Interview: 365 days as CEO of tb.lx in Lisbon — what changed, what stayed, what comes next?

Christian Lessing, CEO of tb.lx by Daimler Trucks & Buses, completed his first year in this new role. With more than 10 years of experience in the automotive industry, there were three topics which connected all of this career steps: transportation, innovation, and sustainability. We talked to Christian about his journey and his experience of leading a startup within the corporate Daimler Trucks & Buses.

Christian, if you had to describe your first year as CEO of tb.lx in only 3 words, what would they be?

I would choose journey, identity, and momentum.

Journey, because we came a long way this past year with many ups and downs. It has been an amazing year and a journey in a true sense of the word: we have had so many challenges and jobs to be done, that it felt like a mountain hike, but we climbed up together as a team.

And this brings me in the direction of the second word — identity. The core thing that we needed to focus on this last year was to answer the questions of who we are, what we do, our purpose, our vision, and our motivation behind our work. We built up trust with our team and stakeholders and formed a culture that will carry us into the future.

As for momentum, this year, we proved that we can deliver. That we are capable of innovating and ramping up something from scratch. We delivered quality products, and we performed as a team. We stuck together and supported one another, even when things suddenly changed, or we face adversity. So, looking back, we really speeded up and gained a lot of momentum during the past year.

Picking up on momentum, what would you highlight as your biggest achievement this year?

The biggest achievement is that tb.lx established itself to the company it is right now, with its culture, its people, and its products. We’ve had a diverse portfolio and jobs to be done, but we always kept thriving on the different projects. More concretely, I would say that delivering a pilot solution for the global electric-truck charging infrastructure, and delivering an MVP for Global Services as part of the global connectivity platform of Daimler Trucks & Buses, was probably the most significant successes this year, in the sense of products.

What about the biggest challenge?

I believe building bridges and making tb.lx known was one of the biggest challenges. We are a corporate startup, and on the one hand, we have a lot of freedom, but on the other hand, we have a big partner looking at us. Bringing this together has been very challenging. It is still very challenging. Sometimes it holds us back, and sometimes it pushes us forward. And to balance this out while still keeping our startup mentality is probably the biggest challenge.

On a personal level, what I learned during the year, with such a flexible and volatile environment, is that no matter what plans you make, you always have to expect that it doesn’t go according to the plan. A plan is nothing, and at the same time planning is everything. This is something that I wasn’t experiencing as much in my former positions. It comes down to a lot of pivoting, and it demands a lot of flexibility from my team and me in the ways of approaching, thinking, and adapting to situations. So, this was a big challenge.

You mentioned your former positions: Joining tb.lx was a big change for you, taking over a new role and moving across Europe. Was there anything that surprised you when coming to Lisbon?

The amount of rain. ;-)

And the openness and warmth of Portuguese people in general. Right from the beginning not only my team but also the Lisboetas have been very welcoming. I admire the friendliness here and am really impressed how calm and peaceful it is here in Portugal.

At tb.lx we have 11 nationalities in our team of 34 people. Working with different cultures and personalities in a new country is very interesting and enriching experience.

And did this change of setting change your approach to business and leadership?

Being very honest, I can remember the first couple of months, I felt like nothing I did was sufficient. You start one thing and another thing, and there are a thousand things that you have to do in the beginning, but that’s okay. You can’t do everything 100%; but the Pareto Principle can help: by setting your priorities right, 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results. And also, Parkinson’s law applies: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion” So basically, the time that you have for a task is the time that you need. I can work on different subjects for a week, but if I only have one day, I have to accomplish it in one day. And that’s how we have to think as a company as well. And personally, too. That was one of the big challenges.

Looking into the future, what are the plans for tb.lx?

In the near future, the goal is to get stable in the products we are building, establish a real product mindset and product focus, and have the responsibility to deliver it to the markets.

Further ahead, I see us as a competence center of electromobility and connectivity, where we have a deep understanding of what is needed in the markets and where we have the responsibility to put these products out to bring Daimler Trucks and us to the next level of connectivity in transportation.

Do you have any last comments on your learnings and experience as the CEO of tb.lx?

What I experienced in the last year is that trust is everything. What we’ve been creating between us is so amazing. I truly value our “people first” approach and the connection that we have with each other. Paying attention to the human aspect brings out the best and makes us a unique place to work and to be.

I look back to times where we’ve hit challenging times, and people reinvented themselves. When something unexpected happened, everybody stood up and had each other’s backs, which is rare and valuable, but that is our culture.

We are moving forward together, we will face some obstacles, and we will overcome them. We can count on each other, and that’s really the essence of this year. As a CEO, you often put a lot of pressure on yourself. You need to lead, you need to decide, you need to make strategies, and many expectations come with it. And this is, of course, a responsibility that I have to take, and I am happy to take. But I also have to say that often times it’s just enough to be a servant leader and to help amazing people perform.

About tb.lx

tb.lx by Daimler Trucks & Buses was founded end of 2018 in Lisbon. The Portuguese startup is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG and creates global connectivity services for its different global brands like Mercedes-Benz, Fuso, or Freightliner. The team at tb.lx connects data ecosystems and unlocks mobility patterns in big data, which leads to new customer-centric products and sustainable transportation solutions for customers around the world, such as fleet managers, drivers, operators, or cities.