It All Starts with a Dream and a Vision That You Love: Interview with Mauro Porcini, Chief Design Officer of PepsiCo
I recently went one on one with Mauro Porcini. Mauro is the first Chief Design Officer of PepsiCo and the author of the new book The Human Side of Innovation: The Power of People in Love with People.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Mauro: I was born in the 1970s in Gallarate, a small town in Northern Italy, nestled between the Alps and Milan. I came from a middle-class Italian family, one of those many families that make countless sacrifices to send their children to university—a public university, to be clear, not a private one
When I was growing up, I had no idea what design and innovation were. I didn’t even know that it had anything to do with any single form of work. When I was young, I wanted to be an artist—or maybe a writer. I loved writing and drawing. Both came to me quite easily. I ended up, however, becoming a designer, pretty much by accident.
The choice of studying design at university, instead of art or literature, represented a complete leap into the void. I describe in detail the reasons for that leap in my recently published book, but what counts in this context is that that decision crystallizes a lot of what has characterized my own professional and personal path over the past forty years. If I hadn’t had the courage to dive into a discipline that was essentially unknown to me, but somehow intrigued me for a series of different reasons, I would’ve never have discovered this new world of creativity that has an impact on all of society, a world that I have fallen completely in love with.
This has been one of the main and recurring themes of my life: I have always been fascinated by the unknown. I have searched out new worlds with the utmost curiosity, and somehow, I have had the courage to dive in. I found my comfort zone within this feeling of discomfort.
This mindset has brought me over the years from Varese to Milan, at the university Politecnico, then to Dublin, where I learned English when I was 23 years old. Until then, I studied French at school. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I had not moved to Ireland in 1998, getting out of my comfort zone to study English while doing my design exams in a language I didn’t know, through the Erasmus exchange program at the National College of Art and Design. That mindset led me to Philips Design, where I created my own design and innovation agency; then to 3M, the technology multinational corporation from Minnesota; and finally to PepsiCo, the food and beverage giant from New York.
Adam: What are the key responsibilities of a Chief Design Officer? How can one become a Chief Design Officer?
Mauro: The Chief Design Officer of any company is – or should be – the ambassador of the human being in the world of business. They should be in charge of understanding people’s needs and wants and translating those insights into meaningful solutions for those people. These solutions could take the shape of a product, a brand, a service, or an experience. The design teams led by the CDO work with a human-centric approach, hand in hand with the business and R&D groups, across the three pillars of design thinking: desirability, feasibility, and viability. In other words, they connect the dots between people, technology, and business, with the goal of creating the most extraordinary, unique, and relevant solutions to human needs, in any field and industry.
In order to become a Chief Design Officer, it is essential to understand these three dimensions in depth. That’s indeed what they teach you at design universities, but this is just the starting point – it’s up to you to evolve into the ideal CDO. It’s about your insatiable curiosity and ability to see life as a never-ending opportunity for learning and growing, across these three pillars. As I say in my book, with a quote that I realized is loved by the readers, we should all be “students of life, students for life.”
Adam: What do you hope readers take away from your new book?
Mauro: When talking about innovation, most conversations – in business meetings, printed books, digital blogs, and stages of conferences – gravitate around the best processes and the ideal ways of working to make that innovation happen. That’s what I tried to do at the beginning of my journey: introduce those processes and ways of working in the companies I was working for. Over time, I realized that they weren’t enough to produce successful innovation, and the reason for this is very simple. Those processes and ways of working are just tools. They are like a brush: put it in Picasso’s hands and then put it in the hands of your tax advisor, and the results will be diametrically opposed. A brush is necessary to be able to paint, just like the canvas and colors, but they are just simple instruments: it’s the artist’s talent that makes the difference. Despite this, there are institutions that pay millions of dollars to hire consultants with the goal of making a better brush for them, with the finest wood and the very best bristles. Time and capital are invested in discussions, presentations, projections, and predictions. Then you forget to speak about Picasso, how he thinks, how he sees the world, how he holds the brush, how he finds inspiration, how he deals with the errors on his canvas, how he engages in a dialogue with the world around him. In many organizations there is, paradoxically, the conviction that it is much more difficult to produce the right kind of brush, than finding, training, leading, inspiring, and retaining the Picassos.
