RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A survey of 134 CEOs identified their list of priorities were they seated in the most important chair of the Presidential Palace.
Amidst speculation about next year’s presidential race, a scenario still filled with uncertainties because of the pandemic and the growing polarization in Brazilian politics, a doubt crosses the minds of many people willing to reflect on the country’s direction: what would be the priorities of someone chosen for the Presidency of the Republic as of 2023?
One public in particular usually has many opinions about the priorities of the maximum head of the Executive Branch: company CEOs. After all, the job of a CEO and that of President of the Republic have a lot in common. Both presuppose a good deal of patience to command a contingent of subordinates. Both jobs require quick decision-making on many strategies – and conflicts.
They are, after all, the jobs with the most risk within an organization. A misstep at the helm of a company can mean the end of the line for the management of a CEO who is most likely at odds with a board of directors that is dissatisfied with the results.
At the head of the Presidency of the Republic, particularly in a democracy still under construction such as Brazil’s, the failure to attend to the desires of citizens, politicians and public servants often ends in impeachment motions.
Facing these similarities, what would Brazilian CEOs do if they were elected President of the Republic in 2022? Business consultant Cesar Souza looked into this doubt in the last few weeks. Founder of Empreenda group, a management consulting firm for most of the largest Brazilian companies, Souza set up an online survey in March, answered by 134 CEOs from all Brazilian regions – and business sizes.
The survey sought to contemplate diverse groups of company leaders, such as having a good representation of female executives. The intention, according to Souza, was to serve as a kind of thermometer of the management requirements most demanded by Brazilian CEOs – whether for those who are going to sit in the most important chair of the Presidential Palace, or for leaders within the business they run.
The list of priorities of Brazilian CEOs in the event that they are awarded a victory in next year’s election race, in a way, brings few surprises in relation to the general consensus in the business class about the obstacles to the country’s growth.
In first place in the immediate actions of the CEOs is a solution to the maze of rules for paying taxes: almost 9 out of 10 respondents placed tax reform as the number 1 task at the beginning of a mandate in Brasília.
Very close to being unanimous are also improvements in education: 68% of respondents advocate a national pact in classrooms capable of improving the quality of the Brazilian labor force – and, on the other hand, raising the productivity of Brazilian companies, an indicator that has been virtually stagnant for two decades.
In the sequence are two other ideas repeated almost to exhaustion by politicians, business associations, economists, public administrators and other groups alarmed by the growing indebtedness of the federal government: the reduction of spending in the public machine (68% advocate an urgency in measures in this direction) and a broad program of privatization of state-owned companies little recognized for efficiency in service delivery (55% of respondents support the idea). “The business community wants long-term measures,” says Souza. “It’s a type of planning that they are used to doing in their businesses and that they miss in the public machine.”
Is there any presidential candidate capable of pursuing this agenda, according to entrepreneurs? The purpose of the survey was not to “ascribe” names capable of following the primer of entrepreneurs to be applied as of January 1st, 2023, says Souza. In conversations with some of the respondents, after the survey, the name of senator Tasso Jereissati (PSDB), from Ceará, came up again and again.
Nicknamed the “Brazilian Joe Biden” due to similarities with the Democratic president of the United States – both have extensive experience in Congress and are perceived as skilled at finding a middle ground to reconcile opposing interests – Jereissati has affinity with the priority agenda of the interviewed CEOs. “His name appeared as a safe bet to pursue that agenda,” says Souza. “But between now and the elections a lot can happen and new candidates can emerge.”
Souza’s survey also looked at the quality of leadership within the respondents’ companies. The conclusion is not good: 43% of the CEOs interviewed say there is a lack of sufficiently trained people in their companies to put in place the entire strategy designed for the business for the period ranging from 2021 to 2025.
The shortage reaches the top. Almost half of respondents say they don’t have a successor ready to take over the reins of the business in an eventuality. Another 30% have already chosen a successor, but the name remains unknown to other relevant parts of the company, such as the board of directors. Only 26% have done all their homework.
To a large extent, behind the challenge of CEOs to find good people to take the heat in their own business is the lack of preparation of Brazilian companies for the so-called “digital transformation”, a concept somewhat broad and increasingly talked about by CEOs exasperated with the hassles created by life in quarantine.
The opening and closing of the street trade only hinders sales strategies. Competitors with well-oiled customer service channels on the Internet are swimming in a pandemic scenario with no end date. Recently opened startups dare to completely change the way products are consumed in entire sectors. “The CEO’s life has become too complicated,” says Souza.
Not surprisingly, respondents consider they still have a long way to go to change their businesses for the digital era. For 48% of them “there are still many adjustments to be made” until they get there. Only 4% consider their companies “fully adequate” to the new scenario.
On the list of obstacles to the transformation are issues that are increasingly relevant in companies forced to send employees to work from home to minimize the risks of contagion by the virus, such as the lack of a strong internal culture (46% cited the problem) and the shortage of quality labor (41%).
As a result of all this, Souza sees a change in the skills considered relevant by Brazilian leaders for their work. The visionary CEOs who are not very fond of making daily decisions on issues that are not very relevant to the company’s overall strategy – the “beans and rice” of management – are leaving the scene.
On the rise are what Souza calls “transforming leaders”, willing to get into details that are considered trivial by many managers, but that can contribute to building a more cohesive organizational culture for the company. In the survey, 54% of respondents cited this profile as the most relevant for a Brazilian business leader in 2025.
Would it also be a tip for those who are willing to lead the Republic as of 2023? “Yes, the idea applies to leaders at all levels, including government leaders,” says Souza. Considering that the priorities of CEOs for the country are well-known urgent measures, such as tax reform, it seems that it is time for fewer ideas and more actions from whoever occupies the Presidency of the Republic in 2023.
Source: Exame