1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?

I found that transforming my vision into reality is quite a difficult task. Conveying my messages clearly to all team members is challenging.

2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I started as a steel mill worker. Along the way, I found a lot of people that supported, inspired, and helped me.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I am not very organized. However, I always start my day at 5.30 with a pretty intense workout. Every day, after breakfast, I check my calendar and try to plan my day in the most efficient way possible. I perform my best under pressure and when I have tons of things to do ( all at the same time). One constant in my life is that I never stop thinking about being unique and standing out from the masses.

4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

The most challenging lesson comes from creating technological innovations. The prototyping process and all the failures that come with it teaches me every day that as a leader, you cannot give up. Failure is the best teacher.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

Topics in the Theory of Numbers by Paul Erdos.
This book is a presentation of number theory. Paul Erdos published approximately 1500 mathematical papers. Nobody published as many papers as he did. Mathematicians and scientists inspire me. They never give up! Through their work and without too much noise, they change the world by solving one problem at a time.

6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?

By starting from the bottom level and working your way up .This is the only way to get to know your organization.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?

I have several stories. The creation of the Rocky crusher is one of the most recent. The Rocky crusher transforms waste material ( waste rock) coming from rock quarries into usable sand. It transforms, essentially, waste into valuable material ( sand). From the engineering phase to the field test, we endured many failures. We never gave up! We were united as a team. Everyone from engineering to field technician to logistics and administration was involved in this project. During the Rocky project, the Am Cast team worked like an orchestra. It was beautiful to see!