Building Networks, Not Just Hiring: The Global Talent Strategy with Mark Reinecke

Fresh out of the studio, Mark Reinecke, SVP of Top Executive Management and Talent Acquisition at Airbus, shares his approach to the full life cycle of global talent management from acquisition to development and retention. Starting from his career journey, Mark shared his experiences and mental models in recruiting, developing and retaining top talent while emphasized how the STAR program in Airbus can gather experts from areas outside of Airbus to provide different perspectives on how the aviation industry can learn from best practices in other industries given the emerging technologies. Last but not least, Mark shared his perspectives on what does great look like for global talent management.

"When I discuss with senior leaders, interview them, or assess them for senior roles, they often come to me, and I ask them: 'What makes you unique? How do you see yourself?' Eighty percent of them tell me what they can't do. They talk about their development needs, and I say, 'Is that how you pitch yourself? Is that what you really bring to the table? You sit with a headhunter and tell me what you can’t do—why not tell me what you’re really good at?' Your exceptional value-add, your competitive advantage—that’s what makes an impact, not what you cannot do. Development needs require a mitigation strategy, yes, but I believe that focusing on your unique strengths will take you further in your career." - Mark Reinecke

Profile:

Mark Reinecke, Senior Vice President, Top Executive Management and Talent Acquisition and STAR Program Director, Airbus (LinkedIn)

Here is the edited transcript of our conversation:

Bernard Leong: Welcome to Analyse Asia, the premier podcast dedicated to dissecting the pulse of business technology and media in Asia. I'm Bernard Leong and in the hunt for global talent, given the proliferation of technologies from AI to drones, how do multinational corporations in the world handle the new wave of talent acquisition and retention. With me today, a special guest that's very close to my heart, Mark Reinecke, Senior Vice President, Top Executive Management and Talent Acquisition to talk through this. I'm very thankful because Mark Reinecke is the person who recruited me to Airbus and I have fond memories of the company still leading today in global aviation.

Bernard Leong: Mark Reinecke, welcome to the show.

Mark Reinecke: Thank you Bernard Leong.

Bernard Leong: You are here for the space and technology week.

Mark Reinecke: I'm actually here for two events. Originally we were always part of a cooperation between the STAR program and the Global Space Technology Convention. This year for the first time, EDB decided to create a space week, so we have five or six events together with the STAR program. I will elaborate a little bit later what the STAR program is, but it's a cooperation we have since many years.

Bernard Leong: Being an ex alum of it, I want to know more about your origin story. How did you start your career?

Mark Reinecke: I started my career a very long time ago, more than three decades. I'm not an aerospace geek. I'm not an aviation guy by nature. I was born in a small town in the northern part of Germany. Most people know it because the headquarter of VW is located there - Volkswagen. I joined the automotive industry, but not VW. I joined Mercedes. I didn't want to spend my life where I was born because I'm an adventurous guy. I like to discover new places. So I went to join Mercedes as a trainee, did several jobs in HR in Stuttgart, Berlin, and before being in charge of international HR for the Western hemisphere for the truck division.

Bernard Leong: How did you eventually make your way to Airbus?

Mark Reinecke: It's actually a funny story. A former colleague of mine joined, back then it was called Daimler Benz Aerospace. He joined a satellite company called Dornier. And he called me one day and said, "Hey, don't you want to join Airbus?" I said, "Airbus? Airbus is a subsidiary of Daimler Benz Aerospace, which is a subsidiary of Daimler Benz. So it's the third leg in a subsidiary role. Why should I join them? I'm sitting nice in the headquarter in Stuttgart, having a nice job." He said, "No, I made a mistake. I went there." And I laughed when I saw. It was actually a company called Air Cabin back then, a subsidiary of Airbus, producing panels for the aircraft interior. I loved the people, I loved the management, so I decided to join them as HR Director and spent two and a half years there.

Bernard Leong: And then that eventually lead you to Airbus?

