#210 César Couto Ferreira’s Next Act: From Madonna to Meaning

Summary

Podcast Summary: Chief Change Officer Episode #210 Title: César Couto Ferreira’s Next Act: From Madonna to Meaning
Release Date: March 2, 2025
Host: Vince Chan
Guest: Cecil Coutu Fajera

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Introduction

In Episode #210 of the Chief Change Officer podcast, host Vince Chan engages in an in-depth conversation with Cecil Coutu Fajera, a seasoned media executive from Portugal. The episode, titled "From Madonna to Meaning," delves into Cecil’s remarkable journey through the evolving landscape of media and technology, his pivotal role in transforming Portugal’s presence in the global tech arena, and his visionary approach to building a lasting legacy.

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Cecil's Background and Early Career [04:09 - 05:19]

Cecil begins by sharing his early passion for both science and the arts. Despite his academic pursuit in biotechnology, funded by a scholarship in France, his heart was drawn to creative endeavors.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "[...] my genetic makeup and environment were pushing me towards the arts and creativity. Radio was calling to me and resonating with my dreams." [04:09]

At 19, Cecil transitioned into the creative field, becoming a radio DJ and later a radio manager at the age of 23, balancing his studies with his burgeoning media career.

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Transition to MTV and Impact on Media [05:19 - 07:45]

Cecil recounts his leap from local radio to an international platform with MTV Portugal. This move marked the beginning of his significant influence in the media industry.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "I never thought MTV would come to Portugal or that I would land a role there. At 49, it felt like a dream come true when I signed with them and launched MTV Portugal." [06:00]

His career with MTV saw him expanding horizons by launching MTV across Africa, Italy, and Greece, playing a crucial role in integrating streaming technologies early on.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "We were already moving towards streaming, and I embraced that transformation enthusiastically." [07:45]

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Experiences and Challenges in the Media Industry [08:14 - 09:47]

Cecil discusses the duality of working within a powerful global brand like MTV, highlighting both the opportunities and the inherent challenges, particularly concerning intellectual property.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "When you work with a global brand, your intellectual property belongs to them. Everything you create becomes part of their legacy." [08:50]

He reflects on the struggles of maintaining personal creative integrity within corporate structures, setting the stage for his eventual transition.

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Shift to Vice and Embracing Technology [09:47 - 11:10]

Seeking greater innovation and alignment with the digital age, Cecil transitioned to Vice Media. His decision was influenced by Vice’s edgy, street-level approach, contrasting with the traditional media frameworks he was accustomed to.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Vice was like the CNN of the streets at the time, and I wanted to embrace technology and innovation more fully." [09:50]

This move marked a significant pivot towards integrating technology into media, emphasizing the importance of staying ahead in a rapidly changing industry.

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Personal Reflections and Impact of Artists [11:10 - 17:30]

A pivotal moment in Cecil’s career was witnessing the struggles of iconic artist Amy Winehouse. Her untimely death underscored the darker side of the media’s impact on creative individuals.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Seeing what the industry did to Amy Winehouse made me realize that we need to change things." [11:35]

This realization fueled his desire to foster a more compassionate and supportive environment within the media industry, balancing profitability with genuine care for artists.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "I don't want to be part of a system that doesn't care about individuals as real humans with lives and emotions." [15:00]

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Building a Legacy and Involvement with Web Summit [17:30 - 24:43]

Cecil’s vision extends beyond personal success to building a lasting legacy that propels societal transformation. His significant contribution to bringing the Web Summit to Lisbon was a testament to his dedication.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Bringing the Web Summit to Portugal was about more than hosting an event; it was about transforming the country’s position in the global tech ecosystem." [18:32]

He worked closely with government officials and international partners to elevate Portugal’s status, drawing parallels to Ireland’s successful model in integrating tourism with technology.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Connecting the dots involved collaboration with the government and leveraging global media partnerships to position Lisbon as the tech hub it is today." [19:00]

Cecil emphasizes the importance of human and financial capital in economic growth, advocating for sustained, organic development over quick fixes.

