Inside CVC: Kristin Slanina and Shifting Gears on Discomfort, Mobility, and Leading Transformation

Engineer, board director, and Shifting Gears author Kristin Slanina joins Inside CVC for a candid conversation on what it really takes to lead transformation in an industry that’s been “five years away” from disruption for more than a decade.

Kristin shares how discomfort became one of her greatest teachers, what she learned building Ford’s original Blueprint for Mobility, and why electric and autonomous vehicles will only scale when leadership mindsets change as fast as the technology. She also takes us inside her work on EV adoption, boardroom blind spots, and the bold choices that have shaped her own career.

Listeners will hear:

• How discomfort shapes stronger leaders and why Kristin sees self-trust as a superpower
• Why EV adoption still struggles and what she uncovered during the Charge Across America rally
• The real gap between boardroom assumptions and the everyday mobility experience
• How leaders can future-proof their companies by getting back to the front lines and embracing innovation

Buy Kristin's book here: Shifting Gears: 7 Power Moves to Design a Life You Love, Grow Your Career, and Lead With Impact

Transcript

Steve: 0:04

Welcome to Inside CVC, the podcast that brings together leaders in innovation and capital investment to explore the trends shaping the business of corporate venture capital. I'm your host, Steve Schmidt, and together with Philip Willigman, we're speaking to corporate investors, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem builders driving the future of innovation. InsideCVC is brought to you by UPath Advisors, helping corporations and startups unlock sustainable growth through strategic partnerships. To learn more, visit uPath.com. That's the letter Up-enpath.com. And to catch up on all of our episodes, search Inside CVC on your favorite podcast platform or visit uPath.com forward slash podcast. Today we're joined by Kristen Slanina, engineer, board director, author of Shifting Gears, and one of mobility's most influential voices on transformation. In this conversation, Kristen shares how discomfort can be a powerful teacher, what she learned leading Ford's first blueprint for mobility, and why she believes the future of electric and autonomous vehicles depends as much on human leadership and boardroom courage as it does on technology. We explore the lessons behind her new book, Shifting Gears, from learning to trusting yourself to taking leaps of faith to helping Fortune 500 boards and startups alike embrace innovation by getting them back to the front lines. Here's our conversation with Kristen Slanina. Kristen, welcome to Inside CVC. Thanks for joining us. How are you?

Kristin: 1:38

Oh, I'm wonderful. Thank you, Steve. I'm here in the mountain time zone looking at the beautiful mountains in Albuquerque.

Steve: 1:44

Oh, what it's such a great area of the U.S. I've personally never never spent any time out there, but I'm I'm looking forward to it soon.

Kristin: 1:53

I think it's one of the cities with the most sunny days annually, something like that. So it's very Really?

Steve: 1:59

I feel Albuquerque is sort of like like Michigan or the north in the wintertime, right? It's somewhere where where I think in the summertime it would be very, very warm.

Kristin: 2:10

Well, I'm soon gonna find out. I literally got my keys three weeks ago. So it's an it's a new adventure. I'll let you know after a year.

Steve: 2:18

Awesome. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So look, I'm really excited. Philip and I are really excited about today's conversation for a number of different reasons, obviously for the conversation we're gonna have and as it relates to corporate venture, et cetera. But Philip and I have spent our career in the business of mobility. And so really excited about the conversation we're going to have today. Why don't we start off with uh sharing a little bit about your book? What was really the inspiration behind the book? And when you say cruise control, what is what does that mean?

Kristin: 2:50

So the inspiration, this has been coming into fruition for I'd say the last three years. I had an intent that, you know what, it's really time to write a book. And when I have discussions with people, I've had so many people tell me, Kristen, you really need to write a book. And my purpose was to inspire, to inspire a new way of thinking, to inspire people to, let's say, maybe take that next step if they're not happy with their job, for example. How do they get that courage to take that next step, plunge right in and find something that really resonates? And so there were many different angles that I wanted to communicate. And when I started writing down sort of my stories that that aligned with the certain chapter themes, I was like, wow, there's really a lot of stories that we have out here. And when you when you look at corporate America, I also feel that chapter five is really relevant to leaders of today. Really, it's taking that leap of faith, the unstoppable power of self-trust. And think about what's happening today. There are so many changes happening so quickly when you look at social changes as well as technology changes. That I think today, more than ever, it's important for true leaders to really look inside themselves because what worked yesterday is no longer going to work today and tomorrow. And so I would say that that would be a really relevant chapter looking at corporate executives and today.

