Towards Digital Transformation through Football

Beauty Tomorrow
Beauty Tomorrow
Published in
9 min readJun 11, 2018

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All of L’Oréal is abuzz with L’Oréal World Cup 2018 presently, and you really cannot blame us. Football is one of the most loved sports in the world, enjoyed by all generations and played from an intern and a leadership team at L’Oréal. As a team sport, it thrills and fascinates like no other.

But here is a million-dollar question: are there parallels between football and effective digital transformation? So, we caught up with David, Digital IT Manager at L’Oréal Canada, to draw out some valuable lessons and sporting values from this great game that we apply to digital transformation before David heads off to the L’Oréal World Cup 2018.

Tell us shortly about your key mission at L’Oréal!

My key mission at L’Oréal is to make a big impact. We sometimes feel that we may not be able make great things happen when we work for a large company. Yet, I am a strong believer that we can create positive change within L’Oréal and get tangible results when we are relentless, ambitious and have a spirit of an entrepreneur. At L’Oréal results come with patience, progressive learning and being goal-driven.

L’Oréal is putting great effort and resources into technology and innovation when it comes to the strategic role that digital IT plays in the digital transformation at L’Oréal. The recent acquisition of ‘Modiface’ is a step closer to what they are trying to achieve digitally through artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The Digital IT team’s main objective is to accelerate beauty for all while aiding the business in all its digital needs. The initiatives that are upcoming in E-Commerce, CRM, Loyalty Programs and Data Science will be key in supporting the growth and outreach to all the consumers of all brands.

Can you tell how you work with different brands and different divisions at L’Oréal?

Being a Project Manager for the Americas Zone, I have had the opportunity to work on various projects across multiple countries. One of my projects is for a Canadian luxury brand Kiehl’s, while the other project is for the active cosmetics division in Brazil — Vichy, La Roche-Posay & Skinceuticals. Being part of the delivery team, my main objective is to deliver projects on time, within scope and at the expected level of quality.

Before you worked in the tech industry, why did you choose beauty?

For someone with a tech background, the opportunities are favorable within the beauty industry. The fact that it is undergoing a digital transformation, the doors are wide open for innovation within CRM, Loyalty programs, Data Science, UI/UX as well as artificial intelligence and VR.

The biggest difference between working in IT in the beauty industry and the tech industry is that when it comes to the beauty industry, it is fundamental to realize that you are dealing with the consumer at a very intimate and personal level. From identity information, skin diagnostics to purchase history. You are handling client information, used to support the business’ strategy yet at the same time that data can empower customers and improve their decision making when they interact with the different brands.

How much did you know about beauty before joining L’Oréal?

I was not very knowledgeable in the beauty industry before joining L’Oréal. My background was in performance reporting, business analysis and software development. Yet, I will admit that from a young age I have always been an aficionado of good grooming. As a hobby, I have always enjoyed being a regular barber for the friends and colleagues in my circle. This gave me a little bit of insights when it came to men’s grooming and understanding the different trends and needs before joining L’Oréal.

What is the most challenging project that you have worked on?

The interesting aspect in my line of work is that many of my colleagues are in different countries or even time zones. The Dermaclub project, which is a loyalty program for three active cosmetic brands (Vichy, Laroche-Posay & Skinceuticals), might have been challenging sometimes due to language barriers. Yet, I have never met a more warm and welcoming team. The Brazil L’Oréal team definitely exceeded my expectations when it comes to their work culture and dynamic. Being able to travel to such a beautiful country was definitely an unforgettable experience.

What are the most crucial skills that one needs to be successful in your role?

It is key for a good Project Manager (PM) to demonstrate strong communicative skills (I cannot stress this enough!) in order to bridge the gap between the business and its vendors. One must also have strong leadership when leading projects towards their deadlines. Even though challenges can arise, what’s essential is to remain organized while demonstrating ambition. A PM has to be one of the most optimistic team members; this creates motivation to attain project completion for all stakeholders. Within a business environment, everyone will have their own ideas about how things should be done. Even if you have disagreements with your colleagues or partners, their point of view should be considered and respected. Empathy is crucial. The goal here is to understand where the other person is coming from — and respect their views even if they are very different from your own in order to get to the common point.

