What does an executive learn on a factory assembly line? The relevance of each of the ‘pieces’ in the process. João Baptista Leite, current CEO of Unicre, guest on this episode of the podcast “The CEO is the limit” went through the experience and talks about the lessons he brought from the assembly line to leadership: “everyone wins or everyone loses” with each person’s performance
The story of João Baptista Leite, current CEO of Unicre, begins far from the top positions in the banking sector. The Carnation Revolution made him leave Angola and head to Lisbon, where he arrived in a cold November, “without a coat and nowhere to sleep”. The capital was the first stop on a path that would take him, at the age of 21, to Canada. He was determined to “start a life from scratch, with zero dollars in his pocket.” He worked “on what he had”, the assembly line of a factory: “you learn a lot because on an assembly line, everyone wins or everyone loses. What fails in the middle ruins everyone’s work”, he recalls. The lesson of cooperation and collective responsibility stuck with him throughout his life and shaped the way he would later lead teams in large financial organizations.
Determined to study to progress professionally, he made radical decisions to do so. In Canada, when he decided to dedicate himself to the course full time, he and his wife made an unusual plan. “We bought a freezer, we bought meat, fish, vegetables, everything, and I froze food for a year”, he recalls. The idea was simple: ensure survival during the months of study and avoid any temptation to spend extra money. He graduated in Technology in Canada, in the 80s, at a time when the digitalization of banking was just beginning.
When he finished the course, he began a new test of persistence: “I wrote and sent 500 CVs. I didn’t know anyone in Canada and I went to the phone book to look for companies”, he points out, remembering that he did the opposite of what was usual: “Everyone started with A, I started with Z selecting companies”. He waited days on end for answers, glued to a phone that insisted on not ringing. “One day it rang and that night I went to buy a suit on credit so I could look presentable”, he recalls.
For João Baptista Leite, this was the first step in a career that has already spanned 45 years dedicated to banking and financial technology, which today places him at the forefront of Unicre and at the center of the payments ecosystem in Portugal. He maintains his enthusiasm for what he does, but is already looking to the future. “My life journey from the war to the freezing cold winter made me realize that we have to plan what we will need to survive. Retirement is part of that planning.” And he emphasizes: “Our life as executives does not define us. We are not CEOs, we are CEOs and knowing how to prepare for the moment of departure is our responsibility.”
The CEO Is the Limit is Express’s leadership and career podcast. Every week, journalist Cátia Mateus shows who the Portuguese managers who marked the past, those who direct today and those who promise to shape the future are, how they started and what they did to reach the top. Inspiring stories, told in the first person, by those who dare to make things happen.
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