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Vision for Portugal's Growth and Migration [22:38 - 24:43]

Cecil envisions Portugal evolving into a vibrant hub for innovation and talent. He highlights the positive impact of migration, drawing strength from diverse communities like Brazilians and Ukrainians who contribute significantly to the country’s growth.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Migration is natural for us, bringing in brains and knowledge, much like historical waves that bolstered economies and cultures elsewhere." [22:54]

He underscores the importance of nurturing local talent and embracing the influx of international expertise to drive Portugal’s advancement.

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Advice to Social Media Users [24:55 - 25:29]

Concluding the interview, Cecil offers sage advice to those immersed in the fast-paced world of social media. He advocates for a balanced approach, emphasizing the importance of reading, working diligently, and maintaining curiosity without falling prey to hype.

Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Don't believe the hype. Don’t be blinded by the lights. Go with a curious mind, and you'll learn so much." [24:55]

This guidance reflects his broader philosophy of thoughtful engagement and continuous learning as keys to personal and professional growth.

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Conclusion

Cecil Coutu Fajera’s journey from a biotech enthusiast to a media executive and finally a visionary leader in the tech ecosystem of Portugal encapsulates the essence of ambitious transformation. His experiences underscore the delicate balance between creativity and corporate constraints, the pivotal role of empathy in leadership, and the enduring impact of fostering a collaborative and innovative environment. Through his story, listeners are inspired to embrace change, outgrow their limitations, and contribute meaningfully to the world around them.

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Notable Quotes:

• Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Transformation never ends. We know that transformation never ends." [11:10]
• Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Reality is much way stranger than fiction." [15:59]
• Cecil Coutu Fajera: "When you're the first person in the world to do something, you're touching the wall. It's about understanding the texture and finding your way through." [17:14]
• Cecil Coutu Fajera: "Legacy is all about what you leave behind for future generations." [24:43]

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Transcript

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[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

Calling was to give others the space to be creative.

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[Vince Chen]

Foreign welcome to our show Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change, progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today's guest is Cecil Coutu Fajera from Portugal, a beautiful, beautiful country. I visited a few years ago to join the Web Summit in Lisbon as a guest and a speaker. The people are warm, the food is great, the sea and the sky is so blue. I surely want to Go back. This episode is like a real life version of the popular HBO TV series Secession. I'm sure many of you have watched the show. It's not just about a secession war for the top job of CEO within a super wealthy and powerful family, but also about the war in old media versus new media and tech. A succession from old money to new money. Since the beginning of the century, Cecil has been involved in this transformation from analog to digital media. From a DJ and TV presenter to an MTV Networks executive. Working with Madonna and all the music stars, he seen the bright and the dark sides of 21st century media and entertainment. Without further ado, let's get into the room.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

When I was a kid, I was always keen for biology, for science. And I went to the biotech and I had the opportunity to do this scholarship and I went to France. I was an art performance athlete and I was 19. And this is obviously the passion of my life. But I had a family that was in media. All my family from my mom's side, basically they were working in media, in radio, philosophers, they were thinkers, basically very creative people. And my brain in a way was divided. I always wanted for the logical side of things. But my DNA, let's put it like this, my genetics and my environment was pushing me to arts and to be creative. There was a time that I finished my graduation and I thought, okay, I'm going to do biotech and I'm going to work with wine. I'm going to do everything I dream of. But my passion was radio. And this is really good because we're doing a podcast, so this means really nice. So radio just was raving for me. It was calling me and my dreams obviously was resonating and I had this amazing opportunity to become a radio bj.

[Vince Chen]

