Masha Petrova Podcast Transcript
Masha Petrova joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, Home of The Digital Executive podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to The Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Dr. Masha Petrova. Dr. Masha Petrova is an experienced executive with a passion for leading multidisciplinary global teams towards successful results by focusing on operations and creating a unified vision.
After receiving her PhD in aerospace engineering, Dr. Petrova spent 15 years in the engineering simulation and design software industry, including holding global marketing executive roles at Ansys. Altium, MSC software, as well as three simulation software startups, all acquired by Ansys in the last 10 years.
Well, good afternoon, Masha. Welcome to the show!
Masha Petrova: Hello. Hello. Pleasure to be here, Brian.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely. I appreciate you making the time. We’re traversing today from Kansas City to Orange County, California. So, Masha, I really do appreciate you having you on today. So, thank you.
Masha Petrova: Thank you for having me. I’m in good company. It sounds like.
Brian Thomas: Yeah, it’s great. We both love technology. So, let’s jump into your first question here. If you could start by sharing what initially drew you to the fields of aerospace and mechanical engineering and how your educational experiences shape your career trajectory.
Masha Petrova: Yeah, thank you. So, I grew up in Russia and Soviet Union back then. So, we left the year before Soviet Union crashed and came to U.S. So, I came here when I was a child, but I grew up with my grandfather, being one of the leading aerospace engineers in the space race. You know, during the sixties in, on the USSR side, on the bad side. And then there was a lot of science fiction dedicated to space travel back in the Soviet Union.
A lot of it is still untranslated, but it was excellent science fiction, and I grew up on that. And so, you know, I romanticized space travel and I just decided I was going to be an astronaut, cosmonaut back in the, in the sixties. In that time, and then decided I was going to be an astronaut and that had that dream throughout your high school and then, you know, started to research.
Okay. What do I have to do to become an astronaut? Because we’re here in us by that time. It turns out you either have to have a PhD in engineering or be, you know, a fighter. What is it called? A jet pilot fighter jet pilot, right? And I had pretty bad vision, but I did try to go for ROTC in, in school and I asked way too many questions, and I asked why way too much.
And so figured, you know, military is just not going to work out for me. I’m not going to fork out for the military, I should say. And so, I stuck with engineering and turns out I actually really enjoyed it. And so, I went to grad school, really enjoyed grad school and research and working on really complex problems and really digging into a complicated problem.
And then after grad school, I went into a real software company. I was a real engineer for, for about a year, research and development engineer. And then figured out that I was way too extroverted and figured out that turns out engineering really requires you to be in isolation a lot of time and working on problems on your own in front of the computer.
And it just wasn’t me. I was just too extroverted to do that. So, I got, I was lucky that was a small company. And so, I got discovered by the sales team who were like, okay, someone needs to explain this engineering stuff to us. And. I was happy to do it. And so, I became the token sales engineer, started going to customer meetings, started to learn about the customer problems, loved it.
And then the marketing team started coming to me with questions. And, and that’s how I kind of got sucked into the marketing side and sort of stayed there ever since.
Brian Thomas: That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing your story. It’s really important. Everybody’s got a unique story. But yours you know, really tells us your childhood dreams and what you had to go through to move here to the United States, which is a huge shift and change and challenge for people.
Just language alone is a barrier, but that’s just awesome. So, thank you for, for sharing Masha and Masha. I’m going to jump into the next question here with over 15 years of experience in leading multidisciplinary global teams. What key leadership principles have you found most effective for fostering innovation and achieving successful results in this high, high-tech industry?
Masha Petrova: Yeah, I love this question. Thank you for asking. So, I led about, I was just looking at my kind of work history. I’ve been, I think, at a total of 9 companies, most of them being startups and then I think 3 global public companies out of that. And so, you know, I led teams from, you know, a one-person team to, you know, tens of people on the team.
And I think the principles that apply are very similar. And I’d say the number one most important thing, and this is not my idea, but I did adopt it to foster innovation and creativity on your team, which is super important for me because I was in the marketing space. So, creativity was very important was having a psychological safety or atmosphere of psychological safety on the team.
Right. And, and people start to use that term in all kinds of different ways. But to me, what that means is well, a few things. Let’s talk about what that means, what it does not mean and how do you create it? Right. And why it’s important. So, when you innovate you run a lot of experiments and essentially you test a lot of things.
Most of those things will fail. That’s how innovation works. So, you will try a whole bunch of things. Most of them will fail until the one thing that works. Right. So, in order for you to be comfortable with running lots of experiments and failing Especially somewhere where you’re not supposed to be running a lot of experiments, you know, like it’s not an, a development environment, you’re a marketing team, you’re supposed to be produced, producing results.
