maybe some lessons learned.
And, as you know, leadership isevolving and has evolved a lot
over the last maybe 10 years orso.
So what does modern leadershipmean to you and how do you try
to embody that on a daily basis?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I think modern leadership means leading a group
of people and drivingaccountability to achieve good
business outcome.
That hasn't changed over theyears.
It's about giving people theopportunities to grow and thrive
.
Sometimes you are not 100% sureif this person will be able to
do the job.
(10:00):
That means you surround theperson with lots of support to
help him or her get up to speedand grow.
And I think nowadays there aremore young people coming to the
workforce right, especially inthe finance and accounting
career.
Sometimes they might feel it'snot that interesting or the job
involves a lot of tedious work.
So if you look at Big Four, forexample, it's actually become a
(10:22):
lot more difficult these yearsto hire graduates from school.
It's different from 10 or 20years ago.
It was much easier.
Now it's getting harder andharder.
So the way to lead my team is Ioften help them understand what
will be the outcome.
How will your work, your job,affect the eventual outcome of
the business?
So this way it will make themfeel more meaningful.
(10:44):
What I'm doing can make animpact, and oftentimes I give
them opportunities to rotateamong different roles within the
finance and accounting sector,because even for finance you
have many different roles.
Right, it can be ARAP.
You know this.
Back office Functions can betreasury, tax, fp&a, accounting,
(11:06):
audit, internal control, etc.
Even commercial finance forsomeone who's interested to get
close to the customers, thesales team, etc.
So I would say more thanleaders need to make business
work and also always payattention to people management.
That's what I learned at GE,because I was fortunate to work
with great leaders at GE whoused to be my mentor and told me
(11:30):
he spent 25% of his timemanaging people.
So I learned from that.
In my day-to-day work, I alsopay attention to spend more time
coaching my team.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Okay, yeah, great, I know we're going to touch on
mentorship a little laterno-transcript.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Up, up and up until I would say probably early last
year, when my son was in hisfirst grade and his teacher told
me.
She said do you know, yourson's new year wish was he hopes
mommy can be happier.
Because he noticed mommy hasbeen very busy lately, too much
work and I was lucky my parentswere here helping me take care
(12:37):
of the kid doing the chores, butstill I realized I was kind of
burning out.
I was working for 70 hours perweek every week consecutively
for many months Because theprevious company, when I joined
it, I noticed it's literallyrunning out of cash which was
not shared with me during theinterview process and cash is
(12:58):
oxygen.
So as a CFO, I need to spend aton of efforts at a time raising
capital, dealing with thelenders, managing the board and
then internally need to manageall the global financial
operations.
So it's just a very demandingrole.
Making me realize in order forme to be successful on such a
role, I have to invest at least60 to 70 hours per week at least
(13:23):
.
So then I had a conversationwith my son.
I said do you want mommy toearn more money or spend more
time with you?
He said I want you to spendmore time with me.
I said, okay, I will seriouslyconsider about it.
So when this opportunity fromIngenico was brought to me, at
(13:45):
first I was thinking that's nota global CFO role, that's like
the CFO for the Americas.
But then I thought maybe thecareer growth is not linear.
Sometimes you need to have onestep down and two steps up.
Eventually and at this stage ofmy life, like my son was in
first grade, I noticed he needshelp.
(14:05):
You cannot just easily send himout to have some tutor and then
have your hands off.
That's unrealistic.
And I saw other kids' mommy, myfriends.
Basically they are able tospend more time with their kids.
That made me feel guilty.
So I would say that's a hardmoment.
I made a decision to have aconcession in my career.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, most of those defining moments in these
conversations I've had.
They're usually not allbusiness right or they're not
all career-related.
They're usually a combinationof personal life and career
because they're so intertwinedthat those defining moments are
typically like the one you justdescribed.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, and thinking back, I had no regret
because my expectation was verylow, was not high.
I was thinking, okay, what'sgoing to happen to me?
You know, taking this job it'skind of a different trajectory
from what I had expected in thepast, but it's good.
Ingenico had a great culture.
People here are genuine andfriendly.
(15:06):
I don't need to worry a lotabout dealing with a lot of
politics in the company.
It's a different environment.
I enjoyed it and I was able tospend more time with my family.
So I think that's good, not badat all.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Right, right.
Well, what is something thatyou believe female leaders bring
to the table that the paymentsindustry needs more of?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I would say you know, coming from the manufacturer
industry, I would say paymentindustry is much more friendly
to women.
Right In my old world at likeGEO, honeywell, these are really
male-dominated industry.
I still remember at Honeywellwhen we had the meeting with all
the divisional CEOs and CFOs,with Darius Auer, the CEO of
(15:51):
Honeywell, and all the topleadership team.
I would say there are less than10% women.
I would say probably roughly 5%, and I was the youngest one
there.
That's a different environmentversus in payment industry.
I see a lot more females andwomen leaders and I think women
naturally are more empatheticand collaborative, which is good
(16:15):
for employee engagement andteam building and also,
oftentimes women will bring indiverse perspectives and they
are good for innovation andcreativity in problem solving.
So all these are great in thepayment industry and honestly, I
(16:35):
think there's no dull moment inpayment industry FinTech.
You see there are just plenty.
No dull moment in paymentindustry, fintech.
You see there are just plentyof moving pieces in this
industry.
You see these things comingevery day.
You know crypto, payment,stablecoin, etc.
So I think there's a ton tolearn.
So there are plenty ofpotential for women leaders in
this industry.
Not to mention we have manygirls these days.
