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“The most important part to understand in any organization is the culture,” Diallo says.
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00:00What you feel through the looks of the people is different from what you feel when just talking to the
00:05people.
00:06The emotion that you get from engaging physically with people is different from the conversation that you can have.
00:19Welcome to Culture End by InCaribia, the podcast exploring the people, ideas, and conversations,
00:26redefining workplace culture and future of leadership.
00:30Today, we're delighted to welcome Amadou Diallo, the Group CEO of Aramex and a truly global leader whose career spans
00:38Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
00:41Before joining Aramex, Amadou held senior leadership roles at DHL, where he delivered strong business growth, improved customer satisfaction, and
00:51employee engagement.
00:52He championed diversity, women leading more than 70% of the business under his leadership.
00:59A Sinhalese national and a polyglot, Amadou's impact extends far beyond corporate performance.
01:06He actively supports initiatives advancing girls' education, food security, health care, and community development.
01:13Amadou, welcome to Culture End by InCaribia.
01:17We're excited to explore how leaders can build cultures of unity, resilience, and high performance across borders.
01:24Thanks for having me, Andy.
01:25It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure.
01:28You know, when I went over your profile and your LinkedIn, I was very taken back by the impressive background
01:41that you've built yourself.
01:43You've led many major organizations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia.
01:49How was or how has working across such different cultures shaped your leadership style?
01:57Well, I think that, you know, first of all, thanks for having me.
02:00And, you know, when you're walking through all of these places, if you look at it from outside, it looks
02:07like, you know, something extraordinary.
02:09But I come from the village, you know, I come from a village in the south of Senegal.
02:14And one thing that has always kept alive in my brain is that I'm a man from the village.
02:21So that means that for me, regardless of the environment in which I work, I still come with my village
02:28people mentality.
02:30And I always leave it with my village people mentality.
02:33That means that you look at any space as a small space.
02:40You look at the space with the people living around, with the infrastructure that is around, with the mentality that
02:49is around.
02:50But you always look at it from your perspective of a village guys.
02:54So, you know, it's a lot of humility.
02:55And I think that if you come with humility, you will live with humility and nothing will really change in
03:00you.
03:01Amazing.
03:02I mean, humility, humility, humility.
03:04And this is sometimes we overlook this.
03:08And, you know, we follow the titles versus the impact that you have on people and organization.
03:16Very inspiring, Amadou.
03:20If I was to ask now more on the technical or organizational side of the conversation, when you join a
03:28new organization as a group CEO, you know, someone who's leading the pact, how do you understand the culture of
03:36this new organization?
03:38And what areas you will focus on changing versus, you know, units or departments where you want to preserve?
03:49How do you know this is something that I want to change and this is something I want to hold
03:54on to?
03:55I think the most important part to understand in any organization is the culture.
04:01And, you know, obviously, you cannot understand the culture of an organization if you just come in and have a
04:08few one-to-ones.
04:09So, for me, you know, before joining RMX, I reached out to any previous CEO that has been running RMX
04:15to understand from them what were the opportunities or the challenges they faced.
04:19But also to understand the culture that they have instilled.
04:23So, you know, I met with the founder, Fadi, you know, so I met with Osman, who was the last
04:29one to run the organization.
04:30So I tried to converse with everybody.
04:33And then when I joined, the first thing I did was to go to Amman.
04:37You know, usually you go to New York or you go to some fantastic places.
04:41I went to Amman.
04:42Why did I go to Amman?
04:43Because I thought it is important to understand department by department, office by office, what is the true culture of
04:51the organization?
04:53And I think once you understand the true culture of the organization, then everything gets easier to take care of.
05:03And in the context of RMX, so, you know, you come from Syria, you have been in the U.S.,
05:08you are an American, but you actually come from this region.
05:12So I come from Senegal.
05:14You know, Senegal was representing Palestine since I was born at the U.N.
05:18So, and when I went to Amman, what came up to my mind was that, you know, Christianism was born
05:30around Jordan.
05:34Islam was born around Jordan.
05:37The monolithic beliefs were born around Jordan.
05:40And they went global from that region.
05:44RMX was born in Jordan.
05:47And for me, the culture that I want to instill is that, you know, if we come from a region
05:52where most of the beliefs of the global people has been expanded from,
05:58we can also create a logistics platform that comes from that place and should not be super complicated as if
06:03you are coming from the more complicated places, you know, in Western Europe or in America.