Wow.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

Quite early in my life and I was studying at the same time and doing radio at the same time. And I finished my grad and suddenly someone asked me, this is really funny because it was having this coffee conversation and someone was listening to me and saying, are you that guy? And I said yeah. And he said, do you want to work for my radio can be the radio manager. I was 23 years old and I became a radio manager. Then I accepted and I was quite successful. And then television came. I just became this TV host for a local TV channel. In the very brief moment of my life in three, four years, my dream come true. I all decided I wanted to work for mtv. I was always watching MTV when I was a kid. Then I was honestly, I'm going to Work. One day I'm going to work on mtv. But I never thought that was possible because this is a channel in us. I never felt that they were going to come to Europe. I never thought they were going to come to Portugal. And I never felt I was going to get out of. Talk about. I'm 49, this is almost like 20, 22 years ago and it happened suddenly I got into MTV. I signed a deal with them, they launched MTV Portugal. And in 2003 I just moved to London and everything was new to me. And this is the first step for me to discover the world by myself in this big company. And I was the youngest programming manager in Europe. And suddenly I was working with my idols. I was surrounded by them. I have daily conversations with them. I was seen by heroes, artists, people that I really love. After two weeks in London, I was sitting down in coffee places and bars and clubs and hanging around with people that I admire. And this is a transformation for media. This is the transformation that I embrace for nine years almost at mtv. And I started with MTV Portugal, then I launched MTV based Africa as a mentor. I moved to MTV Italy, I launched MTV Greece was the first license in Europe, first full HD channel for MTV Europe. And that was crazy. And outside REM, last concert in Europe, 70,000 people to do the EMAs in Lisbon 2005. You know, 1 billion people streaming and watching it. We already go into the direction of streaming.

[Vince Chen]

I think we are looking at something much, much bigger than just a personal transformation. Your three minute career story is not only your own evolution, but also a pivotal shift in the entire media and entertainment industry from the analog world to the digital and social media age.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

With mtv, with Wise, I'm happy with that. I know that I did a good job, I had an influence. And when you work with a global brand that has such a huge voice, you're going to do good if you want to do good. And I did good things. So I'm really happy for that. And it's really easy to work in a global brand. It's so easy because things come to you. You just have to say, I work for MTV and everything's good. Everybody opens your doors. Then comes the failure part of things. Digital is not performing well for us. And I think the future is in the digital world. And I knew Shane Smith from Vice and I know the guys, the founders from Vice at the time and I saw what they're doing in a very narcissistic way. And I moved to Vice because it was the CNN of the streets. As the claim said it at the time, and WPP was on board, everyone was on board. They were doing an amazing job at the time. So I moved to vice and from that on I just decided, okay, I'm going to embrace technology and I'm going to embrace innovation. I was already working in tech since 2009, but I couldn't tell anyone. I had a sidekick. I have a friend of mine that was the founder also of this company and we were just doing projects on the sideline just for fun. It was a fun business at the time for me, but I was loved by tech. When you work with a multinational global love brand, your ip, your intelligence belongs to them. You sign a waiver, it's normal. You're just going to find that everything that you create belongs to them.

[Vince Chen]

One thing I truly have appreciate, and I think you will echo this, is that working in big corporations, no matter the industry, can be an incredible training ground. The opportunities are masses with a powerful brand lending prestige to your resume. But at the end of the day, much of what you work on isn't really your own intellectual property. With that in mind, and considering you've moved on back then, I'm curious about your thought process behind this decision. The reason I'm asking is that many of us, as we develop our career paths, face moments that are either expected or completely out of the blue. Each decision, each transition, I believe, is a delicate balance between logic and psychology. You mentioned earlier that while you are trained in science with a very logical mind, you're also very into art, into creative work, into philosophy. So back then, how did you navigate this balance when making career decisions?

