Ep10 - Make Progress Everyday With Oisin Hughes, Head Of Portfolio Management, AWS Artwork

Finance Guys In Tech

The opinions on this show are our own. The voices in our heads... still figuring that out. Charlie & Sid bring you some humanity, fun, and other useful stuff from the trenches of working in finance at Amazon. An interview show with our friends and colleagues at Amazon about how they ended up here, how they thrive, and most importantly…what are they doing this weekend. This show is all geared towards helping you perform better in your career, forming stronger teams, reducing stress & anxiety, and having plenty of laughs along the way. We’ll go micro on the day-to-day tactics and tips. We’ll go macro on creativity and mindset. We’ll give you all kinds of new ideas to play with about how to get into tech finance or what an optimal career might look like for you. We'll also bring you guests who you might not otherwise have access to. And since our number one objective is to bring you value we'll listen to you about the things you really want to hear. Sid joined Amazon in 2016 and AWS one year later. He's a value investor at heart so his presence on the show should be all you need to know about choosing to listen. Charlie (that’s me) has worked in finance at Amazon since 2014 and joined Amazon Web Services in 2015. He is also 1/2 of GoodBaby.band | Bass and songwriter for fornow.band | Recovering drummer | Author of the Art & Work weekly newsletter at charleskunken.com | Writer. Rider. New Yorker. Artist.

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Finance Guys In Tech

Ep10 - Make Progress Everyday With Oisin Hughes, Head Of Portfolio Management, AWS

January 16, 2020 • Charlie Kunken & Sid Dhodi, Finance At Amazon

“Make progress every day…even one small win can be enough.”

Today Sid and I interview Oisin Hughes, Head of Global Data Center Portfolio Management here in AWS Infrastructure.

Oisin has a really unique history. Long story short he once traveled around the world…on his motorcycle. That was his 2nd major overland trip on a bike, the first being the entire length of the Pan American highway. He is the author of 2 books documenting each adventure and made a documentary on Youtube about the last.

This was a ton of fun and we know you’ll enjoy! Here are the links to all of Oisin’s adventures:

Book 1: ‘That I May Die Roaming’ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0991489411/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Book2: ‘Not Dead Yet’ https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/099148942X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwLW2IWJq4FES_no7MmpkjA

Episode Timestamps:

1:05 | Studying electronics ‘to get a few quid into me pocket’

1:56 | 15 years at Intel and then…the inspiration for a motorcycle journey around the world

3:00 | 2 adventures, in summary

6:00 | Writing book 1 in Columbia while on trip 2

7:55 | How did that 1st trip change you? …. Getting used to being on your own

9:40 | Why did you go on the 1st trip?

11:00 | The peaks and valleys of solo travel

13:04 | The difference between being alone vs. being lonely

17:15 | The adventure in uncertainty

19:25 | A moment when you felt like you would die?

23:30 | Turning off your phone…because no one was checking in

25:10 | A partnership breaks up

27:30 | Some characters you meet on the road

31:35 | Amazon origin story

35:00 | On the return to the work force - ready to build something big

36:28 | What makes someone successful at Amazon: starting fast, tolerance for ambiguity, self-starter

37:40 | Oisin’s leadership philosophy: honesty (with compassion)…and good hiring!

40:30 | Advice to your younger self: be an expert, get on with people, get results

42:30 | Life philosophy from the road? “Make progress everyday.”

46:45 | Should everybody go on a trip?

47:40 | You don’t have to make a perfect decision…take a baby bite

49:50 | Parting words - on karma

Oisin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oisin-hughes-0971a4198/

CONTACT THE SHOW:

Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.charleskunken.com/subscribe

Find us online: https://www.charleskunken.com/podcast or email the show with any questions, comments, requests for guests, etc: charlie@charleskunken.com

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

The blog | https://www.charleskunken.com/blogsummary (weekly posts exploring creativity & mindset)

Insta | https://www.instagram.com/cbkunk/
fb | https://www.facebook.com/cbkunk

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Theme music by Good Baby: https://www.goodbaby.band/musicvideos