L e a d e r s h i p
...will manufacturing plants soon become fully robotized lightsout operations? Mondello doesn’t think so, at least not anytime soon ... in some cases the human touch is a superior and more efficient solution than pure lights-out automation.
172
Engineers as managers? Mondello thinks that many times, engineers are characterized as “introverted nerds who like to sit in the lab.” But he said that description doesn’t do many engineers justice. “Regardless of formal education or background, I think there’s an interesting blend of introverts and extroverts in all fields,” he said. “I see a lot introverts in finance and accounting, yet I see some are extroverted as well. I interact with a ton of engineers, and I’m fascinated with the career paths they carve out for themselves.” According to Mondello, Jabil’s leadership gave a lot of thought to functional career paths versus managerial career paths about a decade ago. The goal is to retain the best and brightest employees, some of whom may love working in teams, but may have no desire to lead teams. “We’ve got good paths today at Jabil to let people create wonderful careers here, and the aspiration doesn’t have to be ‘I want to be an executive in a big company.’ It can be ‘I want to be a thoughtful contributor that makes huge difference at the company where I work,’” he said. Mondello went on to point out that engineering degrees aren’t too different from law degrees. “I think both degrees teach people how to think logically. I think that the law degree can be a little more abstract, and the engineering degree can be a little more process, but they teach people how to think. They teach people how to problem solve,” he said. Jabil culture: Focus on efficient builds Mondello describes Jabil as “building everything”—and in fact, the company has approximately 43 million square feet of manufacturing space around the world. But Jabil must also handle an array of challenges ranging from varying geographies to different currencies. “We build stuff, and I think we build it in ways that are efficient … not as optimally as I’d like, but we’re getting it. Yet, we do so much more than build stuff, because we also design stuff. In fact, we have a kind of progressive digital thread coming through the company, if you will, although, I think the word digital is grossly overused today, and I think a lot of people don’t even know what it means.” Mondello feels that many companies shouldn’t focus on building, because it’s not their core—it’s not where they excel or where they make their biggest investments. Instead, their priorities should continue to be things such as product R&D, branding, marketing, and touching customers. “Our core is building stuff, so I take a lot of pride with my leadership team on being really, really good at what we do,” he said. “We invest in manufacturing, and we invest in the systems around it, and we invest what we know of being real, fundamental, digital things … What we do in engineering and manufacturing is our core. That’s our livelihood. That’s what we do. If we’re not great at that then we’ve got real problems.” Mondello has been quoted as saying, “Take great care of our people, and our people will take great care of our customers,” a phrase that seems to have existed almost as long as businesses have. But Mondello’s earnestness in saying it makes you believe that it’s part of his and Jabil’s central belief system. “This prophetic quote is simple on its surface. But people don’t care what you know if they know you don’t care. I carry that around in a few slide decks,” he explained, and then smiled sheepishly. “People around here make fun of my slide decks, because they are not very advanced.”
January 2018 www.designworldonline.com
LEADERSHIP Mark Mondello 1-18_Vs5.LL.indd 172
DESIGN WORLD
1/22/18 4:47 PM
D