Ask Me AnyFin with Dorota Zimnoch: Rethinking FinTech Trends

What elements do we factor into the innovation process? How do we use it to our advantage? What are the most disruptive fields of FinTech right now and how did these changes come about? Dorota Zimnoch really understands the mechanisms of innovation as much as she’s aware of the convergence of industries, shared economy and metaverse reality. She joined Code & Pepper for the Ask Me AnyFin session to share her invaluable insights.

Innovation and Digital Transformation Expert says: “Ask Me AnyFin.” and is not afraid to answer.

Watch the conversation with Dorota or read the transcript below. 

Connecting start-ups with corporates

Małgorzata Łabanowska: Welcome to Ask Me AnyFin. Our guest today is Dorota Zimnoch, who is an Innovation and Digital Transformation Expert in the financial sector. We’ve met up today to discuss FinTech trends, which is particularly relevant in the context of an old year coming to a close and a new year ahead of us. Dorota is a Global Chair for Innovation and Technology at G100, which is a consulting company specialising in learning and development as well as business networking. Am I right?

Dorota Zimnoch: No, no. G100 is a global organisation. It’s not really a consultancy, but more of a global network that brings people together from all disciplines around the world with the aim to promote inclusion and diversity. Mainly, they’re encouraging women to step up in their roles and come together and share their voices. However, we also have something called the Denim Partner, which is the man supporting the woman.

So we are not an exclusive club for women only. It’s really about bringing the whole universe together to work towards the same goal. G100 stands for 100 disciplines, 100 chairs that then invite 100 country chairs, and then 100 country chairs invite regional chairs, etc. So, over a period of time, it’s going to grow into a huge global reach community.

Małgorzata Łabanowska: Thank you, very interesting. So my mistake, then. But you are also experienced in leading digital transformation for different financial companies, both large ones and start-ups. Would you like to elaborate on this a bit?

Dorota Zimnoch: Yes. My career started over 20 years ago with one of the biggest financial institutions in the world, which was Citi. Then, after spending around 10 years in the banking field, I moved to insurance. There, I had an opportunity to work with some large companies like AIG or MetLife. After 2015, when digital transformation truly started to accelerate, I realised that there was space for helping many different companies rather than just focusing on driving innovation in one.

Therefore, I established my own consultancy that focused on digital transformation and innovation. For five years, we helped over 20 clients around the world with some really big and interesting projects. Anything from Latvia to Mongolia, and US and Europe. We had been in different locations. This was the time when I also got well-acquainted with the ecosystem of start-ups and scale-ups and what was going on in this field.

Most of all, I could see myself being a connector between the incumbents, so the big corporates, and those start-ups that were emerging. I was equally attracted to the start-up world and I helped quite a few to grow, acting as a strategic advisor or an angel investor. I had also been on the board of some. Now, my recent role was again with the corporate world. The idea was to build a digital ecosystem for a corporate client.

So it’s really about being in between the two worlds and building partnerships to generate the most value for clients.

Innovation essentials kit

Małgorzata Łabanowska: For the purpose of our discussion, I thought we might start from considering what innovation is from your perspective. Personally, I think that we often tend to identify innovation with technology, which sometimes might not necessarily be the case. We might use technology to perpetuate some old patterns… It’s not really innovative that much when we don’t take into account, let’s say, ESG standards. Do you agree?

Dorota Zimnoch: Yes, I understand where you’re coming from. Why, in the first place, we think innovation is just changing something? The reason really sits in the definition. The word comes from Latin “innovare,” which basically means to re-use or to reinvent. From that perspective, you can say: “If I can improve something and make it better with the means that were not there before,” that already fits in the definition of innovation.

However, some of the improvements, which fall into the category, I don’t really consider innovation. I would call them enhancements or automations, but they are not as disruptive and groundbreaking as innovation should be. Basically, for me, innovation requires rethinking, which is more than coming up with an idea how to do something a bit better.

Basically, for me, innovation requires rethinking, which is more than coming up with an idea how to do something a bit better.

Speaking of FinTech, look at the websites that were created for banks in 2000. If you look them up today, you won’t see much difference. Okay, they might use some new technologies, animated banners or, maybe, more analytics but, overall, they are not that much different. That is not an innovation for me, just because the skin was changed. 

For me, the innovation was when we moved from online to mobile because we started to do banking with a different means. Or with this new trend of embedded finance, where finance is really a part of the customer journey. That’s innovation for me! Everything that requires rethinking…

Recently, I spent a few years with automotive, so I like using this example. A faster horse is not an innovation for me. Innovation, in Henry Ford’s words, is the car. Just to give that perspective.