Mark Reinecke: It was part of Airbus at the end of the day, but it was not the end of my automotive journey. After two and a half years, Daimler needed people. Daimler was a very central organized company, and they liked people when they moved. So they saw somebody who moved from the automotive division into the aerospace sector, so they wanted me back. So in end of 1999, beginning of 2000, I was asked to come back primarily to be part of the PMI post merger integration team for Daimler and Chrysler. I spent a lot of time in Detroit. Later on, it was a project for the way to develop and analyze potential assessment for senior leaders. I ended up being, for two years, the head of HR for a subsidiary, a joint venture between Porsche and Daimler. Super interesting story.

Bernard Leong: Very interesting story.

Mark Reinecke: Honestly, I think I would have stayed there a little bit longer, had Daimler not decided to back off and give all the shares back to Porsche.

Bernard Leong: I know that story. So, you eventually got into Airbus, you do group trustings, searching for the best talent to hire for Airbus. Before I get to the main subject of the day, I want to ask you, in your career journey, what are the key lessons that you can share with my audience?

Mark Reinecke: That's a tough one. I would say, first of all, make daily learning a habit because what brought you there might not bring you further. You need to be able to reinvent yourself. If you always do the same thing, you always have the same result. The world is evolving and if the world evolves, the world will be ahead of you.

The second is what people never know. When I discuss with senior leaders, when I have interviews, assess them for senior roles, and they come to me and I ask them, "What makes you unique? How would you see yourself?" 80% of them tell me what they can't do. They tell me the development needs, and I say, "Is it how you do a pitch? Is it what you really can bring to the table? You sit with a headhunter and tell me what you can't do? Why don't you tell me what you're really good at? Your exceptional value add, your competitive advantage." Because that's what makes the impact, not what you cannot do. It's a development need where you need a mitigation strategy. I always believe unique strength brings you further in your career.

Bernard Leong: So I want to get to the main subject of the day. I want to think about global leadership acquisition and management because this is a pretty VUCA era now. So I want to first get a sense of, can you talk about more about your role and responsibility within Airbus itself?

Mark Reinecke: It's a very long title as you mentioned at the beginning - Top Executive Management Talent Acquisition. In the end it's pretty simple. I'm in charge of the top 250 - everything that corresponds to staffing, recruitment, succession plan development for the top 250 leaders. I work on behalf of the Chief HR Officer together with the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, but the Board of Directors will be supplied by my boss. What we do is ensuring that we really have the right developed top executives at all times. We have a development plan, a career path. We do coaching, leadership, internal, external mentoring and so on. We really use external experts to help them get an outside-in view.

Then there's one part, and you will laugh again now, which is the talent acquisition. Talent acquisition is not that we are only hunting people outside. It is the creation of a certain kind of ecosystem, which we have done some years ago. We have two sources here. We have the STAR program, but we come to this a little bit later. And we have search partners who help us to fill the pipe and to fill the pool of friends of the house who might one day join or not Airbus. You don't have to join Airbus to be a friend of the house of Airbus.

Bernard Leong: Being part of the program, I'm very honored, and it's probably one of the best places to actually have very good conversations. For example, Victoria Coleman, who recently joined, I think was a very long time attendee of the STAR program meetings as such. So from your perspective, how do you now look at the landscape of global talent and then analyze them before approaching them to join your organization?

Mark Reinecke: Before we approach people, I would say the most important is that you know what you want. So you need a certain kind of strategy. You need to have your succession planning right and you need some strategic foresight. So we constantly try to analyze industry trends, leadership competencies and the requirements. And lately more and more skills. Because people talk more about skills management. Because a lot of people have skills you don't even know about, which might be needed for the future before we say, "Okay, this is the person we want to have." It's really not about just a job request and then we look for the right people here.

