1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:04,200
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason

2
00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:09,119
Speaker 1: Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. All right, thank you so much.

3
00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:11,800
Speaker 1: You are listening to Bloomberg Business Week. He transformed our

4
00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,400
Speaker 1: next Guest a division of ge Um, and he turned

5
00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:17,439
Speaker 1: it into the publicly held gen Packed. It's an I

6
00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:21,680
Speaker 1: T services company managing risk and compliance applications. It's based

7
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,960
Speaker 1: in India. It has more than nine employees. He however,

8
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 1: has been stuck in New York because of the pandemic.

9
00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,639
Speaker 1: Great to welcome to our audience and to Bloomberg Radio.

10
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 1: Gen Packs president and CEO. He's Tiger thiagarag On and

11
00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,239
Speaker 1: he joins us on the phone. As I mentioned in

12
00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,880
Speaker 1: New York City, Tiger, nice to have you here with us. Um,

13
00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,360
Speaker 1: how are you doing so great to be on the show,

14
00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,760
Speaker 1: and thank you doing really well? Um. I guess the

15
00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,600
Speaker 1: Dutch statement has to be calvetted with in these times.

16
00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,800
Speaker 1: Will expand upon that, because you're right, these are unusual times.

17
00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,800
Speaker 1: So tell us a little bit about what your world

18
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,279
Speaker 1: has been like for the last six months. I've been

19
00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,120
Speaker 1: I'm based in the in New York City in Manhattan,

20
00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:08,600
Speaker 1: and I've been operating the company from my home, which

21
00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 1: is an apartment in New York City, and you know,

22
00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,400
Speaker 1: the global close to a hundred thousand employees who are

23
00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:20,920
Speaker 1: all working from home or most of them are running operations, uh, consulting,

24
00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,160
Speaker 1: digital engagements, analytics engagements with a lot of our global

25
00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:27,600
Speaker 1: clients who are also working from home. And that's you

26
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,480
Speaker 1: know that that's an interesting challenge which we weren't necessarily

27
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,080
Speaker 1: all prepared for, but we got there and and at

28
00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,360
Speaker 1: some point in time it you start wondering is there

29
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:42,160
Speaker 1: a time when this will end? And so shifting online,

30
00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,160
Speaker 1: I feel like we're all kind of wrestling with it

31
00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,880
Speaker 1: at this point now several months in, because we're beyond

32
00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:50,960
Speaker 1: I've said this before in this program, we're sort of

33
00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,400
Speaker 1: beyond the triage stage where you just sort of get

34
00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,640
Speaker 1: through it, and now we have sort of different rhythms

35
00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:01,720
Speaker 1: and different interactions. We're learning different ways of doing things.

36
00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,680
Speaker 1: What have you learned you and especially your team in

37
00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,600
Speaker 1: terms of interacting with each other about kind of who

38
00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,800
Speaker 1: you are and and sort of how you operate as

39
00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,720
Speaker 1: a company. Oh so much, Jason, We've learned so much.

40
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 1: I'll start by saying that the technologies that we are

41
00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 1: using that our clients are using that the whole world

42
00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,440
Speaker 1: is using have always been available for some years now.

43
00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:30,200
Speaker 1: Technology is that allow us to collaborate together, to communicate

44
00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,880
Speaker 1: irrespective of distance. Um, the reality is we didn't use

45
00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:38,200
Speaker 1: it to its fullest extent, and now what the pandemic

46
00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,360
Speaker 1: has shown us is the way it can be used. Um,

47
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:44,800
Speaker 1: it's very productive. You don't necessarily have to travel every

48
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,200
Speaker 1: time you want to meet someone, and you can get

49
00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,440
Speaker 1: large groups of people to engage with each other. Now

50
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,239
Speaker 1: is that equal to socially interacting face to face, having

51
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,440
Speaker 1: a dinner together. It's not. But you know, I think

52
00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,480
Speaker 1: what the world is learning is how do you mix

53
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,320
Speaker 1: and match this? And hopefully, as we come out of

54
00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,120
Speaker 1: the pandemic, can we actually take all the best practices

55
00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,040
Speaker 1: we learned here and bring them into the world of tomorrow.