You need to make sure that your team is comfortable, like psychologically comfortable to take risks. And to know that they’re not going to be embarrassed, they’re not going to be put down, they’re not going to be, you know, dismissed or even fired in some cases, they need to know that it’s okay to try stuff and if it doesn’t fail, it’s okay.
Now that does not mean, so I think it’s very important to know the psychological. Safety does not mean that anyone can do whatever they want, right? It still means for me, and professionalism is very important to me. So, one of the things I would fight for, that’s like one of the things that I would deliver to my teams to create that psychological safety was very strong reputation of my teams within the organization.
Because that makes things a lot easier. Your team can do a lot more. You can protect them a lot more if your team has a really solid reputation, right? So, to create that reputation, it was very important that everyone in my team was very professional and very competent. So, I fired people on my teams, right?
It doesn’t mean that you don’t get rid of people. It doesn’t mean that you don’t express. You know that things should be done a certain way. It doesn’t mean that you accept, you know, laziness or incompetence and things like that, but it does mean that for people who do possess that drive and professionalism, they’re allowed to experiment, and they’re allowed to fail.
And so, the way you create it, I think the hardest, the hardest job should be with the manager of the team. So, whether it’s the manager, the director, the VP, the CEO for the company, In my opinion, they have the hardest job. Now, I know a lot of times in organizations, it doesn’t work like that, right? But I think it should work like that because that’s the person who, in order to create that psychological safety there, number one, are defining the goals for the team.
So, everyone is clear on where the team is going, why they’re doing what they’re doing, why they’re coming to work every day and what their goals are. That creates that again, that’s safety. I don’t know how else to describe it, right? Like that safety atmosphere of, knowing why I’m here and what I’m trying to do and what we’re trying to achieve.
The other thing is making sure everyone on the team has the tools that they need to actually get their job done. That’s also an important part of creating that safety. To know that when I come to work, I have the tools that I need to deliver the results and to experiment and to innovate. A lot of times people will say like, oh, well, you know, if you don’t have enough, that’s what creates innovation.
But in an organization and the team, I think that that type of lack of basic tools, or at least lack of understanding of a manager, understanding that you need those tools. Will really undercut innovation and just stagnate your team. And then finally, you know, the manager’s job is to clear obstacles out of the team’s way and make sure that they can do their job.
Right. So that might mean approving the right budgets, that might mean making sure your team has a solid reputation within the company so that they can get stuff done. They, that might mean they need the right tools. That might mean keeping organizational drama and chaos away from your team.
So, I have a story on that. I worked in one global company that was a public company, and I had a relatively large team that I hired from scratch and built from scratch as a marketing team. And the company was A mess. So, the CEO did not communicate the goals of the company. No one ever knew what was going on.
There were no performance evaluations done anywhere in the company. People will be moved from project to project, from title to title, never knowing when they’re going to be moved. So, they would never finish a project. So, it was really hard to actually build a resume in that company, unless you were very proactive about it.
Because you’d be working on a project and then be moved before the project is completed. And so like, you, you have nothing to put on your resume. So, people would be trapped in the company for a long time. It was almost kind of like slavery in a way. Because they didn’t have the confidence to leave because they didn’t have anything on their resume.
So, it was a very chaotic environment, but yet my team, you know, I worked really hard to keep my team protected and isolated from all of that. And make sure that even when the CEO wouldn’t communicate his goals to the company, I would make sure that our team would have goals, you know, and we would have projects and make sure drive really hard to make sure those complete projects get completed.
So, the team members. Of something you put on their resume, right? So, they’re feeling, they feel like they’re growing. And I would institute performance reviews in my team, even though there’s nowhere in the company. So, I got to the point where when I left the team and the team like was kind of opened up to that chaos.
They were just in shock, and everyone left within, you know, a couple of months after I left as well. Cause they didn’t realize how chaotic that environment was, but yet our team was extremely productive, and we worked on some really, really cool project. Yeah. During that time, so I think that’s a, that’s an example of.
You know how to create innovation bubble, right? Maybe in an environment that’s not necessarily conducive to that.
Brian Thomas: Thank you appreciate you sharing that your perspective obviously had that example, but I like how you did provide that psychological safety. Letting your team have some autonomy, take some big risks, right?
And then supporting them, you know, whether it’s, you know, keeping them out of the day-to-day politics of the organization, or just making sure they have all the tools and resources they need to be successful. I, so I appreciate you highlighting that. And Masha, you transitioned from engineering goals to global marketing executive positions within the industry.