This book is all about them. The Picassos. The people. People in love with people. My book is the celebration of human beings and their role, in this global, high-tech, digital world in which we live. In the age of the metaverse, AI and data, the human factor is more important than ever!
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Mauro: The ideal leaders are “people in love with people,” they are individuals that are passionate about creating excellence for others, for society, for the world. I call these people “unicorns.” I dedicate many pages of my book describing them, celebrating their skills, and detailing their superpowers so you can find them, hire them, and grow them. I did it because they are the ones that make the difference between meaningful and successful innovation on one side, and failure and irrelevance on the other. They trump processes and tools; they are the secret ingredient of the innovation recipe.
You might expect some of their qualities. They are dreamers and executors; they are change agents and risk-takers. But when was the last time you heard an executive ask prospective hires if they were optimistic, kind, or curious? If they have aesthetic sense or are humble? If they know how to have fun or are storytellers?
Yet, in this hyper-accelerated and hyper-connected world we live in, these skills make a difference. They give a competitive edge to you and your organization, to drive quality, excellence, and efficiency. But too many times they are neglected and not considered.
To take their leadership skills to the next level they need first to build awareness about what those skills are. I identified 24 traits in my professional journey and having the right people surrounding me have made the difference. Once there is clarity on these traits, it’s all about practicing them, day after day, success after success, failure after failure, owning the missteps, and learning from them.
Adam: How can leaders cultivate a culture that fuels innovation?
Mauro: I profoundly believe that it’s all about leading by example. The leaders need to embody the innovation mindset in everything they do, at work, and also in their personal life. They need to showcase that mindset in every action, every decision, every behavior. It needs to be the overarching theme. When that happens, people understand that the innovation vision and culture is authentic and will be inspired by that. When that happens, the leaders themselves will amplify exponentially their opportunity of learning and bettering themselves. When that happens, they will start to co-create and evolve that culture together with their own teams.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?
Mauro: Nurture, promote, and celebrate at least four of the skills of the unicorns/leaders/innovators. Do it for yourself and for your teams.
1. Curiosity
The curiosity that makes you grow every day. It’s about seeing any experience, any encounter, any trip, any misstep, as an opportunity to grow. The curiosity that makes you embrace people that are different from you, that makes you love diversity, because you know that in that diversity there is the treasure of new knowledge and the precious gift of new perspectives, to nurture your intellect and your imagination.
2. Optimism
The optimism that makes you go on no matter what, facing all roadblocks with a positive mind. The innovators know that if they don’t find difficulties on their way, they are probably not changing anything.
3. Kindness
The kindness that makes you work with others in full synergy, with great bonds, in the most productive way possible. The kindness that makes you feel good, in your workplace and in your professional journey.
4. Dream
The ability to dream - that makes you think you can change the world. Real innovators are not afraid to think big, to dream - they know that they should always dream! Because if you don’t have a dream, you’ll never be able to make it come true! Dream, and then act!
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?
Mauro: It all starts with a dream and a vision that you love. A dream and a vision that consequently other people can fall in love with. Define that dream, build that vision, then share it, embody it, live it every day.
Find people that are inspired by that vision, that want to be part of it, that want to help you bring it to life. Once they join you, then you need to empower them. Enable them to express themselves, give them space, make them lead in their areas of responsibility.
Listen to them. Listening is a precious act. People should listen more in this world. Listening helps you to think, to reflect, to correct yourself; it makes us better. Listen to them and be ready to change your mind and direction, with confidence, agility, and flexibility. But don’t betray the essence of your dream. Never. Unless you realize that your dream was wrong in its roots and foundations. If that’s the case, then it’s time to stop and do something else.
Show your vulnerability and own your failures and mistakes. Forgive theirs and help them manage them, in a positive way, as part of their personal development and for the team’s collective growth.
