World leaders meet in San Telmo

Yesterday it was held, at the headquarters of San Telmo Business School in Seville, the second meeting of the International Advisory Council on Corporate Governance, consisting of fifty members, leaders of large companies from all the world.

One of the Council’s aims, founded on April 2018, is identify which problems and opportunities are observed today by the top-level companies. To this end, during this second meeting, the attendees discussed the main challenges faced by the companies that they run.

Peter Brabeck-Lemathe, president Emeritus of Nestlé and president of the council, welcomed the new members and expressed satisfaction and excitement about the level of the members of the council. He said that he was certain that the joint reflection of those senior executives, can help make San Telmo's motto "Better companies, better society" comes true.

The role of senior managers to create high performance teams

Following the meeting of the council, it was held the round table: "The Role of Senior Management to Create Competent and Committed Teams", attended by one hundred of businessmen and managers, former students of San Telmo.

Antonio Huertas, president of Mapfre, Anton Colella, Global CEO of Moore Stephens International, and Juan Manuel González Serna and Lucia Urban, president and vice president of Cerealto Siro Foods, all of them members of the International Council, were the speakers at the event.

During his speech, Antonio Huertas said that the company that he chairs offers opportunity to grow professionally. He defended the meritocracy and the development of talent as platforms, so that more than 36,000 employees in the group feel important within the organization and can progress. Furthermore, he affirmed that Mapfre's values ​​are "solvency, integrity, education service, innovation and two-dimensional commitment.”

Juan Manuel González Serna and Lucia Urban explained that Cerealto Siro Foods is a multinational food group founded as a result of the integration of Siro and Cerealto, as a global company with an entrepreneurial spirit whose vision is "to make cereals to be the best products for all consumers in a society which values us for what we are and do and which wants us exist forever."

With regard inclusion in their company -fundamental strategic lever in the strategy for people of Cerealto Siro Foods that has made the company to be the Spanish company with more working people with disabilities- Gonzalez Serna said that the key is to adapt the needs of people with disabilities eliminating architectural barriers and helping professionals in selection and recruitment process.

On the other hand, the CEO of Moore Stephens International, Anton Colella, affirmed that "we have forgotten how business can drive social change." In this sense, he admitted that one serious problem in the world and in companies is that we have lost humanity. He said that "love" is the only way to alleviate it. "If you want your teams to love your customers, teams have to love the employees too", he said.

Values ​​to make a better society

Following the speakers’ interventions, those present could ask questions and make comments, thus it emerged an interesting and fruitful discussion. In this regard, the president emeritus of Nestlé, said that technology should not dehumanize companies nor individual relationships. “The employees are committed to the people of the company, their bosses, a project, but not to an algorithm," he said.

According to Colella one key factor is small details in everyday life, because it is what commits people. In addition, many agreed that "when someone decides to leave a team, it is usually to get away from a bad boss.”

During the debate another key topic was the selection process itself as the appropriate competent and committed people was in the selection itself and strive to get hire those who fit with the value system that the company has. Juan Manuel González Serna, referred to an idea: “we hired for talent and fire for disposition."

Finally, and related to the values ​​that a good collaborator should have, many agreed in pointing out that the main values ​​were effort, tolerance, spirit of service, respect and optimism. They were sure that, counting on these values, they could impact on others, and therefore, improve the society in which we live.