R066 - Business People, People Business

What was the world like 20 years ago? To be honest, at this point, it's hard for me to remember what my life was like without broadband, without WhatsApp or Google Maps, without being connected to the world in real-time 24/7.

Twenty years ago, four friends decided to create Runroom. Since then, we have reinvented ourselves a thousand times. Perhaps those of you who have known us for a long time have heard me say on occasion that what I am most proud of is that we have been able to develop a business model around a lifestyle. Our essence remains the same. And while it's true that over all these years we've learned a lot about culture and leadership, I must say that our values and principles have aged quite well, much like Meryl Streep or Julianne Moore.

I invite you to meet some people from this very special company, their learnings, their anecdotes, their memories, and their essence.
All of them are incredible people. I owe them all my affection and loyalty.

Montse Pachón

Montse Pachón, you've been at Runroom for almost eight years and your current role is Head of Operations. I see you battling in all kinds of contexts and highly complex domains. What do you think is the key for a team to adopt a product mindset?

If I can only choose one variable, I would say the most transformative thing is for all the roles involved in building the product, in solving a need for that product, to work hand in hand.

This means defining the solution together, building the solution together, and seeing the results we are achieving with the hypotheses we had set together. In reality, most agile principles require this collaboration between different roles. There is one principle in the manifesto that directly speaks to developers and business people collaborating smoothly in the day-to-day development of products, but there are many other principles that apply. Twenty years later, there are many more roles involved in the product, and we don't always let them work synchronously. We often find teams that cannot act as such because their priorities are different. The priority is not shared, and if your priority and mine are not the same and we don't have the same goal, it's very difficult for us to work as a team.

For each need, that cross-functional team will have to be different. But for me, it's important that from the beginning, from the very definition, to measuring the results, the impact on the product we are having, we are all involved in the same way, in the conversation to find the best solution and be able to communicate agilely to also optimize delivery times and achieve results.

The most transformative thing is for all the roles involved in building the product, in solving a need for that product, to work hand in hand.

Where is the magic in organizations? Why do some organizations do it and others don't?

It's hard to answer this. I think each of us has a theory. I always tend to say that organizing ourselves truly in an agile way is counterintuitive. When you explain it, it sounds wrong to people. It happened to me. I am a convert, totally. I approached agility to prove that this way of working wasn't the best and discovered that it is the best way of working I know today. So, it's a very empirical way of working because, in the end, you can measure end-to-end.

Taking the step is difficult because of this feeling that it can't work that we've all had at the beginning. And I think it's a bit frustrating for many teams where it's said that they want to do an agile transformation, but deep down they don't align the priority. If you and I say we are a team, but your priority and mine are not the same at the same time, we are neither a team nor will we have a great impact on the product.

R066 - Business People, People Business

Jordi Hernández

Twenty years ago we started this adventure together. You currently hold the role of Chief Information Officer in this company. If you hadn't studied engineering, what would you have chosen to be?

Well, to be honest, I would probably be working, because that's what I considered after finishing my telecommunications studies, where what I primarily wanted was to start earning money. I was lucky that one of my uncles told me: "you'll always have time to work, study something that motivates you, something you're passionate about." At that time, what I was passionate about was something technical. Therefore, that engineering, which was the first in Europe in multimedia at the time, was what motivated me the most. I was considering continuing with technical engineering; surely if I hadn't chosen programming, I would be working in the world of installations, telematics, something related to that field.

What is your role in Runroom?

The role is a bit mixed. I do part of business consulting, where I help companies, especially on the technical side. I think I know how to assess or balance the technical part that helps the business objectives of companies. I help them improve their digital transformation, their adaptation to new technologies to help with business objectives. And internally, in all the tools within the organization and also those tools for the companies we collaborate with. Cybersecurity, although it's something that pains us, is very important because we are constantly seeing those risks it poses. And it's one of my main focuses also within Runroom.

I enjoy facing new challenges where I have to train myself because I believe it's something essential in our sector.

And what do you enjoy the most?

A more personal part, which is coming to the office every day. And although now there are few people, everyone is at home, we are increasingly getting into the habit of returning a bit to the routine of leaving the house, the walk to the office, by bike or walking, strolling with Rayo.

And I also enjoy facing new challenges where I have to train myself because I believe it's something essential in our sector, we constantly have to train in things where we are not so expert or new challenges proposed by clients that we embrace with great enthusiasm and energy.

Maria Massagué

You've been at Runroom for almost eight years and your current role is Head of Growth. What can we do today for clients that we couldn't do eight years ago when you joined Runroom?

