Material #41: 20,000 engineers
Interviews elevate elements of success
I’m all about opening up the space for direct conversation and the sharing of stories through which new insights emerge: from the street to the boardroom.
Arguably the perspectives of the CEOs of major companies already get plenty of airing. But a series of interviews by Nicolai Tangen - the head of Norway’s wealth fund NBIM - with the heads of companies that the fund invests in is full of valuable insight into motivations and strategy across multiple industries. (Sitting in that seat, no doubt Tangen has an easy time securing his interviews!).
Tangen speaks for example, with Robin Zeng. Zeng is the CEO of CATL - the Chinese manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage, which currently controls over 37% of that market.
Contributing to CATL’s success, Zeng says, is China’s investment in education of chemical engineers. There are 20,000 engineers in CATL’s research and development team. From that starting point the company pushes ahead in innovation with materials - for example bringing the cobalt content of batteries down from 33% to 3%.
“These 20,000 people, some people focus on the basic material structures…some people focus on the interrelation of the materials, some people focus on the future chemistry…
We have to very carefully understand the advantage of the different materials, especially within a chemistry system, [considering] who will be the winner…”
Listening to each of these interviews requires a critical lens unpacking the context of their words, of course. In CATL’s case that includes the contradictory response to climate change that involves massively expanding a new industry based on individual modes of transit. But the conversations contribute new material, new stories, new perspectives to our interpretation of industries, their evolution and their impact in the World.
Two others I’ve heard so far are one of Pixar’s co-founders, Ed Catmull, who brings a refreshing focus on teams, and the World’s current top chess player Magnus Carlsen, on parallels between chess and investing.
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Through 2024, It’s Material is sharing one use of the word “material” each week, on Tuesdays (sometimes Wednesdays!)
For more on CATL see Transnational Institute’s long-read “The new Darwinian World of the energy transition”