Another thing we do internally very often is that we really make sure that our people really have the right performance and track record. Because very often we talk about leadership, and I always emphasize sometimes you need some hard skills in order to do the job, which is as important as the leadership part. And another thing is for people joining Airbus - and they know you're going to ask me about it because you went through it yourself - the cultural and leadership fit with Airbus, which is not an easy part. And again, we're trying to build long lasting relationships with people. It's not about jumping in and recruit, we try to connect people, which is much better than just taking it to the box, "Okay, there is a person, put him on the job."

Bernard Leong: And then how do organizations actually approach the challenge of actually attracting and integrating talent just from outside the core industry? For example, we talk about myself and some of the other fellows within the STAR program who are basically experts in certain technology, could it be AI, computer vision, digital transformation, even sustainability. How do you actually approach in trying to bring them into aviation industry because the cultural values is very different and even the expertise required? I actually enjoyed my learning curve with Airbus. I went through a very good onboarding program, really got to know the business. And even today when people ask me, it's like, "Yeah, when I tell them a little bit more about aviation, it's like, wow, we didn't know it was that complex." Like, "Well, Airbus taught me everything there."

Mark Reinecke: Again, it's not about recruitment. It's about really strategic capability building in key areas like digital transformation, innovation. Our core expertise is aerospace, is aviation, and it will always be, but we need to cross fertilize it. It's cross industry knowledge that can accelerate innovation and bring fresh perspectives. And having said that, there comes a price with it. Because the people come with a certain kind of experience, which is different than the one in Airbus, which is on the one side good. On the other side, it will be a shock for the system if you come with this knowledge.

How to really make sure that we can harness this? That's the critical part, where we really, really put a lot of emphasis. We know it's not easy. We are not always successful. But we definitely need fresh eyes. And again, Airbus's ambition on leading the aviation industry decarbonization journey is still there. The goal is still 2050 of net zero carbon emission. Alone with our people, I don't think we will achieve it. We have very good people in our company, very good engineers. But we need as well some challengers, people, and some challengers from the outside of our industry.

Bernard Leong: So what's the one thing you know about in this area of getting talent acquisition and management that very few do?

Mark Reinecke: What I do this week. I'm here for the STAR Program, five days in Singapore, Space Week and Global Space and Technology Convention with a lot of stars, fellows of yours, and I have a normal job. But this week is not about my normal job. I'm really here solely for the STAR program and the long impact of the STAR program.

Because other companies mainly focus on leadership development. That's what we have done with the STAR program. It's a strategic corporate development program which aims at creating an external network for our Executive Committee and the top management. We launched this back in 2013, actually the idea is from 2012, when I was together with the head of innovation of Conferry, late Peter Everett, who unfortunately passed away.

We were sitting, having a good glass of wine and we came up with, "Why do we always have to recruit when we have a problem, or when we have an open job? Why can't we just get the knowledge in a different way?" Because what you want is the knowledge. Does it always mean you have to hire somebody? Or, if you have a problem, what do you do? You recruit internally, you recruit externally, you hire a consultant. I say, there must be something else.

I came with the idea of creating a club of friends of the house. Thought leaders, next practice leaders who are somehow unique. They can be completely different than average people. They can come from NGOs, they can come from startups, they can come from administrations, they can come from MNCs, but it doesn't have to be aviation. They can come from whatever industry, from functions worldwide. And it was enabling us to really get these next practices, innovative thinking and enabling the needed outside-in view for us.

Because when you ask internal people, when top managers ask, and we are all part somehow of an organization, when an internal top manager asks his teams, they don't really dare to tell you what they think. A consultant on the other side will tell you what you know and charges you a bomb. These people - and you were part of it, you were part, you were sitting on the other side of the workshops and having discussions - you are practitioners and you tell us even if we don't want to hear it. Even sometimes it hurts. And our top managers, they love it. They are on the hotspot, but they go there because they say, "Okay, we learned something." These people don't hide behind the curtain.

