"I recommend not to spend a life that is not interesting" - An interview with George Held, "VimpelCom"
Workplaces / / December 27, 2019
George Heald - the vice-president of business development and new digital business "VimpelCom". Layfhaker asked what lies behind the words "digital business", and learned how the business is changing the world.
«Big data - the gold of the future" - that is a new business
I am responsible for multiple areas of the business in a new "Beeline". It FinTech - the use of mobile technologies as a payment instrument. Media - services related to television and television license management and user access to the content. Affiliate program - what we do in Veon, so that people can get the best deals from the leading brands.
But personally, for me, the most interesting trend - a big data. By analyzing the available data, we now define the optimal location of their own service offices, accommodations advertising, design and supply tariffs for subscribers, consider the behavioral patterns of people to change the business in accordance with the them.
We are also studying passenger traffic and suggest urban planners on how to change the traffic schemes and where best to put the crossings and bridges. We are ready for cooperation in different directions and can be useful to the organizers of sporting events and other big events, including the championship of the 2018 world.
Today, information noise around so powerful that finding the right information is not so easy - you have to switch between the huge amount of resources. And with the help of big data, we can provide the right information at the right time, and this is the most promising area of telecommunications. I think that in the next 5-10 years, the company will make it at the expense of ownership of information and its provision. There is even a saying: big data - the gold of the future.
"Your skills should be useful to others and to life" - the correct formation
Now if I was 23 years old and I have graduated from the university, everything that is associated with big data, it was would be my dream job, because to work with a huge amount of information at this level - it cool.
As for education, there are two important areas. The first gives you the knowledge, skills, tools that you will use to create something new. It is insanely important, I can not imagine in his team of analysts, data scientists or media professionals who would not have received higher education. But it is important that your skills were useful to others and to life.
So historically, Russia - International Mathematical Center. Thanks to a strong school of mathematics, companies from around the world on big data projects are working a lot of Russian specialists.
Usually we come to the Department of guys who were engaged in university mathematics and analytics - and not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Many experts from Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, with its academic campuses. We often take a team undergraduate courses: for example, if they showed themselves very well on didzhitonah.
The second area of education, such as MBA (which I also have, in addition to this form), I do not think it is necessary. It is at a certain level helps to expand ties, meet interesting people, but as long as you have no real skill, it is meaningless - in terms of what you can give to society. With a MBA in hand, you are very limited.
"The traditional philosophical standards are often not applicable to the modern world" - about humanity and the new technologies
In the next 2-3 years will be an exciting and important work of formation of ethical and philosophical basis of modern technologies. About her little thought, but in fact it is one of the most difficult issues. Technology are ahead of humanity. People are not ready to completely take them, so some of the development has not yet been claimed.
For example, Google Glass - the brilliant thing that did not succeed, because we are not ready for it. Google Glass allows access to the information in the new format, so the question arises: how can we use it?
I have embedded chip in the arm where the data is stored passport, medical records, bank card, can I pay them for Pay Pass technology anywhere. In the trendy bar it will attract attention and will look cool, but a month ago on the subway, I had to explain to the police because someone decided that I'm trying to pass a hare, when I paid it the same chip.
In addition, you can always know where I am now. My daughter (she is now 14), too, would like a chip, but the question arises: whether parents always know where she is, and to check its movement? It seems that the answer is obvious - no. But what if, for example, lost? The answer to this question is ambiguous.
We still live by biblical ethical standards, which are very wise, but were created two thousand years ago.
Another example: the three laws of robotics, which were created in the 80s, are not applicable to the existing world.
They appeared when the robots have been the theory, and now we have a robot vacuum cleaners and even robots that are used for military purposes.
So that the brightest and most intelligent people in the coming years will be to create an ethical and philosophical base technologies. This aerobatics, and this will be handled by experts who do not just write algorithms and serve them, and can think on their application and on the limits of what is permitted. This is the modern philosophy, which is to be built on the skills and abilities of these.
Now underway to develop such things as objects of control using brain impulses. This, for example, helps people with the best opportunities to expand the limited movement abilities. Initial development is, and this too will affect the future. It is more important than cars-drones because many technological innovations are just because they are cool and impressive. But there are things that are really important for society and allow to change it for the better.
"My MacBook, smartphone and headphones - this is my office" - about the workplace and the digital detox
In the "Beeline" everything is based on the principle be free - we can work from any place and at any time. It gives freedom to the people in the digital world. It is clear that our work is different from person to work at the factory with eight to five. We do not care how much time people spent in the workplace.
In the current team to work without this it is impossible, because our branches are different time zones, areas and tasks. We need freedom of decision-making and the creation of the product.
There are no jobs, there are more macros in the office can be a pair of sneakers and hang the poster with your favorite team at the place where the person is the most pleasant stay. The rest of our office - space. We had to create a variety of special tools to connect our scale and such a principle: the channels of access to confidential data, platforms with large volumes of information. In addition, the paper we use principles of Agile and Scrum. But in general, employees use a technique that is useful to them. I'm a member of the team.
My MacBook, smartphone and headphones - this is my office. Nothing more is needed.
Fully disconnect from technology is almost impossible, especially in digital, where even a dream - it is sometimes a luxury. But anyway you need to switch, and for this I have two classes, which I am almost religiously.
The first - a sport. I do yachting, out to sea disables me from the digital space. On the one hand, modern racing boats technologically very advanced: The device determines the speed and force of the wind, currents, help with navigation. But the life of a boat - it's you, the sail and the water, the wind in his face. The risk and the danger is always there, you want to or not, you have to throw out of my head too much.
The second - the music. I professionally play the clarinet. A few hours with the clarinet completely disconnected me from the technology. Here reigns the tradition and history.
In order to manage tasks, I have old school paper sheet. For planning, there are many technological solutions, I went through most of them, but every morning starts with a clean slate on which I write tasks for the day. During the day it is easy to lose focus, but I go back to this list and do what is written on it - helps to concentrate.
"I recommend not to spend a life that is not interesting" - layfhakerstvo from George Held
I think its ideologist of Steve Jobs. The fact that he did even 10 years ago, determines the motion industry. Therefore, I recommend to everyone to reconsider his statement with the release of the iPhone and other presentations. More interesting podcasts recommend Elon Musk, which describes what is happening with the technology already in this century.
I was lucky. At work, I could always experiment and do almost anything I want. It sounds childish, but the freedom and creativity are very important to me. In one company where I worked, I was not allowed to implement creative things and put some rigid framework. I quickly went from there.
Nothing serious is that some experiments do not always work. Many things that we do in the "Beeline", we close: working principle of fast in - fast out, because Skills learned from mistakes, it is sometimes more useful than the skills gained from the successful implementation of the project. It turned out - very well, did not work - do not worry. The main thing - to analyze errors and understand what went wrong, as we would like.
Highly recommend not to waste life that uninteresting or unimportant.
I call it the mirror test: look in the mirror and remember what you have done today. If there was a gray day and remember nothing, to change something, because otherwise you miss the life, and this is a resource that can not be recovered.