DREAM BIG Published originally as Sonho Grande Copyright © 2013 by Cristiane Correa All rights reserved No part in this book may be used or reproduced through any existing means without the written authorization of the writer Translation: John Fitzpatrick and Monica Pan Chacon Research: Débora Thomé Proof reading: Adam Korn and Peter Lenny Graphic design and layout: Marcia Raed and Adriana Moreno Cover: Miriam Lerner Cover Photo: Webb Chappell Ebook: SBNigri Artes e Textos Ltda Foreword “In the end, I am a teacher; that is really how I see myself.” – Jorge Paulo Lemann y relationship with this remarkable story began in the early 1990s in a classroom at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business I was leading a case discussion for an executive program, on the topic of what it takes to build a great company to last ere, sitting in the front row, was an understated executive wearing simple chinos and a casual shirt, drawing no attention to himself en he perked up when I began to gesticulate wildly about WalMart and invoking the entrepreneur Sam Walton as an example I described how Walton cra ed culture and built a great organization, and that this better explained Wal-Mart’s success than the notion of business strategy I argued that Sam Walton was more of a “clock builder” and less of a pure “time teller,” and that he was building Wal-Mart so that it need not depend upon his own visionary genius and charismatic personality e executive in the front row raised his hand and challenged me: “Well, I know Sam personally, and I disagree with you,” he said “I think that Sam is central to Wal-Mart’s success, and his visionary genius has carried it a long way.” “Yes,” I acknowledged, but then countered: “But don’t you think that true greatness comes only when you’re able to build a company that can thrive far beyond any individual leader?” We carried our discussion into the hallway, and I could see the executive was taken with the idea of enduring greatness, beyond any single generation of leadership He asked me if I would be interested in coming down to Brazil to share my ideas with his two partners and his company I did not know at that time that this fortuitous moment would turn into one of the most stimulating business friendships of my life e executive’s name was Jorge Paulo Lemann, his partners were Marcel Herrmann Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira, and their company was the investment bank Garantia I didn’t know anything about them, so I asked a Brazilian MBA student of mine, “Hey, have you ever heard of these guys?” He looked at me like I was crazy, as if I was asking a question like: “Have you ever heard of Warren Buffett or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?” He showed me an article on the investment bank, and told me the legend of how they assembled a team of young fanatics and built a tiny brokerage outfit into one of the great investment powerhouses in Latin America Then my MBA student added: “Oh, and they’re into the beer business now.” “ e beer business?” I thought to myself “What on earth is an investment bank doing in the beer business?” If anyone would have told me then that these bankers had the dream to build the biggest beer company in the world, and to buy Anheuser-Busch along the way, I would have said, “That’s not a vision, that’s delusion.” Yet, of course, that’s exactly what they did I have now been acquainted with the company, its culture, and the three partners for nearly two M decades, and have had the privilege to watch the development of this success story as it has unfolded in recent years I believe the primary reason we became such good friends is that they deeply resonated with the question that has occupied my own intellectual curiosity over the same two decades: What does it take to build an enduring great company? When Jerry Porras and I published Built to Last in 1994, they instinctively gravitated towards the ideas, and in particular the big dream of making a great company that would indeed be built to last In the intervening two decades, I have learned much from them Here in this preface, I would like to share the top 10 lessons I have gleaned from watching, teaching, and learning from their journey e founders certainly have a strong dose of nancial genius, but that is not the primary source of their success From the very beginning, their primary investments have been in people, especially young and talented leaders eir philosophy: Better to give talented (if unproven) people a chance, and endure a few disappointments along the way, than to not believe in people e number one ingredient in their secret sauce is an obsession with getting the right people, investing in those people, challenging those people, building around those people and watching those people experience the sheer joy and exhilaration of achieving a big dream together And, just as important, stay with your proven people for a long time It’s interesting to note that the three founders have worked together for four decades, and are as uni ed as ever And many of the best young people they brought into this system have stayed passionately involved for decades, such as the current CEO Carlos Brito ey didn’t just get the right people on the bus; they got the right people on the bus for a very long time 1) INVEST ALWAYS – AND ABOVE ALL – IN PEOPLE Great people need big things to do, or they will take their creative energies elsewhere So, the founders built a