56
00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,200
Speaker 1: One example would be how inclusive is this current culture

57
00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,360
Speaker 1: where everyone is on a is on a video conference

58
00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,520
Speaker 1: call rather than three people on video conference and ten

59
00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,119
Speaker 1: people in a room. Unfortunately, those three people get left

60
00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,760
Speaker 1: out and that whole ability to drive more diversity and

61
00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,520
Speaker 1: inclusion is a big plus that hopefully we can all

62
00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,680
Speaker 1: hang onto. Well, what what you know, let's stick with

63
00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,760
Speaker 1: that for a little bit um in terms of d

64
00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,760
Speaker 1: n I, diversity and inclusion. I mean, these are not

65
00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,280
Speaker 1: new topics. You know this tiger, and we've been talking

66
00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,680
Speaker 1: about it for decades, and yet here we are and

67
00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,960
Speaker 1: we're all astonished, and we are shocked at the inequalities.

68
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,600
Speaker 1: And like I said, they've been around for a while.

69
00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,240
Speaker 1: How do we, as Jason mentioned to one of our

70
00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,440
Speaker 1: earlier guests, Abigail Disney, you know, how do we move

71
00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,760
Speaker 1: beyond conversation to real action that actually results in significant

72
00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:03,520
Speaker 1: change so that the world is lifted everyone benefits. Tell

73
00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 1: it's such a great point. We've been added, The world

74
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,120
Speaker 1: has been added, We as a company have been added.

75
00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,440
Speaker 1: I think everyone's been added on various dimensions, whether it's

76
00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,840
Speaker 1: gender equities or its racial equity. As we you know clearly,

77
00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,040
Speaker 1: at least in the US, we're very focused on it

78
00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:21,640
Speaker 1: these days. But it's been a focus for some time,

79
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,960
Speaker 1: and yet I would argue not enough has has changed

80
00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,960
Speaker 1: and not enough has moved. I'll start with I think

81
00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 1: much more transparency and visibility to metrics that shows improvement

82
00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,960
Speaker 1: is something that we have been big believers in. Uh So,

83
00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,240
Speaker 1: tell me the diversity at the top of the company.

84
00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,240
Speaker 1: Tell me the diversity and the board. Show me what

85
00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,880
Speaker 1: goals you have and what what you know? I'm I

86
00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,040
Speaker 1: hate to use the word, but what targets you have

87
00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,080
Speaker 1: and show me progress against those targets. We all have

88
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,440
Speaker 1: financial goals that were held responsible for. Why is it

89
00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:56,560
Speaker 1: wrong not to have Why is it wrong? I mean,

90
00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,479
Speaker 1: why shouldn't we have diversity goals? Because the reality, better

91
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:06,000
Speaker 1: solutions get get created when you have diverse minds at

92
00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,120
Speaker 1: the table, and you the way you get divorce minds,

93
00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,920
Speaker 1: it's people with divorce backgrounds divorce experience. So I think

94
00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,040
Speaker 1: the theory of the cases talked about enough. I think

95
00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,440
Speaker 1: the way your drive action is by driving metrics and

96
00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,560
Speaker 1: by having a little totally agree transparency and metrics. Right

97
00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:22,680
Speaker 1: numbers they tell you know, when you start looking at

98
00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:24,960
Speaker 1: an organization and you look at either you know, the

99
00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,800
Speaker 1: diversity and inclusion, you look at the composition of your workforce.

100
00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,240
Speaker 1: When you look at the numbers, there's nothing that you

101
00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:34,440
Speaker 1: can hide. Right numbers tell a story that's right, that's right,

102
00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,039
Speaker 1: and and and it's perfectly fine to say, look, I

103
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:40,320
Speaker 1: have a goal and it's going to take me some

104
00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,480
Speaker 1: time to hit the goal. However, I've driven improvement this

105
00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:45,920
Speaker 1: year versus last year in the previous year. And that's

106
00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,800
Speaker 1: what progress is about. It's not necessarily saying already there

107
00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:50,960
Speaker 1: at the time to Hill, no, I haven't, but I'm

108
00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,880
Speaker 1: making progress, Tiger. One of the fascinating things about a

109
00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,719
Speaker 1: company like yours is you have amazing insights and windows

110
00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:03,520
Speaker 1: into a whole pety of other companies, their hopes and dreams,

111
00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,599
Speaker 1: their struggles during all of this. What's one of the

