SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, welcome everyone to another episode of Beyond the Case. This is a podcast where global leaders from Howard Business School's OPM community join in a personal capacity and they share the real decisions, life lessons, mental models that go behind building enduring companies. Today's guest is Pablo Mura. Pablo was in OPM67 with me. He is the CEO of Grupo Artec. Pablo, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Very good. So again, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Yeah, it's a pleasure to have you here. And uh thanks again for making the time.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Oh, it's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Pablo, how would you introduce yourself to the listeners and what you do?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

So my name is Pablo Murra Farrus. In Mexico, we go by two last names. You take your mother's also. 51 years old, uh businessman from Torreon, Mexico. Nobody else knows where Torreon, Mexico is but Jose Piña, who's also in our cohort. We're high school buddies. Uh, we graduated together, but we didn't talk about coming to Harvard. And well, thank God we're both here and and happy to be here. Um I have uh I'm the uh second of two of three siblings. I'm uh I remarried five years ago with uh my wife Maria. Best decision of my life. Now we live with my two daughters, Paulina, who's 21, Miranda, who's 18. Paulina right now is in uh Barcelona, studying in Asade. And Miranda wants to be a doctor. She's graduating from high school uh uh next month. And Maria has three three sons, Marite, 24, chemical engineer. She just uh came back home. Bernardo, who is in Australia right now, studying, Andres, who's also studying engineering. And uh we all we all live together, and it's a really nice, pretty bunch that we're all together, and we have a cat and a dog, so it's adds a little bit to the chaos and joy. So you have a full house. Full house, yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Yeah. And Pablo, talk to us about your business. What business are you in?

SPEAKER_00 2:07

We're in the car business, as they say in the US, uh, car distribution. We've been there in the family for since 1940, a long time ago. And I take care of uh two Audi stores, two Volkswagen stores. One Stellantis, which used to be Chrysler. We still call it Chrysler, but now they're called Stellantis. They have uh Peugeot, Ram, Fiat, uh, Dodge, Jeep. And we started some years ago with Jack, it's a Chinese brand. And uh now we're uh under construction with a Gili, a store also Chinese. And and two or three years ago we started with trucks, Volkswagen and Mann, German trucks. And we also started uh almost 25 years ago on uh a small paint distribution. And through the years, now it's become the largest paint distribution in Latin America with Exalta, which used to be DuPont performance coatings. Now they're merging in uh this year with Axonobile. So they're gonna be a big global uh paint company. That's mostly what I do. And did you start Grupo Art Tech by yourself? No, no, it's um it's a long story. Uh my grandfather, who is son of Palestinian immigrants who arrived early 19th century, 20th century here in Torreon, uh, started um a business that still is a main family business, but we're minority owners there, which is called Simaco. It's a department store. And they also pivoted to cars. So they started with Chrysler in 1940. And uh in our side, we still have a store we we opened in 1941, and then we continued with uh Volkswagen. I started with the Audi dealerships when they came to Mexico, the Jack and the Gili I started, the uh truck business I started, and also the paint business I started. So it's a mixture.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Growing up, did you know you always wanted to be a businessman and an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

I think I did. Good question. I I think I did. I I looked up to my father a lot. He was always working. He worked in the in the big family business, uh department store. And yeah, for some reason, it it was it it was a lot in the family. In my in my uh father's side, it was, I don't want to say like like that, but it was all business. It was very business oriented. You felt that to be able to speak the language of a family, you had to go into business. And it's always been pretty much commerce. I mean, buying and selling uh brands.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Could you recollect some conversations that all had at home, you know, which influenced you a lot? Or what were the conversations your father brought back home from his work day?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Well, it it it it it did have to do a lot with uh when when he was um he directed that business, he it was like not a complete um department store, so he added clothing and and a lot of things that now make like an orstrom's or a Macy's, though the whole thing, the whole department store. And he did that, and he he started with the warehouses, and so yeah, we we went whenever they opened a new store, or when they had to build something new, or sometimes he the people who came home for dinner maybe were related to the construction or something related to the business. So yeah, it was a lot of conversations in our house about that. So I I really I am an accountant, but I I ended up studying accounting, but it's very related to business.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

And what was the the mindset in Torreon like when you were growing up? Before this conversation started, you told me that except for you and Jose Pinya, both of who are in OPM 67, you probably don't know anyone else from Torreyon who who came to Howard Business School OPM program.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Well, uh it's a it's a great thing to yeah, it's it's uh medium-sized city. I think uh we're in an area where three cities uh are together. Torreon is the youngest one, there, and the other two are in another state, which is called Turango, which are Gomez Palacio Al Nerdo. And uh it's uh it's well known for silver refining. There's a very old uh refining uh business, Peñoles, which is well known nationally. And we're also the biggest uh milk producing um part of region of in Mexico. So there's a lot of so it's um it's uh agriculture, a little bit of industry and commerce and services pretty much. So yeah, I don't uh Jose is in is in the milk business, and he's and he also does some real estate. But yeah, most people, I think the the biggest entrepreneurs here have to do with the dairy business or something related to that.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

The the automobile uh industry, it often goes through constant cycles uh and pressures like economic shifts, inventory issues, changing customer behavior. So when you're going through all these different uh cycles and changes, how do you personally make decisions around so much uncertainty?

