Osvaldo Schirmer: reputation is built with all stakeholders

Reputation on board#4 (Final)

With the experience of someone who has served on boards of directors for decades, both in commerce and industry, Osvaldo Burgos Schirmer has a very personal definition of what he understands as corporate reputation. Reputation is respect and preservation of the culture of organizations, he says.

Reputation is built through dealing with suppliers, customers, the workforce, the community – with all stakeholders, adds Schirmer. He is a member of the boards of directors of organizations such as Renner, SLC and Yduqs (former Estácio), in addition to being an advisory advisor for Oleoplan, FCC, Goal and the Logemann family holding.

Below is a summary of the conversation that closes the series Reputation on the board, published over the last few weeks with some of the most influential business advisors from the country.

“Preserved own culture generates trust”

What I consider most relevant in terms of reputation as a business driver is respect and preservation of the organizations' culture. A company that has its own culture and protects it, preserving it, has all the conditions to generate trust.

“People are worried about ESG, thinking it is a passport to heaven”

Reputation is built far beyond ESG, as it has to do with dealing with suppliers, customers, labor, the community that surrounds companies or their points of excellence. People are very concerned about the issue of ESG, thinking that this is a ticket to heaven. There are a lot of people running like crazy to fit into the rules. Many people think that if they are nice to the environment, they are buying a reprieve.

“Relationships with suppliers are a challenge in relation to reputation”

One of the main challenges for boards of directors in addressing issues associated with reputation within companies is the relationship with suppliers and customers. It is necessary to be obsessive when it comes to suppliers in relation to aspects such as slavery-like labor, for example. It is necessary to know whether suppliers use something that is harmful to nature, whether the final products are taken care of properly, as all of this affects the companies' reputation.

“You must always be suspicious, check, check, check”

Many people in the market give credit based on names, not numbers. It is necessary to always be suspicious, check, check, check. With my experience in the financial area, I understand that, no matter how much reputation someone or a company has, it should always be examined as if it didn't. In the case of suppliers, attention has to be even greater. In Brazil, we can still see it. Abroad, we have to use third parties to inspect a small producer in the interior of China, for example. Now, when it comes to fraud, there is no vaccine. Fraud changes its appearance, changes its size, changes its origins, its mechanisms, and humanity has been doing this for centuries. It is true that control instruments are also improving, but the human imagination is always very creative. Whoever gives credit has to check the most basic things, look at the balance sheet, have confidence in the audit company if it actually carries out diligent evaluation and checking. You have to check, check, cross-reference information, see references, and not simply base yourself on the name of the company.

“The best ideas emerge from discussions between people with different backgrounds”

“We shouldn’t let ourselves be carried away by extremely poetic flags”

Diversity is a beautiful banner, but more poetic than effective, in my opinion, to the point that there are several movements in the world, to which I am particularly opposed, demanding quotas – quotas for women, quotas for black people, quotas for genders. People are worth what they can contribute, whether they are white, black, women, whatever. Sexual preference, for example, should not prevent anyone from sitting on a board. Everyone is worth who they are, not their preferences. We shouldn't let ourselves be carried away by extremely poetic flags.

“In a decision by consensus, the responsibility lies with everyone”

When everyone manages to convince everyone else, it's much better than when something is approved by seven to three, five to two, depending on the size of the council. Those who voted against what was ultimately decided by the majority will have written it down in their notebook: such a day, at the council meeting, I said this, this, this. See? I was right. In a decision by consensus, in which everyone is convinced, the decision becomes everyone's and everyone's responsibility. There is no room for someone to say: see?, I said.

“You can’t leave issues involving people and the company’s financial health until later”