Carlos Werner is no stranger to changes and adapting to new situations. Born and raised in Brazil and having originally studied engineering, Carlos wound up moving to Europe and working in marketing.

After stints at various global giants such as Bosch, Samsung Electronics and Ford, Carlos settled into his role at ASSA ABLOY last year.

As the EMEA marketing director for the global building materials company, Carlos is responsible for overseeing around 50 brands in the EMEA region and making sure they maintain consistency with local market identities.

In today’s episode, Carlos joins Shaheen Samavati to discuss how he juggles working with such a wide range of markets and how the brand has adapted to industry changes—both positive and negative—over the last year.


You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, and listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify.

Rapid-fire recs  

  • Productivity hacks:
    • Separate work and personal life. “These days it’s more important than ever. I always remind my team to respect their time. Turn off email when the work day is over. Really try to disconnect and embrace your down time.”
    • Samsung phone’s Secure Folder. “This feature is basically a secret compartment in your Samsung phone where you can tuck away certain apps and you won’t get notifications for them. This ‘out of sight, out of mind’ feature helps to reduce anxiety and disconnect. It’s one of the life hacks that works beautifully for me.”
    • Optimize your tools. “Whether you prefer Microsoft Office or Google Drive, figure out the best tips for optimizing so you can maximize your productivity. These are amazing and powerful tools, if used correctly.”
  • Recommended reading:
    • How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp. “I really subscribe to his way of thinking that what’s really valuable is the amount of exposure you get and how big your brand can get.”
    • The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. “The understanding of how different minds and cultures think is so important. The way you speak with someone from one country to another will vary—even if they’re right next to each other—and this book provides an interesting framework for this idea. For somebody who deals with 100+ countries, like myself, this book is a must-read.”
    • The Long and The Short Of It by Les Binet and Peter Field. “In my opinion, this is one of the most essential pieces of work in marketing, especially in B2B. They’ve done a lot of research which is very valuable when it comes to marketing plans.”
    • Malcolm Gladwell’s work, such as Outliers, Blink and The Tipping Point. “I love all of his work. I’ve read so many books from him, and these ones are classics.”
    • Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore. “In this industry, I think we’re exactly inside the chasm. I always use this book to try to explain where we are in this industry at the moment.”
  • Useful resources:
    • Podcasts. “There’s quite a few that I love. If you do a keyword search of whatever marketing topic you’re interested in, you’ll get so many great results. Some of my favorites are the Harvard Business Review podcasts, The CMO Podcast from Jim Stengel and the Ad Age podcasts.”
    • Newsletters. “Newsletters are an amazing resource. However, the key is to be selective with which ones you subscribe to, because it’s easy to get overwhelmed. I have a couple that I really like, such as the ones from The Drum and Ad Age.”
    • Online learning. “There is so much great content out there for learning, both free and paid. I enjoy platforms like Coursera, EdX and LinkedIn Learning, plus some independent platforms like Content Marketing Academy.”

“You need to find the balance between being a generalist and having focus. You need to be really good at something and have specific technical skills, but not lose sight of the overall business. That’s where you can really add value and grow in your career, while ensuring you won’t be outdated in a few years when things inevitably change.”

Connect with Carlos and Shaheen on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Mary Kresge.

For more insights into adapting to changes in marketing:

To read the full transcript, click on page number 2 below.

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