(16:56):
They have major in STEM rightand AI is the future.
I think today we are stilltalking about like SaaS, you
know, software as a businessGoing forward.
We're going to see even abovethat layer.
We have digital products as aservice, probably.
So with a lot of AI right,machine learning, these new
(17:17):
business, I think women can playa great role Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's a great segue into the next section, which is
about innovation and influence.
So you mentioned it.
The payment space is changingfast.
It has been for many, manyyears.
So how do you stay innovativeas a leader?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I would say in today's world, you can easily
get access to information withinthe company or externally.
Right Even within Ingenico, ourmarketing team did a great job
sending us a lot of informationabout what's going on in the
industry.
Externally, you have thesetrade shows, these events, like
the woman in payment industryyou mentioned the other day,
(17:56):
greg.
I think these are all greatopportunities to stay in front
of the industry to know what'sgoing on.
Also, in my day-to-day work, Ifound it super helpful by
listening to the customers andeven talking to our account
managers.
So for me, for example, I spendone day every week on the sales
call.
The entire day, like everyThursday, is the day for my.
(18:18):
We call it a rev course.
So we literally review everydeal, every key account with our
sales team.
So this way we can understandreally what's the customer's
preference, their behavior,what's the trend from the
historical trend, what kind ofproducts they like to buy, why.
What's the seasonality?
What volume do they buy, whichproducts do they choose and
(18:39):
what's the seasonality?
What volume do they buy, whichproducts do they choose and
what's the competitive landscape?
What's holding us back fromclosing these deals?
Do the customers have anybudget constraint or they have a
lot of stock in their warehouse, or their outlook changed, or
what's their preference in anyverticals Can be restaurant, can
be retail, hospitality, etc.
How about their reaction on thetariff, etc.
(19:02):
So I think by talking to thepeople who work on the front
line, very close to thecustomers, is super helpful for
me to understand what's going onin this industry.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Okay.
Well, what's one trend orchange in the industry that
you're watching closely rightnow?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I watch a couple of things, right, because I think
there are so many interestingthings going on these days, for
example, the crypto payment in astable coin.
You know, with the Genius Actjust passed recently, I think
crypto payments are going tocatch a lot of attention going
forward.
It involves using digitalcurrencies like Bitcoin or
(19:39):
Ethereum as a medium of exchangeof goods and services.
They operate on blockchaintechnology.
Stablecoin, for example,operates on Ethereum's
infrastructure, so transactionsusing stablecoin are faster and
cheaper, especially forinternational payments.
So, who knows, we might usecredit cards less often to avoid
(20:03):
paying 3% to Visa, right?
So I think these are somethinginteresting to look at and since
I spent many years in the IoTspace Internet of Things so I've
been always paying attention tothe trend of 6G and IoT.
For example, if we look at theterminals we use to swipe our
cards these days, right, thenumber one use case for the
(20:26):
payment terminal we are usingtoday is really to confirm a
person's identity.
Okay, so with the evolution ofIoT, we probably don't need such
terminals in coming years.
Eventually, I think we can useimmersive tools like AR VR to
engage customers and draw deepercustomer insights, using AI to
(20:51):
affect customer behavior.
So I anticipate a lot of thingsgoing to change over the coming
years.
There will be furtherindustrial disruption.
So that's why we need to actfast.
We cannot just say you know, inthe past Ingenico has been
selling these terminals andboxes for many years, have been
successful, and we can't justwait.
(21:13):
No, we have to catch up,develop new apps, new software,
new services to meet customers'needs.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah, I think we could do a couple of episodes
about some of the things comingup around AI and stablecoins and
blockchain and just all thoseare amazing things to watch that
are going on in the industrythat are definitely going to
affect payments.
So one final question on thissection so how do you think that
women leaders can influence thefuture direction of payments in
fintech?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
I would say there are three things really critical
for payments and fintech Trust,ease of use and scalability.
If a business can win all threeof them, the business is going
to be able to scale and win themarket share.
So I think those who stay closeto the customers and listen to
the voice of customers will beable to grasp the market and be
(22:06):
the winners.
So they say data is the new oil, right?
Whoever has the data and willbe able to manage the data well
and draw helpful insights willalso set themselves apart.
So I think women will have alot of potential to influence
the future direction of thepayments and the fintech Women.
(22:28):
We are the consumers ourselves.
We can tell Women are the oneswho literally go to the grocery
store right, do a lot ofshopping, make the payments.
We can tell Women are the oneswho literally go to the grocery
store, right, right, do a lot ofshopping, make the payments,
yeah.
So I think women are sensitiveabout these changes, can often
adopt new technology quickly.
That sensitivity matters.
(22:48):
Sometimes you can smell what'scoming, what's in the market,
and then take action sooner.
Then you can win this race.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, I love it, and it's definitely been a common
theme in this month, this WomenLeaders in Payments month that
we do, about the fact that womenare highly involved.
I think there's some stats outthere 70-80% of payments are
either made by or influenced bywomen, just because of the
nature right.
So in this country you knowspecifically, I think it was
(23:17):
related to in the US, I mean,that's a large number.
So shouldn't women be moreinvolved in development of
products that are being used inthe marketplace?
So totally agree with you there, absolutely.
So let's move on to mentorshipand impact, and you mentioned
having a mentor at GE.
Are there women in the industryor in your past who've
(23:40):
influenced you, whether that waslike directly or from afar, and
maybe how did they influenceyou?
And I guess it doesn't have tobe other women, it could be men.
