Nicola Villa - SVP Strategic Growth and Global Lead Government Center of Excellence at Mastercard

Born in Italy and an Economist by training, Nic heads up Mastercard's Government Center of Excellence. Nic has been at the forefront of Digital Transformation initiatives within Companies, Cities and Countries. He has observed first hand the opportunities that digitisation brings, and now uses his experience to help connect the un-connected by banking the un-banked. Nic advocates and drives social and economic inclusion in the creation of opportunities for new business in the developing world and the inner cities that risk being left further behind in the digital economies of tomorrow.

Transcript

Leadership in the Digital Age

Nicola Villa - SVP Strategic Growth and Global Lead Government Center of Excellence at Mastercard

[00:00:03.730] - Matthew Smith

Welcome, everybody. As part of our series on leadership in the digital age, I have the pleasure today of speaking to Nic Villa. Nic is the senior vice president of strategic growth for MasterCard and also the global leader of the Government Center of Excellence. In this role, he is focused on the intersection of digital infrastructure with economic development and sustainability. A corporate entrepreneur at heart, Nic's Main focus is developing executable strategies that help leading public sector organisations across the world.

[00:00:36.560] - Matthew Smith

Here he has a specific focus on government infrastructure, sustainability, public finance, economic development and tourism. Prior to MasterCard, Nic worked at IBM as vice president of IBM's Global Business Services Unit. Here, he worked with leading government agencies to develop digital platform focused urban innovation strategies. He also built and led IBM's Internet of Things business in Europe. Prior to IBM, Nic worked for Cisco Systems for almost 20 years. He was a key architect in incubating the Global Digital Consulting Group.

[00:01:16.390] - Matthew Smith

And he also helped Cisco take its first step into the Smart Cities market. Here he ultimately grew and built an initiative where he partnered with then Chairman and CEO John Chambers, to develop multi-year digital partnership programs with French, U.K., German and Italian prime ministers. Nic's a board member of the Internet of Things Global Solutions forum, executive member of the Board of the World Economic Forum's Future of Urbanisation and co-founder of the City of Barcelona City Protocols and Metropolis Partnership. Welcome, Nic, and thank you for joining our podcast.

[00:01:51.480] - Nic Villa

Thank you for inviting me, Matthew. Very nice to talk to you. 

[00:01:55.960] - Matthew Smith

So, early in your career, we're talking about leadership. But when you started, look back to those halcyon days straight out of university.

[00:02:04.780] - Matthew Smith

What were your goals and what did you what did you want to do with your life?

[00:02:09.460] - Nic Villa

So that's a very, very omni comprehensive question, because this really speaks about myself. So, I come from his small village close to Milan in Italy. And during my youth, I started to gradually expand my horizons. So, you know, I started to travel with my father abroad to other neighbouring countries in Europe. And I knew when I was a kid that I didn't really want to stay where I was. I wanted to grow and I wanted to have a global career.

[00:02:37.960] - Nic Villa

Then at university, I got asked by my professor of industrial economics to write my thesis about the new technology that was going to emerge at a time called the Internet. And I remember having to explain to my father what the Internet was. And so my definition was that the Internet was going to be the technology that will cannibalise the fax machine. So I wrote my thesis about the new technology. I got fascinated from that and again as I am economist by background.

[00:03:12.220] - Nic Villa

So I'm not an engineer. And after I graduated, I started to look for employment opportunities in in in that area. And so Cisco was opening their first European headquarter. I applied for a job. I got it, and my career, basically started from there. So I've always wanted to be international orientated. Always an entrepreneur at heart. I had my first business when I was 18. There was a shoe shop on Lake Como where I come from.

[00:03:43.510] - Nic Villa

And I so basically. I've been moving ahead, moving forward since then. 

[00:03:49.420] - Matthew Smith

Wow. I mean, it's a shoe shop on local Lake Como. That must have been an intersection with the rich and famous. Never mind technology.

[00:03:55.880] - Nic Villa

Yes. Yes, it is. It is a family business. And that job. Told me a lot about how to be with people when a client, comes into the shop. You have to sell  something. Within a fraction of a second. You have to be able to look at them, understand who they are, what they want. What do you want them to want? And basically turn it quickly around. So it was a very, very good school of how to exercise emotional intelligence and deal with people.

