Conference "Responsible Leadership for a Portugal with Future": "Being a responsible leader is a commitment to society"

"We believe that leaders should be based on solid values and ethical behaviour, creating organisations based on excellence and merit, where individual interests do not override the common good." These were the words of Filipe Santos, Dean of CATÓLICA-LISBON, at the conference "Responsible Leadership for a Portugal with Future", organised in partnership with the Expresso newspaper. This event marked the beginning of the school's 50th anniversary celebration, which took place on November 24.

On this occasion, the study "Responsible Leadership: what does it consist of and which way forward for Portugal?", carried out by researchers from the Center for Responsible Business & Leadership (CRB) of CATÓLICA-LISBON, was presented.

According to Francisca Saldanha, main researcher of this study and professor at CLSBE, "being a responsible leader is a commitment that goes beyond day-to-day business management. It encompasses a responsibility to society, community and political responsibility".

Nuno Moreira da Cruz, director of the CRB, highlighted: "there is a link between sustainable companies, in the holistic sense, and financial results in the medium and long term. The demands of society have been changing opinions about responsible leadership."

Opinion shared by Rita Sousa Almeida, President of the CATÓLICA-LISBON Students Union. "The leaders, at the time of my parents, saw themselves in a very different way. As owners of the company, they believed and defended that they could do everything by themselves", said the student. In contrast, "what is expected of the leaders of the present and the future is that they be more dynamic, more proactive, that they have more vision of the future and that they want to follow it not individually, but as a team".

Also present at the conference, Isabel Ucha, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Euronext Lisbon, stressed the need to "take the path so that there is not only a financial return, but also a positive impact for society."

An argument reinforced by Ricardo Pires, CEO of SEMAPA, who believes that the creation of the return should be "environmentally sustainable and in line with the future, within this period of change and opportunities to do more and better".

João Pedro Tavares, President of the Associação Cristã de Empresários e Gestores also shared: "in companies, Responsible Leadership is already being talked about a lot and the leaders themselves are already struggling with this reality that they are no longer just leaders, but people. It is necessary to continue to spread this idea, so that we lead with purpose".

The executive left a message for the new generation: "Focus on others, because a responsible leader is more likely to be happier because he has a purpose and a mission to fulfil. If we make leadership just a position, we will be impoverishing ourselves."