Welcome to the next edition of Leadership Matters where we ask leaders around the Pacific Zone for their insights and advice about leadership matters to support our continuing journey of personal and professional development.
In this edition, we hear from Vice President Digital Buildings Louise Monger. Louise leads the Digital Buildings business in the Pacific Zone, delivering energy management and automation solutions for the built environment. The division’s 350-strong team services customers in healthcare, real estate, transport, data centres and education.
Prior to joining Schneider Electric, Louise was the Program Director for Technology and Innovation at AMP Capital, ensuring delivery of client and business value from technology investment, and leading real estate's digital and innovation team. Before that, Louise was the Head of Property Management, accountable for the overall property management performance of the AMP Capital Office and Logistics portfolio. Louise has over 20 years' experience in technical and leadership roles across a range of sectors and disciplines.
Louise is a respected thought leader in the real estate technology industry and has spoken on many panels both domestically and internationally. She is also a known voice on diversity and inclusion in the industry.
What motivates and excites you about your role at Schneider Electric?
The opportunity to work at the intersection of people, place, and technology. I get energy from talking to our customers and understanding their future needs, analysing trends in the market, and then using these insights to shape the strategy of our business and how we continue to evolve our offer and capability to remain market leaders.
What makes you most proud of your team?
It might sound cliché but seeing great collaboration to deliver innovative projects and solutions to our customers.
How do you see the market for Digital Buildings evolving in the next 5 years?
Our customers will continue to desire the sustainability, efficiency, resilience, and customer experience outcomes that can be delivered though data collection and system integration. With more integration between systems and more complexity, we will see more standardisation of technology across portfolios of assets, and more enterprise level software to better support management of these assets.
How does Digital Buildings support our leadership in Electricity 4.0 in the Pacific Zone?
As organisations strive toward net zero carbon targets, they will need a dramatic shift to more renewable sources for electrical generation. The world will begin substituting electric technologies for combustion-fuelled technologies, particularly in areas like space and water heating, and there will be increasing adoption of renewable energy sources at asset level. This means buildings will need smart, connected electrical infrastructure designed that can produce, store, distribute, and share power in an intelligent way for maximum efficiency and safety, and digital systems that enable the connection of all the systems inside a building to get the information we need to make better, smarter decisions.
We’re one of the leading companies in the world when it comes to sustainability. How is your part of the business contributing to this leadership?
Buildings consume 30% of the world’s energy and are responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions. Achieving a net-zero emissions scenario by the middle of this century requires existing building stock to be upgraded with technologies that reduce energy consumption. Likewise, all new buildings will need to be zero-carbon from 2030 onwards. Digital Buildings supports our customers in making their portfolios more efficiency through our range of products and services, including EcoStruxure for Buildings and Building Advisor.
Describe a ‘customer first’ moment that you’ll never forget.
Meeting with a customer who was able to call out each of the 7 people who supported their account by name and note the individual contributions they had each made. It demonstrated the whole team effort that goes into managing an account, from back office to tradespeople to account management, and that making the time to get to know our customers on a personal level can have a huge impact on how we are viewed.
Which of our other values resonates with you most and why?
Dare to Disrupt. I love that it encourages our people to keep an open mind on possibilities and challenges us as leaders to create an environment where our team can experiment, iterate, fail, and learn so we can continually evolve to meet the needs of the market.
What makes someone a leader?
Ultimately, it is what how people act and what they say, not a job titles that make someone a leader. I think expectations these days are to know and understand who their leaders are as people; this means communicating with authenticity, showing vulnerability. I would also say having empathy for others and using that to influence decision-making.
Who has influenced you most during your career and how?
I am grateful to several of my leaders early on in my career who saw my potential and backed me into opportunities well before I had the belief in my own capability.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Feedback is the greatest gift you can give someone. Don’t shy away from giving difficult feedback because it’s awkward to have the conversation.” Once I appreciated this, giving tough feedback become so much easier. I learned that many people can go their whole careers without receiving meaningful feedback, and when you give them feedback with the intention to help them improve they not only adjust to that feedback but also respect you much more as a leader.