06:09And that core belief is the core belief that we want to keep in the mind of all of our
06:14people.
06:15Because, you know, when we are young Muslims, African, growing up in Europe or growing in America or in Asia,
06:23you're faced with a lot of underestimation.
06:26So I think that we have a big opportunity to impress.
06:29So, and that is what we are trying to push.
06:30You mentioned something about the one-on-ones.
06:33You had met with the previous founders to, you know, understand the culture of the organization.
06:38How often do you do one-on-ones with your, you know, leadership team or skip-level team?
06:46So I meet my people.
06:48So every time I come to the office, you know, I take a big value in going, walking around and
06:54saying good morning to each and every individual that is in my office.
07:00Why? Because what you feel through the looks of the people is different from what you feel when just talking
07:08to the people.
07:11What you, the emotion that you get, you know, from engaging physically with people is different from the conversation that
07:18you can have.
07:20And for me, you know, the formal one-on-one, I have it every two weeks with my colleagues.
07:26But it is more for an update on where we are.
07:30But the permanent one-on-one is really engaging physically with all of our colleagues, be it the person that
07:35is in charge of security, be it in connection with the people who are at the reception,
07:41anybody that is working in the organization, because, you know, if we are all simple units that are participating to
07:48the growth of an entire organization,
07:50then it is a better engagement than if you are complicated people running the business.
07:57You know, RMX operates in many communities, languages, markets, very diverse, obviously.
08:05And I think we've all used one time or another used RMX.
08:09That diversity is probably a challenge.
08:14How do you, you know, maintain that diversity without losing the local sense of the language, the community, the market?
08:27Thank you. That's a very good question.
08:29You know, so the diversity is a challenge, but it is the biggest opportunity that we do have.
08:34So, for instance, if we are operating out of India, we have to be more Indian than any other company
08:39that is operating out of India.
08:41If you are operating out of China, in China, we have to be more Chinese than any other organization that
08:46is operating out of China.
08:47And we want to be the same in Egypt, in Morocco, in Ghana, Nigeria, in any other place that we
08:52are operating in.
08:53So, we have to have standardized processes, but we have to be very local.
08:59Why? Because if you cannot connect with the community, the local community, it will be very difficult for you to
09:07be understood
09:07or to understand what you're doing with the community, what you're building for the community.
09:11And if you can't understand that, then it will be difficult to engage with the customers who are coming from
09:16the community.
09:16It will be difficult to engage with the partners that are coming from the community.
09:19So, and I think that as a company that is coming from the global south, we should be better prepared
09:25than a Korean company,
09:27a German company, an American company to understand the value of respecting the local culture,
09:34the local community, and the local uniqueness that you have to bring in every community
09:39so that everybody that is coming to you feels at home in any place you're working.
09:43So, for us, we use the diversity as our opportunity.
09:47We use the diversity not as a challenge.
09:50We use it as the platform that allows our technology to connect with the community.
09:55So, and that's how we'll be, you know, further cultivating it across all the countries.
09:59The saying goes, think global, act local, in a way.
10:04So, you know, what I'm hearing is that relying on local, you know, resources, expertise, you know,
10:15somehow fixes this issue by, they know what's best in their own markets.
10:21Correct.
10:21So, you'll always have community where you are challenged, you know, in terms of compliant processes,
10:26where you need to bring somebody that is independent inside the organization,
10:30not to lead the organization, but to be part of the organization to be able to show a mirror.
10:36And that is really just to bring your processes.
10:39So, I think that you can have globalized processes, but you have to be very local in the culture.
10:45And that is like the minimum respect that you have for any country that you're operating in.
10:48And I can imagine also compliance would also become another layer of challenges.
10:54Each market has its own compliance issues, right?
10:57Yeah.
10:58Every market has its own compliance issues.
10:59So, you know, we have compliance, the approach of compliance that is coming from the Western world,
11:03but we also have the approach of compliance that is coming from our world, you know,
11:07and, you know, halal and haram in the Islamic religion is longer,
11:15longer than compliance has been invented in the international schools where it is being taught.