But I think the topic is really, you know, mentorship and how
important that is to people'scareer success.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Oh sure I would say mentorship is going to be very
important and helpful for aperson to develop his or her
career.
At GE I was very grateful.
I had a great boss and evenafter he moved to another team
he was still willing to spendtime with me, probably once
every two months, to mentor meand just talk through what's
(24:17):
going on in my day-to-day work,how to act as a leader.
So even today I'm very gratefulfor that, because sometimes
talking to a highly experiencedmentor can help me a lot, can
help me understand where I canfocus on.
For example, at first workingin finance I didn't have a
(24:39):
strong sense to build thebreadth of my knowledge, so I
was spending most of my time infinance accounting, this
traditional finance type ofcorporate finance work.
And then I realized my mentortold me like Karen, do you
notice, at GE we don't have COO,because at GE the CFOs are
expected to be the COOs.
(25:00):
So that means this financeleader needs to have extensive
knowledge and even experience inoperation.
So luckily, I worked inconsulting for many years so I
had the exposure to differentproblems and issues in strategy
and operation et cetera.
But still I think it's aftertalking to my mentor, I started
(25:21):
to be intentionally gettinginvolved in a lot of operation
work and run to the problems,for example, at GE back then I
still remember we were not superclear about our SaaS cost right
, the on-cloud software cost.
Because before joining GE I wasnaive, I was thinking oh, it's
SaaS, it will naturally be over80% margin.
(25:43):
But then, as I dig deep,because our software was running
on Amazon's AWS, I talked tothe account team every month and
I noticed, wow, we actually paya lot to Amazon.
They are like running a virtualreal estate on the cloud.
So I start to dig deep what arethe drivers of that type of
cost?
Oh, I found it's the datastorage and data consumption.
(26:05):
Okay, then, how to control thedata consumption?
Because sometimes, for example,the customer can download many
images a day and even videos.
Right, that can consume a lotof data and the cost can be high
.
So how to add the limit orcontrol around that consumption?
Then we will be more sure aboutthe cost on our side and not
(26:27):
have the cost overage and theissue without margin.
Then I start to work with theproduct team.
Right, we start to have thesesets of the limits.
For example, mr Customer, youcan only download how many
images per day, right, andbefore we add a lot of features
and maybe customers only needthe 10, not 100 or 1000 features
(26:48):
, right?
So we start to cut a lot ofnice to have features.
So that also drives a lot ofcost savings and margin
expansion.
So these are just examples.
I think I started to have asense to dig deep to understand
what's behind the numbers andhow that can help improve our
financials, because oftentimeswhen you see financials right,
(27:09):
greg, these are really lackingindicators.
It's because of the decisionsmade in the past that led to the
financials we see today.
So I want myself to be aforward-looking CFO, not just
someone looking at the rear tail, the board, what's the current
financial performance, etc.
In order to make the impact, Ineed to understand the business
(27:30):
in depth not only finance, butalso sales, operations, supply
chain, procurement really a lotof different things in order to
make my role successful.
So, yeah, that's what I learnedfrom my mentor in old GE days.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Okay, okay, great.
So let's say a woman's comingout of college, or maybe she's
in another industry, andobviously you can relate to this
and you had to give her onepiece of advice to be successful
in payments.
What would that advice be?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I would say bloom where you are planted, because
not everything can be plannedright and sometimes the fresh
graduates they don't have thebest opportunity, especially in
today's economy.
I heard many fresh undergrads.
It's actually challenging forthem to land a job, not to
mention a great job right.
So I do believe opportunitiesfavor those who are prepared.
(28:22):
I would say, as long as aperson has good work ethics,
good attitude, you know, willingto learn, willing to work hard.
So far I actually haven't seenanyone working hard and not
having a good result.
I think in this country, in theUS, it's still a place.
If you work hard you can havethese opportunities to grow.
(28:43):
And then, in terms of women, Iwould say when I was at
Honeywell, q DeLera was the CEOof Connected Enterprise.
That's the business sector Iwas working for.
Connected enterprise that's thebusiness sector I was working
for.
She was also an Asian femalewho was originally from Vietnam
and grew up in Australia Quiteimpressive because, again,
(29:03):
that's a male-dominated industry.
As a newcomer she was able toreally break through a lot of
things and establish thisconnected enterprise, basically
the technology sector ofHoneywell.
And I still remember she toldme she said in order to be
successful as a woman, you needto work very hard, right.
(29:23):
And on top of that she said,don't be intimidated by,
sometimes, the CEOs or someonewhose level is higher than yours
.
Because she said, in fact, theCEO job is a very lonely job
because oftentimes people aroundthe CEO are going to agree with
his opinion.
Just support everything he says.
(29:44):
He said actually, as a woman,if you can see something other
people cannot see, that's good.
That's how she operates atHoneywell and Darius, the CEO
back then, I think, reallyrespects her a lot because she
has that capability.
She can see things other peoplecannot see and have her unique
(30:06):
opinion.
Of course, that's based on thefacts, a lot of analysis.
She has this kind of criticalthinking.
She can bring her value to thetable.
So I think that's very helpful.
That encourages me to not onlywork hard but also always look
at things from a different angleto draw really helpful insights
(30:27):
.
And likewise, even on my team,I actually favor the staff who
can see my blind spots.
Maybe there's something Ididn't pay attention to, maybe I
was wrong, drawing someconclusion too quickly.
So if someone on my team isgoing to raise her hand and say,
Karen, by the way, I noticedXYZ.
