After more than 10 years working for the internet giant—first as Communications Manager for Argentina and later for the Southern Cone— Florencia Sabatini has been in charge of Google’s strategic communications in 18 Latin American countries since last April, including Uruguay, Argentina, and Mexico.
Since joining the company, the professor of the Master’s in Communication and Marketing Management at Universidad ORT Uruguay in Universidad ORT Uruguay responsible for strategically leading Google’s media communications in the markets she oversaw (Argentina and the Southern Cone). According to her, immersed in a fast-paced and highly competitive industry, she always made sure her teams were involved in the idea generation and decision-making processes to create the best possible conditions for addressing the company’s various challenges and objectives. “Developing different scenarios in advance, and understanding and tracking the evolution of each possible situation from a communications perspective, was always my primary role,” she says.
"Communication is playing an increasingly central role in management and among the essential skills that a good leader must possess," says Sabatini.
Given the broad range of topics and industries the company covers—from technology to marketing and advertising, entertainment, consumer goods, and even culture—relationships with the media and opinion leaders are a fundamental part of Sabatini’s and his teams’ work. Since Google takes a “federal approach” and carries out initiatives everywhere, the goal is to “ensure there is always a coherent strategy at the macro level, while also addressing the complexity and unique characteristics of each country,” he says.
Taking on a new role
In his new role, Sabatini is responsible for the regional coordination of the external communications strategy for 18 countries, an area in which more than 800 employees work.
“A central part of my new role is to ensure there is a coordinated strategy at the regional level, while at the same time addressing the unique complexities of each country in its own specific context. Latin America is an exciting and diverse region where Google still has so much to contribute, and I am convinced that, through technology, we can continue to improve people’s lives,” says the professor at ORT’s School of Communication and Design regarding the company’s role in the response to COVID-19, economic recovery, and the promotion of education on the continent.
He also believes that strategic communication is essential to achieving an organization’s goals, whether they are business, financial, human resources, or any other type of goal. That is why he points out that Google always strives, through communication, to show that what it offers is useful to people in every aspect of life. Communicating the products and/or services Google offers to “make people’s lives easier” involves not only presenting them but also explaining how they work and what they are used for. He argues that “the impact of using them, in general, is experiential, and that is when people appreciate the value that the experience of using them brings to different areas of their lives.”
Communication and Teaching
“For me, teaching is a great learning experience. To fulfill this role well requires a great deal of humility and generosity. It is an act of sharing,” says Sabatini, who has been teaching for over 15 years at various institutions, including Universidad ORT Uruguay, where she is a visiting professor in the Master’s Program in Communication and Marketing Management.
Passionate about teaching and everything related to the education and training of future generations, she says that from this perspective she strives to share with her students her belief that communication “is part of an organization’s DNA,” regardless of any area of specialization.
Furthermore, he believes that “new organizational cultures led by leaders from new generations” are gradually emerging. In this regard, he believes that communication is playing an increasingly central role in the function of the management and within the battery of essential skills that a good leader must have.
“Naturally,” he says, “for Google, given the company’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, communication is in its DNA. But this isn’t much different for organizations in other markets or of other sizes. Communication is key for any player that aims to play a significant role in its market or industry.”
According to Sabatini, working at Google for all these years and in various roles has provided her with many examples, anecdotes, and lessons that become “engaging” when organized for presentation to a class. “Working for a company like Google sometimes gives you the feeling that you’re part of a group of people who, along with others from other companies, are shaping the future of our society, and being a facilitator to share a little bit of everything that’s happening, within the context of a class, I think is incredibly engaging for those who participate in it,” she concludes.