218. David Cabero, Group Category Leader for Stationery and ExCom Member at Bic: High Stakes...

Hi, how are you? I'm happy to be here.

When you look back, when I started I would have never imagined that. Life brings you where you never plan. For me, it's simple: I started in finance. I did many years in finance – auditing, controlling, finance manager – and from finance I had the chance to move. I was in Greece in 2005 when the general manager moved to another company, and I was there at the right moment, so I was named general manager when I was 31. Then it was 20 years in different positions: local, sub-regional, regional, the last one as General Manager of Europe, where I practiced leadership. The last job, the one I have today, is more strategic marketing. It's a nice combination – most people in finance stay in finance, but I consider myself a strange piece, moving from finance to commercial to marketing. That gives me a broader view of running a business.

I think each department gives you a different view of the company. They are complementary. And to your point on curiosity, a big thing for leaders is being humble enough to know that there are things you don't know. You're a leader, not a manager – you lead people. In a complex world, having a generalist view gives you an advantage compared to experts. So that's the chance I had to make a transversal career. To your point, how does that serve you in your current role? In my current role, it serves me well because when you have an integrated category view, you need to understand the consumer insights, what they are looking for, and which products can help you win, but also how the company can execute. Strategy is 20% of winning; 80% is execution. A wrong strategy well executed is better than a very good strategy badly executed. When you have been in the field, you understand better this mix – the strategic cube of deciding which products, in which segments, which markets, and which channels, and why you prioritize one over the other. Having done that in several countries, some where your brand is strong, some where it's less strong, gives you a bigger set of combinations to draw from, making it easier to define how to play globally.

Yeah, I'm the guy of the pen, to make it simple. It doesn't get more iconic than that. And it's easy to sell Bic pens – that's not a difficult job. My grandmother, if she was still here, would say, 'So many years studying to end up selling pens.'

I think it's always about culture and about the process. I'll start with culture. There are three cultures that combine: the culture at home, your personal values; the country culture, which influences how decisions are made; and the company culture. The alignment between your personal culture, your country's culture, and the company's culture creates what we call the 'smell of the place.' If it smells good, you like working there. If not, you leave. So for me, it's culture – the way the company and its people behave and think, how we communicate, what our values are. The second thing is having good bosses and interesting projects. I've had eight jobs in 20 years, each giving me a chance to develop myself. I wouldn't have had those opportunities at other companies.

One of the managers I had left the company. As he was leaving, I asked him for advice. He told me to try to understand what the company and your boss expect from you. That was a stopper in his career. So one key is understanding what you are supposed to deliver, adapting to new realities. The world has changed, companies have changed. During transformation, the most valuable people are those who know the business, love the business and the people, and are able to change. Be capable to adapt while fighting for your own principles, but also accepting hierarchy. After long discussions, if the company decides point A is better than B, align and play the corporate hat.

Yeah, I like that. At some stage I told one of my managers: 'I'm going to evaluate you inversely to the number of times you come to ask me for a solution. Come with solutions and tell me which one you would propose, but don't tell me your problem.' I think he got the point.

We're building that. We'll soon have better visibility. We have to be humble about the difficulty of running a business that has been successful for 70 years and how it can be successful again for the next 70. The markets we were attacking are changing. The addressable market for lighters, stationery, shavers are not exciting; people are not writing more, lighting lighters more, or shaving more. So we need to change our addressable market – whether through product change, brand evolution, selling services, or trade-up logic because volume won't be there. In my category, in the post-war life when Marcel Bich founded the company, everything was under construction, population and literacy were growing. Now we don't have that tailwind, so we need to generate new ones through value creation. That's what we're discussing with the team to set the strategy from 2026 to 2030.

From my experience in commercial, one of the important things I learned is that you need to be in the field. You need to go see how you compete in each market, understand the challenges, what competitors did in the last 10 years, how consumers changed, and then project how the rest of the market – retailers, competitors – will evolve. You integrate that into your strategic choices. The more you go up the ladder, the farther you are from the field, and the risk is that you rely on outdated knowledge. So I keep momentum by meeting teams, going to different regions with my team for market visits, factory visits, and then making decisions. I always start with a market visit, then a factory visit, and then we are ready for strategic discussions.

