Pablo Levi: A Voyage through Sales, Sustainability, and Electric Dreams

Embark on an inspiring voyage with Pablo Levi, a man whose path from the bustling streets of Mexico City to the windswept landscapes of Scotland is a masterclass in cultural adaptation and professional metamorphosis. Head of sustainability at Arnold Park Automobiles, Pablo shares a riveting tale of how a civil engineer's curiosity and a passion for global impact propelled him through an MBA, oil rigs, and sales, right into the heart of the clean energy revolution. This episode peels back the layers on the indispensable sales skills that transcend industry boundaries and the serendipitous moments that have defined Pablo's career trajectory.

As Pablo weaves his story, you'll be transported to the forefront of sustainability in the automotive industry, where the rubber meets the road in the quest for a greener future. At Arnold Clark, his leadership in establishing a sustainability department is not only reducing carbon footprints but also innovating customer experiences with electric vehicles. With Pablo behind the wheel, we traverse the exciting landscape of electric cars, like the Kia EV6 and the Tesla, discussing their exhilarating drives and what they mean for our planet. This tête-à-tête with Pablo is a testament to the power of marrying one's skills with their passions.

Our conversation takes a turn into the personal, as Pablo reflects on the undulating roads of career transitions and the search for belonging in a foreign land. He shares candid moments of vulnerability, from the threat of visa uncertainties to finding his footing post-MBA and the realization that the journey is as valuable as the destination. For those at career crossroads or recent graduates seeking direction, Pablo's narrative offers not just insight but tangible advice. Tune in to this episode for a deep dive into the life of a man who found purpose, belonging, and a drive to leave a sustainable legacy for future generations.

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Transcript

Pablo Levy's Journey and Cultural Adaptation

Speaker 1 0:21

Hello and welcome to another episode of Insert Buzzword. This evening we have the pleasure of having Pablo Levy on the podcast, a good friend from my MBA days. We also have Jeremy Warner here, fresh from Exciting New Ventures with Count King. So, pablo, why don't you give us a wee introduction for our listeners and tell us a little bit about yourself, and then we can get stuck into your journey?

Speaker 2 0:51

Sure thank you for having me over speak to you guys. My name is Pablo Levy and I'm currently the head of sustainability at Arnold Park Automobiles. I'm actually originally from Mexico City, moved to Scotland about 15 years ago, first to Aberdeen where I was about eight years, and now to Glasgow where I've been the last seven years and had a really great time.

Speaker 3 1:15

Perfect. What did you do in my habit, I'm sorry. What brought you to Aberdeen from my susceptible preference?

Speaker 2 1:22

Yeah, you know I get that asked a lot. I knew I wanted to sort of story abroad but like the most obvious choice for kids in Mexico City to go to the US. But I figured that if I went to the US I would. I think there's now this is like 15 million Hispanic people in the US so I figured I would just end up hanging out with all the people from Mexico City and all of this normal work, just like really like experience a different culture, like really, you know, integrate with it and all that. And that I'd never met anyone who thinks Aberdeen. So I thought why not?

Speaker 3 1:58

Nice, well placed with Aberdeen in Scotland. He didn't find Sigma as more Edinburgh.

Speaker 2 2:04

Well, you know, I remember this. So this is before YouTube and the Google Maps is done. So I remember I went to the British Council which is like the best thing you could do at that time and they had brochures from different cities and the Aberdeen brochure was really nice and they had the people on the beach and they're really sunny and nice. I thought, oh, that looks nice.

Speaker 3 2:21

The soldier dream bubble. They did, yeah. Yeah, sorry for saying you're zen.

Speaker 1 2:29

Oh well, did you ask for your money back once you arrived in Aberdeen, or were you pleasantly surprised?

Speaker 2 2:36

You know anyone in me from Scotland is not from Aberdeen, always says that kind of thing. But I thought, really good time, I think it's a great university because it's got a really nice little campus like historical campus and it's kind of like over a year, you know, we went to Stratford after that and Stratford is the opposite with. Stratford is like in the middle of the city, you know not, not not so much by campus field to it. So you know, obviously Glasgow got a lot more to offer, but Aberdeen was nice to be stood in there.

Speaker 3 3:03

Man, what was it you studied at Aberdeen? Sorry, Tristan.

Speaker 2 3:07

I went study Masters in Civil and structural engineering.

Speaker 3 3:17

Understood. Sorry, Tristan, after you.

Speaker 1 3:21

No, no, you like to talk me up, so let's keep that. Keep that thing going. I was going to say what? What was your upbringing like in Mexico? It's not something that I think Jeremy and I could say we could relate to, so it'd be interesting to hear what that was like for for you. What were your early influences?

Speaker 2 3:41

Yeah, I mean it's pretty uneventful. I guess I guess most people say that about it. I'll bring it. But not pretty idealic Parents happily married, both of them with good careers, very good role models, kind of just modeled my life after them we did. Actually, when I was seven we moved to Guatemala from my dad's work and so what? I mean Mexico. I've seen some of the childhood like Canada and the US, but for whatever reason my parents probably be good idiots and my sister to an American school where it's like all English language and mostly international kids and that's pretty. That's a pretty good experience because you know sort of brotherhood horizons about, like what other cultures can be.

Speaker 3 4:29

So how did you find the culture shock moving from? Like Latin America, we were too strong. The worst thing about the differences, you know Australia.

Speaker 2 4:40

So obviously there was a language bit. I did panic a little bit when I got to Aberdeen and I thought, oh wow, I can't understand what they think, and I thought I put very good English. But you know, you know what was like the biggest shock to me was the the first winter and probably the second winter a little bit more how dark it is and I'm not looking at Aberdeen it's really dark, really early, and the weather and the wind and stuff and I found that actually quite difficult to adapt to. I think it took me many years until, like, winter was not an absolute nightmare for me.

Speaker 3 5:14

Oh, but do you know getting this sort of the variation in the length of the days that basically sets it?

Speaker 2 5:21

is quite consistent. It's quite consistent. I look much better.

Speaker 3 5:27

But towards them and the temperature difference. I guess it must have been placed up.

