Far more than most, Sérgio Maria’s profession has been about changeover and transformation. In a working existence aiding common companies navigate the upheavals of new know-how, he has also rethought his have route along the way.
For extra than a 10 years, the forty eight-year-previous senior digital government, who lives in São Paulo, has labored with organisations adapting to digital disruption and innovation, very first at Google and now with Brazilian media and leisure group Rede Globo. All the although, developing the techniques to place himself in others’ shoes, divine their enterprise requires and converse how he can assistance has been at the centre of his profession.
Throughout twelve years at Google, Maria’s main work was setting up associations with publishers, which include newspapers, broadcasters and suppliers. “In 2011 in Brazil, the information business was very averse to Google,” he remembers. “I could not have a conversation with a newspaper CEO — they would not even respond to my calls.”
The icy reception was comprehensible. At the time, digital was decimating the common information business. Audience had been getting their information online, advertisers had been following them and the print profits product was battling.
Versus this backdrop, the Brazilian was tasked with getting places wherever the competitor could come to be a collaborator. He joined Google as a strategic spouse manager and at some point rose to come to be director of world wide partnerships for Latin The united states and Brazil across broadcast, information and commerce.
“Google has the marketing revenue part that competes with all the other groups for marketing budgets . . . and that is how it is heading to work permanently,” Maria acknowledges. “But I was in a group that was on the lookout at the other facet — which is, how can we assistance these partners produce by themselves, be extra efficient in the way they do their enterprise and also produce profits?”
He also labored with journalists, describing how to mine Google knowledge for investigative work he taught publishers how know-how could assistance them have an understanding of users’ behaviour and he aided optimise cell goods. The world wide accumulation of such work grew into the Google Information Initiative, which supports journalism in the kind of a coaching centre and an innovation fund, for illustration.
Following twelve years at Google, Maria was at a crossroads. If he stayed, the future phase would be a transfer abroad, in a new part and tradition. That did not suit with his personalized ideas, so he decided to acquire a profession crack, devote time with his family members — he has 3 sons — and reflect on his future transfer.
CV
2004-2005 Item and expert services director, Oi Net
2006-2007 Item manager, Brasil Telecom Net
2007-2011 Strategic spouse manager, Google
2011-2016 Head of strategic partnerships, Latin The united states, Google
2016-2017 Director of world wide partnerships, Latin The united states, Google
2017-2019 Director of world wide partnerships: broadcast, information and commerce, Google
2019-current Director of new enterprise growth, Rede Globo
Professions, he claims, are a 3-phase journey. At the beginning, professionals’ techniques tend to be extra specialized. Then they could come to be people today supervisors, giving up considerably of the useful work and developing techniques in foremost groups and setting up a eyesight. The third is the government amount, on the lookout at providers strategically in the extended phrase.
Maria was all set to changeover to the third phase. So in 2018, although at Google, he enrolled for the counsellors growth programme, a company governance study course, at Fundação Dom Cabral enterprise university in Brazil.
“It was suitable for that instant in my profession,” he claims. “It allow me spend some time to have an understanding of the strategic part of boards greater and how to then influence the management crew of the organisation.”
The programme, which he accomplished at FDC’s Belo Horizonte campus, prepares long term board members. Along with training the principles of management and governance, it explores how to use this — for illustration, participants prepare for and lead mock conferences of administrators.
The return to official mastering was “amazing”, Maria claims. His profession crack meant he was spared balancing family members, work and research throughout the study course, which was taught in two week-extended blocks a handful of months apart. This allowed him to interact thoroughly, he provides, some thing that people contemplating about government programs should be all set to do.
“People should be prepared to remain offline and hook up to the people today on the study course and hook up to the study course itself,” he claims. “It is envisioned that you take part a great deal and there is genuine value in bringing your practical experience. It enriches the conversation and the useful exercises.”
This also signifies college students should share any issues or places for improvement with classmates. “Be current, be truthful and be fearless,” Maria claims. “The extra you are open, the extra people today will be capable to assistance you and you will be capable to assistance [other] people today.”
One particular of the positive aspects was setting up a robust community of like-minded peers, and Maria carries on to assistance people today remain in contact as a class ambassador.
The programme has aided in his part as director of new enterprise growth at Globo, which he begun previous June. “It’s not the specific specialized matters that I use,” he claims, “It is considerably extra of a mindset modify on how to seem at and tactic matters in the extended operate, on the lookout at what is in the minds of executives and the board.”
Globo could be Maria’s most significant problem but. As section of its digital transformation, the business announced previous year that it was bringing some of its companies with each other in 1 group, which include broadcast and cable television providers, its site and movie on-demand provider.
Along with the internal modify, Maria is working on setting up this new media know-how enterprise for advertisers. “The chance is how to combine all these mediums,” he claims, so that advertisers can converse their messages seamlessly across all of Globo’s channels. For illustration, he provides: “Can we seem at the journey when people today transfer out of Tv set and go to an app to go on consuming the material?”
This tactic and details would assistance advertisers have an understanding of what concept functions very best wherever and when. It also positive aspects individuals, he claims, in that adverts should sense fewer jarring if chosen in such a way.
“We even now provide interruption,” he claims. “But we require to make interruption considerably greater in a way that is linked to the material and to what is suitable to people today.”
It was the scale of the problem that persuaded Maria to acquire the part at Globo. When the chief government introduced his eyesight for the enterprise, 3 elements clicked into location: the amount of transformation a realisation that Maria could use his coaching in digital and rapidly-shifting environments and getting some thing that he was fantastic at and thrilled about.
“I reported, ‘OK, 3 or five years later, if I seem again and we had been capable to put into action the amount of transformation that the eyesight claims, I’m heading to be very very pleased of that.’ And that’s a legacy I’m heading to go away. Speaking about a media group, it’s truly a legacy that my children are heading to know about.”
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