11:20So, and what we try to do is really utilize what is actually coming out of our market,
11:25and it's really, you know, thousands of years in our civilization to use it as a vehicle to explain to
11:33the people,
11:35do anything that is halal, be ethical, like the religion is actually teaching you,
11:39and it is both the Christian and the Islamic religion, be humble, that's what is our religion is requesting from
11:48us,
11:49exercise sadaqa, so serve the community, that is what the religion is.
11:53So it is not something that we have to learn from any international business school,
11:57it's something we learn when we are babies, you know, growing up.
11:59So I think that that is what we are trying to vehiculate across all the markets.
12:04You know, your RMX is in the business of logistics,
12:07and this is an extremely challenging business where, you know,
12:14the expectation is that my delivery is in the next 10, 15 minutes,
12:18and, you know, we live here in Dubai, we know that, you know,
12:21when we expect a package within 15 minutes, half an hour, you have it.
12:25How do you execute on this without the employee burnout?
12:31I mean, is there pressure top-down so that you can deliver on the expectations of the consumer?
12:42So, you know, I mean, logistics has become more and more complicated in terms of what are the expectations,
12:47and, you know, you have a lot of e-commerce companies that are bringing even more pressure
12:51in terms of lead time to deliver.
12:54But there are always operational components that you can put in place to be able to be fast.
13:00So, for instance, you know, when you are receiving your goods that you order on some e-commerce platform
13:07within one hour or two hours, it's because there is a fulfillment center that is not far away from where
13:13you live,
13:13and people, delivery champions, we call them, you know, organization that are sort of assembled around that place
13:19that are in charge of a segment of the city that where it needs to be delivered.
13:24So, it is not that, you know, everybody is going to one center and then rushing around the city.
13:29Everybody is coming from one distribution center.
13:32You know, we have more than 38 offices, so people are coming from 38 different places to be able to
13:36deliver.
13:39We give particular care to the well-being of our people because, you know, if you don't take care of
13:48the people,
13:50not only will they not be productive, but you're giving yourself chances to not go to Algema
13:58because you have to respect the people.
14:00If you don't care about the physical wholeness of the people, if you don't care about the respect that the
14:08people deserve,
14:10then you're destroying your own organization because the quality of the deliveries will be different,
14:14the sparkle in the eyes of the colleagues that are delivering will be different, and the customer will feel it.
14:20So, what we are trying to do, and then maybe you have seen it,
14:22you know, we celebrate all of our delivery champions across the entire network.
14:27What we are trying to do is really to build an environment where our people, they feel safe,
14:32they feel respected, they feel valued, and not overstressed,
14:37because if they are overstressed, then the quality of the service will not be good.
14:42So, we are organized really in different zones for the e-commerce part,
14:46but, you know, our business goes way beyond the e-commerce part,
14:50so we have a lot of goods that are coming from China, coming from America and Asia,
14:55different size, because we do freight, we do supply chain,
15:00and we do the international B2B express and e-commerce.
15:05People always talk about the e-commerce part,
15:09but e-commerce is not the mass of the business that we do.
15:11We do a lot of the other parts of the businesses that I mentioned.
15:15You know, you mentioned customer experience or customer satisfaction,
15:21but I'm also hearing employee satisfaction as well at Dynamics,
15:25and I think you were once again rewarded as a great place to work,
15:31which I think speaks to the spirit that you have in the organization.
15:34So, you know, so for us, for me, you know, if you don't have happy employees,
15:39it's impossible to have happy customers.
15:42If you don't have proud employees, it's impossible that they give the extra mile
15:46to go and deliver to the customers.
15:49If you don't have respected and well-treated employees,
15:53it is impossible to have your parcel or the packages that you're delivering
15:57in good condition when they're being delivered to the customers.
15:59So, indeed, we believe that you have happy employees, happy people.
16:05They will make sure that you have happy customers
16:07who will make sure that you have happy P&Ls.
16:11At the end of the day, the P&L, absolutely, absolutely.
16:14You know, in your previous leadership roles,
16:17I think more than 70% of the business was led by women.
16:23Did you have to take deliberate decisions on hiring women
16:30and what advice would you give to other leaders
16:34who might be watching this podcast on what they need to do?
16:37Did you, you know, say, I am intentionally going to hire a woman
16:43because I believe, you know, ABC,
16:46and that's what made you reach that 70% percentage of women in the roles?