What motivated the shift and how did your engineering background influence your approach? To marketing, highly technical products.
Masha Petrova: Yeah. So, like I mentioned, I started out as a real engineer, and I think I was lucky enough to be again in a startup environment where you could move very quickly in between different roles.
Right. And so within about a year, I was kind of pulled in by the sales team and the marketing team, and was, I was the only token sort of sales application engineer. So, I was the only one in the company who would travel to see customers who would talk to the marketing team and translate. You know, engineering features to sort of benefits to the customers, to the marketing team.
And also, it’d be the only one educating the sales teams about what development was doing. And I was also the only one that developers trusted enough to, to, to talk about their features with, because I actually understood them. So, it was a very unique role that allowed me to see the space of sort of marketing and sales.
And I love the marketing part because I have a very creative aspect to me. I draw, paint and I love that aspect of creativity. And I got a chance to kind of dabble in that first from product marketing perspective. And then I started getting into branding. And so, like some of the other roles when I was actually leading marketing organizations, I was.
I got to work with some amazing creatives from, you know, that used to work at places like Apple and Patagonia and things like that. And had, you know, videographers who had their own Amazon, you know, shows on Amazon produced documentaries for, you know, Amazon and things like that. So, and, and that was so much fun to work on those creative projects.
So, I think for me, what’s really fascinating and a unique opportunity that I had is to be able to sit in a development meeting and, you know, highly technical software development meeting where, you know, highly technical developers are discussing software tools that they’re developing for PhD level engineers.
Right. Like super, super technical stuff. And then take that super technical feature, understand what they’re for and elevate them to, you know, benefits to customers that a VP of business development at, you know, Qualcomm or Tesla or whatever can understand. And then work with a branding team and when the creatives and create a whole branding around and the message that didn’t insult the engineers, because a lot of times you see this, this connection between marketing and actual product, like, highly technical product and not have a disconnect and have something that the engineers could respect and get behind.
But at the same time, that’s a much more elevated story and a message that, you know, an executive could understand or just even you know, your regular everyday person might be able to understand as well. And to me, that’s a lot of fun.
Brian Thomas: That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And, you know, you highlighted a little bit of that.
You said early on that you found that you were more of an extrovert. And I can tell you’re a creative animal, right? You like to get out there and do some really cool things. But what’s cool is you can actually bridge that gap. Both of us working in engineering and technology. I was a developer early in my career, you know, bridging the gap between the business and the engineers, right? That like to sit behind the screen and write code. And, and there’s always a disconnect. And when you have somebody like yourself that can bridge that, it’s so helpful. So, thank you.
And Masha, looking towards the future. Let’s talk about that. What emerging trends in aerospace engineering and software development are you most excited about? And how should companies prepare to adapt to these changes?
Masha Petrova: I’ll have to ask you a question back. Do you get any answers to this question that do not involve AI at this point?
Brian Thomas: My last year has been all AI, every podcast, even if they’re not working in AI. So, but go for it.
Masha Petrova: No, so I am going to be anti AI in this answer because I can’t, I can’t take it anymore at this point.
It is so cliched. So, I’m going to talk about something that’s not AI, but that’s just as techie. And I would say even more techie in some ways. And that is, I think there is an area that is. Over much overlooked because it’s very technical and for a long time was considered to be like non sexy area and it’s complicated, but we’re getting to the point where there’s going to be a serious deficit in this area.
And it’s not easy to fill. And I think, you know, anyone who’s listening to this podcast, who’s might be an investor or perhaps is thinking of changing direction, maybe that you’re an engineer or a developer and you’re trying to look at a new area that’s going to grow. I think you should take a look at this space.
And that space specifically is engineering or software tools for engineers, modern engineering software tools. So, if we kind of take a step back right and, and take a look at our modern world, our modern world is created by engineers. You appreciate this. You talk to a lot of engineers you know, the computers that we’re recording this podcast on were developed.
They were developed by teams of software, mechanical, electrical engineers. The car that you drove to work this morning went from an idea to a physical thing that you actually sit, and you don’t think about it. You get into this You know, tin can, and this thing goes very fast, tens of miles, you know, per minute.
And you don’t think about it. And engineers develop that thing. They made it go from an idea, from a concept to a real physical thing that now allows you to travel across the world, you know, planes again, like an aluminum can that flies thousands of feet above ground that you trusted to take you, you know, across the oceans.
With that was designed again from idea to a physical thing by teams of engineers, you know, you know, you know, Nespresso machine, your HVAC system the clothing that most of us are wearing right now have been, you know, created by machines, industrial robots that, that, so the clothing and, and make the, the cloth.
