“All this, of course, in connection to their activities in the field of biologicals,” said Toni. “No specific technical question was the object of the panel; the high-level insight was the encompassing theme.
“It was all about the management of risk when choosing opportunities, the approach in turning a company vision into a reality, management of change, and the appraisal of human values, i.e., the search for talent and keeping the motivation in tough junctures,” added Toni.
The panel was comprised of Javier Calleja, CEO of Rovensa Next; Nadia Gagliardini, President and owner of Sipcam-Oxon; Luca Bonini, CEO of Hello Nature; Rodrigo Oliveira, COO of Corteva USA; and Carlos Rodriguez-Villa Förster, CEO of AlgaEnergy.
Company vision All panelists agreed on the importance of a long-term approach/vision for their companies. Luca Bonini stated that managers must be committed to the vision, but also have patience and expect challenges.
Rodrigo Oliveira expanded on that thought, stating that it’s imperative for management to spend time not only with its own staff but also with customers, and to align company culture and compensation with vision. “As leaders, we need to guarantee that we are executing on our vision, and we have the people engaged with this proposal and align with us to be successful,” he said. “The strategy must be very aligned to every component with the vision. But I will reinforce the people side – we need to pay attention to the organization’s culture to see if your environment is really supporting the team to deliver on your vision.”
Meanwhile, Javier Calleja stressed that a company’s vision should guide day-to-day activities. “Vision is something that should guide your day-to-day decisions because it’s the easy way to align the decisions of everyone.”
Carlos Rodriguez-Villa Förster stated that focusing on long-term relationships is vital to their company vision. “When we enter the market, what we do is focus on the long-term relationships, because we have a long-term vision. We have to implement a vision that is ambitious, but it’s a long-term vision.”
Finally, Nadia Gagliardini said that in her case, the first step is to transfer your vision to your top mangement, and to make them see the same movie of the same dream. “The second one is to implement the vision. And this is also an extremely difficult job, because you need people, especially if your vision implements different competencies than the ones you have in your company. So, it requires a high capacity to transfer this into a project, an execution, and all the steps that makes one’s vision a reality.”
Managing change On managing change, Oliveira stressed that managers should recognize that change is disruptive and understand the impact on staff. “Managers must lead by example,” he noted. “We need to be transparent, we need to be open to our team, and we need to be very close to them. And the most important thing, we need to walk the talk.”
Rovensa Next is comprised of 11 companies and, as a result, Calleja had a very distinct viewpoint on managing change. “The good thing is that all these companies are very different. They have different geographical footprints, they have a different product portfolio, but they have a common view of the industry,” he said. “I think it would be much harder if you try to put companies together that don’t share a view. [With us], things are easier because we basically talk the same language, and then it’s more a matter of execution which of course is not easy, but is something we can manage.”
Managing people Of course, companies are comprised of people, arguably the most important factor. When questioned about how their company enables people and manages morale, the panelists were very forthcoming.
Gagliardini said that while products are very important, people are your number one asset. “Whenever you want to develop a business, you need to assess how to recruit. And for a company like ours, it is very complicated at first because it’s a matter of attractivity of the place, attractivity of the business you can develop,” she noted, adding that not only do you have to recruit, you have to motivate and to maintain morale. “We are always quite happy that in our compnay we have a low turnover in general, because we like to hire people and to grow and develop together. It’s our philosophy.”
Rodriguez-Villa Förster said to expect surprises and manage your team’s morale, all the while keeping the focus on your culture and long-term goals. “Managing morale is managing productivity. And low productivity is not sustainable. Always having high morale is also very difficult,” he said. “For us, what the key is, is having a healthy culture where people, regardless if they have a good or a bad day, they are on a mission, are motivated to a deeper level. That is what makes a company resilient.”
With all the uncertainty in much of the world these days, motivation and morale are even more difficult to maintain. Bonini stresses that management should trust the team, and use mistakes as teaching opportunities, not to assign blame. “You need to trust your people. You need to give them responsibilities. You need to let them make mistakes, because everybody will make mistakes in a company. If you are not making mistakes, then you are doing nothing,” he said.
During the Q&A part of the panel discussion, a question from the audience resonated with all five panelists. The question was, what sort of education should universities and schools in general provide to students to enter this sector.
Bonini stated that students should be generalists, rather than specialists. Also, he said companies require people who “will be able to think, to really be able to make decisions, but to see the complexity of the situation” as well.
Calleja said when recruiting for his company, they try to find people with the right combination of technical skills and the right managerial skills. “When you have the people developing from the bottom to the top of the company, usually the tick that you really check for most is technical skills which is extremely important. But what we are trying to do is we are trying to combine that, ensuring that the people through the ranks are growing with other sets of capabilities.”
According to Toni, the CEO Insights panel was a resounding success. “All panelists played the game and provided valid contributions,” he said. “And overall, all insisted on the importance of a long-term approach/vision.” ●
Carlos Alexander Rodriguez-Villa Förster, Managing Director, AlgaEnergy
Rodrigo Oliveira, Chief Operating Officer, Corteva Biologicals
Luca Bonini, Chief Executive Officer, Hello Nature
Javier Calleja, Chief Executive Officer, Rovensa Next
Nadia Gagliardini, President, Sipcam Oxon