Speaker 2 5:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah, although you know what I always expect, that you know. I just I've never been to Scotland before. I always expected Scotland to be a lot colder, kind of like in Harry Potter movies, let us know, and that has to be that Cold, wet and windy. Yeah, pretty much. Let us show you that in the Harry Potter movies.

Speaker 3 5:50

No, or that brochure from the Browse Council, nice. So, after studying your masters in Sydhos, what did you do after that and how did you end up on the NBA Stratide?

Navigating Career Choices and Relationships

Speaker 2 6:03

Well, first I went to work for Holland Gas as a structural engineer up in Aberdeen and you know, I guess it's not like something that I had wanted to do all my life. But once you're in Aberdeen which is very much you know in gas sort of town it kind of like draws you in because at least at the time you know and this is like you know some time ago before, let's hear, and everything was the thing it was like I think, perceived, at least locally, as a very prestigious thing to do and it paid well, like it paid much better than a structural engineering job would done anywhere else in the UK. So I guess you know, when you're like you know 21, and you're not sure what to do, at least in my thinking is, if you follow the money, it's probably, you know, good for a reason, like it might be a good career choice, without thinking it too much. And so I went to do that. In hindsight I mean, I enjoyed it but wasn't like my life's passion. I was like absolutely not. You know, it's just. It was kind of just, like you know, without having any better plans of being young. It was a thing to do, which that's a very good thing.

Speaker 2 7:09

But I spent three years working on what I call Brown for the project, which is like modifications to existing oil platforms, and that was fun. But I just realized it was not like what I was meant to do with my life. You know, I think I didn't know it back then, but I think my core skills are dealing with like large, unstructured, untested problems, whereas with engineering you're doing the same opposite. You're folks, you're hyper, focusing on a very small part of the problem and trying to solve that. So it was like complete the wrong sort of war for me and then I don't know what's the next. So again, you know, modeling my life after my parents thought well, my dad did an MBA, so I should go with an MBA, okay, Norbert.

Speaker 3 7:56

Amazing, and I'm also a fellow shoppider. I didn't do an MBA, however, what's really to strap about?

Speaker 2 8:05

Well, I mean there's a couple of things. At the time I had just gone married to my wife and my wife my girlfriend, now wife she was in Aberdeen, so I wanted to choose a university also. Not that we could still meet each other on the weekends, I had a flight to universities down in England but you took in flights or a 10-hour train ride or more, and it just didn't feel like that was going to be working. And on the other hand, I really do like Scotland. I've had the chance to be in all the other Dresden UK countries and I've got nothing against it, but to live in I think I'd rather live in Scotland. I know Stratford.

Speaker 3 8:51

I like this, so it was more. So you know what? The reason I went to Stratford is to try to sell it to yours, my girlfriend. But my wife went to Stratford so there was a $4.70, but so it wasn't the prestigious reputation of the Dresden skill that drew me to be close to you and I went.

Speaker 2 9:08

Yeah, you know it was. I mean I looked at all the Scottish business skills and the PAN Stratford was the best rank, so that was that choice done. But you know it is a trade. Of course I have friends who have done that, you know, gone to a very prestigious university. But it means like that's the end of the relationship and some people choose that and that's fine. I guess that's a very personal choice.

Speaker 3 9:31

Yeah, not 100% behind your mac. Yeah, similar for me, obviously, when we were playing for the UK it was like, yeah, poland, scotland, the UK. But yeah, the rest is history and I've been happy my eyes would watch out because we didn't have a lot of time. So there you go, so I guess, yeah, so after the MBA, which my understanding is pretty intense, like it's a pretty slow one year if you're doing it, still time, and I guess you've ended up. I'm Arnold Clark. So how did that journey from MBA to towards a pretty interesting MBA? How did that make for you?

Career Evolution and Environmental Impact

Speaker 2 10:04

Yeah, it was not a straight line by any means. So one of the things I figured when I was doing the MBA is that if you're able to sell things, you're probably going to be okay in life in general. The results will just to do. And even if, like, sales is not your job title, you know, even if you could be a lawyer or consultant or a CEO or you know pretty much any job you have to sell things to people. And one of the things I noticed on the MBA you get these companies come in and they give you like projects or problems to work on, like real life problems, and we're real estate that almost every problem they came to us with was the sales problem. Really, they just want to sell more and and I thought, well, that's important, I should probably get good at that.

Speaker 2 10:46

But I was like completely terrified because that's probably the thing I knew how to do the least. Right, they're not selling anything. And I just thought we teach you in business school or in engineering school like that there's course in marketing, but no one teach you how to sell anything, right? So I figured, well, it's. The other way to figure this out is to just triangle and do it. So I took a job in sales and for a company called Bendapter International that sold products to destruction engineers. So I felt a little more comfortable with that because I used to destruction engineers. So I thought, well, at least in selling to people whose job I understand very well, and that was a good experience it was. It was a very face to face type of job, almost like door to door traveling around. I used to cover all of Scotland and Ireland for that company. So you know, you get to see all these wonderful industrial states and beautiful, great aluminium building sites.

Speaker 3 11:44

Yeah, sounds lovely.

Speaker 2 11:45

And it was very, very instructive. But after about I guess, 15, 16 months I figured right, okay, I've learned as much as I need to learn and and it's a great company. But you know they're selling relatively simple products. It's almost like you know fixings and bolts, all the right. So it felt kind of intellectually a little bit not engaging enough and so I figured, okay, I like to do something as I open my intellectual engagement.

Speaker 2 12:15

And so I switched jobs again in sales with my consultancy now called Drampenchmarking. It's a very niche thing. There are Ken Ross and the world leader in all in gas benchmarking, so the job was to try to get companies, all in gas companies from different parts of the world, to come together in this consultancy and benchmark against each other. It's actually a very interesting job and you get to travel to really cool places in Europe and South America and all over the world really, and that was really great and I stayed there for another three years and I guess, like with each of these jobs is sort of like learn a little bit more about what makes me happy, what doesn't. It's kind of like an iteration process.

