Month: May 2023

On Executives Unpacked, we dive into the stories of inspiring leaders who shape the business world. In Episode 23, we had the opportunity to speak with Sofia Regojo, CRO at Verimatrix. With over two decades of experience in senior commercial roles and 15 years in the video industry, Sofia has an impressive track record in content security. She shared some valuable insights from her journey so far. 

What is the biggest lesson that you think you’ve learned during your career?

There’s nothing that you can do without working hard. If you decide to do something, do it the right way the first time, because if you do it the wrong way or if you don’t pay enough attention to what you’re doing, you need to repeat what you’re doing, which is a waste of your time and the people around you. 

I was taught from a very young age, and it comes from the way I was brought up by my mother. I’ve always tried to do it. There have been a lot of times in my career when I needed to rush to do something, because I kept leaving it until the end of the day and didn’t feel like doing it. When I finally did it, because the deadline was arriving, it didn’t turn out as you would like it to turn out. It’s those moments when I think, ‘If I would have done it properly, the results would have been much, much better.’ 

What do you wish someone had told you earlier?

Knowing your numbers is absolutely key. I’m a numbers person now, but when I was younger, I was not. I didn’t pay enough attention to them for quite some time. So if someone would have told me earlier, you need to master your numbers, that would have helped me a lot. 

The other thing that I would have liked someone to tell me, which I’ve only learned later is that the amount of work you have is self imposed. It does not matter which level of the organisation you are. For a long time, I thought that I had a lot of work because my boss wanted me to work very hard, or I had to get results. As time went by, I realised that actually it’s totally self imposed. 

Another thing is rest. Take your time. Recovery time is important.

What would you say is the best bit of advice that you’ve ever been given?

Less is more. I think it’s very good advice. I was told this many years ago, when I tried to do a lot of things. I just wanted to do too many things. I had a lot of work with my kids as well. At the time, my boss made me do less, which I hated, of course. But at the same time, it was absolutely a lesson, because as he told me, ‘If you do less, it will become more. So allow yourself to do less.’ 

When you’re in a conversation, and you’re in trouble, if you don’t know exactly what to say, stop. Give yourself a moment, some silence. It gives you time to think about what you want to say and report on that. It’s a super powerful tool that not that many people use, and they should, because it really helps the flow of the conversation.

What types of things have constantly kept you awake at night during your career?

I used to be kept awake for many things. I wanted to make my numbers work. When I had people’s topics to resolve, things like ‘how do you build a team that is happy?’ you have to have everything in place. I used to have a lot of sleepless nights, and I had to resolve that because you cannot just live without sleeping. I decided many years ago that I don’t read emails from 9pm onwards, so I can disconnect from whatever has happened during the day. I avoid emails because if not, then I keep on thinking about it. 

What keeps me awake as well is whenever I think that I could have done better. Those are the things that stick in my mind, regardless of reading emails. I’ll be thinking “This was not okay, so how do I turn it in a way that is okay, how do I make it good?” Sometimes it’s good for me, but most of the time it’s good for the team and good for the company. 

Is there one single thread that you can identify that has a certainly led to your success over the years? 

Persistency. I would say that I’m very persistent. I won’t give up. I don’t let challenges or difficulties put me down. I’m super optimistic. I’m super positive. Even when I have challenges ahead of me, I always turn it into opportunities.

What one bit of advice do you always give to other people?

Always have fun.

To learn more about Sofia’s life and work, tune into Episode 23 of the Executives Unpacked podcast here. 

Episode 22 of Executives Unpacked was a great conversation with Adam Nightingale, the CCO at 3 Screen Solutions. Adam’s career has taken him across the video and streaming industry, with a wealth of experience at a senior level. 3SS is a world leader in helping content houses provide their customers with best in class video platforms, giving him valuable insights into the way that the video streaming industry is heading. Read on to get to know this incredible executive!

What is the biggest lesson that you think you’ve learned during your career?

The biggest lesson is to trust your instincts, because very often, you’re surrounded by smart, opinionated people with well-reasoned opinions, and it’s easy to get lost in that. I would urge anyone to never be afraid to voice their own opinions. Don’t be swayed by someone with a big mouth and no ears. Trust what you believe to be right and true – you’re often not far wrong. Even if you are wrong, at least you acted with integrity and followed what you believed to be right.

What do you wish that you’d been told earlier in your career?

Don’t be afraid to speak up. I had a guy on my team in one particular company, and he was good at being outspoken, but he had annoyed a lot of people because of it. His parting words to me when he left were ‘Are you honestly representing the interests of your team with the board? Do you need to fight for your team? Go in for the fight every time.’ In my next company, I did exactly that – I represented the interests of the team. 

What I failed to understand is that every company is different. What works in one company may or may not work in another. Some companies are very open to new ideas and other companies are very resistant to them. It’s easy to take one bit of advice that’s absolutely solid and apply it in the wrong circumstances. I learned that the hard way. 

What types of things have constantly kept you awake at night?

Sales is a weird career choice to take in some ways. Even if you assume that you win one in three deals, that means two thirds of your time is wasted. That’s terrible. Who would willingly get into that kind of environment? 

In sales, the leads you bring in are what keeps the company going. You have this sense of responsibility to win interesting deals. It’s mainly about making sure there’s money and margin to fund growth, but it’s also got to be interesting for everybody else to do. If a company is full of 100 individual people with different personalities and ambitions and interests, they’ll all want to push the boundaries of the technology they work with. That keeps me up too. 

Is there a single thread that has run through your career that has led to your successes?

It’s probably being curious and interested in what I’m doing. I’ve always been drawn towards things that engage me. My first career was in a bank’s IT department, which was a big mistake because I’m the most ill-equipped person for IT, but it was interesting. It was putting information in front of people to let them make informed decisions. I could have said, ‘This isn’t interesting’ and gone to work on the trading floor and make boatloads of money, but that wouldn’t have been as fulfilling. Instead, I went to uni. After that I was put into a deeply technical role that I was hopelessly unsuited to, but I moved from there into a sales and marketing role in a fledgling multimedia department, just because it was interesting. Everything I’ve done I’ve been interested in, which has made my career more enjoyable, and therefore more successful. 

What one bit of advice do you always give to other people? 

Be honest.

To learn more about this incredible executive, tune into the Executives Unpacked podcast here.