Finance Guys In Tech - Ep 14 – Being Mindful Of Your Life with Brent Holley, Senior Finance Manager, Data Center Construction, AWS

Ep 14 – Being Mindful Of Your Life with Brent Holley, Senior Finance Manager, Data Center Construction, AWS

02/14/20 • 43 min

“Be conscious of your tradeoffs...if you’re perpetually doing things not aligned with your priorities, that’s a recipe for unhappiness.”

Today Sid and I got to sit down with our friend Brent Holley, Senior Finance Manager of Data Center Construction here at AWS Infrastructure.

This episode was like a fireside chat (a campfire actually). Brent talked to us about adding value as a finance partner and shared his philosophy on being conscious about how you spend your days. He told us a about a recent vacation too – no, not Cabo. Try, getting dropped off in the middle of the Alaska wilderness by a plane.

We left much wiser than we came! This is truly valuable. Please enjoy!

2:40 | Getting dropped off in the wilderness above the Arctic Circle

5:40 | a chemist business guy makes his way to Malaysia

8:30 | Life in Malaysia

12:20 | Returning to the states, MBA at Texas A&M, a good fit for finance

13:30 | What does finance do? Act like a business person with a broad perspective.

16:00 | Brent’s Leadership philosophy – empowerment

20:45 | First years at Amazon (2016). Learning & scaling the finance team for AWS

23:15 | 4 years experience in the role – investing in understanding the business, thoughts on rotating versus staying in one position: what do you want out of your career?

25:30 | Long term view of career & post-career life – being deliberate about how you want to spend your time

29:00 | Making transitions – you’ll figure it out

31:00 | Career philosophy – work from the end backwards, think about the future. Don’t kid yourself, you can only be in one place at a time, prioritize and be conscious of your tradeoffs.

34:55 | Focusing on ‘what’s next’, not spending time dwelling

36:30 | A culture of humility at Amazon is really useful

37:50 | Consuming content outside of work – Altering between Intense & Goofy. History (A cool recent book, “Empire of the Summer Moon”), sports, funny movies (‘Shawn Of The Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’)

41:30 | Big groups vs. small? Small.

Brent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-holley-357692/
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Find us online: https://www.charleskunken.com/podcast or email the show with any questions, comments, requests for guests, etc: [email protected]
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)

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Theme music by Good Baby. ‘Rose Colored’ (instrumental version). You can peep the full music video here: https://www.goodbaby.band/musicvideos

“Be conscious of your tradeoffs...if you’re perpetually doing things not aligned with your priorities, that’s a recipe for unhappiness.”

Today Sid and I got to sit down with our friend Brent Holley, Senior Finance Manager of Data Center Construction here at AWS Infrastructure.

We left much wiser than we came! This is truly valuable. Please enjoy!

2:40 | Getting dropped off in the wilderness above the Arctic Circle

5:40 | a chemist business guy makes his way to Malaysia

8:30 | Life in Malaysia

12:20 | Returning to the states, MBA at Texas A&M, a good fit for finance

13:30 | What does finance do? Act like a business person with a broad perspective.

16:00 | Brent’s Leadership philosophy – empowerment

20:45 | First years at Amazon (2016). Learning & scaling the finance team for AWS

23:15 | 4 years experience in the role – investing in understanding the business, thoughts on rotating versus staying in one position: what do you want out of your career?

25:30 | Long term view of career & post-career life – being deliberate about how you want to spend your time

29:00 | Making transitions – you’ll figure it out

31:00 | Career philosophy – work from the end backwards, think about the future. Don’t kid yourself, you can only be in one place at a time, prioritize and be conscious of your tradeoffs.

34:55 | Focusing on ‘what’s next’, not spending time dwelling

36:30 | A culture of humility at Amazon is really useful

41:30 | Big groups vs. small? Small.

Brent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-holley-357692/
--

CONTACT THE SHOW:

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

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

Insta | https://www.instagram.com/cbkunk/ for #WritinAndRidin, a weekly 1 minute TV show
fb | https://www.facebook.com/cbkunk

—

Theme music by Good Baby. ‘Rose Colored’ (instrumental version). You can peep the full music video here: https://www.goodbaby.band/musicvideos

Previous Episode

Ep13 - On Healthy Lifestyle And Adventure with Lincoln Booth, Global Expansion Manager, AWS Infrastructure

“Life’s what happens when you’re planning other things.” John Lennon via Lincoln Booth

Today Sid and I get a rare opportunity to sit down with one of our business partners, Lincoln Booth, a Global Expansion Manager for data center supply who has recently relocated from Singapore to Dublin.