[00:04:24.760] - Matthew Smith

Wow. So, I mean, jumping in with Cisco right at the beginning there, when you look back and you look at those 20 years you spent in the company, you would probably think to yourself, gosh, there's been so many different changes in technologies, you know, mobile phones turning into small phones. Also, as you said, the reason you are passionate about joining was the fact that you've written a thesis on how the Internet was going to monopolize and take over the fax machine and spreadsheets turning into digital business applications.

[00:04:55.210] - Matthew Smith

So looking back and looking back at that time in your life, can you give the listeners some views on the impacts that these technology changes had at the time and then how it's matured over time? 

[00:05:09.500] - Nic Villa

Sure, if you look at the second part of the 90s, the Internet and technology was really about communication. So we literally move from black and green screen to colour screens. Right. And so communication, especially in the enterprise sector, was the norm.

[00:05:26.110] - Nic Villa

Right. So we started to use e-mails and to talk to each other. With the emergence of the browser, we moved into a basically a new age, which was an age of access information. Right. I remember, in fact the first time I saw a Web site, I think it was in nineteen ninety two. And what you could see there were the results of the European soccer World Cup in real time. And I remember, I felt completely excited that I could basically on see a Web site on a screen of a computer, basically a football score.

[00:06:00.800] - Nic Villa

I remember actually what the match was. Right. But basically will access to information. The big change, however, came between 2000 and 2010 when the Internet got democratised. And so consumers started to use it to access information, but also to communicate in two ways. Social media became basically a new phenomenon, and the Internet went from being an enterprise, let's say, user application into the becoming something that touches the life of everybody and all of the people towards the end of the 2000 years. we started to look into the IOT Phenonomen

[00:06:39.800] - Nic Villa

So not only people will reach out or an organization will talk to each other, but if things started to communicate to the same protocol, we see infrastructure which gives birth of new technologies, a new phenomenon like artificial intelligence or smart cities and the likes of that. So we've got a long journey. The Internet is democratised even more. It has connected many more people, not only in developed but also in developing economies.

[00:07:06.210] - Nic Villa

And now basically that the fact that the technology standard on how we communicate and interoperate on a global basis. 

[00:07:14.050] - Matthew Smith

So, I mean, that's a lot of change over time, but I think one of the common threads throughout this is that you've been also leading people and leading organisations. And really, that's really a lot about motivating people and getting people to do things and getting people really to go the same way, the same day as they say, you know, people talk a lot about leadership traits, management books.

[00:07:36.250] - Matthew Smith

They keep developing new formulas year after year. What do you think makes an effective leader? And has your view on leadership changed over your career? 

[00:07:49.130] - Nic Villa

I think my my my personal style has stayed pretty much the same, but I've learned a lot from from mistakes, from difficult moments, from challenges that I've had to overcome in my career in. Of course, not only building teams and growing businesses, but sometimes having to also lay off people. Right.

[00:08:08.220] - Nic Villa

I remember both in 2000 and then around 2010 when companies downsized, Cisco basically had to do the same. I had to lay off a few of my colleagues. Some of them were actually also becoming friends. And so that has changed my perspective, to managing teams and interacting with people a lot. And I guess in the course of the year, my decency quotient strengthened even more than what it was before. So I learn how to judge and to look at the people that I interact with more often.

[00:08:47.190] - Nic Villa

A DQ perspective more than on an IQ. Right. So how intelligent are you? Is a great way to look at somebody. But also, how do you exercise  passion? How do you exercise decency? And also how do you and that's an Italian word, throw your heart beyond theses obstacles, I've always enjoyed working with those people that are able to take a risk in a corporate environment, to develop a visionary idea about something that would change the way, you know, clients, enterprises, people are basically living their lives.

[00:09:23.430] - Nic Villa

And we just go after this and take the risk of developing that idea into an operation or more into a technology, into a business initiative and then take it from there.

[00:09:35.370] - Nic Villa

So I guess the decency quotient is the one that I saw growing  into my own personal and professional style. And this is something that I treasure very much in my job today. 

[00:09:48.850] - Matthew Smith

Building on that, I mean, obviously, you talked about laying people off and having the decency quotient. And you've been managing leading people for quite some time. Can you give me a couple of examples of really hard decisions you've had to make in that time and then how you've managed the outcomes that came from.

