Making the Jump from Engineering to Augmented Reality: Former Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson Shares Her Journey

My latest episode of On Purpose features a remarkable leader who’s not afraid to take a leap into unfamiliar territory. Peggy Johnson recently stepped aside from her role as CEO of Magic Leap after spearheading the company’s pivot into augmented reality for enterprise applications. In our recent conversation, she talks about her remarkable career journey and the experiences that shaped who she is today -- including an unexpected encounter as a student at San Diego State University.

“I had a job on campus and was delivering mail. I happened to deliver some mail to the engineering department, and there were two ladies behind the desk when I came down the hallway. They said, ‘Are you here to talk about engineering?’ I said, ‘No. I don’t even know what engineering is.’ They talked to me….and I changed my major the next day, and off I went to engineering school.”

She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and made her next leap into a field where she was often the “odd man out.”

“The early days of engineering were tough. I was in meetings, typically with all men, and it was hard for me to speak up in a crowd like that. I remember having a conversation with my manager and saying, ‘I think I’m going to leave the field – like so many other women had…. [My manager] started to, as he termed it, ‘throw me the ball.’ He’d turn to me in meetings and say, ‘Peggy, do you have something to add to this?’ This gave me that opening to get my point of view across.”

She’s been intentionally speaking up and serving as a pioneer for women in technology ever since. She spent 25 years with Qualcomm as a software engineer and six years with Microsoft leading business development. But in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, she felt it was time again for a change.

“My job as head of business development came to a screeching halt. Nobody was flying. Nobody wanted to talk to me in person. I got to thinking: I always wanted to take the next step and become a CEO, and when this job [with Magic Leap] came open, I very intentionally raised my hand.”

Her leadership includes redirecting Magic Leap by moving into augmented reality (AR) solutions that help businesses address challenges, rather than focusing on consumer AR applications.

“There was quite a bit of change management…. It took a little time, but now they are a marching army toward enterprise use cases.”

Magic Leap is even entering the animal health space.

“We’ve started down that road. We’ve got an engagement with the San Diego Zoo, where they’re using the technology with local scientists. As they are examining an animal, scientists from across the country or across the world can see what they see.”

Thank you, Peggy, for sharing your journey and for being a role model for women in business and in technology. ?

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