Speaker 2 12:55

Yeah and that one I learned right. Okay, it's a job that I really enjoy and it's very intellectually challenging to travel to cool places. But at some point I kind of felt, well, you know, as you start to get a little bit older, you think you know about your legacy and where you're going to do your life and stuff. And I asked myself a question you know, do I want to like go to the grave thinking that my legacy was that I helped a bunch of gas companies save a couple of quits, probably not. You know, a perfectly respectable thing to do. But it wasn't sort of like what I was looking for to do with my life.

Speaker 2 13:30

So took another career turn there. I went to work for a place that are not all this myth institute and they are mathematical consultant, they help, they basically take the latest research in mathematics and they applied the real world problems that companies have. And I wanted to take over the energy bits of that business, which was all clean energy stuff, and so I thought, okay, okay, that that I can get behind. You know, that's the thing I can like feel proud of and like I would have to tell my grandchildren about the stuff I did and that's fantastic. But you know it was consultancy.

Speaker 2 14:05

And then I get you know I learned something more about myself that when you do consultancy you're kind of like, well, you can sort of like you're suggesting to the people that they should do, but you're never doing it yourself, like it's never your own, and I'm glad you don't see it to completion and I can't say well, at that point I figured what I really wanted, what really is important to me professionally and what that sort of gives me fulfillment, is impact more than anything else. And so, and consultancy, you can have a lot of impact, but it's just never. You know, right, I need to go where I can do something. You know that's actually got like immediate impact and that's ended up in our own park.

Speaker 3 14:42

So how long have you known being with them?

Speaker 2 14:45

Just over a year and a half and it's been great. Probably my fridge, my favorite job to date.

Speaker 3 14:51

Oh yeah, go and like in terms of the impact that you're able to say like personally responsible for final product. Where are the big ones really getting that sense of happiness to do that kind of work?

Speaker 2 15:04

Well, it's really a dream job because I went in to set up a new sustainability department with a new strategy and hire a new team. There was a complete blank slate and I don't know. Clark. I think in Scotland most people will know the name, but I don't think most people realize how large it is. I think it is, by revenue, is definitely the top 10, if not five, companies in the country. It's a humongous organization and therefore has a humongous footprint that goes with it. So it was like the chance to be able to come in and to like shape a stability program, to actually start, you know, basically, and measure really improving the environmental outcomes and which has happened last year and a half, which has been amazing.

Speaker 3 15:57

And like for for a company like, like Arnold Clark, what are the sort of the main, the main areas that you're trying to impact? Like, what carbon footprint of set emissions? Like, where where's the big, the big focus for you? Leaving this soil and seeing a little tragic for my part?

Speaker 2 16:14

Yeah, I mean the main thing and this is not just our part but the entire industry is that the process of selling, transporting, repairing, servicing cars is actually fairly carbon intensive, as you can imagine. Like car dealerships, workshops, they're typically very large buildings and you know, historically they've not been built for energy efficiency. Let's just never been a thing. And then at the same time you're moving cars, which are fairly heavy things, around the country to get into the customers. So the amount of like energy and therefore carbon, produced by selling cars, which most people don't think about, is actually quite, quite high.

Speaker 3 16:58

It's fascinating, like let's so, pablo, this comes. This is how I need to be on this podcast, despite doing like a 23 hour date of the. The company have just come back from this template and was like a luxury company, a camper van converting company. And then I visited their factory, which was like this, like a dream kid trailer. I'm so into seeing processes you can see in Bill and then a little bit of the experience, or saw the series process and I'm now driving a van back up the road that we saw that the dealership in the central belt. So now this is like very timely.

Speaker 3 17:32

So in terms of like the energy efficiency of where I work today, doors wide open, there's a good way it houses. The guys were wrapped up so that I don't have to heal them all on. But the carbon footprint of the conduct those kators probably was admitted in Transporting of the barns between battery and dealer shifts is added on the back of a flat welds or we're driving one. So again, we'll put a relatively significant carbon footprint. Yeah, and I won't say too much else given that I'm just on the door of these people. But yeah, there's probably some quite significant carbon savings that could be moved by question and it was going around in part with strategy, and they always are further and more contrasting back in the rooms.

Speaker 1 18:16

That's he fixed quite just a my rule into this back. I've upgraded to original plan with Starlink, so we can take the satellite anywhere we want now.

Speaker 3 18:28

So, but it means that I'm able to join the podcast again, so probably now covered what he was up to in Aberdeen the NBA. How is the internal time of Clark? You can have covered the NBA that quickly, but yeah talking about legacy and the sort of desire to create positive impacts, and also just really a good one, so I will publish them on a part short of interesting built impact.

Sustainability and Electric Cars

Speaker 1 18:59

Yeah, good Quick for our question. What's been your biggest win since you joined Arnold Clark?

Speaker 2 19:06

So it's a little bit hard to explain, but if you ever go to a cart dealership of any company, you'll notice that they have very high students and all that means is that we're trying to heat it hot air naturally. So I think really a wasteful way to heat and a large volume of space. And we found these things called the stratification fans, which is just a fan that pushes the air down deep into things in and you can cut the carbon footprint of a branch like 35%. It's actually not that expensive, and so we're rolling them out everywhere. Next time you're not on our branch to look up and see these fans and you can see the data right, the data turned on the next day. You see your car was reprint. That's just not planted. And I like that. I like going to have actually done something. Wow, that's what I was thinking.

Speaker 1 19:54

What does the day in the life of Pablo look like? Then, at the Arnold Clark, what are you? Are you looking at reports? Are you looking at spreadsheets? Are you strategy? What's the what's the limit?

Speaker 2 20:06

You know primarily, and you know every company will set up their stability department differently, but at least the way that we've set it is in a way that we can provide advice and guidance to the other departments on how they can do their work more sustainable, or what changes we need to make operationally or to the buildings that to make the price more sustainable. So it's, it's, it's almost like an advisory role.

Speaker 1 20:32

Yeah, as we say, it's like an ice consultancy.

Speaker 2 20:35

Yeah, you can see that yeah.

Speaker 1 20:38

Yeah, that's perfect. Yeah, yeah, love in that. Yeah, at one point in the NBA we thought I thought Pablo was going to end up transforming Elsevier with the making strategy plan that he'd built.

Speaker 2 20:51

You filled the cards.