Steve: 4:25

This notion of discomfort is also something you talk about. In fact, you did you talk about discomfort being a teacher. When you reflect on that, and and I think one of the things that that is interesting about this book is that you draw on these personal experiences. When you reflect on this notion that discomfort being a teacher, can you maybe talk about a moment in your life where that sort of discomfort forced a breakthrough for you?

Kristin: 4:55

Yeah, there's obviously there's many times that you're you're out of your comfort zone. And I would have to say one of the very first most pivotal times was my first semester at MIT. So think about it. I had, I was in high school in Texas at the time, and this was my first time going away, and I'm in Boston, which I had never been to Boston before. So you're not only breaking away from family, but you don't have any friends there either. You're starting with a clean sheet of paper and you're living in a dorm. So it's it's all of those things that really take a lot of inner courage and strength to break through. And then I clearly remember my very first test, which was in physics and the four questions on the test. And I had studied, I had done all the problem sets, worked in a study group, and I'm looking at the test and the questions I had never seen before. And I recognized, wow, this is the first time that I actually had to think. And I hadn't realized that in the past I was sort of on all autopilot and just repeating and doing what I had learned in the problem sets. So this was a rude awakening. And let me tell you, you don't necessarily want that awakening when you're actually taking this test. So I managed to get through it and write down and really start thinking about it. But that was something that really absolutely changed for me personally how I was learning. And so by the end of the first semester of freshman year, I had recognized, understood, and really started to think.

Philipp: 6:39

Thank you for sharing this, Kristen. And it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Discomfort and leaving your comfort zone is such an important experience, right? To kind of grow. And what we see as we talk about transformation, right? If you as a leader haven't had that experience, right, to really understand what it means to be in a space where you feel uncertain. You can't really grow. You can't also really help people understand what it looks like on the other side and lead them there. Where we need much more of, I think, in this world. We have been knowing each other for quite some time. And I'm glad I call you a friend. I can always text you and call you when I'm looking for advice. And I know I've seen that this writing this book has been a deeply personal journey for you. And uh so it's very, very honored that you're coming on the show. So, what's one time when you think about your career where you became, let's say, too comfortable and you stayed too long in a role or in a situation. And what did it cost to you?

Kristin: 7:42

That's a that's a really good question. So, you know, when I reflect back, obviously I hired into Ford right after grad school and was in the company for over 21 years. So when I think about it, it's like, well, that is a long time, and really was it too long? So there's some parts to that that are yes and no, because when I look at the actual jobs that I did, every few years I was, in a sense, pulled to a new type of position and a new role. Though what I think was really clear is at the end, when I had the headhunter and the opportunity for a bigger role, at first I was in resistance, actually. My first thought was, oh, I have a commute then, and I didn't want to commute, which is why I chose a place in Dearborn that was only two miles away from the office. And so I was in resistance to that. And and I think that it was the universe telling me and giving me like a kick in the butt when I had the meeting with the executive director of the group I was in that basically told me I needed another role at the same level. And so that was a wake-up call for me that, okay, you're staying too long in this job, and you've got to take that jump. And you'll figure out the commute, you'll figure out any of those other roadblocks I created in my mind. And that's when I realized and that I needed to do it and that the path would show itself, and it did. When I wrote down, I actually literally went from the interview with the CEO of the of the company to the airport for a family trip and had written down what it would take for me to leave Ford. And I swear to God, it matched that in all areas and even exceeded some. So I was like, okay, that's fate, destiny. It's time to go. So I guess I'd say the universe was giving me a kick in the butt that I'd overstayed my welcome at Ford.

Steve: 9:47

Kristen, I want to in a moment get into sort of driving transformation and mobility, an area where you've spent spent a lot of your career, and particularly when you think about this, but sticking with shifting gears and and and some of the lessons that you're articulating and communicate that. I reflect on what you're saying, and and I've got a 20-year-old son who just started his junior year in college. I'm proud enough to see that he thinks critically. But at the same time, I also see often a sense of discomfort. I'm not knowing these things. And typically for our inside CVC audience, we speak to more seasoned executives, more seasoned, right? I'm curious, if you were speaking to a young individual, we as adults, I think, have the wisdom of, hey, believe us, woulda, shoulda, coulda, right? And sort of this the stuff that comes with wisdom. I'm curious, if you think about shifting gears in the context, but you're speaking to a younger college individual, much in the role that you just you just articulated in terms of your moment of discomfort, what would you say to that individual that might be, might be you're listening right now?

