EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS

Mario Tommaselli

Chief Operating Officer – Project Delivery and Services, Technip Energies

#12: Mario shares his leadership lessons and turning points that shaped his career from process engineering to executive recruitment.

In this Executive Insights, Sam Yates speaks with Mario Tommaselli, Chief Operating Officer – Project Delivery and Services at Technip Energies, about the career turning points, leadership lessons and team dynamics that shaped his path from process engineering to executive leadership. Mario shares his perspective on balancing technical expertise with client-facing skills, building strong project teams, and preparing the next generation of engineers to work alongside AI without losing the judgement and hands-on experience that remain essential to the business.

Sam: You started out in process engineering and then moved into projects and, ultimately, executive leadership. Looking back, where were the real turning points – the moments when you realised you were no longer just a technical authority, but a leader?

Mario: First of all, in my experience, I have always been curious to look at other things. Even when I was in the process department, I was never interested in being only a technical authority. I think I was good at my job, but I was always trying to look beyond it.

If you keep an open mind, you begin to see other opportunities and areas you may enjoy more or find more motivating at that stage of your life. My greatest growth came through interacting with clients.

Earlier in my career, companies often gave capable young engineers significant responsibility sooner. Today, larger projects, stronger governance and greater regulatory obligations require a more structured approach. The opportunity is to combine that necessary discipline with deliberate stretch assignments that continue to accelerate the development of emerging talent. Today we tend to be more prudent about giving greater responsibility.

So, for sure, there was an element of curiosity and an element of getting the opportunity. I was exposed more to clients, including through early engagement. That is where you find out whether you have the aptitude or talent to interact with people outside your company, rather than only within it. That is how I moved from process into projects: curiosity and talent on my side and opportunity given on the company side.

Sam: Would you say that a technical foundation is almost a must-have in a company like Technip Energies? And are the people who really progress often those who can take that technical knowledge and communicate it well to clients and non-technical people?

Mario: I think the technical foundation is very important, honestly. You should have a reasonable technical foundation to be recognised internally and externally. Of course, there are individuals who communicate exceptionally well and may be able to rely on a less strong technical foundation.

In our business, clients value people who combine strong technical competence with the ability to communicate clearly. The clients are looking for trusted partners who bring solutions, understand the problem and anticipate what may come next.

We are still in the engineering and contracting business, and experience matters – having done it and having been there. When a manager interacts with the client, the client sees the solidity of the company through that person.

At the end of the day, you are selling your company’s technical expertise. If you are the first one facing the client and you don’t really know what you’re talking about, it doesn’t work.

Sam: You’ve worked across major projects, regional leadership and global business lines. Which part of that has challenged you most as a leader – and what did it teach you?

Mario: All of them, I would say. All of them are challenging, but they are challenging in different ways.

Projects, especially big projects, have a lot of challenges, but all those challenges tend to be of one nature and related to the project. They are big, they are continuous, but they are all in one stream and keep you focused on one goal.

Within a corporate structure, challenges come from many directions. That breadth makes the role demanding, but it also creates opportunities to connect different perspectives and address problems at their root. Compared with running a single project, the goal may be less immediate and the issues more diverse, so success depends on navigating the greater complexity with clarity and collaboration.

One thing I can tell you from my experience of technical, project and corporate positions is that I would recommend to anybody a career that goes in and out – project to structure, structure to project – because then you see both sides. The structure has to work for the project, and the project must work with the structure.

If your career is only in projects, you don’t understand the challenges of the structure. And vice versa: if you only work in the structure, you don’t understand the urgency and the difficulty that projects face.

Aim for a career that allows you to go in and out, in and out. I recommend that to all my younger colleagues. I think it is key to personal growth and company growth, because you develop people who understand all the implications of the problem at hand – and where the person on the other side is coming from.

Sam: You must have seen project teams with completely different cultures, regions and personalities. What separates the teams that are consistently successful from those that struggle?

Mario: A successful team needs a core group of people who have worked together before. It is a proven team: they know one another, understand what to expect from their colleagues and do not have to learn how to collaborate while delivering the project. That core group helps establish the spirit and working norms of the wider team.