Speaker 1 20:54

That's the next book. Okay, that's cool. What a. I guess. I know part of your journey because I met you on the NBA. But how? What are the skills or attributes you think you have that have allowed you to to kind of get, get to where you are now or navigate to the rule you're in now?

Speaker 2 21:17

Yeah, I think I learned a little bit earlier.

Speaker 2 21:19

But you know, when I was working in engineering, I found that what my skills were not, and it was not to focus in great detail in in very narrow, not really defined problems, and through that experience what I learned about myself is that we're do best is in situations that are novel and and where the problems are very large and unstructured, and where I can come in and put a structure to those very complex problems in a structure.

Speaker 2 21:50

So, for example, with Arnold Clark, that's, that's been perfect, because I've come in and there's not, there's not, there's not department, there's not a blueprint, because not, no, no, no company in the industry has done this before. So you're trying to take you, you've got a problem that's not very well defined, not very well understood and it's largely complex and it's like okay, so how do I structure it so that we can start solving it bit by bit? And I think that's like the main thing. Now, that's not necessarily thing to have to work in sustainability, but I think if you're going to be stable leader at this point in time, when most companies are just at the beginning of trying to set something up, that that's probably something you might want to look out for.

Speaker 3 22:31

So in terms of like the curve problem you just said that on the Clark is like a head of the curve in that in that respect. So I mean like things like carbon footprint for interesting mission and speaking about for the client. He was popular, sitting in CSR strategies and always jazzed the companies I don't know feels like I've been doing it for a while and like the ultimate of sex or the car dealerships this may now slide in for you.

Speaker 2 22:55

And see that they're perhaps the company that has the greatest vision for its future and the industry, and not just about sustainability, but you know about where the industry's going with electric cars and with with how customers like purchasing and receiving and and maintaining their cars. For example, our class just just about took, a few months, a national network of EV chargers that are going to be available to customers only right. So if you bought your custom your car, your EV, with an old part, you're going to get a national network from in Vanessa Hampton. You're always going to have this charge and it's going to be a week that it's going to be much more competitive than anyone else and it's so. You know, it's like the vision thing. Okay, we're not just selling the vehicles, but what else are we doing that? They know to try to like, really like, get and got the bill by the horse again to the future.

Speaker 3 23:52

Well, that's your big. So no, no students, no, I bet. So no one's ever been this far than Arnold Park.

Speaker 1 24:04

What car do you drive, Papal?

Speaker 2 24:06

I drive a wonderful Kia EV6, which, in my humble opinion, is the best EV out there right now.

Speaker 1 24:13

Yeah, what makes it really good?

Speaker 2 24:18

The technology that Kia has on the batteries and their power trains, plus, just like that. You know there's got the general build quality of the Kia, which is pretty solid, but the technology is just phenomenal and you know this thing, it goes forever and it charges the fastest and it always do.

Speaker 1 24:36

What about the Honor 5? I know the sister company Hyundai, sister company Cube, yeah.

Speaker 2 24:42

I mean that's quite necessary. That's, I would say, like the sister car to the EV6. It's that same platform, you know, ugly sister to the EV6.

Speaker 3 24:52

I like. So the only experience I have of electric cars is getting a Tesla. That was a taxi and zero. Now, that thing, it's shit. We're torque carvers over a second, but it's straight. Was it the same in the Kia? You still getting that right. You're thrown to the back of your seat and the figure's right down, because that was pretty cool.

Speaker 2 25:12

Yeah, you can have it if you like. It's a pretty cool mode, which is? It shots off bits of the motor. So you are, you cruising, but you know you get something you put in sports and it does call like crazy.

Speaker 3 25:23

Yeah, nice. See, the dream car for me for a long time is to be like a 55% of the box. So I just, you know all hatch Boy, I'm like you know what, see, when you start doing all hatches but electric, you have like insane power loads straight to the wheels. So I think the point now that I had that's your tools, which still actually I'm giving away the way I drive. Yeah, not something, that was pretty place and more torque.

Speaker 1 25:50

It's something I'm looking at now because the company I work for has an EV car scheme. It's with all the octopus of energy, so yeah, so I need to figure out which one to get. It all still costs quite a lot, yeah.

Speaker 2 26:09

Yeah, the initial cost of an EV is still higher than an ice equivalent vehicle. If you can access charging at home, the total cost of ownership is lower because you can get overnight rates with people like.

Speaker 1 26:23

Yeah, they'll put the charger in for free. Yeah, so, and I think they give you 4,000 miles free at the start. Yeah, they've said that because, just coincidentally, my home is also with octopus energy, so they'll put me on some quite cheap rate.

Speaker 3 26:41

Yeah, great deal.

Speaker 1 26:43

Yeah, okay, how does how does we get going very into Arnold Clark here? So we will move on to the topic. But how does how does Arnold Clark work with these kind of companies? So if Arnold Clark now you're saying is going to develop some network chargers, do they view? Octopus is competition? Are they complementary? Are there any?

Speaker 2 27:03

other ways to be partnerships. I guess a little bit of both. So, for example, octopus, which was traditionally an energy supplier, now has a car leasing business. Yeah, and so our car has a car leasing business, arnold Clark vehicle management. So I guess in that sense it is a direct competitor. But you know, in other parts octopus does a lot of things, other parts like the Provision Energy. It could be complimentary Not to say that there's any research why. You know cause an hour customer could take Powerful wherever they want. You know.

Career Transitions and Future Aspirations

Speaker 1 27:33

Yeah, I guess it's like John Lewis did broadband, but really it's someone else, arnold Clark. It could go down the avenue. Okay, interesting what attracted you. You may have covered it when I dropped out, but what attracted you to your current role? Was there a particular aspect that was sold to you that you're like okay, this is, this is too good to turn down? I can't imagine you always wanted to be in the car industry. It could be wrong.

Speaker 2 28:24

Yeah, no, it's not. It wasn't because I always wanted to be in the car industry although I do love cars and that never occurred to me I would get in that company. Some cars would be pretty cool, but I think really what it was, it was the opportunity to come in and build something from scratch, something really big that would have real meshal impact, positive impact, and build it yourself from scratch, which is not very often that these large businesses open up holy departments that they've never done anything before. So it was a very like and it was a disappointing time as well, because I think in 10 years time these opportunities will not accept. Most companies will already have a plan. So it was pretty much like oh, what's the left of opportunity?