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Well, yeah, it's um it's a business that um brands are always on top of you. They every every week they'll come up with a new KPI. So they they will it used to be that it was more like uh, you know, they would get a well-known family from uh a region of the country, and you know, they would put their their last name on the nameplate, and it was like uh, you know, a kind of a family business. And nowadays it's big groups, you have to grow, grow, grow to remain uh in the business, and you have to have like uh many stores to support your back office because yeah, the brands are very uh they will pressure you a lot. If two or three months you're not giving their the volumes they want, the the KPIs, the satisfaction client satisfaction or whatever, you gotta get a call to Mexico City or Puebla, wherever they are, and and and you're gonna have a hard conversation. So it is a month by butt month business. The last day of the month, you're here till nine or ten o'clock, you know, doing all the numbers and selling with the brand that they you accomplished the objective, yes or no. And on the next uh first day of the month, you're starting all over again. It works out a lot of people. It's I mean, it's it's it's a nice way of life. Uh you have to be good at one-on-one, you have to like sales. Because in a middle town like ours, a lot of clients now with WhatsApp, they'll they always start with, I didn't want to bother you, but my car is in service, or I want to buy, or my so you have to be available and and and also you have to don't spend too much time on that because you have a lot on your plate and a lot of things to to do every day. So it's it you have to like the one-on-ones, like to relate with people, relationships, and you have to be able to execute and and and and uh like every other business, you have to be on top of everything because uh plants, uh the current manufacturers are tough.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

But but with uh with you being pulled in so many directions, I think you're also very involved in your community. How do you keep focus and balance between your work commitments and also your personal life?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

That's a very good question. I think that's the never-ending story. It's always I I I like sports a lot. I every Mon morning I'll wake up at 4:50 and I'll three to times a week I'll do cycling. I just did it this morning with a great group of friends and excellent cyclists. They they keep me humble. They're very good. And uh the other days I go to the gym. And um so I think that's the sports routine is very important and it's always keeps you focused and in shape. I used to work a lot in boards. I was president of a school board, I was president of another, I've been president of three or four boards. I don't do that again. I I I think I'm learning to say no. I think it's very important to say no to a lot of things. And keeping the balance is is, I think every I don't know if everybody struggles with it, but I think I'm trying to do better now. I used to be, I yeah, I would I I would call myself a workaholic. Nowadays I I I try to, you know, when I'm here, I focus on what I have to do. I, you know, I try to keep on top of uh everything, but it's always a struggle. I mean, you try to take try to not take work home. I think that's the biggest rule. And not don't talk about work too much at house at the house because then you'll and I should start turning my my phone off or or start not answering emails or I don't know but what's up here is crazy. Every everybody gets on hold of you either one way or or another, you know. But I think you should you should you know have wherever you are, be there and and and and I mean controlling your phone I think is one important thing that I have to do a better job at. That that's my what my wife says anyway.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

I think we all struggle with that in some way or the other. So with such a hectic schedule um and your involvement in so many different initiatives. What made you consider Harvard OPM and going back to school? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

I turned 50 and I think every five or ten years you have I don't know if it's a crisis or or you really um, you know, try to do a I don't know, a balanced sheet of of of your life and and what you've where you want to go and what what you have accomplished or or whatever. And I think I I felt the need to I think I was regressing a little bit in in the way I wanted to do things. And and I I don't know. You start at 50, you start questioning yourself, well, am I ever gonna go to Harvard or any good university to, you know, I think you have to keep on learning. I think this it's your responsibility being in charge of so many people. We have like 500 employees, which is not a lot, but it's enough to have a lot of big responsibility. And uh I think you have to keep preparing, and it's been a great break experience. I I I've enjoyed it very much, and I think I I I should have done it sooner, maybe, but uh, I'm very happy uh being part of OPM.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

What were some of your biggest takeaways from Unit One, which we did together?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

As I I was telling you before, at the beginning, you know, my English and you know, going back to reading and concentrating, it it was tough, but it I mean, to me it's all about relationships. I think it was wonderful to have to meet all these people. The professors being at Harvard is a dream come true for for most of us. The lectures, the companies, everything is very interesting. But I think for me, the personal relationships and and that, and I think you be you you come out very humble that you see so many accomplished people there. Sometimes I got uh imposter syndrome. Should I be here? Am I capable enough? And then you start trusting yourself and being confident and and knowing that you're there for a reason and and you deserve to be there, and and you're there to really transform yourself. And and and and as I said, to me, turning 50 was like kind of a milestone in my life that I could see that I needed to change some things, some mindsets. I was regressing in some things, and I think it was very important.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

