Raghav Sukumar is a Vice President at State Street leading the Product Management in EMEA for AlphaSM Data Services which is State Street’s ‘Data as a Service’ (DaaS) offering for institutional investors. He is responsible for solution architecture, managing product roadmap and providing consultancy for EMEA client implementations. Prior to joining State Street he consulted for the Financial Conduct Authority to implement their Market Data Platform for MiFID II regulation, and provided subject matter expertise to deliver data management and regulatory reporting solutions for a FTSE100 bank and large insurance firms.

Raghav holds a Master’s degree in Management from University of Wales, Swansea and a Bachelor’s degree in Information Science and Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University.

Sponsor Information

Visit www.yourheights.com and use acuriouslife10 for a 10% discount.

Transcript

Hadley: [00:00:00] Welcome to the show Raghav. 

[00:00:03] Raghav: [00:00:03] Thanks for having me, Hadley. It's a pleasure, always pleasure to talk to you.

[00:00:05] Hadley: [00:00:05] So Raghav, as you know, you know, this is a show we want to focus on the trait of curiosity, uh, and, and the impact that it has had on your life and career as a data professional within that wider ecosystem.

[00:00:22] Raghav, imagine this right, we're sitting around a campfire starry night, me and you beer in hand. And you're about to take me on a journey through the life of Raghav. Where do we start? Go back to the beginning. Where were you born? Do you have siblings? Um, what was your early life like? 

[00:00:43] Raghav: [00:00:43] Yeah, Hadley. Uh, I was born in India in Bangalore.

[00:00:47] Um, uh, I have one sibling, an elder brother, uh, about six years older than me, uh, which kind of helps, uh, especially, uh, if one has a curious mind, the elder one is always doing something that you haven't seen before are a bit more advanced and so on. And so, uh, for me, I think w 

[00:01:05] Hadley: [00:01:05] w if you don't mind me asking, where is he now?

[00:01:08] Raghav: [00:01:08] My brother is now in Texas. Okay. Um, so he moved, um, probably three, four years ago. Um, but, um, but he's, uh, he's been, uh, quite a, uh, uh, an influence during my early ages. Uh, I would say. Hadley: Hmm, cool. And what does he do? Raghav: So he's, um, he's a computer engineer as well. Uh, so he's, uh, he's been within the software industry for a long time.

[00:01:33] And, um, when I was growing up, probably, you know, when I was seven or eight, it was, uh, he was, uh, clued up in computers that kind of, uh, played, uh, quite an important role. Um, my. My parents were entrepreneurs. So there was a computer at home, uh, basically back in, you know, uh, late eighties or early nineties, I would say,

[00:01:54] Hadley: [00:01:54] And did you get exposure to computers and how they work or what does he do exactly within computers now?

[00:02:03] Raghav: [00:02:03] Uh, no, he's, uh, he works for Dell. Uh he's um, he's leading a program management across a lot of the products globally. 

[00:02:11] Hadley: [00:02:11] That's fantastic. So, so back then he was already keen and kind of curious to see how these things work and taking it apart. 

[00:02:18] Raghav: [00:02:18] He was. He was, yes. And, uh, while he was, you know, uh, learning more about computers and, you know, um, he, he actually assembled the computer, our computer at home.

[00:02:29] And, uh, me, it was all for me, uh, you know, watching him do it and, uh, learning, uh, by, by seeing...

Marinus Heymann is the Regional Managing Director for Jigsaw Advisory in the Middle East and has 15+ years of experience in consulting focussing on Enterprise Performance Management, Corporate Strategy, Analytics and Digital Transformation.

He has extensively worked with clients across the Middle East, Southern Africa and Europe and has led large Strategy and IT transformation engagements.

Marinus holds a double bachelor's degree in Business Management and an MBA from the University of Pretoria.

Sponsor Information

Visit www.yourheights.com and use acuriouslife10 for a 10% discount.

Transcript

Hadley: [00:00:00] Welcome to the show, Marinus. 

[00:00:02] Marinus: [00:00:02] Thanks Hadley. Happy to be here. 

[00:00:04] Hadley: [00:00:04] Cool. As you know, the show focuses on the trait of curiosity. So today we want to find out the essence of Marinus and we want to understand what your life has been like and how curiosity has played a part in that. So take us on a journey. Where were you born?

[00:00:23] You know, how many siblings did you have? What w what was your family life like? How did that impact you? 

[00:00:29] Marinus: [00:00:29] All right. Um, so I was born in Pretoria, South Africa. Uh, with two siblings and older brother and older sister, um, they were quite, Hadley: So you were the baby? Marinus: yeah. Oh yeah. I was, I think, um, and nine years younger than my brother and seven years younger than my sister, so, so, okay.