Adjusting to the speed of innovation

Małgorzata Łabanowska: In this context, it’s interesting to know how fast innovation can be? Can innovation happen in one year?

Dorota Zimnoch: Well, of course it can. Innovation can really happen in a moment. It depends whether you are looking at spot innovation or you see innovation as a process, which I prefer.

That’s why, to your previous question, when you say ESG criteria need to be taken into consideration… Sure, they should be, for it’s a process with an impact. It is powered by technology but then, it has an impact on human behaviour. This later translates into what is called the customer behaviour stand or expectations stand. It’s nothing more than adapting to new technologies or leveraging the opportunities of new tech. 

What you innovate today, you may need to break and rebuild tomorrow again, because you don’t know what’s around the corner, what new technology will come.

Everything is underpinned by new technologies but all the ethical aspects are equally important and that’s also part of the innovation process. Please also think about why companies innovate? One of the reasons is to keep ahead of the competition and stay in the game. That’s what actually sets apart the corporate world I’ve been in and the start-up world.

In the corporate world, we often had this case where we were allocating some big budget for some big change such as moving to the new platform or moving to the cloud. We sometimes spent a few years moving the whole bank on the new platform, for example. Then, there was time for the banks to catch up with all the other things that they had put aside when the big project was happening. There was this pattern of dealing with a big thing, and then taking some time to rest. Then, maybe, in a few years, a similar thing happened with introducing a big change followed by rest. 

Such a cycle doesn’t really keep you innovating all the time. If you want to innovate there is Agile and all new practices with a similar purpose. Change happens through these fast-fail cycles and it’s a process. What you innovate today, you may need to break and rebuild tomorrow again, because you don’t know what’s around the corner, what new technology will come.

Catching up with technological trends

Łukasz Korol: Great! We would like to ask you about all the new technologies that are emerging. Which do you potentially find the most disruptive for the finance sector?

Dorota Zimnoch: First of all, I don’t think you can create a list. Especially at this time of the year, everybody likes to publish top 10 trends, top 20 trends, and then they list them. If you review, you tend to agree with most of the ranks… 

I think that you are right by saying that some of these technologies exist. They’ve been existing for quite a while. They are now over some flex point and they are really becoming mainstream. They are beginning to generate value to those who are reaching for those technologies. By such, I mean, for example, artificial intelligence. If you look at the trends from a few years back, artificial intelligence would already be there.

However, the way we use it today versus what we could do with it a few years ago is very different. Why is it so? Partially, because the competencies caught up with the trend itself. Previously the technology was there, but there wasn’t enough talent on the market to know how to use it. There weren’t enough standards. The technologies were emerging, but they were not compatible with each other.

For instance, in the banking world, chatbots were there for a long time but you could not always use them to support clients, because all the regulations such as GDPR were not ready yet. They needed to catch up with the innovation, so that we could fully benefit from it.

Another example is with cloud computing. We had to catch up with a lot of regulatory challenges and solve them before we could really move to the technology. The same applies to artificial intelligence. 

I’m also a huge enthusiast of DLTs and blockchain. As a matter of fact, I’m even completing my PhD in this topic right now. I tend to look at the blockchain curve through the lense of my career.

Previously the technology was there, but there wasn’t enough talent on the market to know how to use it. There weren’t enough standards. The technologies were emerging, but they were not compatible with each other.

When I joined Citibank in 1999, my first big project that I was responsible for was launching online banking, which was built from the ground. I couldn’t take one off the shelf and implement, because nothing really existed, so we had to reinvent and build everything from scratch. I remember launching the online banking and a lot of people were saying, “No, no, it’s not going to take off, not worth the effort.” There was quite a time before people started even moving into online space, putting their websites out there, etc.

You might remember there was a flex point when the dot bubble crisis happened. Then, the Phoenix arose from the ashes and the whole new opportunity for the Internet emerged after that flex point. We can experience a similar thing right now, with blockchain. There was a lot of hype: “We can do, we can do, we can do.” but there weren’t really tangible benefits generated back then yet, and examples that could really prove to work on a scale.

Having said that, lots of companies were working on blockchain, doing their own tests, but it wasn’t really public. Now, all of a sudden, we are surprised with all these solutions. Where are they coming from? They seem to appear like mushrooms after the rain.

