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Music and Data & AI

 

After a bright career in consultancy, Xinyi Guo is now pioneering AI and Advanced Analytics at the Group alongside her part-time role as a concert pianist.

Janet working on her laptop in the office

Xinyi Guo works as an AI & Advanced Analytics Manager which means she’s right at the centre of helping us better understand our data and advanced technologies. 

Lloyds Banking Group is a place that encourages you to be you – the real you. Rather than just thinking of you as just another person in the workforce, they value you as a person.

I used to work in consultancy, which was a great career, but you weren’t really encouraged to have a life outside of your profession. 

But music is a very, very important part of my life. It’s had a big impact on me from when I was a little girl. I'm a part-time concert pianist, and have been invited having concerts and recitals across UK, Europe and China., but when I was in consultancy, I didn't really dare to expose that side of me, especially to my clients. But since working at the Group, I don’t feel like I need to hide anymore. 

I also have a very good work/life balance. When I have an invitation for performances, for example, I can be flexible. 

 

“Music is a very, very important part of my life, I'm a part-time concert pianist. But when I was in consultancy, I didn't really dare to expose that side of me.”

Janet relaxing and listing to music on her headphones in the office with colleagues talking in the background

Perfect harmony

I actually got to know my husband through my love of piano music. He was a popular pianist in China with millions of followers and I was a huge fan of his. Years later, we met in the UK and got married here. Piano has been a really important part of my life. 

One of the characteristics of my piano style is improvisation, and I compose a lot for expression myself. I'm not a great fan of following other people's scores and practicing repetitively all the time.

I love playing music that I improvised from a melody of songs that had never had a piano version. My improvisation could be based on a very simple string melody, but I can create a lot of textures with classical piano techniques and give the music an orchestral feeling, with oriental elements. 

I also compose my own pieces, some telling stories, some expressing a time of feelings. They are applied in Movies, Novels and presented in offline concerts. I’m happy to see the reaction from my audiences listening to them. This is special way for me to communicate with the world. Everything can be expressed by music.

 

Looking forward

I like to apply this focused mindset to my work, too.  Data & AI is always leading the trend of the industry and is playing a powerful role to the transformation of the Group. How we deal with data also important. Apart from development, in my role I think a lot about what we want to achieve, and why we're doing things a certain way. What technology can bring to the existing business and excel it. When I come across data, it's the same thing, how are we going to use the data? What’s the purpose of using it?  

We consider our customer data, our product data, and the data about the bank itself, all our subsidiaries, our shareholders, our colleagues – it's all how it fits into the core business entities, apart from market and transitional data. 

Part of our job is to make people understand what we’re doing and why, persuading people with evidence to help them see the potential power of making such big changes. Our Chief Data Officer joined in the past few years, and he brings this set of more scientific, best industry practices to the table. Now, we have this exciting innovation rippling across the Group. We’re seeing a real transformation, and I love being a part of that. 

 

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