[00:00:49] Hadley: So were you spoiled? Marinus: Very, very spoiled privileged. Um, so we grew up with a father who, uh, graduated an engineer and a mother who was a nursery school teacher. And, um, when my brother and sister grew up, we had very, very, um, I want to say a little income because my father just invested everything either towards his own learning and studying his MBA or, uh, into the nursery school that my mother, uh, started just before I was born, actually.

[00:01:29] So, so they didn't have that much growing up. Um, When I was young, I kind of got the tail end of it. So luckily, um, and then that's kind of leading into how I was spoiled. Um, not, not ridiculously, but obviously more than my siblings. So, um, so we, we had a wonderful childhood. My parents are great, great people and great parents.

[00:01:56] And, um, my father always had this, this notion of kind of academics first, although I was a terrible student at school. Um, and the reason for his academics first was he, he grew up with grandparents who were all self-taught, um, And who valued a valued learning more than the academic qualification. Uh, his father was a professor in electrical engineering or, um, again, starting from a very humble basis and then, and then pushing that continuous learning and my father kind of built that into me.

[00:02:40] Um, 

[00:02:42] Hadley: [00:02:42] just, just, just quickly, a quick aside in that, right? With the availability of quality information and knowledge readily available on the internet, do you think that the same emphasis should be put on a structured academic kind of path especially within technology, right. Um, w when three years down the lane, you know, the information that you gain, you know, at the start of your career or at the start of your course, rather, maybe even be outdated.

[00:03:16] What are your thoughts on that?

[00:03:17] Marinus: [00:03:17] Right. So, so let me put it to you in this way. So our curriculum in school and in varsity is very, very structured and I think no one has a real

Dr. Michael Zimmer is a father, husband, Chief Data Officer and Head of AI/ML at Zurich Germany. He is the editor of various publications on data, analytics and data science and is a Fellow of TDWI Germany. Before joining Zurich, he worked in consulting for more than 13 years. In his main job, he deals with showing the potential of Data and Analytics (D&A), while spreading the joy for Data and AI and is building bridges between business and IT to create a common spirit of optimism.

In addition to supposedly hot topics like AI, however, he is also responsible for defining data strategy, further developing data architecture and data governance. The combination of both areas is the foundation to walk the path with Zurich to become an Insight Driven Insurer.

Sponsor Information

Visit www.yourheights.com and use acuriouslife10 for a 10% discount.

Transcript

Hadley: [00:00:00] Dr. Michael Zimmer. Welcome to the show, dude. Michael: Thanks for being here.       Hadley: Cool, cool. Listen, I've really been looking forward to this, to this, this conversation, to, to finding out what's behind you. I've always kind of, you know, read your, your, your posts online and, and the papers that you've written. And I just find it.

[00:00:22] Yeah. You know, that mix between, um, between deep thinking and humour and just you know, um, yeah, zest for life. And, uh, I see that in you. I w I kind of, I identify with that, you know, and, um, and yeah, I'm, I'm looking forward to finding out what's behind the man. 

[00:00:41] Michael: [00:00:41] Yeah. I hope, uh, um, yeah, much, but we'll see. You ask the questions.

[00:00:47] Um, 

[00:00:48] Hadley: [00:00:48] okay, cool. Yeah. So, so number one, I, look, I always ask my guests right at the start is what does curiosity mean to you?

[00:00:54] Michael: [00:00:54] So I think in the beginning, if I think of curiosity, um, I think about my youth and, um, I think it was an Australian TV show called curiosity show, um, where they showed all kind of research things.

[00:01:09] So that comes to my mind. If I look to it, literally. Curiosity is for me. Um, so I want to have fun at work. I want to, um, develop new things, get new ideas. So for me, uh, it's important, um, to be curious, because it helps me to redefine myself, got to understand new things, um, and also to become a better me, um, personal business, but also from a family point of view.

[00:01:40] So, um, it's important to learn and be curious. 

[00:01:44] Hadley: [00:01:44] Yeah, no, I know, I know that, that, you know, you have a young lad and that, you know, uh, again from your posts. I see that you're very involved as an active dad and kind of play out your curiosity through your son as well. Well, how would you say um curious or what, what part do you think curiosity plays in, in the development of a child?

[00:02:04] Michael: [00:02:04] So I think in the end, um, uh, growing up and, um, for a kid it's about stimulations that we have to give them. So we have to be there. We have to talk with them. We have to interact, but in the end they want to understand the world. They want to see the things and they want to be curious with their own eyes.

[00:02:26] So I think for me, Um, curiosity is something that is driving the kids. Um, they don't know it, but they want to explore. They have to explore. And maybe it's also by evolution that they have to do it because, um, there is a German kids show where they are...