Last Thursday, March 4th, the Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova launched the cycle of “the Lisbon MBA Talks with CEOs”. In this first edition, we had the privilege of welcoming Dr. Paulo Macedo, President of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), the largest Portuguese bank, who shared exclusive and extremely insightful thoughts on “Building hope in a time of crisis, how to act for necessary change” with the Lisbon MBA students from the Executive and International MBA programs.
Dr. Paulo Macedo started by outlining how the COVID crisis changed the outlook of economy, how new risks emerged, how customers changed their behavior toward banking solutions and how the banking sector saw a stagnation of banking income and will most probably see, in the short to medium term, an increase in non-performing loans. The President of CGD emphasized ‘how agility is the only way to move forward in a sector that has been moving from a branch-based channel to omnichannel banking whilst trying to maintain a seamless customer experience.’
According to Dr. Paulo Macedo, to ‘implement the necessary change, one must be very clear on what depends on us and what is out of our control. Trends in the sector may be acted upon, new business models can be designed to work more efficiently, leaders must lead more effectively and prioritize what is important.’ he told the audience. The President of CGD stressed that ‘leaders must be on stage and act with purpose and, more than ever, top management must be the catalyst of change, rebalance tangible and intangible assets, and reshape the future’. For those areas that do not depend on us, he suggested active communication, personal accountability, and willingness to be part of the change.
Dr. Paulo Macedo ended the session by congratulating the students on their decision to take a leap step in joining the Lisbon MBA in these times of uncertainty, telling them ‘(you) are in one of the best MBAs in the world, getting more knowledgeable, a better network and higher-level skills, during a major crisis, to face the challenge and lead companies in the post-pandemic’.
The presentation was followed by a very dynamic Q&A, during which students asked questions to the President of CGD, inquiring about business strategy in the banking sector and about his career journey and leadership style.
We would like to thank all of the attendees and especially Dr. Paulo Macedo for this inspirational and insightful talk.
“the Lisbon MBA Talks with CEOs” is an initiative by the Career Management Center of the Lisbon MBA Católica | Nova where students are offered the opportunity to interact and be inspired by C-Level executives who candidly share their experience and leadership journey.