It’s because people have been working on them for a long time. Now is the maturity point in which the companies start feeling like, “Okay, now it’s in the stage where we can already take it for our business, we can implement it and we can build solutions.” Blockchain is a powerful technology on which you can build a lot of things that are happening such as decentralised currencies and finance, in general, together with cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and so on and so forth.

Dissecting blockchain phenomenon

Łukasz Korol: I would like to ask an additional question regarding blockchain. I’m interested in your opinion. The rise of the blockchain as a foundation for cryptocurrencies is kind of phenomenal because it actually happened aside from the main financial sector. It’s a very interesting case in which it came up not from the sector itself, but actually from the people outside of the sector who created an entirely new space.

The financial sector actually has to catch up with this and they don’t have an idea what to do with this and how to adapt to this. It’s a very unique thing that happened around cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Dorota Zimnoch: Well, first of all, do we really know if this didn’t come from financial services experts? We don’t. Because if you think who launched the bitcoin and the protocol, it’s Satoshi Nakamoto, and for what I know, we don’t know who that is, whether it’s a person or an organisation. There are lots of theories but, in fact, we don’t know.

You are right in calling it a phenomenon but it’s nothing new. If you think about the crisis of 2008 and what happened back then… It was a moment in time when lots of people lost their jobs, like Lehman Brothers and so on. They had a lot of money to invest and they had a lot of good ideas. They were really angry with how financial services were developing and that they ended up in a situation of losing jobs and things falling apart.

If you think about this environment, it basically generated all the trends of fintechs, because there was enough of this critical mass, and there were enough components to start building something new and disruptive.

The customers’ expectations were shifting. Trust was breaking down.

If you think about this environment, it basically generated all the trends of fintechs, because there was enough of this critical mass, and there were enough components to start building something new and disruptive.

Blockchain is so much more but I understand why you’re asking about cryptocurriences. People started being really upset about all the inefficiencies, how the world was not democratised, how the big banks were benefiting from lengthy processes of cross-border transfers, etc. Exploring new technologies showed that there were other ways to do it.

People started being really upset about all the inefficiencies, how the world was not democratised, how the big banks were benefiting from lengthy processes of cross-border transfers, etc. Exploring new technologies showed that there were other ways to do it.

So is it a phenomenon? Yes. But this is really a response to the people’s need. You could see this coming if you considered people’s feelings and requests. It didn’t emerge from nothing.

Same in 2008, after the crisis. Lending basically blew up and so many solutions appeared. Why? Because banks restricted the criteria for giving money to people, and they were still in need of money. They couldn’t secure it from banks any longer so there was a need that required solutions, which were then built. These solutions today are seen as standard. There are financial and non-financial lending companies that cooperate.

Where different technologies meet

What’s really important—and I encourage everybody to do it—is to look at the convergence of different technologies. It’s worth looking at who is at the end of the line when it comes to all these solutions?

What’s really important—and I encourage everybody to do it—is to look at the convergence of different technologies. It’s worth looking at who is at the end of the line when it comes to all these solutions?

Another big shift that is happening right now in financial services (but not only) is that, finally, financial institutions don’t benchmark themselves against other financial institutions any longer. I remember working with banks and a few years ago when I asked them, “Who is your competitor?” I would be given a top ten list of other banks. Today, I already hear the answers like, “Oh, everybody,” “Netflix is our competitor,” and “Uber is our competitor.”

Yes, it is. We finally catch up with that and start understanding it. That is a huge shift because it influences almost everything. One of such areas will be talent. Right now, the war for talent is across different industries. Banks are headhunting for the greatest talents in Amazons and Facebooks and no more in other banks as much. This is because they want a whole new way of thinking. 

Right now, the war for talent is across different industries. Banks are headhunting for the greatest talents in Amazons and Facebooks and no more in other banks as much. This is because they want a whole new way of thinking.

The indicators of shared economy

Łukasz Korol: We have been talking about technologies and how they can bring some change in the financial space. But there is usually a long road from the moment the technology is on the market to the real use case which could be turned into a business that really works.

We would like to ask you about your knowledge of new business models in FinTech that are interesting and reflect the underlying trends.

Dorota Zimnoch: To my previous point, if you look at the convergence of different fields, you will see how the trends are coming from one field to another. And it’s not a one-way stream only but it’s happening in every direction. One of the trends, in terms of a business model, which is becoming more mainstream is the subscription-based model. 

Just to give you an example from the automotive where I spent the last few years… In the past, the model of you owning the truck would be to buy it and then, run a company. But the model of the future includes the subscriptions. If you have a smaller job today, you will rent a smaller truck, and tomorrow, you will rent a bigger truck. Why to own them all?