The truth is that projects have changed radically. What we did when I joined and what we are doing now are completely different. Right now, aligned with what Bea said, changes are happening more and more rapidly. And in recent years, we have been focusing a lot on helping companies to be able to dialogue with their end customers, to trigger conversations at the right time and really listen to what their customers think. And when we talk about really listening, it's listening, understanding what's happening, and being able to trigger actions.

Now the projects we are mainly doing in the Growth area are about listening to the voice of the customer, and it's very powerful to understand what the customer's journey is, to be able to trigger a question at a moment we know can be painful or that we know is critical, or simply leave them with an open question.

We are focusing a lot on helping companies to be able to dialogue with their end customers, to trigger conversations at the right time and really listen to what their customers think.

With this type of tools, the real power is not just in triggering the question at the right time, but in what they allow you to obtain, through artificial intelligence, through data analysis, alert generation, the ability to understand who is the person we need to attend to first. Because in the end, we are going to contact many people, even if the communication may seem very close, personalized, it's a massive conversation.

This is very powerful for the company because in the end, we don't have unlimited resources, so we have to prioritize. What do we focus on? On what will move the needle, what will really change from a normal experience to a very good experience, or in moments of frustration, reduce costs, improve profitability. Giving a tool to prioritize what will really be most important is very powerful. And for me, this is the biggest change we've had in recent years.

Do companies need to prepare culturally to listen to the voice of the customer? Or will listening to the voice of the customer transform the culture?

I think both. You have to be prepared to listen because what you can receive can be great or it can hurt. I think these types of strategies, for them to be well-received in the company, have to be sold as something that will not only focus on what we can improve, but also on what we are doing well. And use them also to encourage all workers with "how well you are doing." I think it's very important. And once you get into the loop, of course, this already leads you to see that what you are doing really has an impact. I think both come.

César Úbeda

Co-founder of Runroom. You've been in this company for 20 years and your current role is Chief Experience Officer. Can creativity be learned?

I think so. We see it constantly at Runroom. We see that in the areas we work in, the business area, technology, social transformation even, we apply creative solutions, fundamentally driven by method, that is, tools we use, Design Thinking or other types of tools, that help us reach solutions that are out of the box, that are not the obvious solutions you would find if you didn't follow a creative process.

In fact, it's one of the things we are most proud of at Runroom: not only the creative team, the design team does creativity, the technology team is also creative, or the business team is also creative. We use tools that make us take paths, that lead us to unknown places and often very valid ones.

I believe the team enriches the creative processes and makes ideas exchange that are solution enhancers.

Your approach seems counterintuitive: you can reach creative solutions with methodologies that help you do it. Can you be more creative as a team than individually?

One of the prescribed tools in the field of creative processes is co-creation. And absolutely. I believe the team enriches the creative processes and makes ideas exchange that are solution enhancers. So totally.

Is design art?

No. We've had this debate many times, both in person and on Twitter. Design is evidently not art. Design responds to a need, responds to objectives, responds to an intention, and art doesn't have to respond to any of that. Art, let's say, transcends all those values.

Beatriz Cardona

You've been at Runroom for four years and your current role is Director of Business Development and Digital Strategy Consulting. Think about the concept of business strategy. What has changed in the last 20 years?

Twenty years is a long time, but from my experience, especially in the digital field, I would highlight three areas that have mainly changed.

The first would be digitalization and how digitalization has come to change many processes, automation, search for new markets, even the business model itself. Thanks to technologies, many business models have changed, due to digitalization and new technologies.

The second point would be the focus on the customer. And we have also seen how this transformation, how companies have gone from being very product-centered to more customer-centered, putting the customer at the center of the strategy. And working a lot on personalization, "we no longer sell services or products, now we sell experiences." And this has also been another important change.

And the last one I would highlight would perhaps be the part of data analysis and BigData. How we now have much more information, many more data, and we can analyze them for decision-making. And how all this information helps us in decision-making when defining or executing our digital strategies. But I think the strong change is yet to come in the coming years. We are seeing many disruptive technologies entering, and with this, I think it's very important for companies to have agile strategies, to be able to adapt to changes that are happening at a much faster pace.

Companies have gone from being very product-centered to more customer-centered, putting the customer at the center of the strategy.

I remember we used to see five-year strategies. Does that still exist?

That exists in some companies, but I would say it's useless. The speed at which changes are happening means you can plan maybe a year or two ahead. It is important to have a vision and know where we want to go, but beyond this vision, having this flexibility and ability to adapt to the constant changes we are experiencing in the environment. We saw it with the pandemic. Who would have expected that suddenly a pandemic would come, lock everyone at home, and how companies with enough agility to adapt to these changes quickly have been able to survive better than those that have not been able to adapt so quickly.

Have large companies adapted well?