two-piston ywheel: First, get great people; second, give them big things to do; then, get more great people, and come up with the next big thing to do; then repeat, again and again is is how they sustained momentum over time ey always resonated with the idea of BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals – and built a culture to achieve them Watching them, I learned that sustaining momentum, and therefore retaining great people, is worth the inherent risks of pursuing big goals It’s like a great mountain-climbing team; on the one hand, there is inherent risk in doing one big mountain, then the next big mountain, then the next-bigger mountain a er that; on the other hand, if you don’t have new big mountains to climb, you will cease to develop and grow, and you will lose your best mountain climbers Great climbers need big mountains to climb, always and forever 2) SUSTAIN MOMENTUM WITH A BIG DREAM e founders built a consistent culture that gave people the opportunity to share in the rewards of the big dream e culture valued performance, not status; achievement, not age; contribution, not position; talent, not credentials By mixing these three ingredients – Dream + People + Culture – into a powerful concoction, they created a recipe for sustained success e culture rewarded performance; if you 3) CREATE A MERITOCRATIC OWNERSHIP CULTURE WITH ALIGNED INCENTIVES could make a signi cant contribution, and deliver results, within the boundaries of the culture, you would well; if you had the best credentials in the world, but could not deliver exceptional performance, you would be spit out e three partners believed that the very best people crave meritocracy, and mediocre people fear it e truly remarkable thing is how the Dream-People-Culture model carried from investment banking and nance into beer, from Brazil to all of Latin America, then to Europe and the United States, and now expanding all over the world For Lemann, Telles and Sicupira, culture is not in support of strategy; culture is strategy e three partners have always held to their core values and distinctive culture, while continually growing into new industries, expanding across geographies, and pointing towards ever bigger goals – a beautiful example of the underlying dynamic, “Preserve the Core and Stimulate Progress” exempli ed by any enduring great company ere is a corollary to this lesson: you can “predict the future by geography.” In the early days of the company, the three founders looked from Brazil to the United States, saw what was already working; then, instead of simply waiting for that to happen in Brazil, they would act aggressively to import the best United States practices, and so early 4) YOU CAN EXPORT A GREAT CULTURE ACROSS WIDELY DIVERGENT INDUSTRIES AND GEOGRAPHIES e three founders came of age during a tumultuous economic time in Brazil, and I once asked: “What did you learn about how to manage money in such uncertain and in ationary times?” e answer: “When everyone else was spending their time managing their money, we invested our time in building our company If we built our company, then that would be the very best way in the long run to generate wealth Managing money, by itself, never creates something great and lasting, but building something great can lead to substantial results.” When the three founders made the decision to buy Brahma beer, many observers expected they would simply use it as a quick nancial turnaround; but now, more than two decades after the purchase, we can see how they never viewed it as a financial transaction, but rather as another step in building the company ey stand as the antithesis of a built to ip mentality; it is always about being built to last 5) FOCUS ON CREATING SOMETHING GREAT, NOT ON “MANAGING MONEY.” On almost every dimension, the three founders exempli ed simplicity ey have very simple dress; you would not notice them in a crowd ey kept simple offices, never walling themselves off from their people in an executive suite ey used their increasing wealth not for opulence, but to simplify their lives, so they could focus on continuing to build the company (I learned that the best sign of true wealth is an uncluttered calendar, with time available to focus on the most important priorities.) And their entre strategy is so simple: Get great people, give them big things to and sustain a meritocratic ownership culture at’s essentially it, not more complicated than that True genius is not making an idea complex, but just the opposite: simplifying a complex world into a very simple idea, and holding to it for a very long time 6) SIMPLICITY HAS GENIUS AND MAGIC IN IT I once asked, “What is the essence of the type of person you are looking for?” e answer: “We are looking for fanatics.” We live in an age when people want a quick x, a shortcut to exceptional results But there is no such easy path ere is only an intense, long-term, sustained effort And the only way to build that kind of enterprise is to be fanatic Such obsessed people not become the most popular people, as they o en intimidate others, but when fanatics come together with other fanatics, the multiplicative effect is unstoppable 7) IT’S OKAY TO BE A FANATIC e company entered the 2008-09 nancial crisis having just taken on $50 billion of debt to make the historic acquisition of Anheuser-Busch Every year for the previous few years, the board journeyed to spend time with me at my management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado