Welcome to the next edition of Leadership Matters where we ask leaders around the Pacific Zone for their insights and advice about leadership matters to support our continuing journey of personal and professional development.
In this edition, we hear from Vice President of Secure Power & Segments Joe Craparotta. Joe has been a member of the Pacific Zone executive team for 10 years and has held senior leadership positions across the businesses of Industrial Automation, Power Systems and Secure Power.
A 30-year veteran of the IT industry, Joe has witnessed many of the technological convergence shifts seen in the industry to date. Starting out early in his career as the founder and Managing Director of Indicium Technology Group, a company which expanded across Qld, NSW, and Victoria until its sale in 2002. His entrepreneurial and inquisitive style continued to draw him towards other technology firms. Post the sale of Indicium he went on to hold senior roles in the IT industry including leadership roles at Commander Communications, overseeing the enterprise space of converged voice and data. Joe joined APC in 2008 where he moved into the next evolution of his career - data centres and infrastructure.
What motivates and excites you about your role at Schneider Electric?
There is so much that excites me about my role and Schneider but at my core I am motivated by people and positive business impact. As a market leader we are bringing so much experience and relevance that is enabling our channels and end user customers. Seeing our people rise and grow to exceed the expectations, needs, and challenges of our customers is incredibly exciting.
What makes you most proud of your team?
I can honestly say that I have many proud moments every day. It is a real privilege to work with this team. I am most proud of how personally they take the challenge in supporting our partners and end user customers. The way they lean into each other and collaborate and the fact the team is acutely aware that we are here for a larger purpose than ourselves is inspiring.
How do you see the Data Centre & Secure Power market evolving in the next 5 years?
We will see the acceleration of Hybrid IT architecture, that is, large data centre infrastructure hosting multi cloud environments and the acceleration of edge computing, which will build out the platform required for an ’Always on’ world. This complex matrix of data centres will be in the tens of thousands and will continue to require software and services to create new ‘as-a-service’ business models so that the core and edge will be managed proactively and predictively.
Across all segments we will also see accelerated convergence of the digital and energy economies. We are living in a time where almost anything is possible with technology, so building out sustainable, agile, and resilient data centres is the enabler for acquiring quality data.
How does Secure Power support our leadership in Electricity 4.0 in the Pacific Zone?
Data centres play a pivotal role in both the digital and energy landscape, the accelerated growth of data centre construction is only adding to their importance. Data centres contribute directly to 5 of the United Nations sustainable development goals and by 2035 it is predicted the IT will consume 8.5% of the world’s electricity.
Currently, in Australia, data centres are responsible for between 5-7% of Australia’s total energy consumption, and this is predicted to increase to potentially double digits by 2025. Therefore, through our EcoStruxure for data centre architecture and also the procurement of green energy, data centres can maintain the softest footprint on the planet while also maintaining resilience.
There is also another dimension coming, which is unlocking the energy storage capacity within data centres and then having this segment playing the part of a prosumer in the new energy landscape.
We’re one of the leading companies in the world when it comes to sustainability. How is your part of the business contributing to this leadership?
Secure Power is responsible for total ownership in the data centre segment, so our strategy is to ensure we bring our company strategy to our channels and customers so they can build the most sustainable, efficient, adaptable, and resilient data centres possible. We are also putting a lot of focus on educating the market and data centre ecosystem participants about the importance of Scope 1, 2, and 3 decarbonisation requirements.
Describe a ‘customer first’ moment that you’ll never forget.
So many to choose from, but there’s one that always sticks out from a few years ago. When I was in the Industry business, we had a mining site customer in Adelaide that had some of our competitor’s drives on site. On Christmas day they had a failure and the competitor could not replace the drive, so the customer called Schneider and one of our field service techs took it upon himself to pick up a drive from the Adelaide warehouse and then drove for 4 hours (on Christmas day!) to the site where he installed it, got the customer back up and running and then drove 4 hours to get home. I would not condone our people working on Christmas day when not required, but this was a real over and beyond ‘customer first’ moment.
Which of our other values resonates with you most and why?
Customer first. We are here to serve our customers and partners and in a busy and sometimes complex matrix it is critical that we always remind ourselves that everything we do, all the resources we have, all the R&D we invest in is for the benefit of the customers and planet. In addition, when we are customer first, and really listen to the market, we are able to align all our resources for maximum impact back to the market.
What makes someone a leader?
Leadership is multi-dimensional but, for me, leadership is about having a very large and positive impact on whatever you are doing. It is about taking ownership and doing what you say, making decisions and hopefully inspiring people around you to achieve more than they thought possible. Delivering this through behaviours aligned with authenticity, positivity, empathy and inspiration. Leadership is not about status, job title, or managing people. Leadership is impact and mindset.
Who has influenced you most during your career and how?
There have been so many people directly and indirectly from who I have taken counsel over the years, so I cannot point to one major influence. However, what I felt was important during my journey was being conscious of what areas I wanted to develop and influence in my life and to actively seek out people I could learn from.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
I have been blessed in my career to have spent time with highly inspiring people and taken a little from each of them. One of the best pieces of advice which I received very early in my career was the fact that “we juggle many balls in life, but the one that represents family is made of glass… you should never drop this one as it may break and shatter”.