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

Now, that's a really good question. And this is what politics say when they want to think about that question. I'm going to think about that question. Definitely. Transformation never ends. We know that transformation never ends. What was the X factor? What was the moment that really made me change? I knew that I was a creative person. I always suffer from imposter syndrome. It's normal. I need to change. And the industry was a little bit sick at the time. And there's an episode in my life and a lot of people don't know about this, but obviously when I moved to London, I was living in Camden Town. Camden Town is surrounded by artists. It's where everyone is from Ricky Gervais to Amy Winehouse. Everyone is there. And I was immersed by that. And I met them and when I saw and I was one of the first people to introduce Amy Winehouse to 10 people in London in the Networks. Before she recorded Frank, I was listening to her songs, I was hanging around. I knew a lot of her people. We were going to the same pub, you know, Camden. We were almost neighbors. I lived in the same street as Coldplay. And I was like, damn, this is wrong. This is definitely wrong. We're not doing the best we can for the people and we're not helping really creative and intelligent people like Amy Winehouse. She was one of the most beautiful people I know. She was such a creative and talented singer and I saw what industry was doing to her because she was in the wrong place with the wrong people. A lot of people. Obviously, if you go and read about Amy, you're going to see the documentaries and you're going to see their bio. You're going to find out she had suffered from anorexia when she was quite young. And that's the thing is we don't care about people. We just want to do the profitable way. And another time was her dad. And I was in the beach when someone called me. I was still working for mtv. Obviously someone calls me. Same feeling that I felt when they called me saying, look, Amy just died. I felt like when I was Woke up at 5am with Michael Jackson saying, michael Jackson just died. What we're going to do, because this is what happens, you know, when we prepare ourselves for them. When you work in the networks, you prepare yourselves. You discuss the obituary in the beginning of the year and this is really bad, but this is the truth. This is news flash. So we prepare the obituary and think, okay, who's going to die this year? Who are the ones that are going to mentally go down the drain? And when Amy died for me because I was close by and I knew her and everything, that was something that I said, no, it's not. Enough is enough. I don't want to be more. I don't want to be part of this. I want to change. That was quite decisive to say, look, we need to change things. And I just wanted to change things.

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[Vince Chen]

The movie Jerry Maguire. Have you seen it yourself? You work in what's essentially a people first industry, yet oftentimes these very people are treated more like products. And when you truly care about individuals as real humans with lives, worries, emotions and inevitable endpoints, it changes everything. Once you delve into the business aspects as well as the personal connections with these individuals you interrupt with daily, it creates a profound internal conflict. I think of it as a struggle between two mindsets or the usual saying, drama is the reality, reality is the drama.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

It's crazy because I always say to people, reality is much way stranger than fiction. The way that we people come to me and say, hey, how does it work with Viacom and all that section people think, oh, come on, this is like media moguls, Game of Thrones. It's amazing. You've been there since chill, man. It's not like that. It's not like that. Obviously there's a lot of things that are inspired in real life, but real life is going to be much more complicated. It's going to be real. It's not science, it's not fiction. Sorry. So when I think about these people and when I think about the person that inspired Jim McGuire, they're so kind and so humble, full of knowledge. This is what I learned from them. And they are artists of change. And they know that. Yeah. And they know that nothing lasts forever. They know that.

[Vince Chen]

Artists of change. Yes. Change is an art more than a science. You work in a media industry. It's always about the glamour. Travel to all those places. Parties.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

Yeah. All the time.

[Vince Chen]

Exactly.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

They pump your ego all the time. But if you want to be a pioneer, you're going to face the wall, we discuss things. Yeah.

[Vince Chen]

The wall is right there. You don't need to, it's just right there.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

Exactly. It's like when you're the first person in the world to do something, you're touching the wall. It's not like I'm not going to fish the wall. I'm touching the wall and I'm trying to understand the texture of the wall and how I can grasp between the branches of the wall.

[Vince Chen]

You've told me before that you're all in for building a legacy. After experiencing the highs and lows of the media and entertainment industry, you've gone on to build ventures and venture ecosystem in Brazil and back home in Portugal. A key highlight, I believe, has been your involvement with the web Summit in Lisbon. While Patty Couth might be the face and voice of the summit, you've played a crucial role at a national level, influencing the government to take a leap of faith in integrating tourism with technology. Share with us your involvement in bringing this major event to the forefront and looking at the bigger picture. What kind of legacy are you aiming to build that makes you proud?