(30:49):
Maybe we can have otheralternatives, etc.
I usually going to appreciatethat.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Okay.
Well, let's wrap up with onefinal kind of fun question.
When you look at your phone,what is the most used app that
is not work-related, and whatdoes that say about you?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Okay, I think it must be WeChat.
Wechat is a super app in China.
I think every Chinese is usingit.
Now you can really use it for alot of things.
It's the combination ofWhatsApp and the payment app,
Facebook.
I would say it's really acombination of a lot of
(31:29):
different apps and even TikTok,because in WeChat you can also
see a lot of these funny videos,and even like TikTok, because
in WeChat you can also see a lotof these funny videos.
I think once Elon Musk went toChina and he said he would like
to develop a super app likeWeChat in the US.
I don't know if he's going toreally do that, but that is an
app I use every day.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Okay, okay, great.
Well, Karen, this has been agreat session.
I really appreciate your time.
Is there anything else?
Just want to kind of open upthe floor.
Is there anything else thatyou'd like to add before we wrap
?
Speaker 3 (31:59):
up the show.
No, thank you, Greg.
I think it's really wonderfulyou have such a forum for women
leaders to communicate with eachother.
I think that's great.
I'm interested to listen toother women leaders' sessions
and learn from them.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Okay, great.
Well, Karen, thank you so muchfor being on the show today.
I know your time is veryvaluable, so I really appreciate
you being here today.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
It's my pleasure, Greg.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
And to all your listeners out there.
I thank you for your time aswell, and until the next story.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Thank you for joining us this week on the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
Make sure you visit our websiteat leadersinpaymentscom, where
you can subscribe to the showand where you'll find our show
notes.
If you enjoyed listening,please share on your social
channels as well.
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast,
where we talk to C-level leadersfrom across the payments
landscape.
We'll be discussing theproducts and services that
impact the payment space today,as well as trends and
predictions for the future ofpayments.
We will also hear stories fromour guests about their journeys
to the top.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
I'm your host, Greg Myers, andthis episode is part of our
Women Leaders in Payments month,something we do every year in
the month of July, and it's oneof my favorite times of the year
.
This year's theme is redefiningleadership, influence, impact
and innovation.
So those are some of the thingsyou're going to be hearing
about during the month of July.
So first, a special thank youto our sponsors.
(00:41):
Our title sponsor is WorldPay,Our participating sponsors are
VisiPay and PayRock, and ourepisode sponsors are the
Clearinghouse, Ingenico andPaySafe.
So special thanks to thosecompanies.
Today, I'm honored to have asour special guest Karen Hsu, the
Chief Financial Officer forNorth America at Ingenico.
So, Karen, thank you so muchfor being here and welcome to
(01:02):
the show.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Hi, greg, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
All right.
Well, let's start with a littleicebreaker, if you don't mind.
A little fun question If youcould have dinner with any woman
in history, past or present,who would it be, and why and
what kind of restaurant wouldyou go to?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I would like to meet with Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD.
She's an incredible womanleader.
As an immigrant from Taiwan,she was able to stand out in a
male-dominated industry andbreak the glass ceiling.
She increased the valuation ofAMD 100 times within 10 years
(01:39):
since taking over, so that'sreally incredible.
That shows the resilience, thecourage, the tenacity she has.
So I will be very interested tomeet with her and probably take
her to a dim sum place whereshe can try the authentic
xiaolongbao.
Who can say no to that?
It's actually very difficult tofind a xiaolongbao, you know,
(02:01):
truly authentic.
I was in Paris last month andhappened to find a Chinese
restaurant offer that, and weended up going there three days
in a row.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So I guess you won't be taking her anywhere in
Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
I haven't found any place in the US actually.
Okay, that can remind me of thexiaolongbao I had in my
childhood.
Only found that place in Paris.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Okay, well then you guys can go to Paris.
I'm sure she would be fine withthat.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Close to Ingenico's headquarter Good.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
There you go.
There you go, all right.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout your background and career
.
So, if you don't mind, give usa quick snapshot of your
background, maybe where you grewup, where you studied, and then
kind of what led you into theworld of payments.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Sure, I was born and raised in Shanghai.
China Spent my childhood andteenager years living in the
French concession in Shanghai,surrounded by tree-lined streets
, european-style architectureand a unique atmosphere distinct
from the rest of Shanghai.
I had a curious mind when I wasyoung and always wished I could
(03:05):
explore the world when I grewup.
So I had my undergrad inShanghai, majored in finance,
worked in the buy side in thebanking in my early days and
then, luckily, I got merit-basedfull scholarship for my MBA at
Emory.
So I told my parents it's goingto be a free ride, I'm living
to see the world.
So that's how I came to theStates in 07 and started my
(03:30):
adventure.
After graduation I joined inconsulting, mainly with EY and
Deloitte, worked on manystrategy and operational
projects with a focus on finance.
So I was on the road for manyyears until I had a baby.
I realized I could no longertravel extensively.
So after my consulting career Ijoined General Electric and
(03:52):
later on Honeywell Both are theleading industrial conglomerates
when they were on the journeyto transform from a traditional
manufacturer to a technologycompany like the Tesla in the
industrial world.
So I was excited to work inthis epicenter, in the growth
(04:13):
engine to scale the SaaSbusiness and the industrial IoT
business, while selling thehardware and the services.
So I was quite passionateduring these roles and also at
the same time, growing my careerfrom original CFO to global CFO
for several key businesssectors.
(04:34):
And then, after the pandemic, Ilearned a town from GE in
Honeywell.
