Serving as country manager for Clever Global in Mexico, a Spanish company, the president and owner met with him. Juan Pablo Martín had just returned from a five-day trip with a friend, with almost no sleep. He welcomed him, gave him the bank account token and the card, and explained that the business was now his responsibility, because they were starting operations.
The lesson, he says, is that if people see that you have the capabilities, “they throw you into the ring” and you have to deal with it.
Juan Pablo defines himself as a restless person, always curious about how things work and why they work. He has been married for five years and has two small children, which changed his life: he no longer just looks out for himself.
Full responsibility
He studied mechanical engineering in Monterrey, graduated in 2009, in the middle of the global crisis, and took the first job they offered him, in the corporate office of a bank. It was too bureaucratic, so he moved to an auto parts company. He then completed an MBA and, once in Mexico City, assumed roles of increasing responsibility.
- What moment marked a before and after in your way of leading?
“It’s difficult, because in all the roles I’ve had, even if they were of lesser responsibility, there was always something. I can tell you an anecdote from each job where I said: ‘Ah, here I have all the responsibility for this issue.’..
…Today the role I have and the responsibility for the P&L, for my areas, and for making strong team and restructuring decisions is very important.”
For personal reasons he returned to León and arrived at Flecha Amarilla in December 2019, three months before the pandemic.
After a total restructuring, he became commercial director, inaugurated the real estate vertical and opened a hotel in Tijuana: for two years he traveled three hours by plane from León in the middle of the pandemic, until the operation started.
A 95 year old monster
Flecha Amarilla impressed him: a service like Primera Plus has a quality and punctuality that is difficult to find in other parts of the world.
- What did you find when you arrived?
“It’s like a Frankenstein. In a boardroom they talk to a company in Germany to implement systems, or the OEMs come to present you with the latest technology in buses. But a few steps away there are legacy systems and very manual processes. And you wonder how this monster can operate. It is a company with very new parts and other old ones, but somehow it moves.”
That mix explains the strategy. During the pandemic they designed an innovation area, because they saw a disruption coming in the sector, with informal ride sharing and platforms like BlaBlaCar.
His goal, he says, is that one day that area will no longer exist, because innovation will be part of the culture.
Mobility generates 90% of revenue and profits, but there are four other businesses: financial services, real estate, food franchises and logistics. They were born from understanding the customer journey: those who travel eat while waiting for their bus, sleep somewhere and sometimes need to finance the trip.
His role, he summarizes, is to be “the link that makes the machinery turn”: to accompany each director and review budgets and results.
And their challenge is cultural: making a 90-year-old mobility company understand that hiring someone to make hamburgers is very different from hiring someone to maintain engines.
Push from behind
- What does it mean to you to be a good leader in a traditional organization?
“It sounds trite, but the leader is the one who pulls with everyone, not from behind with the whip. He has to understand what hurts his team and give them their roles and responsibilities. It is difficult for me to delegate: I am not a micromanager, but I find it difficult to let go. Being a leader is giving space to your team, empowering them and making them responsible for their objectives.”
- What has been the most difficult moment in Flecha Amarilla?
“The implementation of artificial intelligence. We are just seeing which solution like Chat GPT or Claude is going to be the official one, when we should be talking about agentic AI. Everything is moving so fast today that we are already two years behind”
“In the end it is a cultural issue: culture defines a company and can be its greatest attribute, but also its downfall.”
Personally, because of his work he is hardly at home during the week, and he tries to dedicate Saturday and Sunday completely to his family. It’s not easy, he acknowledges, and he would like to be with them more.
Asked how he sees Yellow Arrow in a year, he answers what “no one answers you”: the same. In three to five years, however, a major impact on mobility is expected. And as for himself, he hopes to continue in the company pushing its transformation.
- What advice would you give to Juan Pablo who was starting his corporate career?
“I wouldn’t tell him that he will change his way of being: keep being irreverent, keep questioning, don’t shrink back. From my first job they sat me down with a director four steps above me and, since I had the information, I could explain to him what I saw”
“The only thing I would tell him is to be more patient: you have to listen and play politics more, even if you don’t like it. Even if you’re right, sometimes it’s worth waiting and commenting on it in another forum.”
Would you change anything about your path? He’s very happy where he is, he answers, so I’d say no. It’s the same attitude as when they gave you the bank token: don’t give up, and then learn to wait.
