My Puma Journey - Once upon a Time in México.

Last November I was surprised to receive from Maria Fourcade and Mario Olvera an invitation for a job rotation, to work as Merchandising director in Puma Mexico for 4 months due to the maternity leave of the director Julia Schuster.

First, how cool was that? how could I say no? I was excited to put my skills to test, to share with a new group my experience, my values and learn from what I found out to be, a caring, dedicated team, and outside from the daily routine it was most of all an opportunity to deep dive into a truly diverse culture. Definitely an adventure, a step forward on my career plans and a big opportunity continuing to shape me as a person and the leader I want to be.

They say half the fun of heading overseas to start a new job is not knowing what to expect, but it was actually nice to see how the connection we have built between teams in all LATAM countries and the region it’s sure a facilitator for both parties, to get there and be in front of such familiar faces from previous positions, from meetings, from the 360′s and the after’s. To have shared our strategies for the past years, our projects in collaboration from different areas, it’s comforting and motivational for all of us; But, it′s not all easy, one of the first things you learn is that no matter what you think you know there will almost always be something new to try, or to learn, or something that will surprise you;

To being there, living their culture, immersing and experiencing how culture shapes the everyday lives of people it was one of the great and somehow unexpected learning that are more than just hard/day-to-day skills, but again it was not the only one.

The experience can be exciting and transformative, every weekly staff meeting, breakfasts with Julia Schuster, the work and non-stop travelling with the merch and sales team, every crazy meal (You can only imagine how much a Mexican can eat!...and drink!) and every talk I had with all the different people from different areas and different clients were a day-to-day learning and continued gain of knowledge from all of them, from their structure, from how good they were, their experience, their processes.

It was an opportunity to know them better as people, their values, their passionate work; And I learned that what you might assume from a different position can be a total misstep once you get you know the people behind and, in the end, it′s people who matter the most.

I also learned that there are always challenges and soft skills matters! Your ability to adapt, to listen and learn, the empathy and the curiosity, it all can be a game changer; it’s a first big step towards productive collaborations and serene teamwork. It definitely helped me to vision ways to achieve my objectives which were to contribute to the local team and somehow create the space to share what I know, the processes, especially in planning and the experiences I gathered with merch and sales directors through countless strategy meetings (Even before Microsoft Teams was cool) in these past years in Puma LATAM.

The amazing opportunity to work on projects in business management and supply planning in co-collaboration with different areas! To work on Mexico long-term strategies, I can only thanks both LATAM and México to push me and for the efforts from everyone and in the end for the amazing feedbacks.

Other than that, when I think about Puma supporting my culture immersion beyond our business I can always remember one of the great experiences I had, which was the community engagement with all the company in a less privilege area of Mexico City, which being born in Brazil was not very different but again you look, you learn, you live their culture, share your food (OMG! How good were the QUESADILLAS!) And in the end in the places that sometimes aren’t the prettiest, the places that seem rumble, there are some of the most wonderful people and stories.

I have to highlight also an amazing thing that speaks both to Puma/Puma México values and Mexico culture, the fact the I never felt like an outsider; All the staff was incredibly good-spirited and willing to help (Thank you HR!) and I truly thank all of them specially Maria Fourcade, Mario Olvera, Julia Schuster and the Mexico Merch team (Armando, Cecilia, Alejandro, Ramiro, Stephanie, Aldo, Susana y Miguel) to make the experience even more special.

It’s an unforgettable experience to help gain a global mind-set and gain a greater understanding of the world culturally, business wise and people wise.

OH! And I recommend doing as many trips as you can in Mexico beaches!!!

@puma @pumagroup