[00:10:06.190] - Nic Villa

I had to at a certain point lay off a few of our colleagues in the team and in some parts of the world, literally. You will need to jump on a telephone line that you were given 20 minutes to lay off the person. And that really was devastating, not only for the person who was being layed off, but also for myself. Right. You work you build a relationship with somebody for many years, you know, their family. And then you need to basically go in with a cold heart and have the conversation.

[00:10:39.970] - Nic Villa

So that was definitely a life changing experience for me. And I promised myself I would basically do my best not to get into this situation anymore not only for myself, but also for the people working in my organisation and so far I've been able to keep up to that promise. 

[00:10:58.630] - Matthew Smith

Oh, that's fantastic. So we've talked a little bit about your early career. We've talked a little bit about new technologies and leadership. Now, let's talk a little bit about how they intersect.

[00:11:08.790] - Matthew Smith

So do you see technology as a tool or technology as a critical element for today's leaders?

[00:11:16.080] - Nic Villa

So I don't see, actually, technology as a tool. I see technology as an enabler. And I will say one of the challenges that we've had in the digital technology story for many years is we've been creating Hammers that will basically be carried around looking for a nail.

[00:11:32.250] - Nic Villa

Right. In other words, many of the ideas that we've developed in the past from an industry perspective started in a lab or in an engineering environment without really thinking about what the problem was that this technology was supposed to be solving. I have to say, over the last few years, many things have changed with the emergence of design thinking of user experiences. We've been able to understand a bit more. First of all, what the usages of whatever technology they would need to be created as a consequence.

[00:12:04.980] - Nic Villa

We also have learned how to really apply technology not only in developed economies and environments, but also in developing ones. And I will argue basically the time has come for us to be able to apply technology at the bottom of the pyramid in many markets around the world and use it to further modernize, digitise and democratise somewhat, the societies that are actually big users and absorbers of new technology right now.

[00:12:32.850] - Matthew Smith

 I see, so looking at that sort of technology when it's being used.

[00:12:36.930] - Matthew Smith

I mean, it has many critics, of course, technology. Some would say it can overpower discussions. And like you said, sometimes engineers walk around with a hammer looking for a nail. Well, technology also has a distraction factor. You know, you've probably sat in meetings many times and looked at the people you were talking to checking their mobile phones. What is your view of how technology can be distracting in the workplace?

[00:13:01.090] - Nic Villa

You can be distracted in the sense of, you know, always keeping you on. Right. And you can also be destructive in the sense of, trying to solve solutions that are really not there. We also have a challenge just in today with the acceleration of technology in our lives, in our society. It is like if you were to take a train or step on a roller coaster or if you step on a roller coaster, you will basically get dizzy when you get out of it. Right, because of the acceleration. So technology is accelerating so far. Many of the people and the users, not only the elderly people, but also some other millennials, are starting to basically get a need to switch off.

[00:13:51.530] - Nic Villa

Right. And one of the things that actually I am missing that in a lockdown situation right now is being on a plane for like, eight, nine hours flight, flying for example, from Amsterdam to New York and having time to switch off from connectivity, from information  and actually think. So technology has improved greatly our lives, but also has contributed to an informational overflow. The result is that it basically makes us very busy  very tired. And that's not allowed us to stop and take a step back and think.

[00:14:25.270] - Matthew Smith

I mean, I think that's wonderful perspective as well, and I suppose now going away from that technology aspect and looking at the talent of tomorrow, you know, you talked about people coming into the workplace. I mean, today's entrants into the job market are all digital natives. There's many new languages that those of us who've been around a while might not understand. You know, complex emojis is one of them for sure. But what do you look for in new entrants in managerial positions or those people who perhaps fresh out of school and promoted into leadership?

[00:14:57.850] - Matthew Smith

How do you how do you look at them and what sort of advice do you give them in coming into the workplace?

[00:15:04.540] - Nic Villa

So one of the privileges that I have is to work with a very young, diverse and talented team at MasterCard. And the first thing that I'm doing, I'm actually learning a lot from them. I have a few reverse mentors, as I call them, who are very young, you know, millennial colleagues who are coaching me and advising me on how the new technologies work.  I have one in Dubai who's particularly focused in basically helping me understand the digital payment technology that Mastercard has , as well as a new way of consuming this type of information.