I like the operation rigor, theoperating systems.
These are really like the WestPoint for corporate finance.
But at the same time I alsorealized in these large
companies, in the publiccompanies, there's constraint.
(04:54):
You have to wait for a longtime to get certain approvals
and as a CFO I always had tofight for the budget to fuel the
growth of my business.
Oftentimes there's frictionamong the business divisions.
So I think, what if I work fora smaller-sized company maybe
medium-sized, pe-backed and willI be able to make an impact
(05:18):
more quickly?
So that's how I started to stepinto the PE portfolio company.
So it was the group CFO forOpcom.
That's a company used to stepinto the PE portfolio company.
So it was the group CFO forOpcom.
That's a company used to belisted on NASDAQ, an industrial
IoT company, and now withIngenico in the payment industry
and backed by Apollo.
So that's how I came to my jobtoday.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Okay, and I would assume there's a lot of
similarities between Ingenicobeing sort of a manufacturer and
then sort of your pastexperience with GE and Honeywell
and others.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I would agree, greg.
I would say what's similaramong these companies is they
are all going through thisjourney to transform from a
hardware dominant business to abusiness model providing
integrated solutions.
So it's not only hardware butalso services and the software,
both on-prem and the cloud.
(06:11):
So I think I've been there.
I've done that several times.
Maybe that's something I canhelp Ingenico about.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Okay, great.
So another kind of little funquestion If you were asked to
walk on stage at a conferenceand you had to have a hype song,
what would your hype song be,and why?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I think my hype song is going to be Bon Jovi's it's
my Life.
It's such an inspirational song.
I'm sure you've heard it manytimes.
I feel the passion every timelistening to it.
It's about taking control ofyour own destiny and living life
to the fullest.
So make your own choices, takesome risks and be resilient.
Don't be held back by fear orself-doubt.
(06:52):
I think that's a veryencouraging song.
Sometimes I listen to it whenI'm in downtime or feeling, you
know, there's not much energyinside me.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Sure, sure, no, I love it.
I love that.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour role today at Ingenico and
maybe what excites you the mostabout what you're working on.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
My current role is the CFO for North American
region at Ingenico.
I think what excites me is Ican make an impact and create
value in a relatively shortperiod of time, and that
probably can only happen in a PEportfolio company, not a public
company where you have toreport your earnings to Wall
(07:34):
Street every quarter.
So, for example, I joinedIngenico last August when the
company was in transit becauseit's PE backed it's typical PE
going to come to flip the houseand the industry was also in
transit.
I'm sure you're familiar withthat.
This industry has plenty ofdisruptions and a fierce
(07:54):
competition, especially inrecent years.
We see a lot of players fromAsia being very competitive,
especially in the emergingmarket, and also you know
companies like Stripe Ardian.
These companies 10 years agowere still startups, but now
they are taking a larger marketshare and being quite successful
.
(08:14):
So when I joined Ingenico, Ithink the company at least my
region was missing numbers andstruggling to achieve the
business performance and outcomethe board requested.
So I joined and I quicklyidentified where are the
problems, where I can put myfingers on right.
So cash is the oxygen.
I was trying to improve thefinancial performance and the
(08:37):
cash position immediately.
So by the end of the year.
So that's about four or fivemonths out.
So by the end of the year, sothat's about four or five months
out.
We were able to hit our numbersfor two consecutive quarters,
both Q3 and Q4, across allmetrics, if you look at revenue
(08:59):
margin earning, ebitda, cashposition all much stronger,
we've been hitting the numbersfor four consecutive quarters
and is the number one region interms of earnings.
You know the financial healthat Ingenico so the board was
quite impressed with this.
Financial results, the outcomeso I feel you know it's
meaningful, like the efforts youput into the work can lead to
(09:20):
good business results.
Okay, okay great.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So let's talk a little bit about leadership and
maybe some lessons learned.
And, as you know, leadership isevolving and has evolved a lot
over the last maybe 10 years orso.
So what does modern leadershipmean to you and how do you try
to embody that on a daily basis?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I think modern leadership means leading a group
of people and drivingaccountability to achieve good
business outcome.
That hasn't changed over theyears.
It's about giving people theopportunities to grow and thrive
.
Sometimes you are not 100% sureif this person will be able to
do the job.
(10:00):
That means you surround theperson with lots of support to
help him or her get up to speedand grow.
And I think nowadays there aremore young people coming to the
workforce right, especially inthe finance and accounting
career.
Sometimes they might feel it'snot that interesting or the job
involves a lot of tedious work.
So if you look at Big Four, forexample, it's actually become a
(10:22):
lot more difficult these yearsto hire graduates from school.
It's different from 10 or 20years ago.
It was much easier.
Now it's getting harder andharder.
So the way to lead my team is Ioften help them understand what
will be the outcome.
How will your work, your job,affect the eventual outcome of
the business?
So this way it will make themfeel more meaningful.
(10:44):
What I'm doing can make animpact, and oftentimes I give
them opportunities to rotateamong different roles within the
finance and accounting sector,because even for finance you
have many different roles.
Right, it can be ARAP.
You know this.
Back office Functions can betreasury, tax, fp&a, accounting,
(11:06):
audit, internal control, etc.
Even commercial finance forsomeone who's interested to get
close to the customers, thesales team, etc.
So I would say more thanleaders need to make business
work and also always payattention to people management.
That's what I learned at GE,because I was fortunate to work
with great leaders at GE whoused to be my mentor and told me
(11:30):
he spent 25% of his timemanaging people.