It’s very much in the field of shared economy which is now entering a much bigger environment and much bigger scale. It’s not to share the small things any longer but it’s really the subscription model for big things.

As you can see, it’s very much in the field of shared economy which is now entering a much bigger environment and much bigger scale. It’s not to share the small things any longer but it’s really the subscription model for big things. It’s not Netflix only, but it’s a Netflix model, if you like.

In the local market, we have this new entrant bank, Aion, that was first created in Belgium, by Wojciech Sobieraj and the team (the ex-Alior founder). They also disrupt the market with a subscription-based model, where you have one fee and nothing else rather than pay for each transaction and every use of card and whatnot. The subscription model, in my opinion, is definitely one of the business models that will emerge and will become more mainstream.

The other thing which is finding its place are all these peer-to-peer models. It started in the insurance space with companies based on communities that would vouch for each other. There’s a company called Vouch for Me, which is about having a guarantor so that you can expand your credit worthiness, and you can get more financial support if you need it.

It’s a bit more complicated with this peer-to-peer example because the regulatory environment is not yet fully embracing it and there are a lot of questions. But cryptocurrencies and all the tokens are also relying on these peer-to-peer models and open models.

The subscription-based business model

Łukasz Korol: About subscriptions, I have a theory that I would like to share. Maybe, you can help me validate this? I was recently discussing with Malgorzata the nature of the subscription model and what is actually driving it.

The first thing that came to my mind is that, maybe, this is because it’s more affordable? You create a subscription model to have more clients because your service is more affordable. But actually, I’m thinking right now that probably it’s more driven by how the value is created, which is through a service. 

To explain it further, more and more businesses are based on the work of people: their talent and their knowledge, so the main cost of creating the value as a business is the cost of employing the people that are behind those services. This is one of the main factors that drives the subscription model because if your business is to be financially sustainable and your main cost are people, then it’s very natural to get the value in the subscription, because the cost structure is very frequent on a monthly or yearly basis.

Dorota Zimnoch: Well, it’s where the two forces meet. On one side, there is the end consumer, which you touch upon to some extent. Why? Because they demand something easy, almost seamless and personalised. Contrastingly, if you have a bank offering you a card, but then you need to remember to make at least three transfers a month, otherwise there is a charge, you just cannot cope with it. As a customer, you require something easier to control and the subscription model provides that.

On the other hand, you’re right, the companies are looking for ways to provide a more sustainable model. Yet again, I don’t think it’s one size fits all in that area…

Looking at the Volvo Financial Services, one of the elements that was driving the subscription model was also the amount of assets that was being available out there. Towards Małgorzata’s previous point about ESG and being responsible for the universe with a shrinking number of drivers, a lot of other challenges, they realised… And especially in COVID time, the supply chain problems that emerged basically put a lot of pressure on being able to deliver all the assets, so the trucks or something can produce them in the amount that is required on the market.

We’re finding that the transportation is not that efficient, which data showed us, because there’s only that amount of the fully-loaded trucks running, and many of them are just huge trucks with little load, because that’s what the companies would have to use.

So from this perspective, the subscription model, even for financial services, is around who owns the asset, who wants to own the asset, and where the cost base is. I don’t think it’s one size fits all, but what you are saying is absolutely right. It’s very much about streamlining the cost base. 

Shifting approach to ownership

Łukasz Korol: With your experience in automotive, it would be a sin not to ask about the future of the subscription model in this industry. Here in Poland, we see that there are more and more offerings just to rent a car, which is an alternative to the standard credit model or leasing model. 

What do you think? Is it possible that in 100 years’ time, there will only be rental, and nobody will own anything? 

Dorota Zimnoch: It’s a challenging question for a whole new conversation even if limited to one country only. I’ve had an opportunity to see numerous research that shows that culturally, different markets will respond differently to the shared economy. In the UK, it is a blooming field. You can share almost anything right now. Really! You can share your dog or a designer bag. You just put it on the platform and rent it to others.

There are aggregators of sharing platforms already so it’s multilevel. In Poland, as you said, there were many concepts tested, but they didn’t take off ground as much as it was hoped for. The reason for that is not just economic but also connected with the status. If you have a garage, why not have a car in there and show others “I can own one.”

Ownership is a little bit complicated in this sense. Having said that, where is this model going? I think, in general, this shared ownership trend is definitely going to spin off. We see this already with different goods. Would you replace something you can afford today for something that you can rent? For instance, you could buy a car, but maybe you should rent? 