16:54Yeah, so, you know, I'm happy to explain that, you know.
16:56So, you know, when we are growing up, I can't tell you at least from my country,
17:02you know, when we are growing up, our dads are less around than our mothers.
17:08When we are going and getting educated, our mothers make sure that we are clean,
17:13you know, going to school and coming back, that we are fed, that we are studying.
17:21They go to the meetings when there are meetings that are requested,
17:24the parents, teacher meetings, you know, the dads are less present than the mothers.
17:30So we grow up in a society like that, right?
17:34And then we become like, as boys, you know, ah, you are a hero,
17:38but we forget that you are not the hero, your mom made you a hero.
17:43And then when you check our sisters or our daughters,
17:47their performance at school is at a different level than the boys.
17:52Yet, when we come to the corporate world,
17:54we have to set up programs to talk about gender diversity
17:59in order for us to recruit the people who actually made us who we are.
18:03So me, I strongly believe that, you know, the people who made us who we are
18:07are actually the people who can make our businesses also better.
18:12Why? Because they will be talking about the business like caretakers.
18:16They will be taking care of the people like caretakers.
18:19They will be having honest conversation on the quality of the service.
18:22They will not be over-exaggerating what they have done.
18:25I know, you know, I have boys, you know, I hang around with boys.
18:28So, you know, we tend to over-exaggerate everything that we're achieving.
18:31The ladies don't do that massively.
18:33They're extremely honest and extremely humble.
18:35And in general, they're also much more compliant
18:40than boys when they're running businesses.
18:43That is my experience.
18:44So for me, it was not following a program
18:47or having some sort of a, you know,
18:49illumination coming from any intellectual.
18:52I did it intentionally because I know inside myself
18:56that our sisters actually do perform better than us
19:00in many domains at school, in engineering, in mathematics.
19:04So therefore, they must also be able to perform better
19:07in any business that we do.
19:08And I just have to, you know, second that even within
19:13Howie Media Group, we're at 52% women.
19:17And I truly believe what they bring into the conversation
19:21is a human aspect of our decision-making.
19:26And that sometimes I feel is lacked by the male leadership.
19:31So, yeah, I totally agree.
19:35You're fluent in several languages.
19:38I always say language is an investment you make in yourself.
19:42French, German, English, and Fulani.
19:44Hopefully Arabic soon as well, right?
19:47Do you find that language is an area where it makes it easier
19:53to communicate and accept others linguistically
19:59but also culturally?
20:01So, yeah.
20:03You know, me, I personally believe that it is important
20:05to know as many languages as possible.
20:08Because, you know, if you go in an Arabic family
20:14and even if your Arabic is not perfect,
20:18if you can speak a little bit of Arabic for the introduction,
20:21it unlocks the opportunity to have an open conversation.
20:24If you can do that in Mandarin, if you can do that in Japanese,
20:27it unlocks the opportunity of engaging at a different level
20:30in a conversation.
20:31And when you understand, you know, we all have learned philosophy.
20:38So, learning German has allowed me to read the philosophical books
20:42in German.
20:44And when you read the philosophical books in German
20:47or the organizational books, you know, from Weber,
20:51then you understand the rigor that is put in place
20:54in putting complex organizational structures
20:56to be able to be efficient in the operations.
21:00And that complexity is even in the language.
21:03You know, if you speak French,
21:06you understand the creativity that is connected to the French language
21:10that sometimes creates creative organizational complexities
21:14that you might not need.
21:16The same is with English, you know.
21:18So, if you have the proper BBC English-speaking guys,
21:22you know that, you know, you'd be talking faster
21:24than you actually can organize yourself.
21:26But I think it is really important to understand the languages
21:29so that you have a deeper understanding of the culture.
21:31If you have a deeper understanding of the culture,
21:33you have a much better penetration in terms of engaging commercially
21:37with any population than if you don't understand the languages.
21:41And for us, I mean, in Africa, we have French, English, Spanish,
21:45Portuguese, you know, Arabic that are like core languages
21:49that are spoken everywhere.
21:50So, if you understand those,
21:51then you can treat these 1.4 billion people.
21:55That's nice.
21:56You know, your background and your belief in diversity
21:59is, you know, well documented.
22:04How do you make sure that diversity is not a checkbox?
