Suvo Sarkar, founder and CEO of 3D Advisory, senior advisor at McKinsey & Co and MasterCard, and chairman of IBM’s advisory board: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Suvo Sarkar (LinkedIn), founder and CEO of 3D Advisory, senior advisor at McKinsey & Co and MasterCard, and chairman of IBM’s advisory board. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I've been a banker for 38 years, and have led consumer and wealth for various banks. I was with Emirates NBD for 15+ years, and I’ve covered multiple markets in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE, as well as India and the UK. I’ve moved out of operational roles after retiring from the bank two years ago, and have since worked with multiple organizations in advisory-focused roles.

My passion is helping people think about the future. That’s what I do with the organizations I advise, helping and challenging them to think of what the future will look like. I have my own advisory company called 3D Advisory — the 3 Ds stand for digitization, data, and design; three things that I believe will redefine banking in the next 10-30 years.

I advise McKinsey regionally, as well as Mastercard, and chair the advisory board for the region for IBM. I’ve also set up Wealthbrix in the DIFC alongside my partners, through which we are helping m’naires and high net worth individuals coming to the UAE or the region to get the best out of their banking experiences. I also advise 5-6 startups — one or two of which are unicorns. Besides that, I host my own podcast called Money Majlis about banking, financing, and technology.

I think every company is trying to figure out how AI will transform the lives of their employees and their customers, and I think it's a huge wave coming at us. I personally think that AI is probably as fundamental a shift for finance and banking as the internet was 30 years back, when internet banking came in and the industry changed over time.

My view is bankers' lives will become richer. They’ll be doing more meaningful tasks that help customers with their finances as opposed to doing routine and menial tasks. It’s about leveraging AI to make life better for customers and employees. Everybody is racing to see who gets the most out of it.

I work probably 50% less than what I did in my full-time job, but in terms of the diversity of experiences and excitement that I have, I would say it's much more than when I was working a full-time job. It’s funny because even my wife thinks I'm working harder than I did before.

I usually wake up early, around 5:30am, and I start my day with a walk. Half of the time, I have my earpods in my ear and listen to the morning news or catch up on a podcast. When I get back home, I enjoy a morning cup of tea with some music — at least for an hour. My favorite genre is Indian classical music. I love starting my day like that; it keeps me calm and composed.

Then I read a few of my go-to newspapers and websites. Then I shower, get ready for the day, and work from my home office. I’ve recently gotten into the habit of taking a quick half-hour or 45 minute nap in the early afternoon, and I’ve been finding that helps energize me in a big way for the rest of the day.

One thing I do not sacrifice is my morning music, and the other is talking to my daughters every day. One lives in London and one lives in Washington DC, so we are on three different continents, but we have a chat every day.

I have a different quarterly target now, which is to go on a holiday every three months. My wife and I really enjoy traveling, so we try to go on a two-week holiday every three months. I’m happy to say I’m actually meeting the target — and even exceeding it sometimes. I’m also a foodie and I love trying food from different regions; I’ve recently tried Koshari and I love it now, and I love Asian and Italian food as well.

I also hope to take a couple of statutory board memberships. I want to continue prioritizing the podcast, which is a passion for me. It was my youngest daughter who told me to do it and that nobody reads anymore, so I moved to podcasting and I’ve been getting a huge amount of feedback. The idea behind it was, as a banker of 38 years, why not engage leaders in banking and tech and financial services, and have intelligent, authentic conversations that cover the real topics that matter candidly? And why not add a social impact element to it? I give listeners the chance to get a USD 50 card that they can then donate to any of the six charities I support — and which I rotate with every season — so all my proceeds from sponsors end up being donated.

I read a very good fiction book recently, called The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, who’s the head of neurosurgery at Stanford, and is originally Indian. It’s an excellent book set in India. I also love Acquired, which is a very well-researched podcast, as well as Empire. In terms of TV shows, I enjoy The White Lotus — very good social commentary — and Black Mirror.

One advice I got from my father many decades ago is to be humble. He used to say, regardless of what you do, never forget your roots and be humble, and I've practiced that throughout my career and life. Most people don’t like arrogance, and if you are nice to people, they'll be nice to you.

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