Catching up with Adobe’s new EMEA President, Luc Dammann
After six years at Adobe, Luc Dammann is sure of one thing: that Adobe’s employees are the driving force of the company’s success. Our new President of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is as committed to empowering his team as he is to accelerating business growth and helping our customers thrive.
“Adobe’s products have never been more relevant, with technologies like our Real-Time Customer Data Platform transforming the way brands across EMEA speak to their customers,” he says. “I’m proud to lead the engine driving that vision, the people who build, innovate, and take our solutions to market.”
We picked Luc’s brain to learn why this is such an exciting moment for brands in EMEA, what consumers want, and his plans for leading Adobe as we kick off our 40th year.
Brand-customer relationships are critical today. What matters most to customers in EMEA, and how can companies deliver?
In a word, trust. Customers want every interaction that a brand has with them to feel relevant. They expect us to deliver value, to honour their needs in the moment — not a week or month ago — and, of course, to respect their privacy.
We all prefer to buy from companies we trust. The challenge for brands is to build that trust in a digital environment where they rarely get to interact with customers face-to-face. Seven in 10 business leaders say it’s harder to earn trust today than two years ago. What’s more, every time a brand draws on old or inaccurate data to shape their customers experience, they risk compromising the trust they’ve worked so hard to build. This has made customer experience a top priority in European boardrooms. The role of data and personalized content has never been more vital for brands looking to establish trust and find success.
It’s our job at Adobe to help brands across EMEA to build and maintain their customers’ trust while navigating the unstoppable shift towards digital, sales, and engagement. From simple things, like a personalised email campaign, to more advanced experiences like VR shopping, Adobe’s solutions cover every link in the digital value chain.
What is the most important quality in a leader, and how do you plan to embody that?
I’ve always respected leaders who create new opportunities for the people around them. It’s about motivating and inspiring your teams. It’s about building an environment where employees can share ideas and be their authentic selves, so they can excel at their jobs and grow within our organization.
You’ll never accomplish great things as a business unless you create a stimulating work environment where everyone can thrive. I take pride in being part of Adobe, and as of today I have an opportunity to share that pride with every one of our EMEA employees.
I’m also a firm believer in decisiveness. By that I don’t mean making leadership decisions in a vacuum. I mean drawing on Adobe’s data and the hyper-intelligent people around me to make the best possible decisions for our business and our customers. In my experience, a half-informed decision ends up causing twice the trouble you started with.
What are your top priorities for the year ahead?
Adobe has always had a penchant for reinvention. We’ve consistently created product categories that shaped the world of digital content and marketing, from Adobe Photoshop to the Adobe Experience Platform. Going into 2023, our hunger to disrupt is stronger than ever.
EMEA is also the largest region for Adobe outside of the Americas. It’s my ambition to make us THE main growth engine for our organization. And we will become that market leader by providing our customers with the technologies and support to lead their own industries. In parallel, we are partnering with our customers to drive more efficient and sustainable working practices.
Finally, what’s the best piece of leadership advice you’ve ever received?
“Don’t be afraid to surround yourself with people who are better than you. It will help you to grow and find success in the face of every challenge.”
Nobody excels at everything. We all have strengths and weaknesses. It’s by combining those strengths and weaknesses in the right way that you end up doing great things. Look at the teams playing the World Cup as we speak. They don’t put 11 strikers on the field at once because it takes more than goals to win. It takes 11 players with complementary skills that come together as one unit.
Running a business is similar, albeit with a few thousand more team members. We continue to drive collaboration between Adobe’s EMEA teams so we can compete together as an organization, and I’m confident we have the people, skills, and solution set to win.