22:09You know, many people or leaders have a hard time
22:12or they believe that it's just a matter,
22:14yes, I have diversity in my organization.
22:17How do you make sure that diversity is not a checkbox,
22:21that it's actually actionable strategy, execution,
22:26when you speak of diversity?
22:29Well, so, you know, you can have diversity
22:31and then you have a Chinese guy sitting in the room,
22:33you have a Senegalese guy like me sitting in the room,
22:35you have a Syrian guy sitting in the room,
22:37and then you have an Algerian sitting in the room,
22:38then you think you are diverse.
22:41But that is just physical presence.
22:45As long as you cannot unlock the brains of the people
22:48so that they can tell you from their perspective
22:51what they think is a solution that you should adapt
22:53so that they have a diversity of opinion on the table,
22:57then diversity is useless.
23:00And for me, you know, it is really all about
23:02how to actively engage to understand,
23:04okay, if I want to do something with somebody
23:07that is coming from Shenzhen,
23:11what do I need to understand about the Chinese culture?
23:14So, you know, sometimes us, you know, we are like,
23:17ah, you know, but we cannot go to the hot pot
23:19and then eat Chinese food at international city.
23:22If the Chinese can eat it, you can eat it
23:24because they are human beings like us.
23:26If the Japanese, they can eat raw fish,
23:29even if you don't like it, you can eat it
23:31because the Japanese are human beings like us.
23:33If you want to eat couscous, you go to the Moroccans,
23:35then you can eat couscous.
23:36But if you can integrate all the different cultures
23:39and you can integrate behind the language,
23:42you know, the real element of the culture,
23:45then you really have an easier commercial engagement
23:49with the people
23:50because they are open to do anything with you
23:52because they will be open to have fun with you,
23:54they will be open to laugh with you,
23:56they will also be open to give you business.
23:58But if you are not open and curious enough to do that,
24:01then it will be very difficult for you.
24:03So for me, I believe that, you know,
24:04we learn a lot of concepts in the international schools,
24:07we learn a lot of concepts in marketing
24:09and sales approach.
24:11The one thing that we don't learn is that
24:14culture is more important than process.
24:17Culture is more important than theories.
24:20And when you understand cultures,
24:21you have a much easier penetration of any society
24:24that you want to integrate with
24:25than if you don't have it.
24:27And, you know, for me, coming from the village,
24:31I had to integrate in the capital of Senegal.
24:33I had to integrate in Paris.
24:35I had to integrate in England.
24:37I had to integrate in Germany, in Singapore,
24:39in many places that I have been living.
24:41So, and that is the training that I have needed
24:43to understand that, you know,
24:45if you come from the village,
24:46always remember, you come from the village.
24:48Don't pretend, now I'm coming from Paris
24:50or now I'm coming from New York,
24:51so I know it all.
24:52You never know it all.
24:53Just come like somebody who comes from the village.
24:55Don't forget your roots, in a way.
24:57And I love it that you're bringing up culture
25:00and the podcast itself is culture.
25:03And because I truly believe this is where it starts,
25:06when you open up to understanding others
25:09and you're, you know, you've invested in yourself
25:12to be accepting of others,
25:14this is where diversity becomes key to the organization.
25:18You've described unity and resilience
25:21as important elements of organizational culture.
25:24How can leaders strengthen both
25:26during periods of uncertainty, disruption, and transformation?
25:31This is something that happens every two, three years.
25:34There is something that happens globally
25:36and we have no control over it.
25:38What is your recipe for managing such situations?
25:45Calmness.
25:47Calmness.
25:48So, you know, I mean, we have been witnessing it here in the UAE.
25:55You know, when Allah has not decided that you're gone,
25:59you are around.
26:00And as long as you're around,
26:02be calm and do whatever it takes
26:04to make sure that people are fed,
26:07people are safe,
26:08people are having fun,
26:11and people feel like life is still around.
26:14And for me, as long as we are breathing,
26:16we have an opportunity to have an impact.
26:20And resilience is really deciding to go and have an impact
26:23and not sit down and wait.
26:25You know, and for me,
26:26I always think that life is very, very short.
26:29And, you know, whatever incident happened in our lives,
26:33there are bigger incidents happening to other people's lives.
26:36So whatever challenge that we think we are facing,
26:39there are bigger challenges that are being faced by other people.