First secret is to have a good assistant to help with organization. I'm not an organization guy. But to bring value, you need the team to prepare the visit well in advance. We're planning visits for January or February now. Then the team maps the main issues and opportunities so we can focus the meetings and make them efficient. It needs planning, but also flexibility to change the meeting if needed. For example, if we realize at the beginning that the main points are just two, we can stop the presentation and focus on those. It's important to make the team feel comfortable changing the discussion.

Also generations change. In meetings, I can't sit for eight hours. I wake up and say I'm waking up – it doesn't mean I'm angry, I just need it. Feel free to get up, get closer to the presentation chart. Use the space. It's unconventional in some cultures, but giving that freedom encourages engagement.

There are plenty of different trends – some global, some more linked to our category. The world is more stressful, so wellbeing is a trend. Demographics are changing: in Europe, we used to have 3-4 people per household, now it's just over 2, which changes retail and pack sizes. There are also trends around digital and physical writing. We believe creativity and self-expression will remain important. Writing helps brain development; there are scientific studies. But digitization and voice are growing – audiobooks, podcasts, listening to articles. Also personalization, e-commerce, value for money, discount growth. The world has never changed this fast – we have layers of innovation: 3D printing, image recognition, AI. We don't even know what's coming, but we have to adapt.

I started personally investing in startups about 15 years ago. I invested in a few directly, then through venture capital. My interest was a mix of curiosity, learning where the future is going, and making money if possible. Now I see how startups can help improve our business – through innovation, new technologies, new business models. The question is how to integrate them – through partnerships, transactions, or M&A. The last is the most difficult because it changes your strategy. You need to consider organization, people, culture, and incentives. For example, should you integrate a startup fully or keep it as a spin-off? And the people: can the founders run it, or do you need new management? Culture: do you blend it or keep it separate? Incentives: you can't apply the same KPIs to a startup as to the core business. So that's where I am today – thinking about these four dimensions when integrating startups.

It's difficult to stay connected personally because it's time-consuming. As a corporation, it's easier through corporate venturing. Find middle players that filter and map the world for startups related to your business. Don't do it with your own team – it's inefficient. Use companies organized to do it for many businesses.

The book is about the fact that people believe decision-making is a logical process, but it's not. We live in a world influenced by emotions, politics, and culture. In corporate life, we think we analyze and get the solution, but emotions, personal interests (politics), and culture (never done that before) play a huge role. The book goes into how these non-logical factors impact decisions. The objective is to help everyone get to better decision-making. Success is about luck and deciding better; luck you can't manage, but you can work on better decisions. The book covers the weight of emotions, the importance of who decides and delegation, the balance between short-term easy wrong and long-term hard right, and self-awareness.

Several takeaways. One: the weight of emotions – be conscious that you are under emotional thinking. Two: the importance of who decides – delegation means giving the right to decide but assuming the consequences. Three: short-term easy wrong vs. long-term hard right. The easy wrong is easiest in the short term but wrong; the hard right has a cost but is the right decision. The book is less about process and more about how you feel and go through decisions, generating self-awareness to take better decisions in the future.

First, I'll repeat my father's advice: don't take a job for money; take a job where you can learn and grow. He was right. Second, be curious – don't think about a linear career; be curious and opportunistic. Sometimes you can shift your career and it's good to do it. Third, be correct with your values and choices. There are times when you strongly disagree with a decision. If it's important, fight for it. I had a boss who said if he couldn't convince the company on something, he would leave. That shocked me early in my career but was a good learning. Conviction is important, but it doesn't mean being stubborn.

And it was during the Greek crisis. I arrived just before the crisis – 27% decrease in GDP. I was General Manager at 31. It was a strong learning; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Happy to be there.