I’ve had an opportunity to see numerous research that shows that culturally, different markets will respond differently to the shared economy.

Another trend in this area which is accelerating with the speed of light is that you can for example own a little bit of the Sunflowers by Van Gogh. Would you buy a token of this tokenised painting and then have the share of the famous painting, or whatever that is, in metaverse?

This is also based on ownership with a subscription model where the value grows. The subscription model is relevant today but you ask me what will happen in 10 years. I don’t think that this model is going to last long. It will be kind of a 1.0 of what we will see in 10 years. 5.0 of something which we don’t even imagine today, definitely will originate from the subscription. But I wouldn’t be brave enough to speculate what that could be in 10 years. 

FinTech forecast for 2022

Łukasz Korol: Thanks for those insights. Let’s come back to FinTech now. We would like to ask you about your predictions for the future starting from next year. What do you think will actually be the hot thing not only from the perspective of being popular, but actually making a real change, especially in the financial space?

Dorota Zimnoch: One of the really important things that we will see, will be new solutions and developments generated from ESG and all the criteria that recent COP and the previous COPs had agreed on. The challenge will be to reconcile the demands and expectations of clients with the obligations of companies. Customers will be provided with more data such as the carbon footprint so that they are more aware and they can act accordingly. ESG responsibility will grow in importance and scale, and more and more ESG-friendly solutions will emerge.

Then, there will be a lot of activity in the cybersecurity space and that is for several reasons. As we are moving more and more into the digital world—and when I say the digital world, I really mean not just digitising but really stepping into the digital world of avatars and others.

As we move there, there is a new challenge connected to data privacy and data and identity protection. This is a huge area that will gain a lot of traction, also, because the regulations are changing constantly. I’ve observed that in advanced economies such as the UK, there’s a really close partnership between businesses and the regulatory environment to work together towards the solutions.

They are so efficient in the UK because of the sandboxes and other kinds of support from the regulatory bodies. Different parties meet and brainstorm together on how to protect consumers without stopping the innovation.

There is going to be continued development in the area of blockchain and crypto economy. People want to invest in cryptocurrencies and understand them better, so there will be more tools and platforms for investing. There will be more advanced solutions offering data insights. After all, data fuels everything. 

We will also see more of embedded finance which is about financial services underpinning a lot of businesses in a transparent and seamless way. If you look at the recent reports about the fastest growing FinTech start-ups they are based on the embedded finance. The top of the list is occupied by companies like Uncap, for example, that provide solutions for ecommerce. There is a tight cooperation between ecommerce and retail underpinned by the financial services. 

Also, there will be a lot of new solutions coming in the payment industry. If you see what Ripple is doing in this space… There is different news about new advancements almost every day. You can see that this field is just really preparing for something bigger.

The impact of the metaverse

Then, the metaverse reality is going to be rolled out really quickly. What we may feel is just the infant stage, because it was just announced, has been worked on for quite a while now. You may expect intense test and learn series with people trying to occupy this space. I’ve already seen a model of a metaverse store for H&M. Basically, it’s a test at the moment, but you can already get in the store and see for yourself how this metaverse will look like.

Your digital twin will be able to act on your behalf. You can ask your digital twin to sit in the meeting and take notes while you are, for instance, baking a cake or playing with your kids.

It’s still at the level where you and your avatar have the same identity, so you are the representation of yourself in the virtual world.

But what we are really talking about is having your own digital twin which would be your clone built from your DNA. It would be created from the same data, so it feels the same way and makes the same conclusions. Your digital twin will be able to act on your behalf. You can ask your digital twin to sit in the meeting and take notes while you are, for instance, baking a cake or playing with your kids.

It’s as if you double yourself in a way, because it all belongs to you.

The question emerges: if I ask my digital twin to do the transfers for me while I am doing something else, who is responsible for it? Where is data privacy sitting? This has been worked on for a long time already. So let’s not think it’s just emerging, because now people learn about this. 

Right now will be the time when we will see these solutions come to surface and start being offered to customers. It’s going to be super exciting.

Łukasz Korol: Speaking of metaverse, I’d like to ask you about security. When you imagine security from the financial services perspective, you understand what it means, that nobody can actually use your money and act on your behalf. But when we think about solutions like metaverse, I’m not sure if we are ready yet to understand what kind of security-related problems we will be facing… What about the psychological security of all the participants in this reality?

