The Road to Champagne Series 2 Episode 5 Jose's Journey

Описание: The application of 13 Principles determines how smooth a ride we will have in our journey to success. It is fascinating to hear how each has played a role in the success of our guests, who happen to be my friends or ex-colleagues from different stages in my career. My path intersected with someone who also came from Latin America to the U.S. pursuing more attractive opportunities within the food industry. Today we are joined by Jose Amarista, President at Inverlabs.

Introduction:
Many times, our career brings us a fork in the road. We face a key decision: should I continue down this path or change course? In previous episodes we heard from friends who started in the corporate world or in government and then became entrepreneurs, or they went from being an entrepreneur to a world-class artist. Those forks in our road can come unexpectedly, or because we put in the right effort to make it appear. Either way, it is an intriguing and fascinating move that hopefully brings us more success. After just a few years working in the technical and scientific side of the food industry, I decided I wanted to move towards the business side of the food industry. My next guest had such a fork much later in his career; he worked in R&D in leading food companies and just recently launched his own business.

Jose is a seasoned technical professional in Consumer Products, Research & Development. He is currently leading a start up to launch an Innovation in the medical field and recently started his own consulting business. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Margin Enhancement at Pinnacle Foods in New Jersey. Before that, he worked for leading food companies including Warner Lambert/Pfizer, P&G and Cadbury—now Mondelez. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela, his home country, and obtained his executive MBA at Fairleigh Dickinson University. We worked together at Cadbury almost 18 years ago. When not working or with family, he enjoys running, biking, and playing the piano (although he still has ways to go).

During this episode we discuss:
• Why grabbing the wheel is important, despite others trying to steer it for you.
• Which of the 13 Principles were instrumental to Jose’s journey.
• The power of being adaptable to succeed in different environments.

Key quotes:
• On Principle 5, Be Adaptable: “I went through I think five or six different mergers and acquisitions—changes in command, in general. You have to be adaptable. There are a lot of things that change: different cultures, different people, different ways of working. Don’t make any decisions until you understand exactly how that change will impact you.” –Jose Amarista
• “Demand the leadership that you deserve. Don’t be content and don’t succumb to poor leadership.” –Jose Amarista
• On Principle 9, Build Your Brand and Principle 3, Always Be WIP: “When you overbuild your brand and you think you are infallible and you are like ‘Well, I know everything, I’m the expert the expert here!’ you become a grumpy expert.” –Jose Amarista
• On Principle 7, Stick to Your Values: “You need to find the balance between: what do you value in your life, and what will this opportunity bring to [your] career.” –Alejandro Colindres

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