Below is a translation of my interview for Dutch leadership magazine MT/Sprout, as part of being selected for their Next Leadership 50 list (an annual list for “top next-generation business leaders”).
Joris van Mens (born 1987) believes in “hard work.” At Google, where he has been building his career since 2010, he often took on extra projects early on in his career. “I often came to the office on Sundays to work on extra projects I enjoyed, which was unusual. It allowed me to pick up new skills and get to know new teams.”
Next Billion Users
At Google he leads the Next Billion Users product incubator for developing countries, and later goes on to lead Google Pay for North and South America. Meanwhile, he studies Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University.
He also commits to projects outside the American tech giant to keep his skills sharp. In his free time he founded CompaSolar, a platform that helps Mexican families and small businesses switch to solar energy.
Oh, and he’s also an angel investor in climate technology. But “luck” has helped him too, he says modestly from San Francisco to MT/Sprout.
Embracing hybrid work
He sees “embracing” hybrid work as an important challenge for the next-generation manager. “My current team is spread across several locations in North and South America and works largely remotely. That’s going very well. At the same time, some companies are pushing to return to the pre-pandemic work style where everyone commutes to the office five days a week.”
A second topic is “social value and sustainability”—very important for the next generations and for attracting talent. “Much of the most ambitious talent looks for work that offers deeper meaning and has a positive impact on the world.”
Working made easy
With strong talent on board, work becomes easy, in his experience. “Things move faster and almost take care of themselves with people that are highly motivated and have a high level of knowledge.” Van Mens believes it’s important to understand what motivates different people. He wants to give them the opportunity to acquire the right skills, within their job and outside of it.
A good leader then gives them “the freedom to lead their own projects and take initiative.” That means you have to build your team’s skills and then trust them to execute. And that, he says, is his most important leadership lesson.