Dorota Zimnoch: I can give you one example from gaming. Let’s say you are a warrior who has fought very hard for the sword you now own. Suddenly, somebody hacks into the game and steals that sword from you and sells it in another metaverse for a lot of money to another warrior.

I know it sounds like, “What?!” But these are real problems, like who to blame. Are the warriors to blame, or the hacker? Where is the real issue? As much as you might be laughing at that, if you have NFTs today and somebody steals them from you, it’s a real problem. I’ve recently read that somebody bought a very expensive yacht in metaverse that has not been built yet.

Now, what if that yacht was stolen? Can you buy out insurance for your virtual yacht in metaverse?

Here comes FinTech or InsurTech to offer some solutions. You have the right to smile at this concept, so do I. But at the same time, what’s really super exciting but also super scary is that this is not the question of the future. I even ask myself if we aren’t late already?

Challenges of innovation

Łukasz Korol: Exactly. The problem can be well illustrated with cryptocurrencies and blockchain. There is a huge knowledge gap when it comes to understanding how bitcoin actually works, which is a real risk if you realise how easily bitcoin or any crypto can be stolen if you are not secured enough.

It’s very hard to understand for most of the cryptocurrency users what is actually happening there. In such a situation, you naturally need to trust the organisation you do business with such as crypto exchanges, crypto wallets and other service providers. My question is, if there is already an infrastructure of trust for the people to be secure in this space. 

Dorota Zimnoch: Well, it is happening. You touch upon so many angles that I don’t even know how to answer this in a simple way. Investing has always been risk-based, right? You have a huge appetite for risk? You go for bigger options. But if you think that the mainstream will move only when it’s stable and ready… If those solutions are already there, banks and other institutions will make sure that they educate their customers because it would be in their interest to satisfy customers with their new products.

I agree it is a challenge and I can see why you’re saying that. I started my first journey with blockchain in 2015-ish. I thought that I knew everything about this because it was early in the days and you could understand mining concepts and consensus and protocols. Today, oh my God! If I know one percent, I’m lucky. This industry is spinning off so quickly, it’s impossible to know everything and be an expert in everything.

That’s also why some of the natural environments like banks, for example, are not rushing with all the innovative solutions. They mind the regulatory environment first. I’m not saying regulations are here to kill the concept but, as you can see, it’s really important to make sure that there is some framework that will ensure things like interoperability between different blockchains and different protocols. It’s important to figure out the technical details.

I’m not saying regulations are here to kill the concept but, as you can see, it’s really important to make sure that there is some framework that will ensure things like interoperability between different blockchains and different protocols.

Interoperability is really important because otherwise, what if you own some assets that you want to spend and then somebody does not accept them because they are not compatible? Here is the challenge to be addressed. Simultaneously, as people try to solve the current problems, new technologies and new ideas are emerging.

It feels like a race which can sometimes be overwhelming. It is probably going to be solved with some intermediaries that will have specialised knowledge and will help you to understand the processes. They will provide you with some safe solutions like, “Invest with us and we’ll take care of your crypto investments, etc.” This will definitely be the case. If you look, for example, at some solutions, State Street offers which is, in my opinion, one of the more advanced banks in terms of testing new blockchain solutions.

You will see that they are exactly preparing for providing support. It’s really intense and fast-paced with new solutions being offered all the time. But it’s definitely the time to be inside and be merged with all these trends. It’s not the time to sit and watch. It’s really the time to put your hands into it and test and learn.

Buy one million of the coins just for yourself to see how it works. It’s a simple thing you can do and not very costly just to start understanding how this all works. It’s the time to stay on top of trends. You really need to test and learn rather than just sit and wait for somebody to explain this world to you. It’s not going to happen.

What I really value is to look at the wide perspective. I’ve been with banking, but then I went to automotive. I couldn’t appreciate enough when I joined Volvo Financial Services back then how much I will learn and how many things I will realise and how it will expand my horizons about thinking about convergence of industries and technologies. Absolutely mind-blowing experience. So again, I’d say, when on holiday, reach out for the book you would never think about and you may be surprised how much it expands your horizons.

Małgorzata Łabanowska: Thank you, Dorota. You couldn’t have put it better how we should approach innovation. Thank you for your inspiring insights. I think this is the moment for us to finish and to think about the next book to read.

Dorota Zimnoch: Yeah, there is a pile for me waiting, so it’s not difficult for me to pick. It’s difficult which to pick rather than “if.” Thank you very much for having me.

***The views shared by Dorota Zimnoch are her own and do not represent any organisation or company, mentioned in discussion or associated with her.