Kristin: 11:02

Steve, that's an excellent question. And ironically, my youngest son is also 20 and just started his junior year at Purdue. And so I'm sort of living this as a mom, real time. And one of the things that I've encouraged all of my kids is embracing these experiences. And so we personally don't give gifts anymore on things. We give gifts of experiences. I'm very, very proud that he got accepted into the program for the spring semester to work in Copenhagen, to do a semester abroad in Copenhagen and do his classes there. So it's like that's living and embodying that, as I said in the book, right? Sometimes you just have to take that plunge. Does he know all the details? No. But I'm glad and excited for him because living in a different country is going to be an experience in and of itself. And he's embracing that. Whether it's a semester abroad or even let's say you're in college, you in a sense have a clean sheet of paper to redefine who you are. No one in college really knew that in high school, maybe you were afraid to get up on stage. So in college, get over that fear and maybe you join and be a part of the school play, or you don't join the dance team and learn how to dance and ballroom dance. So it's really a time and opportunity for you to redefine who you are because no one knew who you were yesterday. And so that's kind of what I encourage young people today and even my own kids right now.

Steve: 12:37

So, how do you do that as a corporate leader, particularly mobility, right? We've been talking about the future of mobility for the better part of 10 or 15 years, right? 2025 or 2015, 2014, I think were some of the early indications or some of the early references to self-driving vehicles. And I remember thinking at the time, what? We're talking about self-driving vehicles, right? And so fast forward, the technology is scaled, et cetera. I think the business models sort of continue to fluctuate uh depending on where you are in the world. Do EVs matter? Do they not matter? How they're scaling. As a corporate leader, and reflecting on what you just said in terms of advice for young people, how do I navigate that and drive that transformation? And when there's a lot of uncertainty, particularly on topic of mobility, that has been a topic that has been under conversation for the better part of 15 years.

Kristin: 13:28

Oh, yeah. I started leading towards blueprint for mobility way back in 2011. So, yes, even earlier than that. And was looking at the whole connected autonomous electric realm. And what are those opportunities? How are people and goods going to move differently in the future? And so I'm sure you remember there was all this hype about, oh yeah, 2019, we're gonna get cars, autonomous vehicles out for mass. And, you know, think about it like, do is that really even a good thing? When let's say my neighbor can't even get regular oil changes. And here now we have all this technology, which one costs a lot more, so it's really not necessarily affordable for the masses. And two, who's going to be responsible for making sure all of the equipment and such, the cameras, the sensors, the light are are being maintained? So, in a sense, I've always been a proponent of having centrally managed fleets for autonomous on-demand transportation versus ubiquitous ownership of that technology. So remember, 2019, it was going to be out there. And look, here we are today at 2025. And where are we? So we we have those fleets that are popping up, and there's still refinement that needs to happen. And we've seen huge technology advances. You know, so I, for over three and a half years, was first on Velodyne LIDAR's board and then Velodyne and Ouster merged. And so as a board member, was really, of course, needing and wanting to keep up with the latest of what's happening with LIDAR technology for automotive in ADAS, but also, more importantly, I think, is the other applications for that. And so I think that this is a really good case in point for leaders today that, okay, it might not be exactly the path that you initially thought, but to be very adaptable and also see the big picture of those other applications that are ready today, that actually do make more sense, and that there really is a huge business case on it. And that's really what's happening in the lighter space right now.

Philipp: 15:35

And Kristen, I mean, I recall back in 2015, 2016, I was part of a project where we wanted to bring self-driving cars on this trip in Vegas around CES, including Ford was part of it and uh Lyft, and you were just thinking about Ford was thinking about doing an investment in Lyft. And it didn't work out because nobody really wanted to open up the data and share it and really create it. So it was uh probably one of the projects which was a big fail for me, but I learned a lot on this. I would love to pivot a bit from autonomy, because I agree with you, you know, we have to, even though the technology might not be there, it's slowly getting there, and you have to keep you know doubling down on it. But you also have been very, very involved in electrification, right? You you you were part of Charge Across America, the EV rally. Last week, you know, was IAA, the big, you know, European automotive show. And I've been there two years ago. I haven't been there last week, but you had a huge impetus of Chinese EV companies coming in, right? The European and the Western, you know, say the Western automotive industry, yeah, kind of didn't really show a lot of innovation in EV. If not for Elon Musk with Tesla, maybe there would not even anything really pushing the West. What can you, you know, looking back, you know, of reflecting on this, what went wrong, you know, in the boardrooms when it came to electrification and really using this as an opportunity to innovate and really rewrite the game of automotive. Any thoughts on this and why you specifically automotive like the Germans and some of the US are behind right now, massively behind?

