Coworking is a weekly segment where we talk to CFOs and others in the finance space about their experiences, their companies, and the larger economy. Let us know if you are—or you know—a CFO we should interview.
Ken Tanji is executive vice president and CFO at Prudential Financial, founded in 1875, a company he’s worked for in various roles for more than 30 years.
This interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.
How different do you think it might be if you were starting at Prudential today, and were going to build your career from this point? What things have changed and what things are the same?
Let me start with what’s the same. I think to do our role, you really need to know what value you’re providing to customers, what’s the core of that value proposition? How you distinguish yourself in the market with distinct capabilities, how you utilize them, and how the business works—that’s kind of fundamental. What I’d say has changed is the role technology plays. It’s just sort of a game changer in every respect, in terms of how your customers interact with you, how you serve those customers, how you conduct your operations, and automate things.
The other thing that has changed is operating models. You know, in the past, you sort of operated with everything kind of self-contained, fully running all aspects, but now, you partner with others that are experts in things, you outsource things, you have to operate through a lot more different types of forms than we have in the past.
What kinds of things are you hearing from clients and customers about what’s worrying them [in this economic climate]? And then what sorts of things are you doing to reassure them?
This is at the heart of what we do and in the value that we provide customers as a financial services institution, as an insurance company, as an asset manager. We’re here to manage risks that others can’t manage themselves individually. And because we have to think about risk well before it happens, and to make sure we understand it and know how to be resilient through all types of different scenarios. We do a lot of stress testing, and make sure that we’re well positioned well before the risk actually arises. We’ve been around for 140 years, and we’ve been quite resilient.
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You’re demonstrating resilience and longevity, but the flip side of that is, how do you also assure customers, clients, that the company can remain nimble and can respond to change?
We’re proud of our long history. And through that history, our purpose remains the same: that purpose of making people’s lives better and solving the financial challenges within a changing world. That’s what gets us to not just be resilient, but to constantly evolve and adopt new capabilities, create new solutions for customers. We’re on a constant evolution.
What is something that you’ve learned along the way that has helped inform you and might be good advice for aspiring CFOs?
You need to know your stuff, and there’s a wide range of things that you need to know and you need to put in the time to gain that knowledge—not just by studying things, but also having a variety of experiences because as you as you get more responsibility, it’s important to have an incredibly broad perspective.
What is something that a person would not know about you just from your LinkedIn page?
I don’t think this is on my LinkedIn page—although I’d have to check to be sure—but I’m an avid hockey fan, player, and coach. So this comes naturally; I grew up in Minnesota, so it’s very cold there. I got into coaching. I coached youth hockey and coached my own children for 15 years. They’re now grown and doing their own things. But I’m still coaching youth hockey, so it’s a passion I have. How can I connect that to finance…?
If you do this successfully, I’m gonna be really impressed. But go ahead.
Well, ice hockey is an incredible team sport, right? There’s five people on the ice, it takes the full bench. Everybody plays, and so you’re only as good as your whole team. And sort of that team environment which is instilled in you as a hockey player, I think, has a big effect on how I think about things and how I operate. So maybe that’s the connection.
That’s a good metaphor: hockey as a metaphor for business. You know, sometimes you get a bloody nose, sometimes you score a goal.
When the puck goes to the net, all five sticks go up in the air, right? So it’s everybody’s accomplishment.—KL