If you had to retire today or tomorrow, what would you do with your life?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

It's like I don't know. I I think I would be uh a disaster at home. I mean, I think I'm one of those people that have to be doing something. I do exaggerate on the doing part. I'm always doing something, but as many of the of our friends at at at Harvard, I think, but think I I I I I'd be I I would go into some ONG or or things like that where I could help and and spend time. I'm not good at having too much time on my hands. Playing more golf would be a good idea or or traveling more, but I don't feel like retired right now. I the other way around. You I feel like doing a lot of things. Maybe in the next 10, 15 years, so then I might I might be able to relax. Is that a book you can think of which has influenced the way you think? I read the strength to strength book from so I think somebody recommended it at Harvard. I liked it a lot. I think it was very I think it was very good read at this stage of my life because it talks about the intelligence you have when you're you're young, and then you lose that intelligence, and the next intelligence starts coming up in your late 30s, which is like being wise from experience and taking good decisions, and how how to combine that with your with your colleagues at work, and how to also understand that you're not you're not supposed to be the only bright person in the in the in in the room and and you have to learn from others and you have to be, I mean, what you your experience helps a lot and your past mistakes and things like that. I think. And also he divided like the stage of your life, and I think the spiritual part which he talks about in the last stage of your life, I think I need to work at that. I I've I've I was a lot more spiritual spiritual some time ago. I think I have to go back to that a little bit. And I think that reminded me of that. Like I like reading a lot of uh biographies are nice also. I enjoyed the Robert Iger one. I think the relationship he he had with with uh Steve Jobs buying Pixar and with George Lucas buying Star Wars. That that was interesting. Phil Knight's book was also nice, uh Shoe Dog. I think it was uh interesting after he finished his uh master's at Stanford, he did a trip, and one of the places when it was Japan, and how he started the Snicker business that back then with uh Onizuka Tigers. That was interesting, and how traveling and at that age opens the world for a lot of people. And uh I I I I like historic novels. I read um Path of Glory, I think it's called, about uh George Mallory. He had the first three expeditions to Everest, and um it's a really, really um nice read because it talks about this. People were very adventurous at at that time, and how you know it and it was it was a mixture of love story with his wife, and and how adventure and and and and and the um the ultimate goal of going to Everest always came back to him. He had almost retired after two tries, and then he was convinced, convinced by Captain Scott, he'll go back, and at the end, well, we never know he got there or not, but he lost his life in the mountain, and then they found him like 60 or 70 years after that. And it was a very, very interesting book. And you see all the struggles that everybody in life has, and how um sometimes you you take the right or the wrong decisions uh for the short term or the long term? It depends on what you what kind of glory or or or if it's uh endurance race or if it's uh one of those uh speed races.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Do you have a certain mindset you get into when you have to take some important decisions? Is there any rituals you follow before taking big decisions, or is it just, hey, here's the data in front of me, and uh this is what I think I should be going with?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I think it's a good question. I mean, I I think you learn to follow your heart in a way. I think most of the time it's the right decision. Sometimes I think I think I've always been pretty decisive. When I start getting undecisive and you start asking everybody, that's that's when you start, I think, taking wrong decisions or decisions that are not yours, truly yours. I think you have to be very authentic. And I think if you don't enjoy what you do and and and you don't um enjoy the process, not just the results, I think that uh, you know, we the this because decisions sometimes say I don't know, I I think I I have to work on that, you know, to get the I think you you you have to decide when you're calm, not try to make rash decisions or or by anger or by or you know, try to be emotionally stable. I think I would say that. I don't know if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah. Lastly, looking back at your entrepreneurial journey, if you could speak to your younger self today, what advice would you give the young Pablo?

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Talk less, listen more. I think I think mentorships are very important. Find more mentors. I think uh the mentorships I've I've found in my life have been very important. They helped you a lot. I think that's uh thing. And trusting yourself and and and enjoying the process and and uh you know understand that everybody is has a different path and timing, and uh, you know, enjoy and know that what's coming to you will come to you no matter what. And what's not meant for you, even if you die doing it or do whatever, it it's not for you. And you have to be understand and be at peace with that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

If it makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

I haven't spoken too much English lately, so it's it's kind of hard to get on the on a roll, but uh, hopefully I'm making sense.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

You are, and I think uh that was very well articulated. Thank you very much, Pablo. It's been a busy morning for you, and I know you took some time out, so I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

No, thank you very much. I I I appreciate it, and then and congratulations. You're doing a great job on on this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Thank you, and I hope Jose meets you for breakfast.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Oh yeah, tell him uh every month. I think he he was in Wisconsin, his kid graduated from from college now.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Oh, cool. Okay. All right, man, Pablo, be well. See ya. Yeah. Take care.