Projects have a lot of challenges and require personal dedication at every level. That doesn’t happen if people don’t feel they are genuinely working as a team, almost as friends. I don’t want to say family, but projects are multi-year engagements. Across the project team there will be marriages, newborns, other life-defining events, and all sorts of things.

It is a slice of your life that you share with a lot of people, and they share it with you. If you don’t create that team spirit, the project is not as successful.

The people who have done it before and worked together become the leaders whom the rest of the team follows. Others then become part of that team and, next time, they may be the core team.

The biggest opportunity is in environments with high employee mobility, where project teams may be relatively new. In those situations, leaders need to invest early in shared purpose, working norms and trust so that the team can build cohesion quickly and succeed together.

Sam: We can’t have one of these conversations without talking about technology and AI. Someone joining Technip Energies today will face a completely different business over the next 30 years. Where do you think technology will make the biggest difference – and where will human judgement remain critical?

Mario: AI will increasingly transform technical calculation and computation, as technology has done throughout our industry’s history. Many routine tasks will become automated or AI-assisted, but engineering judgement, validation and accountability will remain essential to ensure that outputs are safe, reliable and appropriate for their context.

Human judgement will remain especially important in project and construction management, where teams must respond to unforeseen events such as hurricanes, floods, and international crises. Technology can support these decisions, but experienced people will continue to provide the contextual judgement, adaptability and accountability when complex situations require human judgement.

Construction remains highly dependent on skilled people working in complex and changing environments. Automation and robotics will continue to advance, but broad adoption will take time because site conditions vary and safety, coordination and real-time judgement remain critical.

Sam: Do you see a risk of a lost generation – people who haven’t had to do the calculations or the engineering work themselves, but who will eventually move into leadership positions?

Mario: The challenge for us will be: how we evolve and how we develop the next generation of engineers, preserving strong technical foundations and judgement while making the most of AI? This is the challenge we will have to address.

We see a related challenge in hybrid working; people may feel having fewer informal opportunities to learn, contribute and build trusted relationships when interaction occurs mainly through a screen. As ways of working evolve, we need to keep creating opportunities for people to learn, take on meaningful assignments and build trusted relationships.

After a few years when we were going all the way towards remote and home working, today there is a tendency to come back to the office. Maybe not fully, but some come back.

It may be that, at a certain point, the way to balance AI will also be to keep some sort of hybrid. You don’t outsource completely the mission to AI; you try to find the right balance between the two things.

But yes, the challenge is how you develop a rounded individual for a senior position when they have experienced a different path and been not so exposed to technical aspects. It is a new curriculum to be written.

Sam: Let’s imagine a new engineer joining Technip Energies today. They look at your career and think, ‘That’s where I want to get to.’ What pieces of advice would you give them?

Mario: First of all, stay curious. Curiosity makes you look at things that are not necessarily falling directly onto your plate, but may be just next to it and may be of interest to you.

When you enter a company, especially a big company, fresh from university, the place where you enter may not be the place where you want to stay for the rest of your career. It may simply be the right place for you at that point in time.

If you stay curious, a large company can offer many possibilities. You do not necessarily need to change company to build your best career; first explore where within the organisation you can grow, contribute and be most effective. The knowledge you gain of the company – and the trust the company builds in you – can become a powerful foundation for progression.

Jumping from one company to another simply because you feel the company is keeping you in a box can be a mistake. I don’t think companies like to keep people in boxes. Often, it is the box you create yourself if you don’t stay curious and treat your first position as a way to enter and understand the wider company.

And the second thing is: don’t pursue a career in only one stream, one section, one department or one division. Try to be exposed to your client. Try to be exposed to the product you deliver, whatever it is, because that enriches your ability to influence your own company.

You really know what you do because you have done it. You have been part of doing it, and therefore you can bring that experience back into your company. Every time you speak, you are listened to as somebody who has done it – not as somebody who has only heard it from others.

Sam: Great advice, thank you again for joining me for this conversation Mario.

Mario: My pleasure.