From Mathematician to Corporate Leader: Aaron Proietti’s Journey of Innovation and Leadership

My journey into leadership actually started back in high school. I remember when I was a sophomore, and the current slate of student government candidates did not impress me. I didn’t want someone who was a dud out in front trying to make decisions for the entire class. So I thought, ” If I don’t like the leaders I see in front of me, why don’t I just step in and become a better option?

That pattern has recurred throughout my life – making offers to be involved at a higher level where I see some space, and then moving into that space. I didn’t expect to be a corporate leader initially, but when I got to Transamerica, I saw an opportunity. The organization was yearning to be more collaborative and innovative, and I saw a space where I could contribute.

However, the transition wasn’t smooth sailing. When I first became a leader in the corporate world, I went from managing a team of three people to managing a department of a hundred people overnight. I had never managed such a large team before, and it required a very different skill set.

The biggest challenge was recognizing that the skills that got me to the leadership role were not the same skills that would keep me there. I had to change my skill set completely. It was difficult for me to leave behind my analytics and my hands-on approach to working on business problems because I now had a team that could do that, and it wasn’t my primary responsibility anymore.

My new charge was to make sense of the world and ensure that the people working with me had all the information they needed to do their jobs well. If I didn’t do that, no one was doing it because many organizations are very siloed. It’s really the leadership’s job to look across the tops of the silos and try to understand what all those different areas of expertise within an organization are doing, then bring that information back to their team.

I learned that if you think controlling your employees and their work is what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re going to fail as a leader. Employees don’t want their work controlled; they want to know if they’re working on the right things. So it became my job to communicate effectively and provide that broader perspective.

Without a coach, I would not have been effective in making that transition. One coach, in particular, challenged me to be a stronger communicator and to challenge my own assumptions about what the department needed from me as a leader.

Networking has been critical, but I’ve learned that it’s not about network quantity – it’s about network quality. You can spend a lot of time talking to many people at a very surface level and not have anything to show for it at the end of the day. The key is to identify areas of mutual interest and mutual benefit in networking conversations.

I’ve found that emphasizing network quality has gotten me ahead. By network quality, I mean there’s a depth to the relationships that I form. I try to relate to someone in their position, make offers to help them in their work so that there is this kind of mutually beneficial exchange down the line.

One strategy I’ve developed is to always ask three questions when I’m networking: What challenges are you facing in your work? What futures are you trying to bring into existence? And where have you successfully innovated lately? By asking these questions, I get a good feeling for who they are, what challenges they’re up against, their creative problem-solving ability, and where they’re headed.

I wish I had known this framework earlier in my life because networking calls before that were very challenging for me. I just didn’t know what to talk about or how to frame things.

The inspiration for “Today’s Innovator” came from my long-standing desire to make a difference. When I joined the corporate world in 1999, I quickly realized that I didn’t want to be there forever. I wanted to do something that would have a lasting impact.

Writing the book was a new and exciting experience. It was challenging, especially for a math guy like me. I remember struggling with things like point of view – mixing first person with third person and even second person. The technical aspects of writing a business book were extremely challenging.

But the most fulfilling part was developing the thesis of the book. The core idea is that to thrive as an innovator today, you have to be adaptive, understand how the world’s changing around you, and wear many different hats. You need to be many different things to many different people.

One of the biggest challenges was feeling a sense of community around writing the book. I had hoped that writing it would lead me to meet a whole bunch of new people and establish new relationships, but that never really happened. I’ve learned that I thrive when there’s a community involved, whether it’s a team, a local community, or a virtual community.

Now, with the writing I do, it’s really in service of some community. It’s not just a selfish thing; I want to change the world or make it a better place. So I’m trying to write content that will have a positive impact.

Balancing work and life has been a challenge for many years. For a long time, I didn’t have balance – it was all work, all the time. Even when I had kids, I still worked way too hard. It was a trade-off I knew I was making, but it wasn’t balanced.

I chose to work 70 hours a week and travel 30 weeks a year to achieve some end goal, obviously trading off my relationship with my family. In retrospect, I probably should not have made that decision. The people around me have so much more to offer me than my career.

It wasn’t until I left corporate America that I swung the pendulum far the other way. I took a year where I just coached my kids’ soccer teams, and that was the most rewarding year of my life. But then there was no work balance – it was all just life balance.

So it’s been this story of the pendulum swinging back and forth. I don’t think I’ve truly achieved the balance I would call successful until the past two years. It took about 25-27 years of working before I found some recipes that worked for me.

I love video games! For a long time, I hid that because I didn’t think it matched the perception of what a corporate leader should be. But eventually, I realized that I need to lean into who I am. I love playing games, whether that’s Assassin’s Creed, mobile games, or whatever it is. That’s where I decompress.

Whenever a new Assassin’s Creed comes out, I spend two weeks in the dark playing it. It’s part of who I am, and it gives me this great sense of relaxation. I wish I had recognized that earlier and not tried to hide it as much as I did.

Now, I’m old enough not to care about what people think about me. So I have that as part of my identity, and I lead with it. I’ll tell people that I like to play two hours of video games every day – take it or leave it, it’s part of me.

First and foremost, recognize that leadership, particularly in complex organizations, requires a different skill set than what got you there. You have to be willing to change and adapt.

Secondly, focus on communication. Your job as a leader is to make sense of the world for your team and ensure they have all the information they need to do their jobs well.

Third, embrace learning and flexibility. In today’s rapidly changing world, command and control hierarchies are less relevant. You need to be agile, always learning, and curious.

Finally, don’t be afraid to take smart risks. As an innovator, your job is to move the organization closer to where it needs to go. Sometimes that means breaking rules – not HR rules, but cultural norms – and establishing new ways of working.

Remember, what gets you to a leadership role is not what keeps you there. Be open to coaching, be willing to challenge your assumptions, and always ask yourself: Who does the organization need me to be today?

I’m excited about a few things. I’m still writing books – in fact, I have one coming out next week that I co-authored with my long-time thought partner, Mandy Weber. We’re really excited about it.

I’m also working on a project with United Way that’s probably the most personally fulfilling project I’ve ever been a part of. It’s allowed me to meet great people, learn from the community, and better understand the needs of my local area. This isn’t stuff you get access to when you’re in the corporate world, and it’s incredibly rewarding to take my experience and knowledge to this space and help create something new.

The key for me has been to keep learning, keep adapting, and always look for ways to make a positive impact. Whether it’s through writing, speaking, or community projects, I’m always asking myself how I can use my skills and experience to make the world a little bit better.