Featured Guru :: Tennyson Pinheiro, Live | Work Brazil
Expertise: Service Design
1) Tell us what you do?
I originally graduated in Marketing and Branding but my background is quite complex. I started as a freelance interaction designer back in 1997, working in the interactive media industry before the dot com crash. After that I moved to project management, mainly in service oriented implementations. I had the opportunity to work in New York, managing implementations and customers in South America, and then I moved to Africa for 2 years.
In Africa I worked on huge third sector projects for the government of Angola. I had an amazing, once-of-a-lifetime experience in Africa. I will never forget all the crazy stuff I did with my friends, to keep ourselves busy in a country which at that time, had no retail stores or movie theaters to catch the latest releases.
Through my car window on a normal day, driving to the office.
My birthday in Africa…a surprise party.
When I returned from Africa, I got a project management role with Bayer, and worked there for two years before leaving to start my own company, which has recently become part of the Live|Work family.
2) Share with us what made you become a business owner/ entrepreneur. What makes your business unique and different in your industry and your country.
I think I carry business in my heart. I couldn’t envision myself working as just an employee for a company for my entire life.
It all started with a soccer ball…I used to live on a suburban neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. Things were very simple at that time; if you have a soccer ball or if your friend has one, then you were guaranteed to be a FUN, cool guy to play with. One summer day, when I was thirteen, my friends and I were playing a soccer game called “the fool”. It’s a game where one person is running after the ball and two or more players are making this guy look like a fool by dodging him.
Somehow, during our fun “fool” game, our soccer ball landed in a house of a lady who sold “sacole”, a brazilian home-made ice cream, for a living. Let me tell you, this lady was NOT happy with our ball in her house. We weren’t surprised about what happened next. She came out, took the ball inside and punctured MY ball. I was furious! But something came over me. Instead of cursing and kicking, I concocted an “evil” plan.
THE “EVIL” PLAN
The plan was to put this sacolé lady out of business! We went to the grocery store and bought as many fruits and ingredients needed to make the best sacolé ever and to sell them at half the price. Of course, we didn’t have any money, so all the purchases were put on my grandma’s tab. Since my unknowing grandma was our VC, our little business began booming! Our “revenge-business” plan was a great success! We were taking over the neighborhood sacolé business!
Soon, the lady came knocking on my grandma’s door. She expressed regrets having damaged my soccer ball. She was genuinely concerned about her sacolé business and persuaded my grandma to put a stop to my sacolé business.
My grandma, whom is an amazingly generous person, came to me and asked me to stop. But I replied,” Grandma, I am working! Aren’t you supposed to encourage me to continue doing this and not quit?” But her next question made me fold my business…
The question was, “Hum… ok… but where are you getting all these materials to produce your wonderful sacolés?”
Oh yes. I had forgotten about grandma’s tab at the store! Well, at least she allowed me to buy a shiny new ball with the remaining profits.
It all happened here (yep… there’s more in Rio than Ipanema…)
Rio De Janeiro
3) Who are you clients? And how do you serve them?
We help our customers employ creativity and empathy in their internal and external processes so that they can produce more desirable, sustainable and profitable services. On a global level we are “service designing” for companies like Johnson & Johnson, Virgin, Nokia, Tesco and others. In Brazil, we did projects for the Government, a Wellness luxury chain and others.
4) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
First is Walt Disney, for being a dreamer in such an idea-killer world.
Second is Steve Jobs for his boldness. I don’t think he is a genius though, but he certainly has “balls”. Einstein was a genius.
Third, I honor designers who have the confidence to cut the “rockstar” bullshit, give up the credits, learn about business and blend with other people and professionals in order to produce great results for communities and companies.
5) Can you suggest your favorite books?
The Godfather hands down.
6) Who is your favorite football team?
My team used to be Flamengo. But now I’m not cheering for any, only the national team, which lost miserably to Netherlands 5 hours ago. I think I will drop my soccer preferences for good.
7) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design produces beautiful and, sometimes, functional goods.
Great design adds meaning and helps people overcome difficult barriers to live and work better.
8) How do you define a good leader?
To me leadership is all about inspiration and transpiration. You cannot lead only by example, at the same time you cannot lead only by being a good storyteller. A good leader is someone who can balance these two.
9) What is the design scene like in Brazil?
Design in Brazil was always related to the publicity/ advertising agencies. Brazil has a strong reputation on good advertisement design and most schools today still direct their teachings to prepare students for this market. Also the word “design” in Portuguese always has an aesthetic connotation. That’s why strategic design is a difficult concept for Brazilians to grasp. But things are changing. Since I started my company in 2007, we’ve been working our asses-off to promote Design Thinking as a profitable way for companies to move forward in a cluttered commoditized world.
But I am happy to say, that our hard work is slowly paying off. Companies as of last year are starting to embrace the idea. We created the first Latin America Design Thinking course in a Business School at ESPM, a major school in executive education in Brazil. Plus, the public workshops we’ve been hosting are always packed. We’ve been busy visiting prospects and delivering projects here. So I can’t complain at all.
I do believe we are moving towards a Design Thinking mindset here faster than other countries. After all, Brazilians are known to have an appetite for new things!
10) What makes you happy?
It’s those silent moments of reminiscing, that I have kept my head up and my heart fully committed in delivering my best.
And of course, my lovely wife and my dog “Foca” which means Seal. (look at the face of this thing!). They bring joy to my soul.
Tennyson and Foca
