Grateful for the leaders who inspired him, he believes that “the focus on rigor in management”, is not enough…
Happy in what he does and aware of the path taken to date, Gonçalo Caseiro put the experience of the private sector at the service of the public interest. Chairman of the Board of Directors of INCM, his path crossed with that of AESE in order to attend the PADE – Senior Management Program for Companies. Grateful for the leaders who inspired him, he believes that “the focus on rigor in management”, is not enough… It is necessary to see it “as a set of values and objectives”, ensuring sustainability and finding new solutions for the future.
What are the main milestones in your professional career that contributed to your position as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Mint and Official Printing Office (INCM)?
It is difficult to answer this question and to identify specific events. I believe that we are the result of the experiences we have, the decisions we make. The habit does not make the monk, as popular wisdom says, but the practice certainly does. I am sure that every moment of my professional career has been relevant to the person I am today and to the place I occupy, as well as my professional and human background.
From academia I brought the importance of teamwork and collaborative work and, from the Public Administration bodies where I worked, and even from experience in the private sector, I acquired the interest and dedication to public service and the sense of mission to contribute to something greater. With the associative works, I conquered freedom of thought and the appreciation of experimentation to study, investigate and create new solutions. And in the national and international events in which I participate or in the articles I publish, I have the opportunity to systematize all the experiences I collect, confront ideas and share points of view. On the other hand, the institutions, with their culture and the people who make it up, are also shaping us and I had the privilege of learning a lot from all those who are part of the INCM.
Fortunately I do what I like and I bring this whole journey with me daily.
What were your main achievements?
I took on a management position in a large multicentenary company, full of history, industry and culture, with the main responsibility of continuing to build its future, honoring its past, the workers and all those who preceded me.
But, contrary to what would be expected, I did not find this confrontation between the past and the future in an evident way. At INCM, all employees, from artisans to my colleagues on the board of directors, have taken on the purpose of innovating in the offer of products and services, the courage to open the doors to academia to embrace R&D, the risk of exporting Portuguese technology, because that, this focus on products of excellence and the customer, it has always been part of the institution’s DNA and culture.
I would say that the main achievement was to create this purpose and maintain and renew the values that have always differentiated the company and thus position the institution in the future, contributing to ensure its sustainability. We have already gone from paper to digital and we have already experimented with the new solutions of the future in the present. The purpose brought us these achievements.
What are the main lessons that make you the leader you are today?
Learning is continuous. I would say, first of all, that academia has been very relevant, since my student days at IST. At Técnico we learn to be leaders, to take care of those who are by our side or in our group, projects and major engineering works are not done individually. Then, obviously, the training of excellence such as AESE, where we do not only focus on rigor in management, but we see management as a set of values and objectives.
Then I had the enormous privilege of having had the opportunity to follow a remarkable set of leaders myself. And each one, in a particular way, taught me and made me see differently and further. This has happened throughout my career. A professional lesson and a life lesson.
What values do you govern yourself by and that you transmit to your teams?
Leading continues to be to know, to create empathy, to influence for a common purpose. If we do this, we are putting the individual at the center and, consequently, getting the best out of each one.
But it is necessary to create this inspiring purpose. And, in many cases, to give freedom. Freedom to experiment (and make mistakes), because we often have to dare to do differently, to look for something new. It is this motivation to create something, whether it is an idea or a big project, that I try to convey to all teams. Therefore, I highlight, without a doubt, work, innovation, autonomy, sustainability.
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
Life is too short for regrets or, as one of our poets would say, to wish for what could have been or longing for what never was.
It’s positive to feel that we would do something different, that we would take other options. It means that we grow, we learn, but we don’t consume energy to relive any past moment in those terms.
Professionally, how do you see yourself in 5 years?
The future will certainly have the art and ingenuity to destroy any plans. However, I hope to have the pleasure of seeing people, who I helped to train and grow professionally, succeed, within a set of values and principles that make us move towards a better world. And I hope to be able to continue to contribute to achieving sustainable projects and/or policies that have a positive impact on society and people. The essential thing is always the people. And the future will always be a field of opportunities and discoveries, sometimes totally unexpected.
