Transcript

Or I want this center to bring the very best of Vietnam to nap. We will try and bring the best of Australia to the center, but it's that merging and meshing of cultures that I think creates something that's unique and special. Let's take a step back to and remember where we are today, which is Vietnam. I think a lot of big global players, not just in the banking sector but across all industries, are really looking at this country now, thinking about how do we get involved, how do we work with Vietnam, how do we build a team here you would expect to be. It's, it feels more like a a tech startup than it does like a bank. And I think it's a real pleasure coming here. I think the people really do like it. We surveyed the staff here and. Global, we benchmark ourselves against global firms in terms of staff engagement and we're in the top decile O of all firms globally. So it's a really, really happy place to be. What role does Vietnam have to play again? I think it goes back to the, the economy, the youth that the economy and the population brings, the high energy. I find the Vietnamese people to be very creative and persistent and, and when we have, you know, an engineering, it can be quite difficult and. Challenging, they love to breakthrough problems and so I think there's just something really special and unique about what we've built here in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, and I'm really quite proud of it. Patrick, there's many places in the world you've worked in many of them. Why did NAB choose Vietnam as its first innovation hub outside of Australia back in 2019, I believe. And what convinced you that this place would be the first and best option? What we did, we looked we principally. Wanted to place in Southeast Asia time zone friendly to Australia so we we focused on Southeast Asia. Given my wife is Vietnamese, I just believe in the people and the culture here, honestly. And and I knew that we could build something that was quite special. It's also for what we do, we're relatively new. There are other companies like us, but not quite to the scale that we're doing it. And I think it was also an opportunity for us to blaze a pathway that others hadn't done and and really make a mark on the local economy. I think we had real confidence coming from the business people. Um, who had spent time here and spent time with the staff and they started to really believe they sought. And I knew I had the captured the imagination of the team in Australia and I just said, let's go. And so since then we've gone from a few 100 and 2021 to 2200 today, which is when you think of Vietnam, you just think of an office full of Vietnamese working together on solutions and challenges. But actually this office is quite global. As I understand it. There's a number of different nationalities here like Vietnamese. They're not just Vietnamese national passport holders, but. Angela, Australian, potentially American, wherever else they're coming from. Yeah. Could you touch on that point? Like, yes, the Innovation Center is here in Vietnam and the majority of the workforce is Vietnamese. But just how global is the workforce here that a lot of folks like yourself of Vietnamese heritage really feel a deep connection to this country and and really want to be part of building it into something that's great. And I think it's it's wonderful. I hope my children spend time here as they as they grow, and I hope they do. I don't know what they'll do. They're all old enough now that they tell me what to do instead of the other way around. Have they told you to get on Instagram yet? Yes, but ignore them. I, I grew up in Facebook in, in the social media world and they've told me my for most of my adulthood that that's for old people. So next question is like, you know, looking ahead, how will Vietnam form part of the NAB strategy globally as. Technology such as AI, automation, cybersecurity evolve. Where does Vietnam sit in that whole global right in the epicenter. So what I'd say, I look, I, you know, everybody saw about AI and I, I think it's a, it's a, it's a really, this is a moment in human history that I think we'll all look back on. We have 41,000, nearly 41,000 people at NAB, and I think it's everyone's job to get on the AI game, not just Vietnam or the tech center, but the tech centers like Vietnam will be at the epicenter of helping us to achieve our ambitions. I want to talk more about your leadership and personal philosophy. From my notes here, it seems like you have a favorite saying if winning was easy, everyone would do it. Yeah. How do you see the role of NAV Vietnam in helping the group win against its competitors? There's no secret in this umm. The reason I say that is because it is literally the way you win is hard work. You know, it's easy to have a great formula, it's easy to have a good strategy. It doesn't matter if you can't do it. Umm, and doing really ambitious things requires a lot of grit. And umm, and so I never really worry that much about sharing because I, I, I, I, I try to out grid everyone and push and drive the, the organization to reach ambitions that usually didn't think it could. And often I find leaders. Find me frustrating but rewarding to work for because I do push them hard. I set very, very high goals, very difficult ambition and push. And then often we make it and it's an incredible feeling when a team achieves something that frankly they just were in complete doubt of when they started the journey and then we pop out the other side. It's a real awesome and and rewarding feeling and it encourages people to then give another go at the next item. So that's a big part of my leadership style. And I I'm confident the team here would also say I drive them crazy. It's OK. But it's good that you only come once a month then that's good. I only come once a month to give that injection of steroids. And then but I wanna, I wanna have fun people who are really successful working for me. Come in, shut the door and say, what are you doing? Stop it. Like they push back. Uh, and, and you have to listen when people do that doesn't mean I have to agree with them all the time, but you have to just take a moment and breathe and listen. But aspiration matters. Very good thank you That's gonna go viral on TikTok. We have a lot of young people listening to the podcast Patrick 10s of thousands Will TuneIn over the next month and they're probably how do we how do I become a Patrick? How do I also become this technology leader and expert for. So for someone starting as a technologist today at NAP Vietnam, whether they're Vietnamese or they're from around the region or somewhere else, what do you want them to believe in from day one of. Regarding an Vietnam, I want him to believe in themselves. Like that's, that's you got to start there. You gotta believe in yourself. And you've got a. You've got to want to learn. Everything I learn in university is irrelevant now. Doesn't matter. Except probably one thing, which is I learned how to learn. And and so when, when you're a young engineer or young anything. I always tell people don't stay in a stovepipe when you're young. Take risks and go horizontal. Learn as much as you can. Learn data, learn security, learn application architecture, learn infrastructure, learn at all. Learn everything you possibly can and then that will create a very wide and broad foundation for you to build more than money.