26:42So if you just, me, I always think,
26:44if you just remember that 600 million people
26:47don't have electricity,
26:48so they can't talk about technology,
26:50they can't talk about any of the things that we utilize
26:53to listen to news, watch movies, et cetera,
26:56yet they survive.
26:58Over 800 million people don't have access to proper water,
27:01yet they survive.
27:02So who am I to sit down here and complain about something?
27:06So that's what I mean for me when I look at my colleagues
27:09and we see all the situations that we do have.
27:11We have a lot of Palestinian colleagues at Aramax.
27:15I want to say, you know,
27:16if we believe that whatever we are seeing
27:18is tougher than what is happening in Gaza,
27:20then we can sit down and check.
27:22But if we know that it is not tougher,
27:23then we should wake up and go and run.
27:26And I think it is not tougher.
27:27So, you know, I think we have to wake up and go and run
27:30because we can't help many people.
27:32Spot on.
27:34Amadou, do you think age and wisdom helped you
27:40to this, where you are today?
27:42I mean, the younger Amadou,
27:45did you ever feel like I can change destiny?
27:49You know, I'm upset that things did not happen
27:52the way I wanted them to happen.
27:55Is this something like if you were to ask
27:57the 20-year-old Amadou,
28:00would you have the same answer today?
28:03So I think that when I was younger,
28:04I was a little bit more stupid and radical.
28:07Wisdom have given me now that I'm calmer, you know.
28:12But, yeah, since I was a young kid
28:16and I didn't get it from myself,
28:18my grandmother used to be helping, you know,
28:23all the ladies living in the village
28:25when they were giving birth, etc.
28:26So I used to hang around with my grandmother a lot.
28:29And that is also the reason why I have
28:31a girls' education foundation
28:33in the village of my grandmother.
28:35So I learned it from my grandmother.
28:37And then, so it is not something
28:40that I've taught myself.
28:41I learned it from my grandmother.
28:43And my grandmother was not an educated person.
28:45She was an illiterate living in the village.
28:47So that is the part of the village
28:49that I'm carrying with me.
28:51You know, you brought up
28:54the girls' education just now.
28:57You have a lot of focus on girls' education,
29:01food security, health, and community development.
29:03How have these experiences influenced a CEO?
29:11You know, I always think that the CEO is a title.
29:15The thing is, you know, what is it that I can do
29:17to contribute into my organization
29:19so that our organization,
29:21with all the colleagues that are walking around,
29:23can wake up, walk, go home,
29:26and be proud of whatever they're doing.
29:28And that's the same thing for the community.
29:30I, you know, I always think of what can I do
29:32to make sure that the people
29:34who are living in my community,
29:37after they have fought for the education or whatsoever,
29:39they can go home and they're proud.
29:41And for me, you know, when you go to bed with pride,
29:45you sleep easy.
29:47If you go to bed with stomach pain
29:49because you didn't do something nice or good,
29:52you don't sleep easy.
29:54And me, I like to sleep easy.
29:56You know, so for me, you know,
30:00any of these activities or, you know,
30:02any activity that I run inside the organization,
30:04so I can't work Saturday, Sunday,
30:05I don't care about weekends and stuff like that,
30:08because any customer that is not happy,
30:11it doesn't make me feel good.
30:13So that's why if a customer sends me something
30:16at 9.30 p.m., I will not be going to bed.
30:19I will try to work on fixing it first
30:21before going to bed.
30:22And I think that it is not because of revenue,
30:25it's not because of customer service,
30:28it's a human being that needs something
30:30and it is not resolved
30:31and you need to help resolve it.
30:33And that's how I look at it.
30:34I don't look at it from a perspective of a CEO.
30:36I was also, you know,
30:37working in the archives in an organization,
30:39I was working in the Department of Finance
30:42for receivables or payables,
30:43so I've been working in different parts
30:44of the organization.
30:45And for me, regardless of where you work,
30:49what is it that is painful for your stomach
30:51and how much energy you put
30:53so that you don't have pain in your stomach
30:55when you go to bed.
30:56And I like to sleep easy.
31:00Shifting gears to, obviously, AI.
31:03You know, it's part of our daily lives now
31:05in every industry and vertical.
