On the lighter side of things, we asked Enrique Mesones, President of Apesoft, what makes him tick.
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?
It is a current one. It is about working with many things and on a series of high-impact, scalable projects and initiatives generating new values in new ways in countries and globally.
One memorable achievement was working as the President of Guild of Software, Technologies and Digital Economy of Peru. Another one was when I was elected a board member of the largest private innovation institute in the world, becoming the Chief Innovation Officer for Netstairs.
What first made you think of a career in technology?
I am an economist but am really close to the technology and innovation Industry. What I like the most is to ask myself how to use technology to generate economic and social benefits, such as new ways of monetizing regarding inclusion, diversity and sustainability.
What style of management philosophy do you employ in your current position?
I currently have three positions, and I used to implement a style based on standardization and scalability, which works for small groups and the entire industry. We are in times where collaboration and co-creation in real-time are the engines of innovation in this new digital and interactive era.
What do you think is the current hot technology conversation topic?
We are in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Web 4.0 and megatrends such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT ), Virtual Reality and Blockchain. I believe that the challenge now is to ‘humanize technology’ and align it to the maximum satisfaction and interests of humans and our planet.
How do you deal with stress and relax outside of the office?
Everything starts with an emotion and a feeling in general. I have been working from home since 2004, and I own my own time. I manage it in a way that allows me to have free time to bike, walk, ponder and exchange ideas with people smarter than me.
If you could go back and change one career decision, what would it be?
More than changing decisions, I would complement them. Since I am very curious, perhaps I would study and share my time with scientists researching our planet, the universe and human beings. I always want to know better about people, creativity, idea generation, coping with uncertainty, signal spotting, outage alerts and scenario planning.
What do you currently identify as the top investment areas in your industry?
I am focused on developing and flourishing a connected digital economy at regional and global levels, where collaboration and co-creation in real-time with live broadcasts and the use of all digital assets and tools that run through the World Wide Web is the standard.
It implies investing in fiber optic networks and satellite connections, installations with digital services that governments provide to companies and citizens 24x7x365, the promotion of the digital economy in all areas of society and educating all citizens on how to use these new technologies properly.
What are the specific challenges of the region when implementing new technologies in Latin America?
The first is to know, understand and question what the technologies are for. How should they be used correctly? How do we generate economic and social benefits for the entire population? Second, the implementation of new laws, rules and regulations that accompany and empower the development of the new digital economy. Third, providing Internet for all with high-speed connectivity.
What changes have you seen in your job role in the last year, and how do you think they will develop in the next 12 months?
One of the most crucial challenges I currently have is the standardization and democratization of innovation. For this, I am training with GIMI, the largest private institute of innovation worldwide. We are training the public and private sector, people, companies, unions and institutions to move the innovation index upwards. It is going to take us several years. We want to accelerate this process by implementing a series of programs and initiatives that we are already implementing.
What advice would you give someone aspiring to a C-level position in your industry?
Train yourself, be resilient, network with people better qualified and more intelligent than oneself, be open to the unknown, be open to inclusion and diversity. Also, it is essential to develop leadership skills, and have a correct understanding of the new digital and interactive economy and its interrelation with ecosystems, society, the environment and the planet. There is only one Earth!
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