Lucila Pagnoni
HEAD OF STRATEGIC PROJECTS @ SLINGSHOT
Interview by Dominic Moore
Biography
Lucila is the Head of Strategic Projects at Slingshot, Australia’s most productive corporate accelerator, delivering over 30 innovation programs for Tier-1 corporations since 2013. Over 200 startups have run through Slingshots programs, with 2 out of 3 still in market with a total value cap of over $600m.
She is responsible for helping Slingshot evolve their strategy and adapt their business model to continue to be relevant in the market and exceed the needs of their clients. Reporting directly to Slingshot’s Founders, Lucila engages at a senior level across the business and their trusted client network.
As part of this role, she is leading the launch of a new business initiative called Slingshot Practice, a referral network of highly-experienced specialists with innovation in their DNA. Comprising practitioners experienced working with startups, scaleups and corporate innovation department, this makes Slingshot Practice Australia’s first niche marketplace in the innovation field.
With almost 15 years of relevant experience in multiple continents, Lucila is a well-rounded business strategist with experience in management consulting, corporate strategy and development, product and marketing development; and now, startup business strategy.
Lucila also has a Masters in Marketing from UNSW Business School and a Bachelor in Business Administration from Universidad de San Andres, Argentina. She speaks 3 languages fluently and plays Football for UNSW FC!
CAREER RELATED QUESTIONS
What is the best thing about your job and why?
The best thing is working directly with the Founders and C-suite, who had the vision and skill to create a great business from scratch, they are street-smart commercially and hyper-professional, and it’s a great honour to work with them so closely.
But the great thing about this job is the level of ownership and responsibility to deliver success, to create the right path, and do it as if it was my own company. This is not just a job it’s a lifestyle and you can see how quickly you can bring great ideas to life. And sometimes you just need to go back to basics and apply everything you’ve learnt so far from everyone and everything and put it into action. No more training sessions; the game is on.
What is the most challenging project/problem you have worked on either as an external consultant or an internal strategist?
Working with Australia’s largest media company, I was afforded the opportunity to rethink the organisations strategy relating to the delivery of news media subscriptions. Modernising a traditional business model and turning around sales figures, disrupted by the advent of the 24-hour news cycle, was a challenging opportunity.
Alongside the technical and commercial challenges, introducing change to the status quo in a long established industry meant we faced resistance from some stakeholders. If you add cultural differences into this environment, it becomes a delicate dance between narratives, one we had to move carefully to navigate.
What advice would you give someone transitioning from a consulting firm to a role in industry?
Never forget what you have learnt in Consulting, the rigorous thinking process, frameworks and stakeholder management, are key to help you drive impact in any company you work for in the future.
Keep pushing yourself with reading, networking, and training to be at the cutting edge of your field.
Who has influenced your career the most and why?
My time in management consulting has been the most influential and formative, straight out of University, this period gave me the foundations for the successes I have achieved in Industry. The networks I established during this period, and the skill sets I developed, still influence how I perform at work to this day.
PERSONAL INSIGHTS
What is the favourite piece of advice you have received and from whom?
“Keep moving.” The concept of never standing still, always moving forward, from Damian Eales (COO at News Corp).
As a child what did you want to be when you were older?
I wanted to do show-riding for a living! But decided to not mix passion with business and studied Business Administration and had a career in Consulting to pay for my show-riding passion instead. Travelling didn’t help, but I managed to continue my show-riding lessons for many years.
What are your three favourite books and what are you currently reading?
Top 3: Shoe Dog, Phil Knight; City of the Beasts, Isabel Allende; Enders Game, Oscar Scott Card.
One of my current passion projects relates to wine, so I just started “The Vineyard at the End of the World” from Ian Mount, which documents the emergence of the wine industry in Argentina.
Who is your personal or business hero/heroine and what quality do you most admire in them?
Ellen DeGeneres, from both a personal and professional perspective she built an empire, lost it, did not give up, and built an even larger one. But if you think about it: she changed. Ellen rebranded, changed her value proposition, relaunched, innovated, diversified and maintained her show relevant and fresh to millions for over 17 years. That takes an enormous amount of focus, self-determination and great level of strategy to understand how to adapt (at scale). Now she has the world’s largest audience for an individual and her net worth equals other more obvious idols like Roger Federer. So hats off to Ellen.
Who would you like sitting next to you at a dinner party and why?
Phil Knight, a true entrepreneur. I admire his resilience, never giving up, solving problems with a positive and creative mindset. An avid promoter of innovation and quality in his industry, achieving success while maintaining a great sense of humour.
What is your favourite quote or motto?
My oldest yet favourite motto is: “Luck = Opportunity + Preparation”. Preparation gives you the tools to identify opportunities and do something productive with it. You can’t control opportunities, but you can control preparation. So be prepared!