Speaker 1 29:06

Do you think you'll be in with the company for a long time, then?

Speaker 2 29:10

I would like to think so.

Speaker 1 29:11

Yeah, you can never say you'll be in the future.

Speaker 3 29:15

Where is the office for you, Pablo?

Speaker 2 29:18

It's in Helington, just across the M8 from IKEA. It's in the middle of the community which is really handy, Especially from the west end.

Speaker 3 29:28

So I'm conscious of the time. So maybe this is the point that we sort of bring the mood down a little bit before we bring it back up in the second half. So I think the question at this point, Pablo, would be what's like your biggest failure, biggest setback? And we like to think that failure isn't a word sticking in. So what was the key learning that you took from it and how have you well, that's what words open?

Speaker 2 29:51

Yeah, you know, when I was, when I joined the gas industry, I did such a mission before because when you're in Aberdeen you can see the amount of money that gets that that energy produces. So I had the chest to join and remember and I think I joined I thought, okay, that's a set for life, this is not like a jackpot. And then two years in, still, you know it must be 24 or something and there was a huge oil and gas down turn and then, you know, the money just dried up pretty much overnight and completely, really aggressively, and the company I was working for at the time decided that they had about 20 people in my job role and going in about 10. So they went through this and you know they had to do that throughout the conference, to have to go through a large public, you know, very complex consultation process to downsize the workforce and at the time I was working visa, you know, being an immigrant. So your ability to stay in the UK is to the job. So if you lose your job you lose. Basically, I think you get four weeks to pack your bags and get going. So it's going to disrupt them. You know you don't want to be losing your job in that situation.

Speaker 2 31:01

So it was a very, very stressful time because you just don't know, you know, am I going to be on the 10 days? I might not going to be. That's probably one of the most stressful times in my life. However, one of the things that came out of that is that it made me realize that actually, it sort of made me think is this what it really wanted to do for the rest of my life? I think, had that not happened, there's possibility I could have stayed in a job that was not the right job for me for a decade or more, you know, and it would have been, I guess, wasted time, because it was a journey for me to get from where I started to end up, which is where I went to now, and that takes time, and I think I did not think for that sort of rude awakening and I think, hey, this is happening. You have to know if there's anything you want to do with your life. I might have just ended up staying there. So I try to think of it as a positive thing.

Speaker 3 31:48

There are. One door closes, another one opens. Yeah, so do you think Scotland's your home forever? Do you have aspirations to go back to Mexico at some point, or just nowhere to be?

Speaker 2 32:01

No, I don't think so. I think I would like to stay in Scotland. I like it here, particularly Glasgow, the west of Scotland. I find that people are particularly friendly here and relaxed and welcoming. And you know I have people complain about the weather. Actually like the weather, you know. I grew up somewhere where it's sunny every single day and you're just tired of the sun. It can be quite tiring, too hot, sunny every single day, but I quite like it you know, there's not too much snow either. I think it's perfect.

Speaker 3 32:28

Well, but in terms of like, you are like. I'm a Belgian national, born in Manchester, but I've traveled on a Belgian passport Belgian national. Last time I came to Edinburgh Airport he asked me if I had settled status, which I said no. He was like you did go sort that out. I was like no, I've refused to Like at this point, can you stay forever Like we left you long enough for us to. The immigration state is still a concern for the public.

Speaker 2 32:53

No, I am not British citizen and that's a 12 years old, which is a long time. But yes, I was very glad because dealing with immigration can be very stressful as well.

Speaker 1 33:05

Nobody wants to be sent on a plane to Rwanda. That's true. I've never been to Rwanda.

Speaker 3 33:13

So I'm sure. I should have, but maybe I should have in that tour able to tell that they're set up. You might want to do that.

Speaker 1 33:20

So I'm sorry. No, Jeremy, I'm asking questions. What? What was your?

Speaker 3 33:30

You know, Pablo, I don't I know.

Navigating Career Choices After an MBA

Speaker 1 33:32

yeah, I should be very rude, I'm sorry. What was your transition from the MBA or post MBA like? For you is not something we've ever really discussed, or we might have indirectly, but I'd be keen to understand what your expectations were internally. We all had, you know, outward aspirations and different motivations for doing the MBA. What was your post MBA experience like? Did it go to how you expected or wanted?

Speaker 2 34:00

Yeah, you know, I think a lot of people, when they do an MBA, they have the American experience in mind, Whereas you know you do an MBA and then there's very well defined paths that you follow after that with, like you know, MBA, postgraduate programs, companies, that kind of stuff, and that's really existing in Scotland. You know, there is maybe a handful of companies like Amazon or something, but it's not really a thing. So if you do an MBA in Scotland, you need to then figure out what you want to do, and that was actually quite daunting and you know I applied for. I actually didn't know at that point, it wasn't clear to me what I went to do. I did apply for all sorts of different things you know, from private banking with the Royal Beckham Scotland to sort of engineering roles and everything between, and I ended up in a sales role because, as I mentioned before, I think one of the things I learned from the MBA was that if you can, if you have solid sales skills, you probably be okay in life.

Speaker 2 34:58

You know there's always going to be something you can do for yourself and your family and at the time, as I mentioned, that's not something to teach you in the MBA. You know that they don't touch sales at all. They do marketing and operations and HR and every other function of business, but not the sales function and not the sales skills. So there's a huge gap in education in the MBA, and so I guess the only way to learn is to start a certain apprentice right. You know, go work for the company that has a lot of sense people and they're pretty good and maybe you can learn something from them.

Speaker 3 35:29

Did sales come naturally? J Power he's like I guess he'll start to start to business. I think people forget that it was his life that wasn't business, and so I'm not having a great idea about my ship Now. She won't sell all the debt. It's going to get quite a hard time. I think I, like myself, included a riddle, waiting to realize that we might have gone MVP, but now we all are selling the same thing.