Bernard Leong: And they don't hide back. I would have to also thank Peter, who actually got me into the STAR Program and to really have frank and interesting conversations. I think I met Jesse Kelman, Danny Bowman, who's actually one of the co-founders of Amazon Prime Air. And many of the other stars, Marcus and John as well. I want to hear some interesting stories here. Can you share a success story where you brought in one of the talent from STAR Program and bring them into Airbus and there has been some significant change and improvements within the organization?

Mark Reinecke: I'll try to do it without naming anyone. Because we have a certain kind of Chatham House rules as well. But I'll name somebody you may immediately know who it is, who was a member of the STAR program, was based out of Singapore, is originally Dutch, very long working for a big MNC. I knew him for 10 years and we were always in touch over the years and he always brought insight. He was part of the workshops, and so on.

Ultimately, coming from another global conglomerate, he came into Airbus. It took a while. It took 10 years, but it was never the aim to immediately jump on this. And again, I don't know if I say it, but the STAR program is not a recruitment program. That's right. It can lead to recruitment, but the aim is really having thought leadership discussions with an external advisory council.

So this person came in and immediately he was in the commercial organization, brought his external view, was running the region Europe and is now - people can look it up because I still don't want to say the name - and now made it after a couple of years, really with this external view and very international background. And he's definitely somebody who's now part of the Executive Committee in charge of all the international organization. And it was a full success, even though at the beginning people were a bit, "Okay, he's different than we are." But the difference is really broad is the open mindset, curiosity, and we needed it to create our international organization.

Bernard Leong: So this is where I want to ask you, what are the kinds of challenges organization face from integrating this external talent from the different industries into a traditional industry like aviation to get that unique corporate culture. We talk about it and I think you alluded to the fact that it's not really very simple. It's not as in, you snap, you bring a talent in, there needs to be some integration and maybe people within the system also get a little bit of a shock as that happened. What are the things that you try to make sure that you have to do so that those talent can integrate and essentially become a team player of the organization?

Mark Reinecke: It's a tough one. Because normally you think, okay, you hire somebody from the outside with an executive search firm. Very often, you do assessments, you do several interviews, you know, you have eight or 10 interviews before you are finally selected at that level, even if it's the blessing of the Executive Committee, but the complexity of our industry, the regulations, the certification process have played a pivotal role on how the culture is.

We have longer development cycles. Everything takes a long time, and for people who come from fast paced industries, you have startups, they get very nervous. Meetings, the governance culture, and you know, you sit in meetings and you ask yourself, "Why are we not deciding? We could decide already." These are really challenges for them.

So we have to make sure that they do understand that and I have to bring you back to the year 1999 when it was decided to create this company back then, EADS. Four companies from four countries and the day after they are one, should be one company, one culture. It takes time. So we have learned to accept diversity and the differences because that's for me accepting diversity and stability in the end of the day, but it takes time that you don't fight it.

And then on top of that, our engineers - and we are an engineering driven company - they are so proud, and I'm proud myself. I'm not an engineer of what they produce.

Bernard Leong: Yes.

Mark Reinecke: And you have seen it. When you can see the drones, when you can see the platforms, when you can see the aircraft, the helicopters, the satellites, it's just amazing. They have tears in their eyes. They're so proud. So they think, "Okay. Why should we do something else different now? What does this new person bring me in the end of the day when he or she comes in? We are great. So why change?" But again, as I said before, if we continue to do what we have been doing in the past, and the world is evolving, and now with things like AI, we all know how things can evolve very fast.

And the last point I want to mention, Bernard Leong, is we have a very high tissue rejection. I don't know how it is in other multinationals. And it's very, very, very, very key that we help the people and we have for all the top leaders, we have an exclusive tailor made onboarding program. They get assigned a buddy and this buddy - you can ask, the buddy is not there to mentor you, the buddy is there so you can ask any stupid question, from where do I have to go to the toilet, to the canteen, to what is the best way to reach out to a person, where to park my car. It's really to indulge the culture, but to have a safe harbor to ask somebody who knows the culture, and to really have the chance to ask this person questions you don't dare to ask because you don't want to look dumb. You can't look dumb in this way.