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

I'm a designer for society. That's what I did. Why did it happen and how did it happen? And I need to go back a little bit, because Portugal, with such a small country, such a small country, and we were an event country as I see it, and from my own experience, in 98, Portugal did expo and that changed Lisbon, changed the perception. We understood the rules, we understand how to create huge events after that. 2004, we have the Euro cup again. A lot of tourism coming by. A lot of people come to Portugal. People, they saw something, some Paradise. And then 2005, this is my moment. This is where I feel that I had something to do with this. Because we have the European Music Awards, European Music Awards in Portugal. And this is lisbon. Come on. 2005. And we had everyone, we had Madonna, Coldplay, Robin Williams, we had Borax as the host of the EMAs. And we had. We were live for 1 billion people. And Madonna came to Portugal and she fell in love by Portugal and she started living in Portugal. And suddenly Portugal just comes in the map. It was a process to go to the web Summit. And I said before, we need to follow the Irish model. The web Summit was born in Dublin. Paddy. Paddy was the guy and it was now he's not the CEO, but he still owns the company. And Paddy, when he made a deal with the government, with the Prime Minister at the time, with everyone that was involved in innovation, but in the tourism of Portugal. And they were able to broaden the web summit that at the time was considered the biggest tech event in the world. We work along with the government, we work along with the Secretary of Innovation and meetings in Brazil, with ministers. For me, that was when you're working with a country that has 220 million people and needs to be helped, it needs transformation. That is unbelievable. And connecting the dots here, the web Summit, when Portale, they called me and said, look, we want to apply to be Host city, the web summit. This was like last minute. And immediately I called and I overrun the VP of Portugal. I overrun it because I knew the global media partnerships of the web summit. And I call her and said, look, wants to run for the web summit, but suddenly there was 70,000 people coming. It's crazy. And then I'm going to mention Philip Stark. Don't let me go without Philip Stark mentioning this. One of the biggest designer in the world, he lives in Portugal. There's a reason why we are the most secure country in the continent. I think we're the third right now in the world. I think we're behind Iceland and New Zealand. Our confidence is changing and we learn the empathy and the compassion to embrace other people. And Phyllis Stark was saying, this is. I don't even want to work in Portugal because I don't want to destroy my paradise. And this was such a loving, caring way of saying this. Obviously, I'm not stupid because we are a very age country. We are surrounded by really old people, very knowledgeable, but we need younger generation. We're not able to have kids. And so basically for us migration it's natural. We have the biggest. The biggest community of Brazilians is obviously in Portugal due to the language. The second biggest one, it's Ukraine, Ukrainian people. And it's not because of the war, it's because they already been here and they help the country to develop the same way. What happened with migration in US in the past, with all the brains from Germany to Jewish going to the US and bringing knowledge, bringing so much knowledge.

[Vince Chen]

Capital, human capital and financial capital, of course. But both you have to have both elements in order for economy to grow, to develop is actually is the golden rule. Actually is a timeless golden rule.

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

And there's no fast solutions. We know that in every kind of business there's no fast solutions. I would love for us to be Sweden. I was in the ecosystem in Stockholm and they are unbelievable. But they do are 4, 4.5 million people, if I'm not wrong, in Sweden. And their GDP is crazy, their level of literacy on every level, it's unbelievable. So for me, we're not still in that process at all. There's a long way to go. But when I do mentorship and I. When I see people and I see the talent that we're developing and learning from others, because so much good people from other countries, from other continents are coming to Portugal and bringing so much experience, so much talent, so much knowledge that we're evolving. Yesterday I saw a young CEO. She was 27 years old. She started her startup when she was 24. I was amazed by her knowledge. I was amazed by her focus. She was laser focused, major laser focused. And she was not born in Lisbon, she was not born in Porto. I think it was in Alvin or something like that. But the level of knowledge that she owns, it's crazy. And she was 27 years old. I wanted to be her. Honestly, I was listening to her and I was seeing what she was saying and I was like, damn, you're really good. And I'm really happy for that. When you ask me what is my driven, it's all about legacy. I gave an interview once and in the middle because I don't prepare myself for anything. I just go with flow. It's my way of working because I like to be like this.

[Vince Chen]

Last question of the day. As a former media executive, what advice would you give to people who are deeply immersed in social media?

[Cecil Coutu Fajera]

People need to read books, people need to work, people need to. And right now everything's quite fast for the fear of missing out. It's. And there's a lot of hype. I always say to people, don't believe the hype. Don't be blinded by the lights. This is all media and creative cliches. But it's true. Go with the curiosity mind. Just go with this mindset. If you're doing that, it's already amazing because you learn so much. Going to learn so much. If anything like a hot topic is going to tell you, okay, let's try to understand crispy editions or let's go to understand a little bit about.

[Vince Chen]

Thank you so much for your wise words and of course your time. Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, don't forget, subscribe to our show, Leave us top rated reviews, check out our website and follow me on social media. I'm Vincent, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.

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