[00:15:38.680] - Nic Villa

So we live in that world where those who are come into the workforce now have capabilities and knowledge, which is very valuable for those who have been there for a while because technologies change so quickly, that those like me, who've been in this job for 25 to 30 years struggle to understand exactly what the new technologies are. So it's a bit of a reverse world, where the reverse mentoring and coaching type of modelling some of those enterprises.

[00:16:04.430] - Nic Villa

The other interesting piece, of the traits of the new millennials. And I've got six kids. A few of them are about to walk into the work environment because they're finishing school. Is their passion for the world, for technology, for sustainability. And that's something that I think my generation would probably have less. We, I grew up in the 70s and 80s. And so our ambition was basically to work for a great company to buy a house to a great job at the top of the world. I see new colleagues coming into the work environment, and my kids were about to do this, be much more idealistic, really thinking about the world, about sustainability and environmental sustainability, particularly something that they really care about.

[00:16:57.100] - Nic Villa

And this is part of the DNA and part of the traits of this new generation. 

[00:17:02.630] - Matthew Smith

I mean, that's fascinating. I particularly loved the idea of reverse mentoring. I think that's a very modern and very forward thinking way of looking at things. And as you said, you know, when you came into the workplace, things were a little bit different and things were looked at in different ways. Do you think that technology and the use of technology, so now you can talk to people around the world without having to fly there, has changed your views about how important diversity is in the workplace?

[00:17:30.740] - Nic Villa

I have to say, diversity has always been a very important trait and element to me and the way a I have been basically operating in building teams. And so when I started my journey at Cisco, my boss at the time told me, I would like you to build a very diverse, loosely coupled team of very strong, opinionated individuals, which I did. I saw my team at the time, we had a German architect, a Korean engineer, a Dutch person who had been in Cambodia working for the UN an Indian urban planner.

[00:18:09.200] - Nic Villa

And so by basically creating this very diverse team, I immediately saw how innovation and acceleration of the ideas basically came. Right. The world is basically a diverse one. And you need to mirror basically the way the world works when you work in your new enterprise environment. And again, that's exactly where challenges to the existing ideas take place. The new ones come up. And again, you're able to quickly turn your vision into a strategy and into execution because you are actually mirroring what happens outside the corporate the corporate environment.

[00:18:46.250] - Nic Villa

So diversity is very, very important to me. What is also important is the use of technology, especially now accelerated by Covid 19. Right. So I will argue that we have been trying to stimulate smart working for the last 20 years and within eight weeks we achieve more than we could have achieved in the next 10 years without this terrible crisis. So now everybody's working from home. Eighty five percent of the civil servants in many countries of Europe are actually working from home.

[00:19:22.970] - Nic Villa

And the point is that when they lockdowns are being relaxed and people will be able to go back to work. Will they do that or will they still expect to be able to work with their family and maybe go to the office 2-3 times a year? So in a matter of a few weeks, we completely compressed this cycle of working with new working practices. And now the word is completely changed. I don't think we're going to go back to normal where, you know, employees and civil servants will be expecting to go to the office from Monday to Friday.

[00:19:51.860] - Nic Villa

Once they learn about the technologies, that they basically take it from there. 

[00:19:56.560] - Matthew Smith

That is interesting, actually. I'd also just add quickly jump back onto what you talked about, the new entrants into the workplace, thinking about the environment. So ESG, environment, social and governance has become a watchword for today's investors and also for new people coming into the marketplace. Now, MasterCard is a company for payment technologies. A lot of people wouldn't think of MasterCard as an ESG company. But in the area that you're in, in in government, in looking at the new things that are happening in sustainable enterprises, how do you feel MasterCard takes a leading role in actually pushing forward ESG as a mindset as you said before, as an enabler?

[00:20:43.210] - Nic Villa

So we'll be working that in many ESG related areas, one in particular is basically at the heart of what we do, which is financial inclusion. So we made a commitment to the U.N. five years ago. There will be we will be working in financially, including 500 million people into the formal sector by basically giving them means to receive and make a digital payments, which is what we have achieved. We just renewed our commitment now and we going to try and bring a billion people into the financial sector.