Speaker 2 35:54

Yeah, pretty much and, as it was known, not at all. It was a very, very daunting, terrifying task. And you know you try to see if there's courses you can do or training can take and there is, but it's not really quite. You know, the only way that I managed to learn and get good at it was by trying trial and error and then trying to hang out with people who are older than me and who are better at it and just absurd in what they were doing and then just kind of doing what they were doing.

Speaker 3 36:27

Nice and in the sales role where you was a very target flippist. So I guess having been down at this field of shock but spoken to some of our serious people like this is like the sick ones, this is like pretty optional, you could barely tell what they were like. So how many did you sell today? How did you get in some war? Did you find that in your sales role that it was like target emotions, trying to keep up with people in the team?

Speaker 2 36:52

Not to the extent that I have observed in other places, because I think the companies that I went to work for were target driven, but not immensely aggressively, whereas in some industries, for example in the motor trade yes, I mean commissions and targets are an immense part of how life works, and people who do well do very well for themselves.

Speaker 3 37:20

I'm always interested in the spin. So for young people who say the NBA, my experience at the NBA I started playing this was a prestigious course to the goer and I tried to look like a really high challenger of the team so it made it as a little hard to understand, Of course you look at it in Germany, no, but it was and as a startup coming at Stathpibon, we were able to do both projects that you described, that we could work with a team that was on my goodness.

Speaker 3 37:46

we were like, yes, we would like to do that. So we knew that what we would get out of doing that project, that was always game changing and what the question was what advice would you give to young people coming out of the army and starting out in the field, what it sees things on the people in that false station and to do the things that we're going to do?

Speaker 2 38:09

You know, I guess, a couple of things. The first is that you need to try to figure out what you want to do, and I think for most people, that has to do in large part with what they're good at. I think most people enjoy doing something that they're good at, and most people do not enjoy something that they're not good at, and so you need to, like, observe yourself a little bit and try to understand what are your, the type of skills that you have, and what do you perform particularly well at, and then try to look for jobs where the work matches those skills. For example, I get so stability.

Navigating Career Paths and Sustainability

Speaker 2 38:46

A lot of people come and say to me that they'd like to go into sustainability, but the question is well, but what exactly would you like to do with sustainability? Because you know there's, first of all, there's many things you can do within it, but they allow these things to acquire specific skills, and if you don't have those, then you're never going to be happy, even as much as you'd like to do your bit for the planet, because if you're trying to do something that you're not good at, over time it can be quite. Tomorrow is a bit difficult to live your life, so good thumbs are short. Try to know yourself. Try to see what you're good at.

Speaker 3 39:22

Can I get a follow-up question, Tristan?

Speaker 1 39:24

Yes, but I also want to because I like to talk about myself. I also want to say that when I my experience of transition to MBA is, it felt like a bit of an identity crisis is probably the most succinct way I could describe it. And, like Pablo said, you effectively have to find out what you want to do as quick as possible, without jumping into the wrong thing immediately, and you can always. There's never kind of like a point of no return, but you could quite easily end up in the wrong role by forcing it and changing it. Great question, that was my experience. It's really difficult.

Speaker 1 40:03

There's not a right answer, but you've certainly got to try and figure out, like you said, what you want in life and what you're good at Effectively, what you can use to accompany what's your value proposition. And it can't be based around what you've been sold on the MBA or what you expected from the MBA, because if everyone did that, like Pablo said, you'd be doing some sort of graduate programme, high-fitting thing and earning lots of money and having this amazing life, which doesn't happen. You've got to. The hard work you've got to put in is I think you don't realise when you're on the MBA that you've got to start that before you probably even started the MBA. If you do that, then you could argue you wouldn't have probably done the MBA, you wouldn't need to do the MBA. But certainly there's a lot of work people forget about. Maybe they don't want to do it because they just want the golden ticket which is never going to come. Does it not come down?

Speaker 3 40:56

Graduate style of restricted MBA is pretty tasty. No.

Speaker 1 41:00

Not for me. I'm the wrong person to ask. I started companies or nothing. Maybe Pablo could do it. No, I don't think there's a golden ticket. I think there's lots of value in the MBA and I don't regret doing it in the slightest. I thought it was a great experience. But certainly I don't think anyone Not in a negative way, but I can't imagine anyone got what they thought they would do it with. They probably got more in some areas and less in others, but I don't think anyone really understands what you're going into. For that, what does the next few years look like for you, pablo? You're settled in Glasgow, got a young family. What are some of the goals personal goals you have for the next three to five years?

Speaker 2 41:54

I guess professionally, if you look at my CV, I've achieved jobs quite a lot since I graduated, but it's also a good reason. I started very far from where I needed to end up at, and the process of getting from A to B was a lot of steps. It wasn't linear at all, and so that's fine. That was a chapter in my life. I tried to build towards what I feel I'm now, which is what I think is where I should be.

Speaker 2 42:26

I often think if when I was in uni I had wanted to do what I do now and I had to choose a linear path to here, I don't think it would have worked out. I think for this time it worked out. I had to have done all those seemingly related but really foundational jobs like engineering and sales and the consultancies to be able to end up where I was. But what that means now is that I generally feel like I'm in the right place now. I've never experienced work before where I am so happy to go to the office and where I'm staying. An extra couple of hours is not a problem at all, just as long as it's okay at home, because it's the first time in my career that I've experienced this.

Speaker 2 43:11

So my plans. Can I stick around and see it through? I think from a sustainable perspective, we need to solve most of the problem by 2030. And if we don't then we'll have a big problem, particularly the climate. So I think to now, 2030 is the time to try to do as much as we can. So that's the real plan. Plus, I am a citizen, glasgow now a young family. It's nice to give children some continuity as well with things.

Speaker 1 43:34

Yeah, so in Glasgow until the finish to secondary school, and they set their sights on going off to Aberdeen University.

Speaker 3 43:45

No, Mexico City. Go back to the roots. I've got two questions for you, Pablo. How old are your kids? And then, secondly, what do you understand sustainability to be?