So I learned from that.
In my day-to-day work, I alsopay attention to spend more time
coaching my team.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Okay, yeah, great, I know we're going to touch on
mentorship a little laterno-transcript.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Up, up and up until I would say probably early last
year, when my son was in hisfirst grade and his teacher told
me.
She said do you know, yourson's new year wish was he hopes
mommy can be happier.
Because he noticed mommy hasbeen very busy lately, too much
work and I was lucky my parentswere here helping me take care
(12:37):
of the kid doing the chores, butstill I realized I was kind of
burning out.
I was working for 70 hours perweek every week consecutively
for many months Because theprevious company, when I joined
it, I noticed it's literallyrunning out of cash which was
not shared with me during theinterview process and cash is
(12:58):
oxygen.
So as a CFO, I need to spend aton of efforts at a time raising
capital, dealing with thelenders, managing the board and
then internally need to manageall the global financial
operations.
So it's just a very demandingrole.
Making me realize in order forme to be successful on such a
role, I have to invest at least60 to 70 hours per week at least
(13:23):
.
So then I had a conversationwith my son.
I said do you want mommy toearn more money or spend more
time with you?
He said I want you to spendmore time with me.
I said, okay, I will seriouslyconsider about it.
So when this opportunity fromIngenico was brought to me, at
(13:45):
first I was thinking that's nota global CFO role, that's like
the CFO for the Americas.
But then I thought maybe thecareer growth is not linear.
Sometimes you need to have onestep down and two steps up.
Eventually and at this stage ofmy life, like my son was in
first grade, I noticed he needshelp.
(14:05):
You cannot just easily send himout to have some tutor and then
have your hands off.
That's unrealistic.
And I saw other kids' mommy, myfriends.
Basically they are able tospend more time with their kids.
That made me feel guilty.
So I would say that's a hardmoment.
I made a decision to have aconcession in my career.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, most of those defining moments in these
conversations I've had.
They're usually not allbusiness right or they're not
all career-related.
They're usually a combinationof personal life and career
because they're so intertwinedthat those defining moments are
typically like the one you justdescribed.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, and thinking back, I had no regret
because my expectation was verylow, was not high.
I was thinking, okay, what'sgoing to happen to me?
You know, taking this job it'skind of a different trajectory
from what I had expected in thepast, but it's good.
Ingenico had a great culture.
People here are genuine andfriendly.
(15:06):
I don't need to worry a lotabout dealing with a lot of
politics in the company.
It's a different environment.
I enjoyed it and I was able tospend more time with my family.
So I think that's good, not badat all.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Right, right.
Well, what is something thatyou believe female leaders bring
to the table that the paymentsindustry needs more of?
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I would say you know, coming from the manufacturer
industry, I would say paymentindustry is much more friendly
to women.
Right In my old world at likeGEO, honeywell, these are really
male-dominated industry.
I still remember at Honeywellwhen we had the meeting with all
the divisional CEOs and CFOs,with Darius Auer, the CEO of
(15:51):
Honeywell, and all the topleadership team.
I would say there are less than10% women.
I would say probably roughly 5%, and I was the youngest one
there.
That's a different environmentversus in payment industry.
I see a lot more females andwomen leaders and I think women
naturally are more empatheticand collaborative, which is good
(16:15):
for employee engagement andteam building and also,
oftentimes women will bring indiverse perspectives and they
are good for innovation andcreativity in problem solving.
So all these are great in thepayment industry and honestly, I
(16:35):
think there's no dull moment inpayment industry FinTech.
You see there are just plenty.
No dull moment in paymentindustry, fintech.
You see there are just plentyof moving pieces in this
industry.
You see these things comingevery day.
You know crypto, payment,stablecoin, etc.
So I think there's a ton tolearn.
So there are plenty ofpotential for women leaders in
this industry.
Not to mention we have manygirls these days.
(16:56):
They have major in STEM rightand AI is the future.
I think today we are stilltalking about like SaaS, you
know, software as a businessGoing forward.
We're going to see even abovethat layer.
We have digital products as aservice, probably.
So with a lot of AI right,machine learning, these new
(17:17):
business, I think women can playa great role Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's a great segue into the next section, which is
about innovation and influence.
So you mentioned it.
The payment space is changingfast.
It has been for many, manyyears.
So how do you stay innovativeas a leader?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I would say in today's world, you can easily
get access to information withinthe company or externally.
Right Even within Ingenico, ourmarketing team did a great job
sending us a lot of informationabout what's going on in the
industry.
Externally, you have thesetrade shows, these events, like
the woman in payment industryyou mentioned the other day,
(17:56):
greg.
I think these are all greatopportunities to stay in front
of the industry to know what'sgoing on.
Also, in my day-to-day work, Ifound it super helpful by
listening to the customers andeven talking to our account
managers.
So for me, for example, I spendone day every week on the sales
call.
The entire day, like everyThursday, is the day for my.
(18:18):
We call it a rev course.
So we literally review everydeal, every key account with our
sales team.
So this way we can understandreally what's the customer's
preference, their behavior,what's the trend from the
historical trend, what kind ofproducts they like to buy, why.
What's the seasonality?
What volume do they buy, whichproducts do they choose and
(18:39):
what's the seasonality?
What volume do they buy, whichproducts do they choose and
what's the competitive landscape?
What's holding us back fromclosing these deals?
Do the customers have anybudget constraint or they have a
lot of stock in their warehouse, or their outlook changed, or
what's their preference in anyverticals Can be restaurant, can
be retail, hospitality, etc.