112
00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,960
Speaker 1: things that you've picked up either that you can generalize

113
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,120
Speaker 1: or that has really stuck with you about what other

114
00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,839
Speaker 1: companies are dealing with for all of this, Jason, I'll

115
00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,880
Speaker 1: start by saying that the one overaarching seeing that you

116
00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:25,760
Speaker 1: could capture everything in is a significant acceleration in uh

117
00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,359
Speaker 1: digital transformation. You know, I think I think it'll be

118
00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,839
Speaker 1: fair to say that most companies, most enterprises across the

119
00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:35,600
Speaker 1: globe have been on a path to embrace digital into

120
00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,520
Speaker 1: the enterprise, to change business models, to drive efficiency, to

121
00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,279
Speaker 1: drive better experience with customers, and so on and so forth.

122
00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,920
Speaker 1: Just think about accelerating that from a five year journey

123
00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 1: to an eighteen month journey or a twenty four month journey.

124
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:50,120
Speaker 1: And that's what we've been seeing and I think it

125
00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:54,039
Speaker 1: applies to every company in every industry. Well, it's interesting, Yeah,

126
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,839
Speaker 1: I do wonder if we're going to look back Tiger

127
00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,600
Speaker 1: at this moment in time. I don't know whether it's

128
00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:02,120
Speaker 1: going to take us a year, whether it's gonna take

129
00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,240
Speaker 1: us five years, and just how much this time unfortunately

130
00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,040
Speaker 1: the stress um and the difficulties, but how it really

131
00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:13,760
Speaker 1: kind of cause so many different changes in how we

132
00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,880
Speaker 1: do it. Whether it's telemedicine, whether it's education, whether it's

133
00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,800
Speaker 1: the digitization, which we've been talking about and increasingly seeing,

134
00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,200
Speaker 1: but it's really picked up speed. Tell you you you

135
00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,480
Speaker 1: got it. I mean, this is a tragic eight months.

136
00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,480
Speaker 1: The pandemic is tragic. I mean, lives have been lost, Um,

137
00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,440
Speaker 1: lots of people have lost their jobs and and so

138
00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:39,560
Speaker 1: all of that is terrible. However, you know, we all

139
00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,240
Speaker 1: have to continue to look for So what are we

140
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,320
Speaker 1: learning from this and what are the things that we

141
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:45,960
Speaker 1: can take forward? And there are so many things. One

142
00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,920
Speaker 1: of this digital thing that we talked about, you know,

143
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,360
Speaker 1: almost every company in every industry, the switch to online

144
00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,960
Speaker 1: is just amazing. Um, if someone had a five percent

145
00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,920
Speaker 1: penetration on online versus offline, that's now gone to if

146
00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:06,880
Speaker 1: someone was already that's easily hitting the six mark. Um,

147
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,080
Speaker 1: everything is moving to the cloud. Uh. All of these

148
00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,560
Speaker 1: were transitions that were happening. Now people are jumping on

149
00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,800
Speaker 1: it in an accelerated fashion. Um. You know the everyone

150
00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,160
Speaker 1: wants analytics now, real time and insights, real time to

151
00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,880
Speaker 1: take decisions. After all, when you have a highly volatile

152
00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,960
Speaker 1: world where demanded supply spikes up and down, I mean

153
00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,240
Speaker 1: think about it. You know, the first couple of months

154
00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,280
Speaker 1: through the pandemic, the sale of wheat flour I believe

155
00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,800
Speaker 1: went up plus. The sale of yeast went up by

156
00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:39,719
Speaker 1: forty percent plus, and I never could imagine why. And

157
00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,880
Speaker 1: then I realized people were baking at home. I had

158
00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,600
Speaker 1: to listen. I couldn't buy flower for a while, and

159
00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,080
Speaker 1: I found we had the Sea of King Arthur Flower

160
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,600
Speaker 1: on this program and she was talking about, you know,

161
00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,240
Speaker 1: demand like they've never seen before. They had to completely

162
00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,640
Speaker 1: change their supply chain, right right. So, when you have

163
00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,000
Speaker 1: that kind of volatility, which which would say is going

164
00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:06,160
Speaker 1: to last beyond the pandemic, because the volatility is going

165
00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,000
Speaker 1: to be driven by many things up and down, you

166
00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,679
Speaker 1: need much more real time analytcs that supply chain can

167
00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:15,120
Speaker 1: deal with UM and all of that digital transformation and

168
00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:18,000
Speaker 1: digital technologies are going to allow us to do that.