Bernard Leong: And have you ever thought about the fact that maybe you also have reverse pollinated into the people who are in the STAR program who get to understand Airbus culture? I, for one, actually learned a lot about, actually I came to appreciate safety a lot more. The appreciation of actually building for quality. On that, have you ever thought that, you know, that might have even have reverse pollinated from the group of people who usually comes from having these conversations and learning on that.

Mark Reinecke: Again, I think it's a two way street. It's not a one way street. We learn a lot, but I know that even people who have been with Airbus, and we have learned as well that, take your own case, Bernard Leong, you came in for a mission. When the mission was finished, it was clear that maybe your future is not without us, which is okay.

Bernard Leong: Yeah.

Mark Reinecke: And it was difficult for us to accept it as an HR organization. To say, "Okay, why do you bring in people for three or four years? And then they go and say, yeah, because the mission is finished." It's the new way of doing things. It's the new normal you have already with the gig economy. So no, there's a cross pollination in the end of the day. And to be very frank, I think we learn as much as the stars learn. Or people who join Airbus and then leave.

Bernard Leong: I have a really curious question. I mean, one of the most interesting parts of the STAR program is actually to be able to have all these very interesting and groundbreaking conversations about technologies and what is the value in the aviation space, or maybe even adjacent businesses as well. What are your perspectives now looking at emerging technologies, for example, AI, not necessarily generative AI, and other technologies sometimes could be 3D printing. And maybe now people even talk about crypto. I don't know how it gets into it, but how do the perspectives that you hear shape the way even how you think about what you do in Airbus daily, like the way you maybe think about acquiring and retaining talent?

Mark Reinecke: Let me give an answer. And here I take my role as an HR guy because I'm not an engineer. Otherwise I will look stupid in front of you because you are an engineer. AI will definitely play a major role and a key role in the future of HR. We are already the first step of this journey when it comes to feeding succession plans. But it's really at the beginning.

Because we have to do our homework first. Because everybody talks about AI, I wouldn't say, "Okay, we have to get our act together because we have so many data." We first have to decide, "Okay, what is it that we want to achieve?" The question is, what do you want to have as an outcome? Then to collect the data, and then maybe we talk about machine learning in order to have some tools which can identify successes for us. But you need to make your homework.

The homework is collect the data, ask the key questions at the end of the day. What is it what you want to achieve? What is a career breaker? What is a career maker? Is it the language? Is it the boss? Is it the structure? Is the salary increases? The development program? What is it? What brings you there?

So unless we haven't done that, we cannot blame AI for not giving us the right people out of the system. So for me, we're not planning to automatize things because in the end, it's for me a certain kind of enabler to make better human decisions, because at the end we are humans, and honestly, I strongly do believe that it will help us a lot, to improve our decision making. Even on the onboarding, maybe.

Bernard Leong: Yeah.

Mark Reinecke: But again, I think it will remain that individual development remains a human expertise.

Bernard Leong: Yeah. And does any of talking on these new topics along with the other members of the STAR program give you a perspective of what the future will look like in the aviation industry as well?

Mark Reinecke: Oh, that's a tough one, because I get so many perspectives on the discussions with the STAR program. I maybe highlight two things. Yesterday, two days ago, coming back to the week. Two days ago, we had a new session with the STAR program member who made a certain kind of presentation. Four stars and Airbus management. So it wasn't Airbus hosting. And it was more about how AI and what are the five most relevant technologies: Blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, etc. which will definitely have a major impact on all industries, on society. And we have five years to get ready. What's our plan?

And it was super interesting to see and you saw the people just melting away. And you get out of it and you start to think, "Okay, what does it mean for me? What does it mean for my family? What does it mean for Airbus? What does it mean for my job in the end?" So it's an inspiration. Honestly, it's just unique.

