Ricard Huguet, MOT ’04 talks about. the lessons and confidence gained from attending MIT Sloan and the lasting value in the community

A conversation with Ricard Huguet, MOT ’04, from his start as Director of Innovation for the City of Barcelona, to following his vision of leveraging LEGO robotics for innovation in STEM education in both classrooms and executive suites. Ricard speaks about listening to his customers for ideas, the pivot he made in his company in 2008—in the face of the global economic downturn—and the latest addition of an online platform that has extended his reach exponentially. Ricard also talks about the lessons and confidence he gained from attending MIT Sloan and the lasting value he gets and gives to the MIT community. 

Ricard speaks about the saddest day of his life, namely the last day as a student at MIT, and the powerful message he heard, but initially did not understand, from Professor Rebecca Henderson. She reminded him and his classmates about the blessing of attending MIT, which so few in the world can do, and the importance of working for a company that does something for the community. She advised him to either start his own venture or be sure that his values align with the company’s values, but not to settle for less. Ricard also speaks about the resonance of the "Create, Capture, Deliver" framework and how he uses this when assessing either his own business model or start-ups that approach him for advice or investment. 

Ricard talks about his investment approach, which starts with the team and then the idea. He speaks about the challenge for him and other investors in managing their portfolios and how he created an organization to help him and others to improve their performance. 

Finally, Ricard’s advice to prospective Sloanies is to embrace the ecosystem, live there, enjoy people, get into labs, collaborate with people, and join clubs. MIT is the only top university that did not open campuses around the world, and that is because of the unique network and the special ecosystem that they've been able to create around campus.