169
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,040
Speaker 1: That's got accelerated. All of that should be good because

170
00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:24,440
Speaker 1: in the end the consumer and businesses get benefit of

171
00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:29,280
Speaker 1: that much better experience, much better value. So so you know,

172
00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,560
Speaker 1: hopefully that comes out as the hybrid is the way

173
00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:36,520
Speaker 1: some people refer to it, which is a combination of

174
00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,320
Speaker 1: everything that we used to do before, but everything that

175
00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,040
Speaker 1: we've learned now, can we mix and match that, create

176
00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:45,920
Speaker 1: more flexibility and work, create much more online and offline.

177
00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,200
Speaker 1: No one is going to have only offline anymore. Everyone

178
00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,280
Speaker 1: is going to have an online channel. So so Tiger

179
00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,480
Speaker 1: for you as a CEO, I would imagine not knowing

180
00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:00,480
Speaker 1: too much about it, but knowing how most big global

181
00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,080
Speaker 1: CEOs operate. You were on the road all the time,

182
00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,520
Speaker 1: You're constantly meeting people. You've got a lot of face

183
00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,920
Speaker 1: time with a lot of your key folks. How has

184
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,840
Speaker 1: this changed you, How has it changed your leadership? Silent,

185
00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,040
Speaker 1: what do you take with you into sort of whatever

186
00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,200
Speaker 1: the next normal is going to be? Great question, Jason,

187
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,520
Speaker 1: so I shot by saying, obviously, I haven't traveled at

188
00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:27,720
Speaker 1: all since the first few days of March. Uh, it's

189
00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:31,000
Speaker 1: the longest period ever in my life that I haven't traveled,

190
00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,560
Speaker 1: and it's it's fascinating for someone who used to travel

191
00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:36,959
Speaker 1: a hundred fifty days a year. And the first thing

192
00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,640
Speaker 1: that crops up is why didn't I think about this earlier?

193
00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:45,080
Speaker 1: Exactly the same point on digital technologies, UM, and the

194
00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,040
Speaker 1: realization that when the world comes back to the new normal,

195
00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:50,240
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm going to travel a hundred fifty

196
00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:52,840
Speaker 1: days ago. UM. I think I can get by with

197
00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,880
Speaker 1: half of that, maybe maybe one third of that. So

198
00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,720
Speaker 1: we're doing many more conversations with clients than ever before,

199
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,320
Speaker 1: not less, but many more, ten times more. All of

200
00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,240
Speaker 1: them are virtual, all of them are video and phone,

201
00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:10,400
Speaker 1: et cetera. UM. Obviously we are missing the ability to

202
00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,000
Speaker 1: you know, be face to face, go have a dinner,

203
00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,959
Speaker 1: go have breakfast, go have lunch. So the way I

204
00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:18,839
Speaker 1: think about the world of the future is I think

205
00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,040
Speaker 1: we're going to do many more of these virtual meetings

206
00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,560
Speaker 1: than before. I think it's much more productive. However, every

207
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:26,200
Speaker 1: once in a while we're gonna say, John, I'm gonna

208
00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,120
Speaker 1: come and meet you in Chicago. Let's go and have dinner.

209
00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,400
Speaker 1: So the separation of I'm going to meet you because

210
00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:34,760
Speaker 1: we're going to do more than just a business conversation.

211
00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,240
Speaker 1: So if I want to do a one our business conversation,

212
00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:38,959
Speaker 1: I don't need to fly down to Chicago. Let's do

213
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,280
Speaker 1: a call. I think that's gonna happen. You might say, Jane,

214
00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,720
Speaker 1: I'm going to meet you. Just giving you a hard time,

215
00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,240
Speaker 1: all right, Well, we really really enjoyed it. We hope

216
00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:51,120
Speaker 1: you'll keep in touch with us because a lot of

217
00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,880
Speaker 1: insights there. Tiger Thiagarage and he is the CEO of

218
00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:57,800
Speaker 1: gen Pack, joining us on the phone from New York City,