Of the clothing. So essentially, unless you live in some cabin in the woods without electricity and, you know, heating you’re, you’re touching something that was developed and created by engineers. So, engineers create our world, but we don’t think about it as like engineers need tools to actually do those kinds of things.
Right. And a lot of these tools are software tools. So, one of the most common engineering tools that probably most people are familiar with is something called CAD, computer aided design tools, or just drafting software, essentially, that’s what it is. It’s software that allows an engineer to sketch out, right, go from an idea to an actual sort of sketch of a potential technology, whether it’s a car or an espresso machine or your mouse for your computer, your iWatch, whatever, PCB board, anything.
So that’s one of the most common tools. But there’s another step that a lot of people don’t know about, another set of tools that engineers use quite commonly, commonly. That really have been kind of stagnating over the last, let’s say 40 years or so. And that’s engineering simulation tools. So, after an engineering team has designed their technology in CAD, they need to test that technology to make sure it’s going to work properly.
Right? So, like, if it’s a plane that is going to fly properly, if it’s a car that the wheels won’t fall off, if it’s a computer that it’s, you know, connecting to your Bluetooth headsets properly, right? So, in order to do that, engineers have to test their technology. Yeah. And you can test that technology by simulating the real world by simulating physical properties and laws of physics in a computer and then running your technology that you developed in the simulation.
So, kind of like a video game for engineers, like a video game, you simulate a real world and you get real adrenaline by playing in this, you know, virtual reality simulation tools for engineers do essentially the same thing. They allow an engineer to test. Whatever it is, you know, their jet engine, their part of a car, their antenna, that’s supposed to work properly, and simulate it in the computer.
So then by the time they build a working prototype, which costs a lot of money, you have to buy the parts, you have to build a prototype. So that’s a lot of physical labor. And then you have to have measuring equipment to measure your, your, whatever it is that you’re designing so that it works properly.
And then if it doesn’t work, guess what? You have to go back to the drawing board, right? Change the design, retest it again. It’s a lot easier when you can do the simulation in a computer to make sure your technology works. So, by the time you build a prototype. It’s most likely, you know, performing as you want it to perform.
So, this set of simulation tools they started to come out into the market, maybe around the innovation kind of happened 50 years ago and maybe 30, 40 years ago, and we started to get commercial simulation tools. And so for the last 40 years, there’s been, you know, small, maybe startups that would come up developing different types of tools.
A lot of times they would come out of academia and there’s a handful of large simulation companies that all they do is develop engineering software tools. That would buy up those little companies and kind of assimilate them in their own workbenches, in their own technology portfolios. Right.
So, what’s been happening recently is there’s been a ton of m and a activity where some of these larger players are now also getting acquired and they are holding technology that’s 40 years old. And to build that simulation engine for, you know, for engineering tools is not easy. It’s a pretty, it’s a pretty complicated lift.
And we don’t have a push like we have for AI where there’s like 50 bazillion AI companies now, right? In the world. There is not that buzz. Around simulation software, because, honestly, unless you’re an engineer, it’s not very sexy. It’s complicated. Like, first, you have to think about the engineering thing.
You have to think about all the principles. Then you have to think about how you’re actually simulating it in the computer. It’s not easy to imagine in your head how that works, but it’s much, much, much needed. And it’s and there’s a deficit of those tools right now, because there hasn’t been much innovation in that space for the last 40 years.
And so, we’re now getting to the point where it’s like, you know, engineers are like, they’re trying to build something. Like you’re trying to build a framework out of wood and your hammer either costs 5,000, you know, for a simple hammer, or there’s one hammer and 10 of you trying to build a framework and using the same hammer, cause there’s not enough of the hammers.
And so that’s kind of the space we’re in where we need new hammers, not just hammers. We actually need new innovative tools. Because we’re trying to design new innovative technologies, like quantum computers, for example, right? And so that’s a space to watch, I think, is a space of engineering simulation software.
Brian Thomas: Thank you, and I appreciate that you have an engineering perspective you’re able to share that in a way that such anybody in my audience can fully understand what you were trying to get across here as far as the simulations. It’s so important that we have engineers. Thank you. Because we’re going to need them for the next thousand years doing this and AI just can’t do everything. So that’s right.
Masha Petrova: We are definitely far away from a time where AI can just develop, you know, products for you. Not quite there yet.
Brian Thomas: Not quite there. They’re starting to develop products, but I agree with you. It takes an engineer to do that. So, I appreciate that.
And Masha, it was such a pleasure having you on today, and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Masha Petrova: Thank you so much. It’s great being here.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Masha Petrova Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s podcast page.
