Beauty from Complexity

May 2, 2023

As a child, Jonathan Feyaerts was drawn to the beauty hidden in complexity. He was that precocious kid who would take apart his parents’ alarm clock and try (albeit unsuccessfully) to put it back together. Mathematical Physics mesmerized him, with its theoretical concepts that promised to reveal the inner workings of life. But when he was assigned a 20-page proof for “1+1=2” in an Euclidean space, he realized that he yearned to solve real world problems.

After his basic degree in Industrial Engineering, he felt torn between a Masters in IT or Biochemistry. “I was curious about Biochemistry, but I realized I would never open a biochemistry book if I chose an IT major,” the latter being his real passion. So #biochemistry it was, while he tinkered with #Arduinos, #AI and #deeplearning in his spare time.

He progressed steadily in his career, successfully completing a diverse array of assignments from upstream innovation to consumer research. But at the ripe old age of 30 he began to feel a “mid-life crisis” – a sense that he hadn’t quite found his calling. He wrote a 1-page document for his manager, articulating how he felt data should be used in R&D. His manager agreed to let him devote 20% of his time to pursuing this vision.

An intense upskilling journey allowed him to develop a powerful computational model that could distil consumer insights from large volumes of call center and e-commerce data. It won him a prestigious CEO award. It also contributed to a new product innovation, the Febreze Car Easy Clip, which effectively neutralizes unpleasant car odors.

He didn’t know it then, but he was a pioneer in the now burgeoning group of #datascientists at P&G. Looking back, he reflects that making that pivot was hard, but the 1-pager, a good mentor and a supportive manager made the difference. And his seemingly meandering forays into biochemistry, IT and consumer research were exactly what gave him the unique skillset to develop such innovative business-building solutions.

Today, his whole work plan is data science, where he draws beauty from complexity. To quote JRR Tolkien, “Not all who wander are lost”.

#Aircare #Digital