My Journey as a Systems Thinker Across Tech, Academia, and Innovation
From the intricate pathways of semiconductor CAD and physical design to the broad strategic landscapes of nonprofit research and global innovation, my professional journey has been guided by a single, unifying thread: big-picture thinking, also known as systems thinking. It is a mindset that views complexity as a challenge to organize, understand, and improve. This perspective has shaped my approach to every role I have taken, every team I have led, and every transformation I have driven.
From Circuits to Systems
I began my career as a component design engineer at Intel, where I developed and implemented automation and CAD processes for chipsets. At first glance, this might appear like deep technical work, isolated in the realm of bits and circuits. But even then, my instinct was to step back and ask: How can we design these processes to be modular and adaptable? How do changes ripple outward? By developing physical design flows that scaled across multiple teams, I learned that a local solution is only as effective as its compatibility with the system to which it belongs.
As I progressed into project and engineering management roles, that systems view deepened. I was no longer managing just chip design; I was overseeing interdependent design services, multi-million-dollar budgets, and coordinating geographically dispersed teams. Success was measured not by isolated milestones, but by how well different parts of the organization functioned in concert to deliver results to our customers.
Building Global Frameworks
Moving into international program management at Intel after completing an MBA in entrepreneurship and global strategic management was both a strategic shift and a natural evolution. I began focusing on global technical leadership development, connecting engineers across Asia, Europe, and the U.S. with Intel Fellows and innovation platforms. Here, systems thinking took on an international scale. I wasn’t just solving organizational problems; I was designing frameworks that allowed culture, knowledge, and mentorship to flow seamlessly across borders.
Creating self-sustaining programs, developing long-range strategic plans, and establishing feedback loops to ensure continuity were all grounded in a systemic awareness. I learned to anticipate outcomes and second-order effects. What would happen if we grew technical leadership in one region but not another? How might innovation silos form without intentional cross-pollination? I used those questions to guide initiatives like the Intel Technology Week Europe, which helped mend fractured relationships and elevated strategic alignment in the region.
Driving Transformation in Academia
As Deputy Director at the EcoCloud center at EPFL, I had the opportunity to apply my systems thinking experience in an academic research environment. The center was at the crossroads of sustainability, cloud computing, and advanced research. I was brought in to revitalize it, redefine its vision, and align its operations with emerging global trends. Here, systems thinking became a cultural strategy. I redesigned our value proposition, updated our mission, and developed a plan that resulted in a 50% increase in new projects. But it was not about volume; it was about impact. By increasing operational efficiency, I freed resources to establish new research positions. By redesigning communication processes and channels, I built bridges between researchers, industry, and the public. Every process, every metric, and every dollar became part of a living system that we could observe, adapt to, and improve.
Perhaps most significantly, I brought a systems lens to mentoring. I worked with over 50 students and postdoctoral researchers, helping them see their careers not as linear paths but as evolving networks of skills, experiences, and relationships. When mentoring meets systems thinking, the goal shifted from “what’s your next job?” to “how do you build a resilient and purposeful career system?”
Leading Through Influence and Adaptation
My recent entrepreneurial venture with Inspire & Aspire LLC aims to continue the journey, providing consulting services and interim executive leadership to start-ups and SMEs, as well as larger organizations. In every engagement, I plan to apply systems thinking to diagnose business performance, design tailored strategies, and ensure execution doesn’t unravel due to unseen interdependencies. These are businesses often facing systemic inflection points, including market shifts, internal scaling challenges, or strategic pivots. I hope to help them not just respond but reconfigure.
What makes this work fulfilling is that it draws on everything I’ve learned: how to collaborate across domains, how to align short-term execution with long-term structure, and how to influence change not by force but by connecting the dots people hadn’t seen before.
The Systems Thinker’s Mindset
Throughout my career, systems thinking has never been a tool; it has been a lens through which I view the world. Whether leading engineering teams, reshaping a research center, or advising executive boards, I ask the same questions:
What are the relationships and dependencies?
Where are the feedback loops, formal or hidden?
How do parts affect the whole?
What does long-term resilience look like?
I’ve learned that systems thinkers don’t seek quick fixes; they design sustainable change. We don’t just react to problems—we interrogate their root causes. We don’t isolate—we integrate.
In today’s world, where complexity is the norm and adaptation is the price of survival, this mindset is not just practical; it is essential. It’s essential.