How about their reaction on thetariff, etc.
(19:02):
So I think by talking to thepeople who work on the front
line, very close to thecustomers, is super helpful for
me to understand what's going onin this industry.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Okay.
Well, what's one trend orchange in the industry that
you're watching closely rightnow?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I watch a couple of things, right, because I think
there are so many interestingthings going on these days, for
example, the crypto payment in astable coin.
You know, with the Genius Actjust passed recently, I think
crypto payments are going tocatch a lot of attention going
forward.
It involves using digitalcurrencies like Bitcoin or
(19:39):
Ethereum as a medium of exchangeof goods and services.
They operate on blockchaintechnology.
Stablecoin, for example,operates on Ethereum's
infrastructure, so transactionsusing stablecoin are faster and
cheaper, especially forinternational payments.
So, who knows, we might usecredit cards less often to avoid
(20:03):
paying 3% to Visa, right?
So I think these are somethinginteresting to look at and since
I spent many years in the IoTspace Internet of Things so I've
been always paying attention tothe trend of 6G and IoT.
For example, if we look at theterminals we use to swipe our
cards these days, right, thenumber one use case for the
(20:26):
payment terminal we are usingtoday is really to confirm a
person's identity.
Okay, so with the evolution ofIoT, we probably don't need such
terminals in coming years.
Eventually, I think we can useimmersive tools like AR VR to
engage customers and draw deepercustomer insights, using AI to
(20:51):
affect customer behavior.
So I anticipate a lot of thingsgoing to change over the coming
years.
There will be furtherindustrial disruption.
So that's why we need to actfast.
We cannot just say you know, inthe past Ingenico has been
selling these terminals andboxes for many years, have been
successful, and we can't justwait.
(21:13):
No, we have to catch up,develop new apps, new software,
new services to meet customers'needs.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah, I think we could do a couple of episodes
about some of the things comingup around AI and stablecoins and
blockchain and just all thoseare amazing things to watch that
are going on in the industrythat are definitely going to
affect payments.
So one final question on thissection so how do you think that
women leaders can influence thefuture direction of payments in
fintech?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
I would say there are three things really critical
for payments and fintech Trust,ease of use and scalability.
If a business can win all threeof them, the business is going
to be able to scale and win themarket share.
So I think those who stay closeto the customers and listen to
the voice of customers will beable to grasp the market and be
(22:06):
the winners.
So they say data is the new oil, right?
Whoever has the data and willbe able to manage the data well
and draw helpful insights willalso set themselves apart.
So I think women will have alot of potential to influence
the future direction of thepayments and the fintech Women.
(22:28):
We are the consumers ourselves.
We can tell Women are the oneswho literally go to the grocery
store right, do a lot ofshopping, make the payments.
We can tell Women are the oneswho literally go to the grocery
store, right, right, do a lot ofshopping, make the payments,
yeah.
So I think women are sensitiveabout these changes, can often
adopt new technology quickly.
That sensitivity matters.
(22:48):
Sometimes you can smell what'scoming, what's in the market,
and then take action sooner.
Then you can win this race.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, I love it, and it's definitely been a common
theme in this month, this WomenLeaders in Payments month that
we do, about the fact that womenare highly involved.
I think there's some stats outthere 70-80% of payments are
either made by or influenced bywomen, just because of the
nature right.
So in this country you knowspecifically, I think it was
(23:17):
related to in the US, I mean,that's a large number.
So shouldn't women be moreinvolved in development of
products that are being used inthe marketplace?
So totally agree with you there, absolutely.
So let's move on to mentorshipand impact, and you mentioned
having a mentor at GE.
Are there women in the industryor in your past who've
(23:40):
influenced you, whether that waslike directly or from afar, and
maybe how did they influenceyou?
And I guess it doesn't have tobe other women, it could be men.
But I think the topic is really, you know, mentorship and how
important that is to people'scareer success.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Oh sure I would say mentorship is going to be very
important and helpful for aperson to develop his or her
career.
At GE I was very grateful.
I had a great boss and evenafter he moved to another team
he was still willing to spendtime with me, probably once
every two months, to mentor meand just talk through what's
(24:17):
going on in my day-to-day work,how to act as a leader.
So even today I'm very gratefulfor that, because sometimes
talking to a highly experiencedmentor can help me a lot, can
help me understand where I canfocus on.
For example, at first workingin finance I didn't have a
(24:39):
strong sense to build thebreadth of my knowledge, so I
was spending most of my time infinance accounting, this
traditional finance type ofcorporate finance work.
And then I realized my mentortold me like Karen, do you
notice, at GE we don't have COO,because at GE the CFOs are
expected to be the COOs.
(25:00):
So that means this financeleader needs to have extensive
knowledge and even experience inoperation.
So luckily, I worked inconsulting for many years so I
had the exposure to differentproblems and issues in strategy
and operation et cetera.
But still I think it's aftertalking to my mentor, I started
(25:21):
to be intentionally gettinginvolved in a lot of operation
work and run to the problems,for example, at GE back then I
still remember we were not superclear about our SaaS cost right
, the on-cloud software cost.
Because before joining GE I wasnaive, I was thinking oh, it's
SaaS, it will naturally be over80% margin.
(25:43):
But then, as I dig deep,because our software was running
on Amazon's AWS, I talked tothe account team every month and
I noticed, wow, we actually paya lot to Amazon.
They are like running a virtualreal estate on the cloud.
So I start to dig deep what arethe drivers of that type of
cost?