Kristin: 17:12

Yeah, no, and that's an excellent question. And part of the reason for doing the Charge Across America rally. So that occurred in the fall of 2021. So remember, COVID was, we were still experiencing COVID. We still were wearing masks. And what was fascinating to me, this was another kind of like divine kick in the butt for me when I had been asked if I wanted to do this. Like, oh, how great, let's do it. My first thought was, in a sense, fear. I'm like, what do I know about putting together this race and doing this? And I, of course, talked about this in the book, but then I realized, wow, this is the 30th anniversary of being on the solar car team and being co-captain and driver and doing those three races. And to me, that was almost like destiny and fate. So this rally, of course, it was on my bucket list to go from New York to LA. And what better way than in electric vehicles? And to have this professionally filmed. And my goal was really to look at the social adoption changes. So I had several teams that had never driven EVs. So, how long would it take them to be comfortable? How would they adapt to finding their route? Because it was a rally. We gave them every morning an envelope with the address that they had to go to by the end of the day and strategize on their charging because the charge time was on the clock part of the race time. And then I drove the Tesla Model Y as like a lead car, of course, not a race participant since I wasn't going to win the prize money. But I forced all of the other teams to have non-Teslas. So therefore, I could have some comparisons and firsthand experience of looking at the Tesla infrastructure versus the non-Tesla infrastructure. What is the state of that infrastructure and how reliable was that? So this race really did a lot. And it also gave me, as I'm speaking in conferences and events, really what happened. My experience in the Tesla was unbelievably amazing and simple and easy. And I had, I wasn't really sure. I had downloaded all the apps and I never even needed to use it. I put in my destination and everything was seamless. I never had a charging error. Of course, the payment is automatic. It knows the car that I'm in. And it was very, very easy. And every all of those five teams, and I even had some what I call EV experts on the teams, face chargers that weren't working, payment systems that were not easy and not working, rated system ratings that were not accurate, where let's say it might say it could charge at 100 kilowatt hours and then it was only doing 20. And I even experienced that same thing when I went to Europe. So when I went to Europe with my youngest son after high school and we spent 10 days in Europe, I purposely rented an electric car. And this is where I think the other manufacturers have gone wrong is that they weren't really looking at the entire experience. They're used to creating cars. So, okay, they they're used to creating, let's say, cars and trucks, and now they're gonna do an electric car. And it wasn't looking at the end-to-end experience and what that looks like. So in Europe, I asked the guy at the counter, the rental corner, like all the stats and facts of the car. Because I'm like, I'm gonna do a lot of driving. So I need your best EV. So one, he didn't know anything. He couldn't answer any of my questions so that I could understand the range and the charge time. But my very first charge, I'm stopping and I need to download an app that it tells me on my phone, it's not in my area, and I can't download this app. So it took me like 35 minutes and help from some very nice people next to me to try to figure things out, only to realize that, oh, this charger wasn't working in the first place. And so I actually just went to a completely different charger. But that's that's the issue that I think regular automotive manufacturers have had, is that they've been focused on doing it the way they've been doing it in the past and not looking at the end-to-end experience. And it still has a ways to go. It's still not even comparable to the Tesla experience on infrastructure, payment integration, and the entire vehicle integration and knowing the charging that is along the route that I am going and guiding me to that so that I don't have to think and worry about it.

