Ep005 Two Decades of Finance Wisdom w.Mona Leung - Being Mindful & Relaxed On The Journey

“You walk in with your idea, people are going to engage with you. They’re going to get into your data, they’re going to get into your thought process and they’re going to challenge you, and they’ll also build on it. So you’re going to walk out with a different product…a better product.”

Today our guest is finance gal Mona Leung, a Director here in AWS Finance. Mona draws on her 2 decades of finance experience before joining Amazon in 2014. She tells us what was different about Amazon, what advice she would give herself if starting out again, and oh yes we can't forget, Mona’s motto aka the 'Mona Leadership Principles'. We hope you enjoy!

2:15 Pizza Hut Finance

3:38 What Mona was like as a kid…an athlete

6:20 What was different when joining Amazon? - Taking risks & big ideas.

7:06 Mona’s Amazon origin story

10:01 Leadership style – be bold, be vocal, take risks, embrace mistakes

11:11 Advice to new hires – unlearning, don’t just default to old habits

11:51 What Mona unlearned – wanting people to like your idea vs. wanting them to help with your idea

14:57 What qualities do you look for in a new hire? The spark & The genuineness.

17:51 Something about Amazon – it’s fun.

20:31 MONA’s MOTTO aka the Mona Leadership Principles

23:21 What advice Mona would give herself starting out

26:19 The worst advice Mona ever received – you should aim to be in the CFO pipeline by ‘this’ age

27:56 on Diversity – how Amazon is like the U.N., in culture & work experience

30:41 The 3 people Mona would most want to have dinner with 

31:11 Active listening

32:11 What Mona learns from her children (and how they help her with work)

36:41 Parting words for those just starting out – be mindful but relax, it’s a journey

Mona on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monasleung/

--

Sid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhodi/
Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleskunken

To find us online: charleskunken.com/podcast or email the show with any questions, comments, requests for guests, etc: [email protected]

Art & Work blog | charleskunken.com/blogsummary (Ideas on creativity & mindset)
Subscribe | charleskunken.com/subscribe (To the ‘Art & Work’ weekly email newsletter)

Insta |  instagram.com/cbkunk/ (Daily 1 min. Instagram TV show: #ThePlazaOfTruth)
fb | facebook.com/cbkunk

—

Music by Good Baby. ‘Rose Colored’ (instrumental version), goodbaby.band/musicvideos