Celebrate success and have fun. Fun is a key ingredient of this mix. We spend most of our lives at work. If we are not able to enjoy what we do, our lives will simply be miserable. When we stop having fun at what we do, once again, it’s time to stop and change.
Adam: What should everyone understand about design and branding?
Mauro: First of all, design and branding are two different things. Design is about understanding people needs and wants, and it’s about creating meaningful solutions for them. This solution could be a product, a service, an experience, or a brand. The product and service are the actual solutions; the experience is the way you access that solution; the brand is a story and it’s the promise of the quality of that solution.
As design is all about human-centricity, the design-driven branding is always purposeful. It’s always focused on delivering value to the life of people, for our society, and for our planet.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Mauro: It happened in the early 2000s. I was starting my professional journey at 3M. I was 27 and full of energy and dreams. I remember going to the first few meetings with the marketing and R&D leaders of the company and pitching my vision for design. And everybody loved it! Or at least that’s what I thought.
Until one day, during a trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, I went to meet my executive sponsor, the Executive Vice-President of the Consumer Business, Dr. Moe Nozari. Full of enthusiasm and excitement, I entered that office, full of heavy wood furniture and dark carpets, on the last floor of the executive tower of the 3M campus, and I shared with Moe the positive results of the meetings I was having: “Dr. Nozari, it’s been incredible, they all get it! All the people I met in these past weeks are understanding the value of design and they are willing to help us drive it forward in the company!”
Moe, who was always serious, looked at me with a face that was even more serious than usual, and said: “Mauro, they are all lying to you.”
After a moment of confusion, thinking that my poor understanding of the English language made me hear something different than what Moe was actually telling me, I replied: “Dr. Nozari, you should have been there, in those rooms. You could feel people’s excitement, you could read it in their eyes. They really believe in this design vision.”
Moe kept staring at me and then said: “I am repeating it to you. They are all lying.” He then went on to explain with an analogy: “Imagine you are in an art gallery, and there is one painting out of many that you really love. And you have your pockets full of money. What do you do? You buy the painting, of course. Well, Mauro, you and design are one of the paintings in that gallery, together with many others, and almost nobody is buying you. It doesn’t matter that they have plenty of money to do it. I know that well because I gave them that money. I assigned them their budgets.”
Wow, he was totally right! Almost none of the leaders I talked with had told me: “I am going to invest in this, now.” They all took time. “We will work together,” they would say. But in parallel, they were investing in the latest HR program, or in the purchase of a new manufacturing tool.
That meeting with Dr. Nozari changed my life. It made me realize that often people are nice to us simply because they don’t want to hurt us, or maybe because they feel uncomfortable pushing back on people. Sometimes it might be because they prefer to be passive-aggressive rather than engage in a transparent way, or because they fear the reaction of the executive sponsor that may be supporting us. Or maybe they do send us signals of their lack of interest, but we are blind to them because we love to think that we are loved by people. It’s human nature. We are not as sensitive to subtle messages that could negatively impact our ego and self-confidence.
That day I learned my lesson. After that, every time I pitched an idea, I would ask the person in front of me for a commitment. Right away. Ideally an investment, in people or money. Or at least a public form of engagement, that they can’t easily retract. That request helps me identify who is really engaged, whom I call the co-conspirators, and who is not. When you drive innovation, real innovation, most of the people won’t be engaged at the beginning. It’s statistical. If too many people are with you, that’s a concerning signal. Either they are lying, or you are not really innovating. This clarity is precious because it won’t make you waste time with people that are not really on board, and will enable you to focus on authentic partners, who will help you making things happen.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Mauro: I hope our society will embrace more and more the values and skills of the unicorns. This hope is not just a dream, it’s founded on the fact that in this global, tech, and digital world we live in, business interests are aligning more and more with human interests. If we all do it, if we drive our companies, organizations, families, and lives with those values in mind, collectively, we will be able to build a better world for us, and for the generations to come. This is my wish for us all. This is my wish for my daughter and for the world she will live in when I will be gone.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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