MEL #039 | From Local Engineer to Cross-Cultural Builder through Proximity and Empathy with Paulo Novaes

In this episode, I speak with Paulo Novaes, Chief Technology Officer at Aperam. Paulo grew up around engineering through his father, loved math and lab work, and ultimately chose metallurgy and materials engineering. He faced rejections to elite academies, persisted, and launched a career in specialty steel, moving from shop-floor engineer to multi-site leader.In our leadership segment, Paulo discusses his approach to leading cross-border teams. He rejected fast top-down rollouts in favor of collaborative, on-site, people-first approaches. He built buy-in by traveling to each site, listening deeply, and co-creating roadmaps with local teams.Paulo's advice to aspiring engineering leaders: Practice a beginner’s mindset, get comfortable acting with incomplete information, and prioritize soft skills, purpose, belonging, and self-care. The goal is sustained team performance and human-centered leadership.Explore the full episode summary, including guest bio, key takeaways, transcript, and recommended resources in the shownotes at https://drangeliqueadams.com/podcast/.