The second thing is, do you remember, I don't know if you remember, we had our workshops on UAVs.

Bernard Leong: Yes, I remember that.

Mark Reinecke: And we have for sure, we had super people around the table. Everybody was raving, "UAVs is going to come" and so on. Unfortunately, we had the CEO of an insurance company around the table. Who said, "Technology is great. You will build it. And I have no doubts one day, these things are going to fly - you Airbus, other companies, and so on. And when I hear you all, it's just about the business model. It's about the scaling up. It's about the technology, who owns what and who does what."

"The one question I would like to ask you guys, all of you sitting around, when this thing falls off the sky - who is accountable? The OEM? The city, the regulator, the pilot, the passenger, or whoever? There must be somebody, because somebody must be accountable and liable. And we have to ask this question."

There was silence in the room and that's what I described in the end because he was not a regulator. Regulator, we know how they work. He was from the insurance side, and by the way, he's an aviation geek, but he knows aviation very well. We were taking a break, reflecting, thinking. It brings a new perspective. And that's how it always works in these discussions.

Bernard Leong: So I'm probably going to ask, like, what is the one question you wish people would ask you more about global talent acquisition and management?

Mark Reinecke: I said STAR program is my hobby, which it definitely is, and many people, I would put it this way. Some people ask me, "Mark Reinecke, why do you think networks are so important?"

Bernard Leong: Why do you think networks are so important? That's my question now. I know why.

Mark Reinecke: And here, frankly, and I talk about internal and the external network, and I give two examples. People underestimate the power of networks. A network doesn't mean that you just go around and meet people for the sake of meeting people. Network means to me that you have a genuine professional network and you can ask people. And they can help you to do something.

Particularly in Airbus, it's super important because you can learn from them. Because whenever you know somebody, and people are somehow still scared. When you look at our community, the 200 stars we have, you throw a question in, somebody will answer. And whatever it is, you get the answer. And the same applies for Airbus, which is a very complex company. And I always tell the people, take your time to create the network.

Because if you don't know people, people don't know you. And you won't get things done. I know some people think it's a waste of time. I strongly believe in a company like Airbus, which is because of its history, very complex. Four founding countries. You need to spend the time with the people to get to know them and for them to get to know you. And if you don't want to do that, you're set up for failure.

The second thing is the external network. And we have spoken a lot about the STAR program. I don't even know if it was the intention you had to speak a lot about the STAR program, but it's not my intention. I'm very often approached by colleagues, by other companies. "We have heard about the STAR program. What is it? We would like to do it." And I have no problem sharing what we do.

Even though Chatham House rules apply when we are in the STAR program workshops, because they are friends. We don't have NDAs, to be very clear, with any of the stars. So they get more information, but we trust them as they trust us. And the problem is the people think you can create something like this in one or two years. And it's not a budget line. It's not about money. Yes, it costs money when we do these things. But for me, it doesn't cost, it's an investment and the investment is not the money, there's a budget line only, it's the time.

I spend in peak times, 50, 60 percent of my time for the STAR program. Normally it's about 30, 40%, which is a lot. And this applies as well for somebody in my team who's working. It's some other team members who support that. I tried to visit every star once a year. So friendship needs to be nurtured. It's like plants. You don't water them, they fade away and they die.

Bernard Leong: That's right.

Mark Reinecke: And then friendship dies away. So if I don't see you for the next 10 years, it is still okay. "I haven't seen him for 10 years. He's not interested in me, so I'm not interested in him." And same applies for Airbus. But as we meet regularly, we stay in touch, we discuss about trends. You asked me to do a podcast, and that's how it works.

And people are not ready to invest the time. They think they can buy friendship and when they realize, it's not depending only on the product. Yes, we have super products, but it's not depending on the product. It's much more depending as well on the willingness to set it up, to have a product, a long breath, because we do it since 10 years, we still do it and we have done nearly 200 workshops with the stars for our top management, and it's still there and it's getting bigger and bigger.

