Meet the OT Icebreaker Session with Martin Jobin!

In PMI Duty Free, there is an initiative which has been developed by the Finding Balance, Building Connections Project Team to address the need of providing more opportunities to Duty Free organization to interact with the Operations Team members with smaller groups and at the individual level and get to know them as a person and as a leader more closely. During these sessions, we have the time and the opportunity to interact 1:1, ask questions and share views.

On 2 March 2022, I had the chance to join the Icebreaker Session with Martin Jobin. Martin is currently working as Global Head Consumer Experience, Marketing and Digital in PMI Duty Free. He previously worked as Content and Activation Director Europe in Nissan Motor Corporation, Digital and Communication Manager in Infiniti Europe and Global Digital Senior Manager in Volvo Car Group.

Before the meeting, I just had the chance to google “Martin Jobin” and saw that Volvo still publishes his comments on their official site. Martin stated that “We are becoming a centre of excellence in interactive marketing” for Volvo. This is truly a transformation in automotive sector. After reading this statement, I decided to ask Martin the question below:

“How do you transfer the knowledge you gained from automotive industry to our smoke-free future vision? When you turn back to your career in PMI, which project or success story makes you most proud of?

Thanks to Martin, he answered my question frankly and shared some key digitalization projects in PMI. He told that all success is a team effort. He also highlighted that Scandinavians were so good at digitalization in early 2000s. He made us remember Nokia and Flash, and stated that Volvo was a cutting edge in automotive industry in those years.

We were 11 colleagues together with Martin during the session. My colleagues asked personal, professional and corporate level questions and I learned a lot from Martin’s answers. Leaving the business-related topics away, let me write down his recommendations on career management. Here are some of my key take-aways from this session:

·       Don’t overestimate the other industry. In every industry, we need to adapt so many things. Don’t think that things do not change, they do.

·        When you are new to an organization, first understand the organization. Learn who does what.

·        Make sure you always work on interesting projects. Ask yourself these questions:

o   What do you want your CV to show in 20 years from now?

o   What is my elevator speech?

·        Be mobile, reach different experiences, be curious about business needs. Make sure you understand the business roles and think about what is required to make it happen.

·        Continue learning not to fall behind. Always grow yourself.

·        Don’t stop planning for the future.

·        Empower your team. Make sure you have an exit to relax, spend time with friends and spare time for sport.