Steve: 21:38

Kristen, I love this conversation. This is gonna be fun. You're talking about very real, uncomfortable truths when it comes to the future of mobility. I would like to share with you my point of view. And if you wouldn't mind, I would love your reaction to that. I think the technology has scaled, right? And I think AI and robotics is going to supercharge that. When we all started this conversation, it was about the scaling of IoT and sensors and the ability for the machines to talk to each other. I think that that has certainly grown. I believe the reason why people have not opened their wallets to this is exactly what you're describing is the lack of a customer experience, the lack of value that says, wow, I want that. I'm going to open my wallet and I'm actually going to pay for that. And to me, I think it boils down to what is the missing piece of all of this is customer data and the ability to bring all that customer data together in a way that's privacy compliant, that is consent driven, but the ability for all of these different brands and different ecosystems, a parking uh operator, a fleet operator, right? A charging company, an energy company, particularly if my charging station's in the middle of a retailer's parking lot, the retailer has a play in that, right? That says when my electric vehicle charges in and that customer just happens to be a loyalty member, I get that unlocks special things while I'm shopping in the vehicle itself, right? I'm curious in the uncomfortable, and I'm rambling here a little bit, but in the uncomfortable truths and the uncomfortable thing, that's my point of view that says while the technology is scaled, what has been missing has been a point of view around the customer data. How do you bring that together in a way that drives consent, is private, delivers those cross-brand experiences that people on then at one point say, that's what I'm looking for. That's what I'm willing to pay for. I'm curious how you react to that. What's your point of view?

Kristin: 23:51

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think history gives us a lot of lessons. Think about the transition from the horse and carriage to the automobile. It had to be better, right? And usually the general rule is like a 10x better. Where are we today in terms of how long it takes me to charge to get, let's say, 100 miles of range? It sucks, right? It can't compare.

Philipp: 24:12

It's horrible.

Kristin: 24:13

So, and it was really, really apparent when, as I said, my son and I needed to drive from Bologna 550 miles in one day to the Frankfurt Airport. Do you know how long that 550 miles took us? 13 and a half hours. Okay. Because I could only get an 100 miles of actual range, and it took 45 minutes of charge to get that 100 miles of range. So it was horrible. My son, patience, very pay, he was very sweet. He's like, Mom, can't we turn this in to get a gas car? And uh, you know, I'm like, sorry, and we can't. But and then as soon as, you know, we turn the car in and right, had to fill up my normal gas when I'm back home in the States, right? And it's like minutes, it really, really hits you like a brick thrown at your head as to the complete, it's not better at all. In fact, it's much, much worse. So why would I have any incentive to do it? There's situations where it works beautifully. Like if you have a 40-mile commute and you have your charger at home and you just plug it in and it's charged and you don't have to worry about the charging time. That's great. But the situation I was in and doing 550 miles from Bologna to Frankfurt, it was horrible. It was absolutely horrible.

Philipp: 25:31

So I'm I just had the similar experience actually, just for like a day. I rented a car two days, and then I was looking for a charger in Europe, and half of the chargers didn't work. Then I found a charger, then the connector didn't work. And there was a this was a Kia, a brand new Kia EV9, like the top, top of the line. And then the charger didn't connect. And then finally, with a bit of nibbling on it, it worked. And then it was relatively fast. It took only 30 minutes to get some some power in it, but it was the experience was definitely not good. So I mean, you you are a board member, right? I mean, you sit on you know startup boards and corporate boards. So what can we do? How can we how can we help boards you know really get a deeper view into these problems and help them understand how to create a better customer experience and how to design something which is really looking into the future and really leaving this old paradigm we haven't seen for the last hundred years and now kind of saying, okay, how can we create a new opportunity? Can the established autoplayers even do this, or do they all have to go bust and you know, we have to create something new?

Kristin: 26:36

This is a good lesson of getting out of the boardroom. I mean, how many think about it? If you're in the EV race, right, and look at those boards, how many of them have rented an EV for 10 days in Europe and just traveled around or gone from New York to LA across America and really experience firsthand, Philip, as you said, just what you experienced in those two days.

Philipp: 26:59

I can tell you, like the last, the last corporate I was part of, their board and executive team talked about EVs for like three years. And they have, I don't, I mean, the CEO and a couple of the executives had EVs, but it took them literally three and a half years for us to say, let's spend one day to experience the ecosystem.

Kristin: 27:18

That is the problem with the boardrooms, is that it's easy to talk, but guess what? They're not actually out there doing and living the experience itself. I mean, the experience that I had even just paying, I was in a uh, by the way, a BYD atto. Okay, but the experience that I have just even in the payment systems was horrible. The in-car systems showed the hundred different charging ops, but not, it was not clear at all what is on my path as I'm going. And it was also fascinating to see the difference in infrastructure between Germany as I went from Germany to Switzerland to Italy, because I went to all three of those countries on that 10-day trip. And there's many differences, which we won't really get into here, but really it is about the gap between the board's talking and the real experiences and getting out. They're rolling up their sleeves. That's where the change is going to happen, is if they're actually living and doing it and experiencing it, it's going to catalyze a faster acceleration, as opposed to, as you said, Philip, they're talking for three, three and a half years, and now they're going to have a one-day immersion experience. That's really not acceptable, especially in this day and age.

