Ricardo Jimenez Email & Phone Number

Costa Rica

Costa Rica

After serving 250+ companies in my career, I wanted to share my insights on how to create high performance teams and leaders, as well as teaching Fortune 100 best practices in our region.Our mission in Synchronicity is to transform the way you lead, work and live. We are a boutique firm serving customers from Latin America and United States. We are proud of the premium quality of our services and the constant innovation in our methodology.What is great:- Bringing unique… Show more After serving 250+ companies in my career, I wanted to share my insights on how to create high performance teams and leaders, as well as teaching Fortune 100 best practices in our region.Our mission in Synchronicity is to transform the way you lead, work and live. We are a boutique firm serving customers from Latin America and United States. We are proud of the premium quality of our services and the constant innovation in our methodology.What is great:- Bringing unique professional certifications to the region, with the latest trends/research in leadership/wellbeing development.- Creating a signature premium trainings portfolio, with 1,500+ success testimonials.- Coaching amazing companies in strategic planning and OKRs definition.- Creating a premium Employee Engagement Survey, based on latest research, growing double digits y/y in IT, Retail and Hospitality.- Creating a blended eLearning+Coaching gamified platform with 100+ courses and assessments for soft/self-management/power skills.- Our IP, including "Corporate Culture of Peace" based on UN concept but adapted to companies.Obstacles we are facing:- Slim venture capital understanding.- Many markets in Latin America suffer from short-term, "we want it cheap", "we want a quick fix", "my way or the highway" approach to improving business results.- Having to reinvent the company due to COVID-19 pandemic.- Abusive corporate procurement policies (i.e. 60 days payments).- Our inexperience in areas like accounting, finances and laws/taxes around having your own business. We've made every mistake possible.- Our very long-term approach in our execution, risking at times short-term revenue and cash flowWhat I learned (too many things to mention, a book is coming!):- There are two types of companies: people-centric and shareholder-centric. There are abuses in both.- Short-term views, lack of critical thinking, fixed mindsets, lack of empathy, lack of strategic thinking are viruses in our corporations Show less

Costa Rica

AI is creating a massive revolution all around us. Our goal in Soy IA is to provide organizations the tools to transform themselves around the 4th Revolution poster child technology: artificial intelligence. Combining the power of artificial intelligence skills with Synchronicity's mission (transforming the way you lead, work and live, via soft-skills, power-skills, selfmanagement skills training and coaching) we are set to provide a full portafolio of critical skills for success (realization… Show more AI is creating a massive revolution all around us. Our goal in Soy IA is to provide organizations the tools to transform themselves around the 4th Revolution poster child technology: artificial intelligence. Combining the power of artificial intelligence skills with Synchronicity's mission (transforming the way you lead, work and live, via soft-skills, power-skills, selfmanagement skills training and coaching) we are set to provide a full portafolio of critical skills for success (realization and trascendance) in the 21st century. Show less

Latin America Emerging Markets

This was a great opportunity to apply 15 years of skills in several key areas: marketing, sales, knowledge management, change management, technical expertise, and strategic thinking. I became responsible for Microsoft's $120M+/year Cloud and Server business in Latin America Emerging Markets (12 sales locations in 34 countries). Business portfolio included flagship PaaS and SaaS cloud stack: Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, TFS, etc. BG Leads handle Microsoft business… Show more This was a great opportunity to apply 15 years of skills in several key areas: marketing, sales, knowledge management, change management, technical expertise, and strategic thinking. I became responsible for Microsoft's $120M+/year Cloud and Server business in Latin America Emerging Markets (12 sales locations in 34 countries). Business portfolio included flagship PaaS and SaaS cloud stack: Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, TFS, etc. BG Leads handle Microsoft business vertically, where Country Managers handle it horizontally.Awards:- My 2nd Microsoft top worldwide employee recognition: The Microsoft Platinum Club Circle of Excellence Award for outstanding achievements, leadership, passion, and determination.What was great:- I was part of a senior team.- I was exposed to high-stakes business situations and responsibilities.- Triple digit growth in Azure services.Obstacles I faced:- Lack of a PM structure to support execution meant I was going back and forth from tactical to strategical actions, failing to focus on few key initiatives.- I got distracted investing precious time entertaining a 100M+ opportunity for Microsoft around Enterprise Integration Buses and BPMs. Opty eventually proved unviable because these solutions had to be pursued via a handful of skilled integrators, since MSFT did not have a corporate ready and backed solution.- I was not able to effectively manage the GM and some country managers, missing optys to get buy-in on some key initiatives and building rapport.- I experienced a misalignment of personal values and goals due to burnout, which led me to become disengaged and ultimately leaving the company.What I learned:- Managing up and networking are critical.- Regional opportunities misaligned with global goals are misleading.- Business acumen.- Strategical Thinking.- Portfolio Management.- Market penetration.- Executing through subsidiaries.- Winning market share.- Values and wellbeing are non-negotiable. Show less