I think there's a bit of everything. I wouldn't dare to say yes or no. And I think there has been a lot of intention to adapt. Yes, the change, the acceleration of digitalization, has accelerated, has gone much faster, but I think there is still a lot of room for improvement in most companies.

Jorge Valencia

Jota, you've been at Runroom for eight years. Your role is Head of Experience Design. In addition, you were a student of one of the first classes of our master's in design and digital experiences at BAU, of which you are now a professor. How was your adaptation to the way of working at Runroom?

It was hard and it wasn't. Let me explain why. In Colombia, I had worked in traditional design agencies, where there was the typical Don Draper, that rock star designer figure, creative, who locks themselves away and comes out with the big idea. And design was exclusively for designers. And for me, it was a cultural shock to come here to Runroom and see that design was for the whole team, for all roles. And for me, it was like "you, developer, what are you going to tell me about my design? What feedback are you going to give me?" That shock was like "wow, I can't believe it yet, but let's give it a little more."

And when I say it wasn't hard, it's because it's very easy to work at Runroom. That type of collaborative design, where everyone contributes, is very inclusive. And so the adaptation was relatively quick.

For me, it was a cultural shock to come here to Runroom and see that design was for the whole team, for all roles.

The idea of designing a product in an iterative incremental way, what is the challenge from a designer's point of view?

That was crazy and it blew my mind. Coming from this more traditional model, I was used to designing everything, pixel perfect, and until I have it completely finished and shiny, I don't share it. So, this iterative incremental thing, designing a little piece, in abstract even, I didn't see it. And if we add that there were developers giving me feedback, a business person giving me feedback... "Hey, I'm the designer, I'm the one who knows." Again, that cultural shock I was telling you about. At first, it was tough.

Also, when they explained it to me, I didn't understand it. But these are things that until you do them, you don't understand them. You have to live them.

I remember the first time, when we worked in iterative incremental, instead of doing everything, let's do something that makes sense, that adds value, and it worked! And it was a wow, maybe it was luck! Then you do it again and realize it works. That it's not just an idea, but something that serves. So it was tough, but again, this collaborative design, this methodology, worked for me.

Judith Font

Your role at Runroom is a role that didn't always exist. For me, it was really important to make the decision to have a Chief Financial Officer, as is your case at Runroom. Additionally, along with Montse and Bea, you are part of the strategic board. You have founded several companies, have been on the board of directors in quite a few. What is different at Runroom?

If you allow me, first, I'll tell you something that is already different at Runroom, and it's that you called me financial director and I think one of the things I see different at Runroom is that the word direction sounds off here. The leadership style I see is more a style of consensus, agreement, listening, talking. Yes, there is direction in the sense of where we are going, but not as what is understood as being a director. You yourself often say you don't like being called boss.

At Runroom, several things converge that make it special for me. For example, one thing that surprises me every day: the relationship and leadership style of the four partners. I think that's a great value, and the way you take care of the relationship I think is super positive.

I also really like how you have divided the roles, how quite organically there is someone watching over the culture, someone watching over technology, someone watching over the creativity of sales, someone watching over making sure everything works, operations... And that it has emerged this way naturally, I think is something very special.

The leadership style at Runroom is more a style of consensus, agreement, listening, talking.

Another thing is continuous improvement. This attitude, always ahead of everything, without obsessing, without making things that are not complex, this vocation to grow, to learn, to do it better every day.

I would highlight that you are four partners and you are feminists. And feminists not in words, but in deeds. Here feminism is not directly talked about, it's already embedded in the culture. It also surprises me, maybe because I've been in the business world for over 30 years and seeing this evolution I like.

I would also highlight the authenticity of Human Centricity. I see that here, truly, people are at the center and are important.

Aurelio Moreno

Aurelio Moreno, Co-founder of Runroom and currently Director of Operations. What was the main challenge you faced when starting Runroom and how did you overcome it?

I think the main one was establishing a relationship of trust among the partners, achieving cohesion that could last a long time. Particularly for me, because working with you was almost intimidating. First, because I'm younger than you, but also because I was very green. I was fresh out of university, you already knew me. You had been working for a while, balancing studies and work. For me, working with you was "let's see if I measure up." And well, it was a strong challenge that I had to work hard on. I think I was quite a bad programmer, and I had to program. I was good at selling. I was able to sell a big project for the Ministry of Education in Andorra, setting up an educational system, an e-learning system with a technology I didn't know. I think I've never worked so hard, but well, I had to do it and it was worth it. And well, I think I earned your trust and that in general, we created cohesion for 20 years.

When I explained that we were four partners, they said to me; "forget it, too many people. That has no future."

Being four partners, Aure, how do you think that has influenced the culture of this company?