Steve: 28:34

It's so interesting because it would, I would assume that many of these board leaders, you included, started their careers that way, being on the front lines. I mean, you've described it in this conversation in terms of where we started and these early moments in your career that have shaped you and reflected you. And so, and even when you think about automotive, one of the most iconic brands that have talked about process improvement that have always led with go to the line and see the problem for yourself, right? Certainly the Toyota way, et cetera, et cetera. And so it's interesting when you when you say this and say, you got to be out there in the front line. I would imagine many of these individuals that you're advising and being part of are y'all started your career this way. We all started our career this way of being on the front line. And it's interesting to hear you say, as a reminder, we need to go back to that. Back to the roots, right? Exactly, exactly. So I'm I'm curious. If you're sitting in front of a board or you're sitting in front of a startup, a founder, does that advice change at all? Or is it uh part of it, I also think, is if I'm in the startup, a founder seat, I always think those individuals are the best salespeople for for their business because they they are at the front line. They've got their fingers in in all of the piece of it. So I'm curious when you when you talk about being at the front line and really experiencing for yourself, any sort of difference and how you might approach that if you were advising a startup, a founder versus somebody that is in in the board position.

Kristin: 30:04

Yeah. Oh my God. And there are differences, right? And that's why so much of corporate Fortune 500 today is is fearful of these startups that can just they're because startups in general are a lot more nimble, right? And they can really cause major disruption. And they should be these corporate Fortune 500 companies should be afraid of them because startups are like that. And you're right, those founders and CEOs of those companies, they're immersed in it. They're living their business model and they're creating their business model. They're finding those gaps and the gaps that are really needed and wanted for the customer base or in the world and and they're squeezing their way into that. So in terms of advising like as a startup board member usually it's it's about having more thoughtful discernment and not running in too quickly because there's a huge timing alignment that I feel is important, right? The timing is key. And if you run in too quickly before you have all the I's dotted and T's crossed, then you could really fall flat on your face. But yet you don't want to be stuck and fearful to move forward. So that's the fine line. But the corporate 500 board if anything it's sort of the opposite right you're trying to push them more to be more nimble in thought to really kind of be conscious about let's talk through these gaps. I mean every year when I was in corporate America any of the teams I led, we took a step back to say, okay, what has changed now this year in the world, in the business, in the company with our competitors and what should we do differently as we look ahead to this next year and how do we change? I think too many in corporate America kind of go through they don't really go through that fresh eye process of really changing and tweaking the system every year. It's more like autopilot, right? Oh, this is what we did and we're just going to keep doing and then before they know it as a Fortune 500 you're like oh wait this startup just took half our business and that's why so many Fortune 500 companies are no longer in the top 500.

Steve: 32:21

It's sort of like right be careful of the risks you do take on one side and on the other side it's hey you have to be more risky right I'll go back to the human element of it right if you're a three year old and you don't know what what danger is, you're going to go jump off the tree right and and and is if I'm 50 and I'm looking at that same tree I'm like I might sprain my ankle I'm not going to jump off that tree right a little more cautious right exactly but but it's the notion of you have to be able to play. It's this sort of this notion of of playing to drive drive this transformation that we're talking about.

Philipp: 32:59

Exactly I mean like you know on on the board side I wonder you've been serving on boards I've been on a couple of startup boards and I've had the pleasure of seeing a Fortune funder board come together. But I wonder like I mean most conversations I've seen in big boards is really around risk avoidance right really look for kind of where is an issue let's solve the issue and oh the strategic plan is showing incremental growth over the next three, four years and it's always going to be like this.

Kristin: 33:29

Right.

Philipp: 33:29

Right. And if then there is somebody who's asking a critical question, most of the other people in the boardroom look at each other and like what is this person on? Like are they are they actually like for real? Do they really believe what they said is going to happen that some crazy startup will take over but I you know as I've now you know also see you know seen specifically in automotive in in in Europe and you know people are continuing on this incremental move and even if they made play in something more ventury or startup they even have pulled out of it or it's oftentimes the reaction is there like a specific capability missing on on you know corporate boards at the moment or in general to really be able to see through some of these massively complex changes we are facing and that the you know the typical board composition of very experienced functional leaders out of finance and the risk function out of the product function that there's some some capability missing on the board to really be able to steward a big corporate into the right direction.