Linc and his team are the people who make sure Elastic Cloud Compute is actually elastic. Today we talk a little about that magic behind the cloud, we talk about Linc’s awesome story about how he’s made health and fitness a priority, both on the road and at home and how life really is just one big adventure.

This will get you off the couch, it certainly got us moving! Please enjoy!

3:00 | Making ‘Elastic Cloud Compute’ actually elastic

4:30 | Getting into cloud computing – to finance backpacking adventures

8:30 | Amazon origin story – from submarine cabling to AWS

10:00 | Growing too fast to only hire cloud computing ‘lifers’, and that’s good!

11:55 | What will make people successful here? - willingness to learn & grow, come with solutions

14:15 | Biggest surprise about Amazon – the amount of autonomy combined with the scale

15:15 | A massive health transformation amidst the bus-dev lifestyle – losing 30 kilos (60 lbs!)

17:15 | The moment of transformation & the formula: no alcohol, all plant-based, exercise

20:15 | The fitness aspect – High intensity interval training & boxing

22:30 | Bringing the healthy lifestyle on the road – you can do it, swapping the hotel bar for the gym

24:45 | Linc asks a few questions

28:45 | What does Linc like for fun outside of work – Adventures with his boys, and letting them come up with the ideas

31:20 | Parenting tips – just listening, being present and giving them responsibility

34:05 | consuming content – documentaries

35:35 | The historical figure question – John Lennn

37:15 | Linc’s general life philosophy – Do it. “Life’s what happens when your planning other things”

38:50 | Advice to younger self – don’t be so serious and be open to any adventure

Lincoln on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lincoln-booth-1880094/

CONTACT THE SHOW:

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

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

Insta | https://www.instagram.com/cbkunk/ for #WritinAndRidin, a weekly 1 minute TV show
fb | https://www.facebook.com/cbkunk

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Theme music by Good Baby. ‘Rose Colored’ (instrumental version). You can peep the full music video here: https://www.goodbaby.band/musicvideos

Next Episode

Ep15 - Do It Anyway with Valery Gross, Head of Data Center Demand Planning, AWS

“Do stuff anyway, even if people tell you no...just keep going.”

Today Sid and I got to talk with our friend Valery Gross, the inspirational Head of Data Center Demand Planning here in AWS Infrastructure and a 9 year veteran of Amazon.

This was a great episode about many things but especially getting to talk about women in business. We talk about the founding of the WIFI, (the Women In Finance Initiative affinity group at Amazon), the long term game of networking, and waking up at 4:30am to hit the gym.

As fathers of daughters, Sid and I took copious notes. The truth is we were recording things we want to start doing ourselves! Please enjoy!

3:45 | A regimen for success...a 4:30am alarm!

8:00 | Currently on audible: ‘Call Sign Chaos’ a book on leadership by James Mattis

10:30 | Growing up, wanting to be an astronaut, gravitating towards engineering

13:30 | Career pivot via B-school at UW go towards finance, Amazon after UW

17:10 | On mentorship and coaching people – helping others on their path

18:50 | Leadership philosophy – giving autonomy and rewarding initiative - bring solutions don’t bring problems

21:30 | The founding of WIFI – Amazon’s Women In Finance Initiative

24:00 | Unconscious Bias – Being aware is a big step for inclusion

27:20 | What you can do (and what men can do) – being an ally, speaking up when unconscious bias is occurring, actively seeking input from all voices

33:10 | Advice on finding mentors – first, what qualities do you want to emulate? Seek those whose style feels authentic and comfortable to you

39:45 | Advice for someone starting out in their career? Try different things...don’t be afraid to jump

40:30 | Message for girls – do stuff anyway, don’t worry who says no

41:30 | Advice to someone in the middle of their careers? – Invest time in building relationships. Up, sideways, and down

42:30 | The long term game of networking really is helping others and being friendly

47:20 | Other interests outside of work – snowboarding, teaching kids to ski, travel

48:40 | Some recommended books: on leadership – Stephen Covey (‘The 7 Habits...’ guy)/ for new leaders & managers: study the principle of ‘Situational Leadership’ – the best theory and practical guide/ Good crime fiction: ‘The Naturalist’ / Good memoir: ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover

51:55 | 3 people to meet for lunch: Michelle Obama, her grandmother, Warren Buffet

Valery on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valery13/

CONTACT THE SHOW:

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

Website | https://www.charleskunken.com/podcast

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/financeguyspodcast/

Email | [email protected] (Hit us up! Questions, comments, requests for guests, etc)

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

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Theme music by Good Baby. ‘Rose Colored’ (instrumental version). You can peep the full music video here: https://www.goodbaby.band/musicvideos