I remember that when I explained that we were four partners, they said to me; "forget it, too many people. That has no future." I think it has been one of the keys to Runroom. It has allowed us to have a diversity of visions, which in our case we are lucky to be complementary, which enriches. Because I think if we all had the same vision or the same interests or were very similar, there would surely be more conflict. The combination of opposites and complementary works better, I think. And in that sense, I think the key has been that it has clearly enriched the vision and also allowed us to adapt, thanks to the different visions, to the reality we have been encountering.

What is the most difficult thing about directing operations at Runroom?

The most difficult thing is surely balancing the needs of a company governed by market rules with the needs of people. The operations management finds itself arbitrating within this tension. When you manage to align the needs of people and the company, the truth is it's very beautiful, but when not, tough situations can arise.

Annachiara Sechi

You've been at Runroom for only 12 years. Your current role is Head of Communications, so you are also very responsible for this podcast. Along with Montse, you are the only people who were first clients and then runroomers. What did you learn from that experience?

I remember the experience with great affection. I worked very comfortably, very at ease with you. And I learned many things. For example, I learned from you that a supplier is not an executor, it's not someone to whom you hand over a brief and let things happen as you have defined them. If you are lucky enough to fall into the hands of a good supplier, they will get involved and bring a vision to your brief, to your approach, to your idea, which usually enriches. And there is a bit of a challenge because sometimes this vision, this questioning of things as you have proposed them, can be received as interference. "I have it very clear, I know my brand, I know my product," yet this vision questions things and helps you better understand how you can find an optimal or better solution.

I learned to break the brief, to "Yes, yes, that's fine, but for what? For whom?" Great questions.

I also learned that incorporating the supplier into your team makes it possible to go much further together. And it's a blessing. When you fall into the hands of professionals who know how to provide this vision and know how to question all the solutions you propose, the path is much smoother.

You come from a humanistic background, not from a technology background. What are the challenges in designing a communication strategy and explaining what we do, our services?

There are several challenges, but certainly explaining everything we do and all the services we cover at Runroom, which are expanding. Twelve years ago, the core was clearly technology and marketing. Then we shifted and incorporated other aspects, other services. And of course, the challenge is to immerse yourself in all of them and be able to convey them in an understandable way. Fortunately, I have very good internal translators who help me, from "strange words" to words that we can understand those of us who do not come from engineering or the technological world. And that's the challenge I perhaps like the most because precisely you approach sectors or technologies or sciences you are not familiar with, but you are able to convey them into content that can be consumed by clients who are at my same level of interlocution or knowledge. So thanks to the team that accompanies me and acts as my interpreter.

Araceli Iglesias

You've also been at Runroom for 12 years, responsible for Performance Media. What has changed in paid advertising since you joined Runroom?

I think the main change has been in us. Us understood a bit as consultants, traders, or advertisers in general. I think the sector has led us to change the functions we did then with the functions we do now. Not only because we've had a lot of technological changes, it goes much further. We have been immersed in a lot of changes that we have embarked on since the emergence of mobile advertising or the appearance of native advertising on platforms. Artificial intelligence, which is now very hyped, but we've been working with it for many years, and what remains. Or even appearing on new platforms.

We no longer buy in bulk, but we try to generate meaningful connections within the interactions we have with our users.

When I joined Runroom, Instagram had just been born and didn't even advertise until very recently. Or TikTok, which is relatively very recent. They are already very consolidated tools.

I think part of the change we have also made as professionals in the sector has to do with knowing our audiences better, delving into them to try to communicate better with our users. We no longer buy in bulk as we used to do back then, but we try to generate meaningful connections within the interactions we have with our users. And I think that's very important because we are currently experiencing a very anticipated paradigm shift that has to do with an ethical change, which comes with the changes happening at the governmental level in data legislation.

I think users are much more aware of our personal information and have acquired an awareness of our data privacy that has made us, as marketing managers, also acquire new responsibilities in some way in data management and how the sector will be focused in the coming years.

All this has made us ultimately generate much more meaningful connections and learn to tell better stories, but in a much safer environment. I think those have been the strongest changes the industry has had in the last ten years.

I've been hearing that SEO has been constantly dying every year. And lately, I'm also hearing that SEM has died. Is SEM going to die?

Maybe some stakeholders want that to happen, but probably not. I don't have the magic wand. We will surely have much more advanced conversational experiences and we will have advertising that will be considered less advertising at the time, probably, or will be perceived differently, but it is clear that someone will have to interpret the data, someone will have to understand the business in depth, someone will have to scratch the surface of what is presented to us and there is no one better than working with a client or a partner to understand how we can make the most of the tools we have. I think not, ultimately, SEM is unlikely to disappear. Unlikely.