Latin America Emerging Markets

After my marketing roles, I was suggested moving to sales to improve my overall professional profile and aim towards more senior positions. I was responsible for Microsoft Application Lifecycle Management solution selling in 40+ markets, including our Agile offerings and our premium Software Development suite (Visual Studio .NET, TFS) on-premise and in the cloud.What was great:- Created a gamified training for ALM and Agile methodologies, reaching 250+ software dev teams.-… Show more After my marketing roles, I was suggested moving to sales to improve my overall professional profile and aim towards more senior positions. I was responsible for Microsoft Application Lifecycle Management solution selling in 40+ markets, including our Agile offerings and our premium Software Development suite (Visual Studio .NET, TFS) on-premise and in the cloud.What was great:- Created a gamified training for ALM and Agile methodologies, reaching 250+ software dev teams.- Created an internal gamified training to influence sales teams into cross-selling VS and TFS.- Only $50K shy of my 1st year $2.5M target.- Being able to mix technical expertise, marketing expertise, and sales!Obstacles I faced:- Some initiatives needed longer timeframes to meet results from those I had.- I was not used to aggressive sales dynamics. Big learning curve for me.- Stress levels on key fiscal year milestones (planning, mid-year reviews, closing) were much higher than expected or from what I was able to handle effectively.- First time working side-by-side with some sales teams across the region. I was starting from square one in terms of relationships building and could not leverage nor rely on previous successes.- I became aware of several internal blocks I had, that made it hard for me to deal with certain types of personalities in the sales teams at the subsidiaries.What I learned:- Sales Processes and Microsoft Solution Selling framework.- Forecasting and Pipeline Management.- Account Segmentation and Planning.- Budget Planning and Allocation.- Distributing Quotas to subsidiaries and people.- Bridging Marketing and Sales.- Running internal awareness-generation campaigns using storytelling and gamification.- Designing behavioral changes in groups of people.- Applied eLearning for driving change, sales and results.- Complex execution through our call center and our partners' channels- Creating upselling and cross-selling promotions- Self-awareness is critical Show less

Latin America Emerging Markets

Microsoft gave me the opportunity to go back to college and study marketing @ Kellogg's. In this new position I was the regional owner of the strategy for several technical audiences, including Software Developers, Enterprise Architects, Independent Software Vendors, Web Designers, IT Professionals, computer science students and UX Designers in 40+ countries and territories. My main OKRs were training, adoption of and satisfaction with Microsoft full technical products portfolio. I developed a… Show more Microsoft gave me the opportunity to go back to college and study marketing @ Kellogg's. In this new position I was the regional owner of the strategy for several technical audiences, including Software Developers, Enterprise Architects, Independent Software Vendors, Web Designers, IT Professionals, computer science students and UX Designers in 40+ countries and territories. My main OKRs were training, adoption of and satisfaction with Microsoft full technical products portfolio. I developed a strong focus on Community/Relationship Marketing, Digital Marketing and Social Media, producing several online properties like the premium show Microsoft Cafe TV, a bimonthly live video podcast reaching 200K+ attendees in 1 year.Awards:- Best Latin America-wide marketing initiative: Microsoft Cafe TV.- Worldwide top ISV initiative adoption: Innovate On.- Top Region: Server market share growth y/y.- Best regional sales initiative: Supersize Me.- Microsoft top worldwide employee recognition: The Microsoft Platinum Club Circle of Excellence Award for outstanding achievements, leadership, passion, and determination.What was great:- Amazing constant soft skills' trainings.- Being part of a diverse, talented, high performance, well managed team.- Worldclass managers and leaders.- Full innovation mode: total support for experiments, failing, learning and growing.- Led great side projects (supporting students' practices, internal team-buildings, social responsible initiatives, etc.)- World-class research on technical audiences' engagement drivers (WOW Research, WHAMs Research, etc).Obstacles I faced:- First time with a remote team and remote manager.- Huge budget responsibility.What I learned:- Budgeting.- Marketing.- Digital Marketing & Web 2.0 Social Media.- Personas Marketing.- Design, plan & execute multi-country, multi-language initiatives.- Podcasting.- Design eLearning initiatives.- Relationship Marketing.- Gamification.- Call Center initiatives. Show less

Caribbean And Central America

I joined DPE (Developers & Platform Evangelism), a specialized Microsoft unit, to "win the hearts and minds" of developers across Central America and the Caribbean. Some of my responsibilities were to increase the adoption of .NET, increase the satisfaction of software developers in the region towards Microsoft products, increase the amount of .NET usergroups and communities, increase the adoption of .NET in businesses, increase the usage of Microsoft technical forums, foster online and offline… Show more I joined DPE (Developers & Platform Evangelism), a specialized Microsoft unit, to "win the hearts and minds" of developers across Central America and the Caribbean. Some of my responsibilities were to increase the adoption of .NET, increase the satisfaction of software developers in the region towards Microsoft products, increase the amount of .NET usergroups and communities, increase the adoption of .NET in businesses, increase the usage of Microsoft technical forums, foster online and offline events for technical audiences leveraging Microsoft Regional Directors and MVPs. What was great:- Worked with 80+ amazing online and offline influencers- Led several Visual Studio product launches in the region.- Created dozens of technical communities in 10+ countries.- Launched several training programs and online learning initiatives for technical audiences.- DPE team was amazing, full of trust and accountability.- Change of scope: from Central America to now include Caribbean.- Exposure to and execution in new countries and cultures.- I created the biggest technical event in the region: the eXpert Zone, with national exposure, generating an overachievement across entire scorecard metrics.- I oversaw our internal team-buildings.- Learned a lot about technical personas marketing.- Lots of trainings.Obstacles I faced:- No prior knowledge of marketing and communities' engagement.- Microsoft was seen as the enemy by existing usergroups (like Linux and Open Source). - Too many metrics for a multicountry region.What I learned:- How to build and foster vibrant technical communities- How to influence influencers- PR Basics- Community engagement tactics- Dealing with competition- Event design and execution- Team building design and execution- Creating initiatives that scale through 3rd parties- Online communities design and execution- Market research basics- Scorecard management- Winning against open source- To package initiatives- Public speaking Show less

