The second plenary was in charge of Eduardo Braun ex-Director of HSM Group. He is Industrial Engineer (University of Buenos Aires) and has an MBA from Wharton School – University of Pennsylvania.
Eduardo started by asking the audience about which are the roles of a leader. The audience provided the following answers.
- Motivate
- Coordinate
- Make things happen
- Organize
- Guide to the best
- Empower (make people bigger)
- Innovation and implementation
- Make change part of the organization
- Sometimes be the bad guy
Bill Clinton said** “Let me share my view of the world, then you can change it, but it is important to have one. If not all will seem “interesting” and you will not be able to do anything with it (like water slipping through our fingers).”** Eduardo pointed that machines have a very good user manual, but with humans is quite different. This is the objective of leadership.
Then Braun showed a video of an interview with Tony Blair (former UK prime minister) toward leadership. “To do what you think is the right decision, even if it´s not a popular one. You cannot please people all of the time. Self confidence, is a key characteristic of a leader.”
To remark the importance of cultural aspect on enterprises, Eduardo Braun brought the case of John Chambers (CEO of Cisco Systems) and his system of creating a real culture and to sostain it. Braun added that you DO hire or fire based on cultural aspects of your enterprise, because culture is an umbrella for all the other keys of leadership. It gives your team a mantra, values and strategic behaviours.
Toward vision, as Rudy Giuliani said, “Leadership is about ideas. You have to know what do you believe in and communicate it effectively.” What makes you jump from your bed every morning? Think of that and you’ll get the answer.
Other cases of important leaders that Eduardo quoted are:
-Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwestern Airlines, which was the most profitable investment between 1972 and 2002 from the whole business spectrum. He has a humanistic approach, cares about the people and the employees: “If your passion is people and curiosity, you can change the world”.
-Film director James Cameron: “I love the moments when I don’t know the answer and my team don’t know the answer”.
To conclude, let’’s remember the most encourageous phrase that Eduardo Braun got by interviewing world leaders. This came from Jack Welch, legendary CEO of General Electric. He said, without any kind of complexity,“be authentic”. Authenticity summarizes all the skills that you need to have in order to become a genuine leader.