Kristin: 34:31

Yeah that that is a good point and I've had this conversation with many other people too as well about what is the right makeup of the board? And typically you have your set committees, right? But is should there be a new committee? Should there be someone that really has an innate ability to challenge and strive for innovation in a new way in these companies because you're right let's say the bigger the company you are, the more inertia you have to overcome and so how can they do that in a little bit more of a not only more expeditive way, but how could let's say this innovation leader on the board catalyze it in in that comfort zone to push that discomfort but and push the company into that new because the risk avoidance is going to just slow things down. And you're right, others are going to come into play. I think it really makes for a good discussion that board should have about having a person to catalyze that who really understands innovation, who really understands how to look at all of these different facets that are into play future proofing is what I call it too is right when you can plan and think about different scenarios in the future and how does that company become resilient and to to those different future proof situations. So there's many different ways to do it. And I do think that boards especially big Fortune 500 boards because they really lack this because it's not traditional to have let's say your innovation expert and leader on your board something to think about.

Philipp: 36:12

I love it. I'm actually writing a paper on it right now we'll send it to you afterwards for for review.

Kristin: 36:17

And I had no idea you were so that's great.

Philipp: 36:20

One of our future um guests wrote a book and it inspired me to it I'll I'll uh share it with you I will not take away anything but uh when we move on obviously into the innovation and and allocation of capital right if you're a corporate today right if you would advise a corporate today right and you say I don't know let's have a hundred million dollars right how would you split this if we stay in the mobility ecosystem where would you invest based on also the experience from the EV challenge but is it into EV hubs? Is it into autonomy is it into digital platforms? How are you seeing seeing this ecosystem evolve and where would you put some bets?

Kristin: 36:59

I like this question. Okay so I have 100 million budget. Okay.

Philipp: 37:02

How far we give you 100 million budget it comes it comes right into your bank account and then we'll allocate it.

Kristin: 37:08

Perfect. So in looking at where we really are today for today I would put about half of that into the EV hub and then I would likely split then so 25% kind of in autonomy and 25 in digital those are still very important and need to go but I think we can get if you have especially the right implementation on these EV hubs you can really get that bandwidth and then that sets the stage it sets that framework for kind of the autonomy and the digital hubs that kind of goes hand in hand. So if I had my 100 million today that's that's kind of what I would allocate 50 2525.

Steve: 37:50

Kristen of that hundred I I actually believe the vehicle dashboard is going to be a future digital billboard. The ability to serve up an ad on a vehicle dashboard while that vehicle is passing I know that's been talked about since the 2015s before or before yeah I think for as an automaker in terms of trying to keep customers engaged in the in the cycles between I'm buying etc. I'm just curious what do you think is the opportunity there?

Kristin: 38:20

Even way back in 2011 when I started this whole blueprint for mobility at Ford we were really talking about additional revenue streams that automakers could have and of course billboards in your car and personalization and how they could direct you let's say with a coupon let's say you love your Starbucks you get your coupon to the Starbucks that you just happen to be driving by right there's that entire integration and obviously it's it's been longer in coming that integration and then there's also think of I mean we've been talking about data and vehicle data for a while now but think about how what when was the timing that most automakers really even had connectivity in the vehicle okay Tesla was really in the forefront and there might be connectivity in vehicles but look at the the capabilities of that and also the capabilities of actually utilizing that data that's being collected and and acting upon it. So that's kind of been I kind of look at it as like some people call data lakes I kind of call it the data mud. It's kind of like the data gets in there and then it's like stuck in the mud. So there's still that ecosystem still has to be much more improved in order to really realize those kind of gains that you're talking about. And you know it's going to be the players that already collect good data and know what data is important and how to actually activate on it real time that's going to win in that space. But I don't I don't see it being really ready right now because I think there's too much to overcome but that really is the the goal of the future.

Steve: 40:09

I think we're on a journey there and I think there also certainly have been some some missteps in in recent months with with consent, right?

Kristin: 40:16

And and and folks maybe seeing that more as big brother than value driven etc so because monetization of that data and that information is really key and so many um automakers have been looking at it and need to look at it further. And as I said every year as we know things are changing so rapidly so where's that breakthrough that's going to be coming that can help them activate on that and maybe a different way than they had planned in their in their original plans.