Oh, I found it's the datastorage and data consumption.
(26:05):
Okay, then, how to control thedata consumption?
Because sometimes, for example,the customer can download many
images a day and even videos.
Right, that can consume a lotof data and the cost can be high
.
So how to add the limit orcontrol around that consumption?
Then we will be more sure aboutthe cost on our side and not
(26:27):
have the cost overage and theissue without margin.
Then I start to work with theproduct team.
Right, we start to have thesesets of the limits.
For example, mr Customer, youcan only download how many
images per day, right, andbefore we add a lot of features
and maybe customers only needthe 10, not 100 or 1000 features
(26:48):
, right?
So we start to cut a lot ofnice to have features.
So that also drives a lot ofcost savings and margin
expansion.
So these are just examples.
I think I started to have asense to dig deep to understand
what's behind the numbers andhow that can help improve our
financials, because oftentimeswhen you see financials right,
(27:09):
greg, these are really lackingindicators.
It's because of the decisionsmade in the past that led to the
financials we see today.
So I want myself to be aforward-looking CFO, not just
someone looking at the rear tail, the board, what's the current
financial performance, etc.
In order to make the impact, Ineed to understand the business
(27:30):
in depth not only finance, butalso sales, operations, supply
chain, procurement really a lotof different things in order to
make my role successful.
So, yeah, that's what I learnedfrom my mentor in old GE days.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Okay, okay, great.
So let's say a woman's comingout of college, or maybe she's
in another industry, andobviously you can relate to this
and you had to give her onepiece of advice to be successful
in payments.
What would that advice be?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I would say bloom where you are planted, because
not everything can be plannedright and sometimes the fresh
graduates they don't have thebest opportunity, especially in
today's economy.
I heard many fresh undergrads.
It's actually challenging forthem to land a job, not to
mention a great job right.
So I do believe opportunitiesfavor those who are prepared.
(28:22):
I would say, as long as aperson has good work ethics,
good attitude, you know, willingto learn, willing to work hard.
So far I actually haven't seenanyone working hard and not
having a good result.
I think in this country, in theUS, it's still a place.
If you work hard you can havethese opportunities to grow.
(28:43):
And then, in terms of women, Iwould say when I was at
Honeywell, q DeLera was the CEOof Connected Enterprise.
That's the business sector Iwas working for.
Connected enterprise that's thebusiness sector I was working
for.
She was also an Asian femalewho was originally from Vietnam
and grew up in Australia Quiteimpressive because, again,
(29:03):
that's a male-dominated industry.
As a newcomer she was able toreally break through a lot of
things and establish thisconnected enterprise, basically
the technology sector ofHoneywell.
And I still remember she toldme she said in order to be
successful as a woman, you needto work very hard, right.
(29:23):
And on top of that she said,don't be intimidated by,
sometimes, the CEOs or someonewhose level is higher than yours
.
Because she said, in fact, theCEO job is a very lonely job
because oftentimes people aroundthe CEO are going to agree with
his opinion.
Just support everything he says.
(29:44):
He said actually, as a woman,if you can see something other
people cannot see, that's good.
That's how she operates atHoneywell and Darius, the CEO
back then, I think, reallyrespects her a lot because she
has that capability.
She can see things other peoplecannot see and have her unique
(30:06):
opinion.
Of course, that's based on thefacts, a lot of analysis.
She has this kind of criticalthinking.
She can bring her value to thetable.
So I think that's very helpful.
That encourages me to not onlywork hard but also always look
at things from a different angleto draw really helpful insights
(30:27):
.
And likewise, even on my team,I actually favor the staff who
can see my blind spots.
Maybe there's something Ididn't pay attention to, maybe I
was wrong, drawing someconclusion too quickly.
So if someone on my team isgoing to raise her hand and say,
Karen, by the way, I noticedXYZ.
(30:49):
Maybe we can have otheralternatives, etc.
I usually going to appreciatethat.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Okay.
Well, let's wrap up with onefinal kind of fun question.
When you look at your phone,what is the most used app that
is not work-related, and whatdoes that say about you?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Okay, I think it must be WeChat.
Wechat is a super app in China.
I think every Chinese is usingit.
Now you can really use it for alot of things.
It's the combination ofWhatsApp and the payment app,
Facebook.
I would say it's really acombination of a lot of
(31:29):
different apps and even TikTok,because in WeChat you can also
see a lot of these funny videos,and even like TikTok, because
in WeChat you can also see a lotof these funny videos.
I think once Elon Musk went toChina and he said he would like
to develop a super app likeWeChat in the US.
I don't know if he's going toreally do that, but that is an
app I use every day.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Okay, okay, great.
Well, Karen, this has been agreat session.
I really appreciate your time.
Is there anything else?
Just want to kind of open upthe floor.
Is there anything else thatyou'd like to add before we wrap
?
Speaker 3 (31:59):
up the show.
No, thank you, Greg.
I think it's really wonderfulyou have such a forum for women
leaders to communicate with eachother.
I think that's great.
I'm interested to listen toother women leaders' sessions
and learn from them.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Okay, great.
Well, Karen, thank you so muchfor being on the show today.
I know your time is veryvaluable, so I really appreciate
you being here today.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
It's my pleasure, Greg.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
And to all your listeners out there.
I thank you for your time aswell, and until the next story.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Thank you for joining us this week on the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
Make sure you visit our websiteat leadersinpaymentscom, where
you can subscribe to the showand where you'll find our show
notes.
If you enjoyed listening,please share on your social
channels as well.
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