Many years after leaving SONAE, I started working at Fidelidade. By then, my un-official management degree on SONAE had been complemented with another un-official degree on DIA Internacional and a very official Master of Science on Business Administration at Henley Business School - Reading University. TheDoctorate was on it’s way and I felt comfortable enough with my theoretical background and with my professional experience on such demanding companies like those I had worked for.

Furthermore teaching at AESE, confronted me with so many different industries, complex problems and with so many competent people – the faculty and particularly the participants on the different courses- that at such stage of my life I was very comfortable and confident discussing and delivering not only Strategy andMarketing, but also every business perspective a company had to deal with.

SONAE had taught me to be always up-front, direct and transparent without any kind of political subtleties (lesson #2). But these subtleties were much more in need on a company like Fidelidade, where a lot of political compromise always took place.

I loved to work for Fidelidade, specially launching MultiCare - the Health Insurance Company that was growing at a two-digit pace at that time. I started the project almost from scratch, selecting a mixed team of insurance old school experts and what could be called, at that time, a new generation of managers -all born with a laptop on their backpack. From an annual revenue of €40 000 to an annual revenue close to €40 000 000, Multicare had survived a cascade of mergers and acquisitions, topping number one on market share. A jewel on the crown at Fidelidade.

Reading Maquiavel’s work “The Prince” I acknowledged that he defended that Princes should be either appreciated or feared. If they could not be appreciated, they should be feared at first place. I was not a Prince at all, I was a manager, but I believed honestly on the first option. However, I felt that I was not appreciated by my pears and they used to keep a “security distance” from me. That was something unexpected and made me feel unhappy. Belmiro was respected, truly appreciated but he was mostly feared. SONAE culture was a big deal about his unique personality and skills. But perhaps (Lesson #2) at Fidelidade was not as efficient as at SONAE.

On an informal conversation about management skills with Jorge Magalhaes Correia -CEO of Fidelidade - he said to me: “…You know, it’s good to be upfront but there are so many ways to tell the truth, that you should take care about taking the right one...”. He added that he was quoting a preeminent lawyer he knew. He also quoted him saying: “If there are so many ways of telling the truth, why to lie?“

I realized on that moment that SONAE’s (Lesson #2) - that helped me so much being successful over there and at DIA - was most probably my main handicap at Fidelidade. Success at Fidelidade was not all about being profitable and market leader, it was also about being social and political at the first place. One could be up-front - telling all the truths - but should also be political -knowing how to say the very same truths, selecting the political one from the different alternatives. And social networking and back stage negotiation was paramount tobe successful more than being up-front.

I don’t know the lesson’s number this was, but it was perhaps the most definitive I took from Fidelidade and from Jorge.

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(This is a very humble personal tribute to Jorge Magalhaes Correia - an amazing person, the most empathic leader I ever met, a Primus Inter Pares, and one of the best and competent managers of his generation. I learned a lot with him, and withAlvarez Quintero and with many others at Fidelidade. Thank you very much Jorge!)

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