Steve: 40:44

Go back to the nimble nimble conversation. So we spent a lot of time today talking about mobility I'd like to maybe change the lens a little bit around progress growth if you will in what largely has been a male dominated industry right? I think you've been you're certainly a leader. You've certainly broken through when you think about your career journey what are some of those things some of those moments that mattered that help you break through as a leader, as a as a woman leader in this organization? What advice might you offer somebody else that might find themselves in similar situations perhaps that you found yourself in in in your career?

Kristin: 41:28

You know I think that something that really shaped me that I didn't realize necessarily early on in my career kind of relates to what I call the rules. There's sort of unwritten, unspoken rules so I've realized the as I've had more experience under my belt that it was really important to rewrite kind of the script for myself just because this was what was done in the past and this like I remember my very first rotation as an FCG at the engine plant. And guess what I didn't get invited to the lunch with the suppliers because guess where they were going they were going to Windsor to the the strip bar right for for lunch. And and so it's it's recognizing that those rules that served no longer serve for me. And even like in the consulting world when you think about it it was all about whining and dining and you get the box seats at the sporting events and things. Then I asked myself well why can't it be different and what does that look like for me as a consultant when I worked at Ernst Young and so I think it really is about challenging actually awareness awareness of what those rules are and really just challenging yourself to look at what ones serve you and what ones don't and be being willing to look at those changes. Because the honest truth is men and women are different. And so let's embrace that acknowledge that recognize it and I think the power is truly when you have two conscious people that understand that and then working together and valuing those differences really creates true movement forward and true change.

Philipp: 43:21

Thank you very much Kristen for for sharing this and as somebody who has always been an ally or woman in allies a woman and at Deloitte and also afterwards changing the game and just kind of like looking at the playing field in a different way I think is a very very important topic and way to do this. Let me close on very personal question. Obviously you you wrote your book you had a very successful career you are having a couple of board seats and so I'd say you know you've been pretty bold also the the way you think about the world and often boldness comes with loneliness. Was there a time where you kind of doubted whether you were on the right road and if so how did you rebuild trust for yourself into the path ahead and kind of like yeah moved forward with confidence?

Kristin: 44:15

That does take a lot of self-reflection right about how to really trust in yourself. And you're right it can be very lonely. I can remember specifically you know a group of guys all talking and they were talking about you know the the game last night or the golf event the day before and I don't really like golf so I would choose not to go. But and sometimes I would feel left out of conversations, left out of like that club, right? And then it struck me that that was a choice that I had. And so I would ask myself okay do I want to like integrate myself into the discussion I'll call it the guy club discussion and what would that look like andor not and you know it was really fascinating. There were times when I was like you know what I am gonna kind of break into this conversation and maybe steer it in a slightly different direction. And they were always open to that. And then sometimes I actually decided you know what I don't need or want to break into the conversation and I'm fine the way I am and then what was fascinating is maybe something else kind of happened where someone else came up to me and and I had a really good conversation on a completely different topic that I wouldn't have even thought of. So there's a silver lining to that. And it was awareness that I had the power of choice. I could feel excluded or I could include myself. And so that was a real awakening and that really shifted because you're right it can as I say it can be lonely at the top but I really looked at it as there's a choice and then when you have the choice it shifts that loneliness into something different. So that's what I've recognized.

Steve: 46:01

How that resonates I once had the opportunity to hear a presentation from a Navy SEAL. Oh that must have been fascinating it was fascinating but but it was the context was the individual the they're swimming in the cold waters off of right and and his point of view was very very clear was I get to do this. I have the opportunity to get to do this and it seems with what you described that yeah I sort of made that that connection right shifting that attitude yeah yep exactly so makes all the difference yeah yep for sure Kristen thank you so much for joining us today on Inside Oh this was totally fun thank you Steve and Philip really enjoyed it and really good questions I I have to say very good questions.

Philipp: 46:48

Thank you very much Kristen for your time appreciate it and yeah maybe this is uh the first conversation in the series I I felt there were many topics we could have gone deeper oh easily really appreciate your time and uh thank you so much for coming on the show.

Steve: 47:04

Uh really enjoyed it thanks again that was Kristen Slanina mobility innovator board member and author of Shifting Gears Navigating Change with courage and clarity. To learn more about Kristen's work visit Kristen Solanina.com or find her book Shifting Gears wherever you buy your books. If you enjoyed today's episode please follow and share Inside CVC wherever you listen to your podcast and join us at youpath.com forward slash podcast for more conversations with people driving the future of innovation. Until next time thanks for listening to the