Maria Villablanca has dedicated more than half of her life to creating actionable and insightful content for various industries. Today, she’s the Co-founder & CEO of Future Insights Network, a fast-growing network of over 130,000 Manufacturing and Supply Chain leaders she built with her business partner, Andrew Brown. As the driving force behind eliminating the hype and noise of Supply Chain transformation, Future Insights Network is recognized as one of the leading sources of cutting-edge content for the Supply Chain and Manufacturing industries. Maria’s passion for uncovering the best stories and case studies on the Transform Talks podcast, the Transform Thoughts newsletter, and across the extensive portfolio of events they run at Future Insights Network is often celebrated by the global Supply Chain community she serves.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Maria P. Villablanca, Co-founder & CEO of Future Insights Network,
Maria was born in Chile, raised in the United States, and worked in South America, North America, Europe, and the UK, and she has had multiple roles across various industries. She has worked up to breaking glass ceilings and now enjoys running a business that fosters young and diverse talent.
Maria’s Journey to Leadership
The idea for this business was born out of wanting to improve what already existed. Indeed, the thought that it could be done better ignited Maria and Andrew’s decision to set up Future Insights Network. Maria had organized, been a part of, and attended many conferences in this space and felt they all started to look like each other, despite offering some value. “My aim with my business partner was to take these good things and get rid of the rest. The mission at the outset was to help Supply Chain leaders navigate the complexity of digital transformation by rising above the noise and hype and connecting them with the people that could help bring clarity to this complex topic,” says Maria.
Her education, though something Maria is grateful for, has been a small part of who she is. She always likes to say that she learned more about entrepreneurship and business in her first year of university than in her entire education. That’s not to say that university degrees and higher education are not valuable; they are tremendously so. However, the work, getting her hands dirty, and being on the ground have proven significantly more valuable to her.
Getting Started: Hurdles
Maria’s biggest hurdle was getting potential customers to take a chance on them. However, being passionate, confident, and convincing helped them to secure clients, which later allowed them to grow. “I’m grateful for their confidence in us at the start and the risk they took. It was my job to ensure we over-delivered on our promises to them,” states Maria.
“The most influential element in my life is failure. Growing up, I had a lot of plans and a clearly defined path I was going on. A series of unfortunate events conspired to take me on a different path, and I am grateful that I saw these as opportunities to grow and succeed and not as something to bring me down,” she adds.
“I’ve been very privileged to have many opportunities in my life. However, I have also experienced a great deal of failure and setbacks that have stood in the way of my plans. Ultimately, these failures have accelerated my growth, given me the biggest lessons, and provided me with opportunities to thrive.”
Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Maria’s primary focus is creating a business that delivers value to its customers, employees, industry, and shareholders; one must always remember what is crucial. Too many people focus exclusively on making money or gaining power rather than on the value they bring to people; consequently, they fail. “As a female entrepreneur, I must also get value for my personal growth, family, and work/life balance,” states Maria. “Women have a lot on their plates with both home and work lives, and one mustn’t sacrifice the other. I would describe myself as passionate, driven, outgoing but empathetic and my worst critic,” she adds.
Maria’s persistent pursuit of growth and failure has been a big part of her success. She learns as much as possible to grow as an entrepreneur. “My work-life balance is tremendously important to me. As someone who has suffered from a mine-stroke, I ensure I keep my stress levels in check. Although I thrive in high-pressure environments, I believe it is imperative to set boundaries. When I sign off for the evening or weekend, I truly sign off and ensure my team does too. Work/life balance doesn’t come naturally to me, and I have to work hard to get as much balance as possible.”
Navigating the Complexity of Digital Transformation: Future Insights Network
Future Insights Network was born (2018) out of Maria’s desire to help Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Business Operations executives navigate the complexity of digital transformation. They believe there is a great deal of noise, hype, and confusion in this space, and they wanted to connect executives directly with the people who could help them gain actionable insight.
Future Insights Network currently has a network of over 130,000 executives worldwide. It provides actionable and digestible content via the Supply Chain transformation podcast: Transform Talks, its extensive portfolio of digital and in-person events, and its supply chain on-demand learning channel: Supply Chain TV+. They continue to grow and create new products and services that help bring clarity to Supply Chain and Manufacturing executives.
Women who are Just Starting: Maria’s Advice Note for Enthusiasts
For Maria, the most important characteristics needed to succeed as a woman in business or as an entrepreneur are “perseverance and thick skin.” “For several reasons, the odds are usually stacked against you, and you have to work harder, wiser, and with more tenacity than your male counterparts,” she says.
“In some instances, failure upon failure and challenge upon challenge is what awaits you. However, failure can pave the way to success if seen as a learning opportunity. Women entrepreneurs’ most pressing challenge is finding people to support and back them. You must look for that because it makes the journey easier.”
When we asked her for advice on becoming a successful entrepreneur, she said, “I would say to stick with it, persevere, and find mentors and allies. The journey is tough and more challenging still if it’s lonely. Look for examples around you and network as much as possible to find like-minded people. Also, don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done, especially if you believe that your product or service can improve people’s lives.”
Steps towards Future
Maria Villablanca looks forward to continuing to be the driving force behind Future Insights Network’s mission to empower Supply Chain leaders and their teams to benchmark, upskill and build a better future for their company and the wider industry.
“I hope the company will continue to deliver value to our customers, employees, shareholders, and the industry but that we do so with more products and services and on a bigger scale. I hope to create this change by listening closely to those around me and seeing where we can continue to support them,” she states.Head over to www.futureinsights.org to find out more about Maria Villablanca and The Future Insights Network.
