Ducati
- Jason Chinnock, Ducati’s North America CEO, has worked at the company for more than 20 years.
- He said that being forward-looking, taking detours, and avoiding stagnation helped advance his career.
- Ducati, an Italian luxury motorcycle brand owned by Volkswagen Group, turns 100 this year.
A top executive at Ducati who spent more than 20 years at the company said three things set him up for leadership success.
Jason Chinnock joined Ducati as a sales manager in 2004 and rose through the ranks to become the CEO of the Italian luxury motorcycle company’s North American division.
“I’m a motorcyclist. It’s an extension of who I am,” Chinnock said when asked how he stays passionate about the product after so many years in the company.
He said having a clear picture of the next couple of years, being willing to take a career detour, and always feeling challenged on the job helped keep him on track throughout his career.
1. Knowing what the next 3-5 years look like
When he started his career, Chinnock said he always thought three to five years ahead.
He said it’s essential to understand the objective you want to achieve and have a vision of where you want to be in three to five years.
“That’s a very powerful thing, because then whenever you make a decision that is career-defining, you ask yourself, ‘Is it getting me closer to that goal? Is it putting me on the path?'”
2. Taking a detour
Another career move that worked in Chinnock’s favor was taking a detour from Ducati and exploring a different industry.
He left the company in 2013 for about two years to join Lamborghini, the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer, seeking exposure and figuring out how to continue innovating.
He made the jump out with “really clear understanding” of the direction he wanted to grow in.
“If you are a fan or an enthusiast of what you’re doing, you can become very myopic; you get that horse blinders approach, and you don’t look outside your own four walls,” Chinnock said about staying at Ducati.
He said the stint at Lamborghini helped him gain experience outside the motorcycle industry. It also forced him to start from zero and practice building relationships from the ground up.
“All the things that I thought I had earned or developed over the years in terms of relationships, it was like hitting the reset button,” he said. “I had to start over.”
3. Not staying stagnant
And lastly, Chinnock said he doesn’t like staying stagnant in his role, so he switches things up when he feels that he is becoming too comfortable.
“The second I have it figured out, I need to change. I need to do something else,” he added.
For his role as CEO, which he’s held since 2016, he said he still hasn’t fully figured out everything about the role and is constantly learning new things as a leader — and that’s how he likes it now.
“Five years ago, we woke up, and we had the pandemic. Then, just this last year, we have had a completely new world regarding how we navigate tariffs,” Chinnock said.
He added, “So when I say I haven’t figured it out, it means that there’s not a set formula, that you can set it and forget it. You can’t put it on cruise control or an autopilot, and you never should.”
Ducati, which was founded in Italy in 1926, celebrates its centennial this year. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group.
Its motorcycles cost more than $10,000 in the US, with some models exceeding $40,000. In 2024, the company sold about 55,000 motorcycles worldwide, generating a revenue of 1 billion euros, or about $1.173 billion.