Pick Up Your Broom and Sweep - with Fernando Paz (CAMP, Dell, Motorola)

In this episode of The Better Build, host Stéphane Rossi, CEO of Mission, sits down with Fernando Paz, Senior Director of Software Engineering at CAMP Systems International and a seasoned engineering leader with decades of experience at companies like Motorola, Dell, and Cox Automotive.

Fernando shares his inspiring career journey, from a pivotal first job at a movie theater to delivering a TED Talk on leadership, "How Popcorn Unlocked the Secret for Crazy Success." He dives into lessons learned from building global teams, leading large-scale transformations, and fostering an ownership mindset in engineering.

Discover how Fernando views change management as a cultural cornerstone, his three principles of leadership, and why he believes mindshare matters more than timeshare. He also explores the evolving role of AI in software engineering and its potential to reshape the field.

Key moments:

"hardware gets your attention, but it's the software that makes you fall in love" (0:54)

"It's about the learning, not the title" (5:16)

Miracle in Malaysia (6:23)

it's easy to see differences; focus on what you have in common (9:03)

3 leadership principles (10:13)

the popcorn story (11:20)

mindshare over timeshare (19:54)

on change management (23:13)

reasons people oppose change (25:20)