[00:21:14.380] - Nic Villa

And these are people usually in developing markets at the bottom of the pyramid, but also in some cities in the developed world. These are people that usually are undocumented, excluded immigrants into our societies. We also put in a specific focus into our next commitment on small and medium enterprises run by female entrepreneurs, which is another huge opportunity to stimulate innovation, but also to create a stronger economic performance in the markets in which we operate.

[00:21:46.570] - Nic Villa

And so what we're trying to do is to create a financially sustainable business models for philanthropy so that we want to show that we can demonstrate how we can do good by doing well, doing good, doing well as always, being separated in the corporate environment, doing good was the CSR program into enterprise doing well was a commercial program Now we tried to basically bring those two things together with the financial sustainable models that, in the mid to long term, generate opportunities and wealth for MasterCard as well.

[00:22:17.590] - Nic Villa

So we're trying to bring together the interests of our stakeholders within one of our shareholders into a sort of integrated strategy. 

[00:22:25.970] - Matthew Smith

So in the midst of all of this, of course, a bit about leadership, a quick one word answer right away. Leaders made or born. 

[00:22:40.160] - Nic Villa

Capable of flying 30000 feet. With their feet on the ground. Right. So being able to turn vision into strategy into execution and people with a big heart and a emotional intelligence and a decency cautions, which is very high.

[00:22:58.440] - Nic Villa

That's my definition. 

[00:23:00.530] - Matthew Smith

Now, going back just quickly as a final question to Covid 19. It's very difficult not to discuss that in where we are at the moment, both sitting at home, not in the workplace. But you talked a lot about sustainable business. You talked a lot about financial inclusion. Do you think Covid 19, is going to potentially accelerate the digital divide and the social divide? And do you think that you can get governments to to see this and to really I really loved your initiative, you know, bringing a 500 million people out of it into financial markets and social and financial inclusion. Do you think that this is a real huge opportunity for MasterCard to actually accelerate these initiatives because of Covid 19?

[00:23:46.830] - Nic Villa

So we work with many, many governments around the world, many agencies on supporting their Covid 19 responses, but also to think about what the recovery strategies will look like. And so we deploy a combination of data insights, payment solutions, identity systems and so on. And what I see increasingly more are conversations that governments are having internally, but also with partners like us, on using Covid 19 as a reset button. To create a growth strategy which is more inclusive, if you look at small and medium enterprises while those are receiving disbursements, right.

[00:24:32.490] - Nic Villa

In financial aid, could the dispersement be used to digitise a small and medium enterprise. Have them go online, right. And sell the products not only on their traditional channels but into new channels, make them safe and secure by helping them understand how to use cyber security software and solutions and so on. And also making sure that they can receive, and that's our part, and provide digital payments which are much more secure, less prone to fraud than cash itself. So again, the opportunity is really to reset some of the parts in the elements of our economy and make sure that people are getting online.

[00:25:09.390] - Nic Villa

And I have a very simple example on my side. I mean, my parents in Italy received their pension digitally right today. They don't have to go to the post office anymore and basically collect cash, like it happens in many markets. But they basically get these on their cards and on their telephone right now. But also, they've had to learn how to use Zoom. Right. So every evening my family zooms. Right. With  video communication. And it's great to see how my father who is not a computer savvy person. He started to learn both with his mobile phone, with his laptop. To basically download the software, get online, use video, talk to his grandkids so, you know, between Italy and in the Netherlands into the rest of the family. And that is very telling on how Covid-19 accelerated this. Of course, it is a terrible environment, of many of the positives of using technology, we have be speaking about for a long time and are now coming to fruition.

[00:26:10.920] - Nic Villa

Well, I have to say, I mean, that is a fantastic sort of end to a little discussion, because in all of the stresses that Covid, 19, has caused around the world, if it could press the reset button, if we could see more social inclusion, that would be fantastic. And it sounds like MasterCard could be at the forefront of that. So with that, I'd really like to thank you, Nick, for taking the time today. It's been a fascinating conversation, and I wish you all the best. With all of the initiatives that you have going, it sounds like you're going to have a very, very, very busy rest of the year.

[00:26:43.080] - Nic Villa

It is going to be indeed a very busy rest of the year. I'd like to thank you, Matthew, for the opportunity to have this conversation. And I hope the insights and the comments are helpful for those who are listening. 

[00:26:53.870] - Matthew Smith

Thanks again, Nic.