Bernard Leong: Yeah, I'm totally still there for some of the gatherings and it's really a great place to actually have those intellectual conversations. So I have my traditional closing question. What does great look like for you? For global talent acquisition and management, you know, large corporation?

Mark Reinecke: I take my habits head again. I don't talk about the STAR program, because we have been speaking about that so long. Preparation of the next generation of leaders, robustness of succession plan, and diversity while I emphasize diversity with a capital D that means it's gender, international - we are an international company, we definitely need as well international mindset. So we need different people and we know what the price it comes with because different people means different cultures.

You know my background, I'm quite diverse, even though I'm officially originally from Germany, but I've spent most of my time not in Germany. And we need really to ensure that the company is led by the best minds and they are not only exceptional in their own fields, but they are deeply aligned with our mission. And you know that our mission is pioneering sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world. So they need to embark on this journey.

And there are long term things like I discussed. Succession plans at all levels, be ready, being attractive to talent and not only attracting them, retaining them. And that is the key issue. This has a lot of things to do with the culture, the way we do things, the way you welcome people and so on so that they don't go away after six months and swallow the bitter pill, and then afterwards spit it out.

And the second thing is preparing our current leaders. There are a lot of leaders out there who see all these new technologies coming, everything coming. They heard the name of AI, but they don't really know what it is. They don't probably know what the difference between AI and machine learning is, and so on. But we need to take the time to prepare them as well, because they might still be there. So it's again, it's preparing the future, but as well taking care of the ones who are out there, because they might still be there for a couple of years and they're good guys, ladies, to make them successful.

Bernard Leong: Mark Reinecke, many thanks for coming on the show. And I say, I really look forward to having this conversation with you over the last 10 years. And I really got this. So in closing, I have two quick questions. Any recommendations which have inspired you recently?

Mark Reinecke: I'm glad to be here in Singapore. I honestly get my inspiration, like I said before, from meeting so many new diverse people. And every time I go back to Airbus, I have so many ideas. And you know that Airbus is a super company. We know what we have. We know our challenges. But there's so many other things you can learn, which is like reading 20 books, 30 books in one week when you have these discussions.

Yesterday we had a super session, which was done with another star on the future role and how should Singapore develop. And I was just listening in and learning so much about the ecosystem in Singapore, which I didn't know. And that's the one thing. And the second thing is, these insightful sessions, these discussions, but as well, I have a passion for people. And be it the Airbus people, and the outside people, and I meet with them all the time.

My team knows, when I'm on the road, I don't accept any conferences, meetings with Europe or whatever. So I'm there for the people. I hardly even call, just if it's important, because I want to spend the time with the people. In the end, this is an inspiration for my job. It's being present, actually being present, and I love my job.

Bernard Leong: So how do my audience find you?

Mark Reinecke: They can find me through you very easily through LinkedIn.

Bernard Leong: Okay, cool. So you can definitely find the podcast everywhere now on YouTube, Spotify, in video and definitely, subscribe to our newsletter. And of course, drop me any feedback if you have on the podcast. Mark Reinecke, many thanks for coming on the show. I just have to give one more shout out on my very first STAR dinner. I actually learned so much. And one of the things that I actually learned was airport design and this really great gentleman, Casper, who always talk about design. Every time I see him over the last 10 years, we're always talking about what's the next great UI from walking past an airport. So I really thank you for this conversation and many thanks for coming on the show.

Mark Reinecke: Most welcome and thank you for the challenging questions.

Podcast Information:?Bernard Leong?(@bernardleong,?Linkedin) hosts and produces the show. Proper credits for the intro and end music: "Energetic Sports Drive" and the episode is mixed & edited in both video and audio format by?G. Thomas Craig?(@gthomascraig,?LinkedIn). Here are the links to watch or listen to our podcast.

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