Speaker 2 43:59

Yeah, so I've only got one son, he's four and you know, interestingly, you know there's formal definitions about, you know, generating record outputs without having, you know, damaging the future and the ability to do it. But the way I like to think about it is that you know we have these, like May 15, at zero targets and it feels so far right. But if you go for your boy, he's going to be in his 30s by then. Like for him, it's not that front to future, he will definitely be around. So what are two things that well, okay, now I've got someone that I'm responsible for. Like, what can we do so that, when they're in their 30s, we haven't handed them a completely dysfunctional world?

Speaker 3 44:48

My kids are seven and four, boy and a girl. He was the oldest and you know what I? That is a nice reminder that there's problems, especially from my parents' generation, my in-laws. So, guys, you're not going to be here. Why are you voting this way? They'll be. This impacts you, impacts the grandkids. Yeah, that's really interesting to be reminded, I guess.

Speaker 3 45:11

The sustainability question I find it massively frustrating, usually frustrating. So the industry that I work in our life, selling branded goods to corporate I feel like we've been. I feel like we've been ahead of the curve for a long time. And when we're getting the questions back from the purchase service, you're saying you're looking for sustainable products. You don't understand what that means, because what you're actually asking for is a bamboo Bluetooth speaker. You're not considering any other stuff that might be in them. You start torturing it. You say, well, who's defining what sustainable it means? Or reason like a VM definition or your internal policy, which actually is just one of the whole products. We're not actually looking for a holistic sustainable solution and yesterday I was asking Mark about this. For me, I think that it's frustrating to hear from corporates that they have a sustainability agenda. Actually, it's not massive, it's just learning of the only folks in our group, a very narrow part of what is actually quite a big demand from the stock.

Speaker 2 46:17

Yeah, that is frustrating. There's been a lot of backlash lately against that sort of re-washing or ESG investing and stuff like that, where it's more posturing that doing something, and unfortunately, yeah, you find it everywhere.

Speaker 1 46:35

Okay. If money wasn't an object, pablo, would you be doing the job you're doing right now?

Speaker 2 46:41

Yeah, I thought about this. If I want to launch it, I keep a job because I think, beyond making a paycheck, I think, for me at least, having a job that has impact gives me a sense of purpose, that creates fulfillment that I wouldn't have otherwise, and this is the job that I generally like to do. Now, my previous jobs if you asked me, would I have kept doing those? Maybe not, but this one, yeah for sure.

Speaker 1 47:11

Really, yeah, yeah. Right now I could relate to what a lot of what you're saying about you know I guess, yeah, wishing for a lot of your own.

Speaker 1 47:22

Going through lots of experiences and actually being a place in your career where you can have it's not necessarily being comfortable, but it's more for me more confidence. I know, you know I've got the experience of learning where you know I can't, I don't know everything and I can't deal with everything, but you know if, if, if I'm facing a particular kind of work, I can generally do it, it's usually my own. You know, defeating myself rather than anything else. It's not my knowledge or experience, but it would be, it would be. You know, getting caught up in in the kind of minutiae of detail probably that would, would be my flaw, but yeah, no, I would.

Speaker 1 48:05

What I do right now is really, really rewarding and it's, you know, from post MBA to now, you know I've had lots of things I'm really proud of and lots of interesting things, lots of catastrophic failures, lots of really difficult personal life experiences that you know forced me to kind of like reflect on you know so many things but so many life choices or just you know really really kind of personality flaws and but you know, when I look at the role I do now, like all that bloody experience is like ideal for what I do. You know, and if I'd, you know, had a graduate job or done something else where you know I've not done it, so I don't, you know, maybe I shouldn't, couldn't say but but you know, I certainly wouldn't have got the real experience or learnings that are. It's just uncanny how, how not perfect but ideal how, how compatible and suitable they are for the, not just the challenges of the job, but for the business. You know it's the right size of business is big enough to be interesting, that small enough where you've got some opinion and value. Because that's something that I've learned.

Speaker 1 49:15

I really need us to to, to have a voice and to have a have an input. If I don't feel I'm contributing, I'm not someone that wants to to to I won't put any effort to it. So yeah definitely.

Speaker 2 49:30

That's good.

Speaker 1 49:31

It feels like you've also landed where you needed to be, even though the past is, yeah, definitely, and you just like, I don't know, maybe it's an age thing, but you certainly get a greater sense of self and understanding.

Speaker 1 49:42

You know the good points and bad points and you're far more comfortable instead of chasing, chasing the. You know the dream, so to speak. You know I think some people might view that as a negative thing, but you know it's not meant to sound that way, but you're, you're very comfortable in, in, in yourself and where you're at, and recognize that there's a you know, maybe the pace you don't have to do everything at once and there's a greater, greater purpose in life, beyond the kind of almost social status. There's never that materialistic, but you still, you know, want to, you know, have the best job with the best money and all these things, whether you're materialistic or not, and certainly certainly realize quite quickly what's important and what, what is much better than a job you enjoy and have purpose and and you know you can have value, or is it? You know a paycheck you know the money doesn't, you know, is a motivator to a point, but it's not the main motivator.

Speaker 2 50:35

Well, I think you know, for most a lot of people myself, my younger self included when you don't know yourself well enough to know what you actually want, these are things just to use money and prestige as the North Star and and and that's okay. But you know, doesn't work out for most people, I don't think.

Speaker 1 50:55

No, very few, very few people. What I will, we might have really touched on already, but what, what kind of advice or what would you tell your, your younger self? If you could kind of go back in time to 20 year old Pample, what, what, what advice would you give yourself?

Speaker 2 51:16

By a bunch of Tesla stock and hold on to.

Speaker 3 51:19

Tesla and Apple, oh my goodness, a big point I would be buying.

Speaker 2 51:26

No, we know. Seriously, I think, when I look back, I think all the experiences I had were great and and they led to where I am just now, which is exactly where it worked to me. But at the time I always felt a sense of rush. You know, to try to rush through them, to try to get to the next thing, the next thing. I think if I could go back to one thing, it's not a regret, but if I could go back and would just hit myself enjoy journey. You know you will get there eventually. Enjoy what you're doing at that point and it's not going to be forever. And even if it's not the best for you at the time, then don't worry, because it's just a building block.

Speaker 1 52:04

Yeah, there's, like I say, loads there's.