What have you learned from playing football and how do you apply these learnings in your role at L’Oréal?

My experience with the L’Oréal Canada football team has been amazing. The sport in itself has taught me discipline and encouraged me to push myself further at each practice.

Even more importantly, it has taught me how to be a team player and encourage one another in an environment where you can have different personalities.

A good plan is half the battle won: Once on the field, players demonstrate a single minded pursuit to achieve the goal. Playing a game of football very much like taking up a project. To achieve success, you need a good coach (project manager/ leader), a team with the right skills, a non — negotiable end objective and above all, a detailed execution plan that leaves nothing to chance. The power of a digital transformation strategy lies in its scope and objectives. It’s less about digitally focusing on individual technologies and more on transforming the business as a whole through a robust strategy.

Dedication & commitment pay off ON and OFF field: Football players and other devoted athletes don’t reach their potential by chance, rather they do so through hard-work, repeated practice and religious commitment to a strict regimen. Similarly, digital implementations only become successful with practice, employing a solid strategy and lots of experience.

Teamwork trumps star power: Imagine seeing a football game with no passing. You are not going to see any goals in that game for sure. Team dynamics in digital project management doesn’t differ too much from football. You can have all the star players you want, but without teamwork, you don’t get to your goals.

Good teams don’t happen by chance, they are built that way; with culture, leadership skills and an undying passion for continuous improvement.

Project Managers therefore need to go beyond managing and graduate to being leaders.

Leadership can turn average players into winners: Good coaches and instructors can often elevate raw skill and take talent to a new level. Similarly, an average project team, given strong coaching and mentoring will almost always outperform the stronger project team that lacks input and support.

Strong leadership melds the strategy, discipline and continuous improvement required to make a project team successful.

What kind of commitment is the L’Oréal World Cup tournament?

It has definitely been intense when bringing this into the rest of my current schedule. This is because I usually combine gym (3x/week) and football (1x/week), yet as soon as I started playing with our team, I realized that I had to make adjustments. My gym routine has changed and adapted to a more strength and high repetitions type of training. With the L’Oréal soccer team, we usually have one training around midweek and a game during the weekend. I remember once having to play football Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and by Thursday I could barely walk! #lol

What are you most excited about in regards of the upcoming trip to Italy for the L’Oréal World Cup 2018?

I visited Italy for the first time in the summer last year. It was a beautiful country, but I did not have the chance to go to Milan. I am really looking forward to this trip, however, this time, I will be able to do so while playing my favorite sport.

You have 16 people coming from Canada, did you know each other before you start playing football?

I had only interacted a couple of times with 1 of the 16 players before joining the team, on one of my work projects. The remaining 15 players I had never met prior. We had tryouts for the whole month of March. We were initially 32 players and then the selection narrowed down to 16. From there, we got to know each other and became closer from one game to another.

How do you as a team recover from a setback?

Up until yesterday, we had won or tied our games. Last night we suffered our first loss. The frustration and discouragement can arise fairly quickly in the midst of a game. It was nice to see how the team worked together and did not give up. We kept our heads high and played full-heartedly until the very end.

Football is learned through trial and error: There will always be mistakes, setbacks, and defeats. But it is great to have an environment where you can build the courage to make things happen. In the end you learn that a setback, while disappointing, offers valuable feedback and a positive learning opportunity.

What are the leadership skills you admire most in your coach?

Having a coach has truthfully been helpful. His previous experience with the Montreal Impact MLS Soccer team has paid off when training with us these past months. What I admire the most about the coach is how he has a positive attitude and is always encouraging. Obviously, the players have different strengths and weaknesses, yet he pays individual attention to each player and gives them feedback accordingly. Our coach also pays close attention to our training on and off the field. After each game, he makes sure we are exercising and staying healthy.

If David’s story has captured your imagination and you’d like to pursue a career at L’Oréal then check out our careers site. Here you’ll find everything careers oriented from jobs available to a Coaching Centre where we give you some tips on getting your foot in the door!

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If you’re an impact seeking inventor, a driver of disruption, join us to lead the Beauty innovation to the next level www.careers.loreal.com