Portuguese with growth mindset pursues personal growth in SZ

When presented with a challenge, individuals with a growth mindset view it as a golden opportunity for personal development and an avenue to explore new horizons. Bruno Vilares, a senior director at Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co. Ltd., sounds precisely like someone with a growth mindset.

Bruno Vilares Photos courtesy of the interviewee

Given the option of a job rotation within Huawei, with locations including Dusseldorf in Germany, Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Shenzhen in China, Vilares opted for Shenzhen. He saw the rapidly growing city as a dynamic environment that presented ample opportunities for learning and embracing the new.

“I asked myself: what was the biggest challenge and where could I grow more and faster? China. Things are happening so fast in Shenzhen, which gives you the opportunity to learn and get to know a lot of new things. That’s why I moved to Shenzhen,” Vilares said.

Vilares began his career as a software engineer at global professional services company Accenture and later worked for Swedish technology company Ericsson before joining Huawei in Sweden at the end of 2013.

“When I started my career, I spent a lot of time in Africa, mainly in Angola, building mobile networks for people who didn’t have a simple way to communicate. I’ve always enjoyed challenges and helping others while also helping myself to grow,” said the dynamic and determined Portuguese, who appreciates the excitement of needing to learn new things, make quick decisions and adapt to the unknown.

Bruno Vilares poses for a photo in front of Huawei's booth at an exhibition. 

While Vilares initially embraced the challenge of moving to Shenzhen in 2016, his growth mindset continued to drive him. In 2023, Vilares took up the gauntlet from Huawei Digital Power, Huawei’s new business unit, leaving telecoms behind and working hard to learn everything about renewable energy and electric vehicles.

“Now I’m helping people build a better and cleaner world, a world with less carbon footprint,” Vilares said, adding that his life revolves around doing things that will have an impact on society and change it for the better.

Shenzhen, in his perspective, stands out for its rapid growth, openness, inclusiveness, adaptability, and its status as a “city of the future.”

“In Shenzhen you can achieve things, but you need to possess a work-things-out mindset,” Vilares said. He recalled how Shenzhen is always quick to restore normal life during and after typhoons, and how Shenzhen residents brave the wind and rain to get to work.

The “city of the future” also gives Vilares a thrill to work with technologies that will shape daily lives in the next 10 to 20 years. “I don’t work for today. I work for 10 years ahead. That’s the difference. That’s why it makes me excited to get new challenges.”

Vilares admitted that he had left Shenzhen in December 2022 with no plans to return. “Six months later I was already back. So, it seems like the city didn’t let me go and pulled me back.”