31:08How does AI and automation link to the logistics business
31:16and its impact on employees, their culture?
31:20And how do you see the next five years
31:23happening with AI?
31:27I mean, from my experience,
31:29so I was also programming when I was a bit younger.
31:33I think computer science, data science nowadays,
31:38or AI are a lot of tools that are being developed
31:41to make our life easier.
31:44There are a lot of tools that are being developed
31:46to make sure that we have a good work-life balance ourselves.
31:50So, you know, you have a lot of AI applications
31:53that are being utilized to replace things
31:55that we do routinely.
31:57So, where is my shipment?
31:59You go, you log into the computer,
32:01you go and look for the shipment information,
32:03and then you send the information.
32:05There is your shipment.
32:06That is something, it is nice
32:09if you're doing it physically,
32:10but if you have to do it a million times,
32:11extremely boring.
32:13So, if you have an AI agent that can do it,
32:15it makes life easier for whoever was doing it.
32:18Same is for your receivables,
32:20your payment that has missed the delay.
32:23A lot of things that we do in life,
32:25in our working life are a lot of repetitive tasks,
32:28and that is something that automation
32:29can help you recover very fast.
32:32The other side of AI is
32:34when you're researching information.
32:37So, when you and I were studying,
32:39we had the books, thousands of books,
32:42and we had the impression
32:43that we're reading a lot of books,
32:44but we knew that we're not really reading
32:451% of the books that exist.
32:48Today, AI can read all these books for you
32:50and give you an executive summary
32:51of what is actually taught about a subject.
32:54So, the ease of access to knowledge is enhanced.
32:59We didn't have that type of ease of access to knowledge,
33:02and I think that the new generation
33:03will have that ease of access to knowledge,
33:05and that is also for the employees that are working.
33:08The number of boring emails
33:09that we have been writing
33:10when we were working in offices,
33:12and then we had to repeat the mail
33:14and repeat the email,
33:16now we can't have an AI agent
33:17that is writing these boring emails.
33:19The number of times
33:20that we were writing these wrong formulations
33:22because, you know,
33:23our English was not good enough or whatsoever,
33:25now we have AI agents
33:26that can actually make sure
33:27that the English that you're utilizing
33:29is well-formulated, polite,
33:31you know, in all the formats that are necessary.
33:33So, for me, AI is going to make our life easy,
33:37and it will make the life of our employees easy.
33:40It will make growing the business easy
33:43if we use it properly.
33:45So, I don't see AI as a big hindrance.
33:50Like all the technologies,
33:51I think that every improvement in technology
33:53is to make people's life better.
33:56So, and for me, you know,
33:57I always say in our organization,
34:00we are working towards
34:02building a better tomorrow for everybody.
34:04So, and AI will help us include more people
34:07that have been excluded into the global market.
34:11I'm going to do my last question to you.
34:16Is there any leadership belief
34:18that you had in your earlier career
34:23that today, when you look back,
34:26you would wish to reconsider?
34:28You would think that, you know,
34:30I should have done something differently?
34:34Well, yeah, sure.
34:35Certainly, you know,
34:36so when I was studying, you know,
34:39when you grow up in the emerging markets
34:40and you go and you do your
34:43Bachelor of Business Administration,
34:44your Master of Business Administration,
34:47you learn a lot, you know,
34:49on how to conduct everything
34:50with 1,500 KPIs.
34:55But there's no learning from those areas
34:59or from engaging with fantastic consultants
35:02that actually teaches you
35:03that there's one KPI
35:04that is more important
35:05than all of these BS KPIs.
35:08And that one KPI is really being able
35:11to look and unlock sparkling eyes
35:14in the eye of the colleagues
35:15that are standing next to you.
35:17So for me, what I've learned
35:20with the experience is that
35:22the best KPI in the world
35:24is the sparkling eyes
35:25of any colleague that is standing
35:27in front of you
35:27or of customers that are standing
35:29in front of you
35:29because that means that everything
35:30is going fine.
35:31If you don't have sparkling eyes,
35:33forget your KPIs.
35:35Anything is not going fine.
35:36I love it.
35:38Sparkling eyes.
35:39Yeah.
35:39Thank you, Amadou,
35:40for a very insightful session today.
35:43Learned a lot.
35:44I hope we see you again soon.
35:46Thank you for having me.
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