OLA Brazil make waves with the business community

Guided by the motto he has adopted as embodying the spirit of Oxford Leadership Academy Brazil, “Inspire and Execute”, Rui Francisco de Paula, the Executive Country Manager, has not been letting the grass grow under his feet.

From a standing start in early 2009 he has turned the branch office in Sao Paolo into one of the most active in the region, with the full and able support of OLA’s Relationship Manager for Latin America, Miguel Gowland.
 

  • Chairman and CEO Brian Bacon has visited the country three times over the course of the year, and together with Senior Fellow Ken O’Donnell has led Strategic Focusing workshops with the FIEP (Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná) and Brazilian food company Nutrimental. In August he addressed over 1200 CEOs and entrepreneurs at the Parana State Industries Conference. In addition to this, in a speech at a private breakfast meeting for 40 HR executives he announced the agreement that OLA and UNINDUS would work together to develop leadership skills in the Brazilian business community.

         

          OLA CEO and Chairman Brian Bacon at the FIEP conference

  • Oxford Leadership Academy is playing a key role in Brazil’s drive towards sustainability and innovation. In July a workshop organised by the CNI (National Confederation of Industries) brought together 80 senior business leaders from all over the country to consider the first draft of a white paper written by Ken O’Donnell pinpointing the key criteria that will make Brazil a global leader in this area. The finalised document was drafted following a conference attended by 500 CEOs and senior executives in August, a conference which Brian concluded with a keynote address. The white paper is due to be submitted to President Lula in November, and is designed to ensure the release of state funding which will make the sustainability and innovation agenda a reality for Brazilian business.
  • The above and others bring to 13 the number of projects designed to facilitate organisational strategic realignment which Rui has led across Brazil since he took the reins.

         

          Integrating Mind-Mapping into the Strategic Focusing process

                 

          Over 1700 executives have attended OLA events.

  • Ken O’Donnell has led the training of a select group of consultants who have joined OLA Brazil over the last few months. We are delighted to welcome Eduardo Bonfanti, Cristina Camargo, Armando Rodrigues, Fernando Polignano, Maxwel Martins da Silva, Rodrigo Ambros, Erileuza Mendes, Vania Bueno, Sueli da Rocha, Flavia Rodrigues, Patricia Buzolin, Sandra Pitman, and Daniel Castello to the OLA community.

         

  • OLA Brazil has run a number of open and in-house sessions of the highly successful Self Managing Leadership® Programme. Rui and his team play an integral role in organising and running the Latin American programmes of global paints giant Akzo Nobel’s “Ignite the Spirit” Leadership Development strategy, which is facilitated by Oxford Leadership Academy. Leadership Journeys bringing together top leaders from Akzo Nobel’s regional business units were run in May and September, and two more will be taking place at the end of November.
     

         

          Rui Francisco and Ken O'Donnell

Crucially, and gratifyingly, feedback from OLA programme participants evaluating content and delivery has averaged at 4.78 out of a possible 5.

Rui has identified the key values which will inform every aspect of OLA’s activities:

  • Working to make a better world
  • Reliability, transparency, developed ethical sense
  • Respect for the environment
  • Committment and engagement
  • Build long-term relationships based on open communication
     

Rui’s business plan for OLA Brazil positions the company in its natural place at the very top end of business and strategic consulting, and ensures that Oxford Leadership Academy is set to be a major agent of positive change for communities in Brazil and beyond. 
 

 

November 2009