Central America

Given my experience creating SINPE's architecture with Microsoft technologies, I was offered to be part of MCS (Microsoft Consulting Services). I participated in 50+ projects in high-profile clients all over Central America, leading enterprise architectural solutions (La Nacion, INS, Ministerio de Hacienda, Importadora Monge, etc.), high performance solutions POCs (Panama Canal Authority, ICE, TACA Airlines, etc.), and all Knowledge Management projects (Intranets and Web Portals, in companies… Show more Given my experience creating SINPE's architecture with Microsoft technologies, I was offered to be part of MCS (Microsoft Consulting Services). I participated in 50+ projects in high-profile clients all over Central America, leading enterprise architectural solutions (La Nacion, INS, Ministerio de Hacienda, Importadora Monge, etc.), high performance solutions POCs (Panama Canal Authority, ICE, TACA Airlines, etc.), and all Knowledge Management projects (Intranets and Web Portals, in companies like BNCR, Fischel, La Nacion, BCCR, CARHCO, etc.). I developed the Knowledge Management ecosystem in the region, impacting 100+ partners through training. Overall I worked with over 150+ IT/SoftDev teams and cultures (from partners and clients).Awards:- Microsoft Top Customer Satisfaction Consultant - Central AmericaWhat was great:- Benefits and amazing growth opportunities.- Blast of Soft-Skills and Consultant-Skills Trainings.- Microsoft culture, global events and experiences for employees.- Achieved great goals like top billable consultant and top customer satisfaction.Obstacles I faced:- Some clients' cultures were highly catabolic.- Microsoft performance reviews created unhealthy competition and comparison with your closest peers.- Some clients' attitudes and behaviors were highly catabolic. Because of my inexperience, this led me to shut down and comply instead of setting healthy boundaries.- I missed coding.What I learned:- How to thrive in a results-oriented culture.- How to deal with difficult clients.- How to identify and influence decision makers.- Microsoft Solution Selling.- Microsoft Solutions Framework.- The impact managers can have on people, for good and for bad.- I was exposed to 150+ different team cultures.- Consulting skills (PM, comms, risks mgmt, Influence & Persuasion, etc)- Basic sales skills.- Customer Satisfaction mindset- How critical trust is- Problem solving and resourcefulness- Initial compensation negotiation is key Show less

Costa Rica

Right after graduating from university, I joined the SINPE (Costa Rica's ACH - our interbanking payment system at the Central Bank, BCCR), a new endeavor for our government that only had a very basic system in place for their first service. Early on I was asked to hire/build the next generation software development team and to design a modern architecture for the SINPE and its future services.What was great:- The team spirit that we built.- Lots of research and learning.-… Show more Right after graduating from university, I joined the SINPE (Costa Rica's ACH - our interbanking payment system at the Central Bank, BCCR), a new endeavor for our government that only had a very basic system in place for their first service. Early on I was asked to hire/build the next generation software development team and to design a modern architecture for the SINPE and its future services.What was great:- The team spirit that we built.- Lots of research and learning.- The quality of the software that we built.- The trust and empowerment our leaders gave us.- The freedom to select the technologies we wanted to work on.- Having budget to purchase leading edge hardware and software.- The noble purpose in our mission.- The impact we were having in our country.- Global visibility. Multiple countries wanted CR's SINPE software. BID, IMF, BCIE and the SWIFT protocol creator at MIT all endorsed our solution.Obstacles I faced:- Politics and bureaucracy.- Limited growth opportunities.- Not being able to let go of bad hirings, and no resources to coach them.- No soft skills training.- I was very young (21-25) and had a lot of growing up to do. Lots of interpersonal skills and time management challenges.- Traditional compensation packages at the bank were out of touch with the software dev industry.- Immature ecosystem. Many banks were against SINPE back then.- Long-time ACH global IT providers were very vocal about "the risks" and "lack of success stories" of using anything but their own solutions.What I learned:- Hiring great technical staff and building an amazing team.- Leading a team full of hi-potentials using ideas.- Building n-Tier mission critical architectures.- Great software development practices.- ALM and software methodologies.- Purchase processes in public sector.- Basic customer service and customer success skills.- Basic stakeholders management skills.- Using storytelling to communicate with non-technical stakeholders. Show less

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