Speaker 1 52:08

There's kind of experiences where that kind of relate to that or link to that thought of like like sometimes I think like you don't appreciate or you take for granted the kind of expertise or people around you and you didn't realise how valuable it would have been if you just asked a few more questions. Or you know you're too busy, almost not as complaining, but thinking, oh, I want, you know I want to be doing something else. Or you know thinking about other things and you're you get caught up in the kind of negatives, of the frustrations that I did in Italy and you're like there were so many like, really like people I didn't not the people themselves but I didn't appreciate how much I could have learned if I just asked these questions. And I think for me individually it goes back. I would have gone back to confidence, you know, and I probably wouldn't have had the confidence to ask because you know I would play at that point I would have worried about not having the right answer. Or you know all these kinds of things that when you're younger you're like, oh, you don't realise it's okay not to know these things and more not, so confidence would have been a major barrier. But if you do recognise those things early on, you can just soak up.

Speaker 1 53:16

And I think you know it's always difficult comparing generations, but when you look at, you know the next generation they're, they're far more confident, comfortable in general, asking questions, soaking, soaking things up with lots, of, lots of things, a rubbish at that. But that's certainly one one, one difference that I've noticed comparing myself. Or even look at my son this is 15, you know he's, he's been doing his own, he'd done his own podcast at 14 and you know, just on a radio show, and it's just like I would never have, you know, at 30 years old I would have done it, let alone at you know 13. And it's just, it's yeah, it's incredible. These different, different qualities, yeah, what has there been? One individual or person, pablo, that you either I say, look back on him. I've been recent where, where there's been integral, pivotal to your development or learning, or, or, you know, even serendipitous kind of like, you know, opportunity that came about from, from this interaction that's really helped you.

Speaker 2 54:39

I don't know.

Speaker 3 54:40

Okay, oh, okay, I suppose they're, you're back.

Speaker 2 54:46

Do I have one? Okay? It's interesting, do you?

Speaker 1 54:48

I do.

Speaker 3 54:58

I saw them in the RBS accelerator and I was like that man had a huge impact on my life and where I lived up. I originally started, started, started an architectural engineering course. So we did a lot of civil response. But there was architectural classes that were built and that was clearly what I wanted to do. So the treatise in first year, jan, you were, it's like there wasn't an electric, it was like the architectural engineers who really wanted to create a project and the treatise, jan, was like you know what? Would you fancy this? Fortune courses, it's just architecture. So yeah, and he put in good words with the undergrad Porsche owner, got me into grade and got me on the course and I saw him again. Like this is like years later. I saw him in RBS, it's alright, it's a fast treat. I said, sure, well, if you hadn't answered me and they hadn't put in my good word, I wouldn't have done architecture and I wouldn't have done what I am now. So it's like that we were, so that man had agreed it again.

Speaker 2 55:54

But then he wasn't even realized it.

Speaker 3 55:55

He wasn't going to know yeah.

Speaker 1 55:58

I've got a couple of big ones and then there's little ones where, maybe more in line with what I was saying before about people, that you can learn from People I didn't realize that were almost mentoring me or at least taking me under their wing, where either I just didn't realize or appreciate it or they were just kind of I just thought they were being nice but didn't realize kind of the impact until you look back and how they shaped your life or helped you. That's definitely a few. So what major projects or initiatives are coming up? You mentioned a few. I imagine there's loads you can't see because they're top secret. What can we expect to see from you in the next wee while?

Speaker 2 56:50

Well, actually one thing about that is beginning to trial vehicle to grid charging, that's, when you use the EV battery to power back the building or indeed the grid, because at the moment, the grid has immense problems with the fact that renewables are not always on when you need them, so you need to use gas, but if you have batteries, then you can sort of fix that problem. Now the issues the batteries are quite expensive, and so if we wanted to buy batteries, we have to spend a lot of money. However, you can imagine that in 10 years time, we'll have 20,000 EVs parked there, and they just parked there because they're stuck waiting for people to come by them, and each one's got a humongous battery, because EVs have enormous batteries. My flat I've measured this could run off my EV for a full week, and that's not. It's the really big batteries, and so you have this basically enormous battery parts sitting out there that just look like cars. They happen to have four wheels, so if you could put this by the Rexel Charger.

Speaker 2 57:58

So actually investigating this with Strathclyde, we're doing a page, we're funding a PhD with them to look into the. The algorithm says you need to for optimization and that kind of stuff, and it's nearly there enough. We've got the first demonstrator coming up here in Glasgow and the innovation center, and it's just two nice remits. To begin with. You just demonstrate the concept. In 10 years time you just see all these cars parked. Those cars can depend on how we're in the grid.

Speaker 3 58:30

I'm going to start asking the final questions here. Just one that I enjoy is yeah, yeah. So. Name of the podcast insert buzzword. Pablo, what is a buzzword? Do you enjoy using a word or one that you dedicated? You said what word? What's your buzzword? I think it's a buzzword?

Speaker 2 58:49

That's a good question. I think I do these little buzzwords. I'm going to say there was a sustainability, because I just kind of put buzzword and you said I'm trying to think of something more interesting, but yeah, plus sustainability, sustainability.

Speaker 1 59:09

Is there a buzzword in Arnold Clark, you know is a catchphrase almost or is used regularly within the business. Still, cars. We hate Peter Varadio.

Speaker 3 59:30

I'll just do a ball person of rent. So yeah, final thoughts, just then.

Speaker 1 59:39

Thank you very much, pablo, for giving your time. I don't have any other final thoughts, apart from it's been fantastic to speak to you Apologies, I missed a large chunk of it and, yeah, really appreciate it. On the MBA, although you socialise, I certainly had to Because I lived in Creef. I was doing two hours each way and as many opportunities, and when you are kind of engaging, you're kind of working on projects and there might be, you know, engaged, but you don't really get to hear people's story properly, or maybe as a reflective of my lack of attention. But it was really interesting to hear some of your journey that I haven't heard. Thank you for giving me your time.

Speaker 2 1:00:28

Yeah, thank you. You know, it's a type of question that people who meet each other and sometimes my children very well don't ask each other.

Speaker 1 1:00:37

Yeah cool. Let's close it Goodbye. I think we'll be back next week with another episode and another exciting guest.