ese mountaintop meetings became a place for the board to engage with the biggest questions As we entered the Boulder meeting in December 2008, I expected they might exude a sense of crisis Instead, I was astounded by the calm, considered countenance as they navigated this time of tremendous peril Never once did I observe panic, but only an ethos of careful consideration of options, followed by deliberate and decisive decisions In times of uncertainty and chaos, people often want to act as quickly as possible, as if this will make a crisis go away e AB Inbev board followed a different philosophy: Understand how much time you have to make decisions, use that time to make the best decisions possible and maintain a sense of calm “Sure, it’s human nature to want to make the uncertainty go away,” said one of the founders “But that desire can lead you to decide quickly, sometimes too quickly Where I come from, you soon realize that uncertainty will never go away, no matter what decisions we make or actions we take So, if we have time to let the situation unfold, giving us more clarity before we act, we take that time Of course, when the time comes, you need to be ready to act decisively.” 8) DISCIPLINE AND CALM, NOT SPEED, IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN A TIME OF POTENTIAL CRISIS When the Brazilians and the Belgians came together to merge into the biggest beer company in the world, people wondered how these two cultures could coexist Yet they became a uni ed whole How did this happen? It happened because everyone involved had one goal: to what’s best to make a great and enduring company ey all embraced the Dream-People-Culture philosophy, and navigated the nancial crisis of 2008-09 as a completely uni ed group In the United States, most boards are benign, and the power resides primarily with the chief executive; boards tend to only become signi cant when it comes time to replace a failing CEO e AB Inbev board, however, is the primary power center in the company It exempli es that boards can play a central role in setting BHAGs, developing strategy, sustaining culture, seizing opportunities and leading through tumultuous times Without such a strong and uni ed board, AB Inbev would not have come through the 2008-09 challenges as strong as it did (and perhaps even not at all) e AB Inbev board pays constant attention to its own culture, disciplines and vibrancy, with as much fanatic attention as building and preserving the management culture of the company Most important, it makes decisions and allocates capital for long-term shareholder value, measured in multiple 9) A STRONG AND DISCIPLINED BOARD OF DIRECTORS CAN BE A POWERFUL STRATEGIC ASSET decades, not in terms of quarterly moments If more boards behaved this way, we would have better performing enterprises and lasting companies From early in his career, Jorge Paulo Lemann actively sought people he could learn from, and he would make pilgrimages to visit them: the great Japanese industrialist Matsushita, the visionary retailer Sam Walton, the great nancial genius Warren Buffett Not only that, he found ways to connect great people with other great people; he wasn’t “making connections” in the traditional way, but facilitating interactions among exceptional people and thereby stimulating an exponential level of learning for everyone Interestingly, as he moved into his h, sixth and seventh decades of life, he continued this learning quest, o en seeking mentors and teachers younger than himself e three founders remain always students, learning from the best and then teaching the next generation Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Herrmann Telles have, I suppose, seen me as a teacher; but the great irony is that I have been a voracious student of theirs all the way along Having studied the development of some of the most extraordinary business stories of all time, and the entrepreneurs and leaders who built them, I can say de nitively that this story – rising from such humble beginnings to global prominence – is one of which Brazilians should be immensely proud It stands in the same league as great business visionaries like Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Akio Morita and Steve Jobs And it is a story that leaders from around the world should know, as a source of learning and inspiration Best of all, the story is not yet done As these fanatics never stop asking, no matter how much they’ve achieved: What’s Next? 10) SEEK MENTORS AND TEACHERS, AND CONNECT THEM TOGETHER Jim Collins Boulder, Colorado, USA January 4, 2013 The building of an empire The highlights of the trio’s meteoric rise Jorge Paulo Lemann is born in Rio de Janeiro 1939 1948 Marcel Herrmann Telles is born in Rio de Janeiro 1950 1961 On returning to Rio de Janeiro a er an internship with Credit Suisse in Geneva, Lemann is hired by the Invesco nance house e rm, of which he becomes a partner, goes bust three years later Carlos Alberto Sicupira is born in Rio de Janeiro 1963 Lemann completes economics University in three years course at Harvard Fernando Cavalcanti For example, he insists on having a hand in the trainee program’s final selection (He appears in the right-hand corner below.) Germano Luders / Abril Comunicaỗừes S/A Beto Sicupira in a 2010 photo with the staff of Endeavor, an NGO that supports entrepreneurism, which he had brought to Brazil just over ten years earlier Mastrangelo Reino / Folhapress He has recently worked alongside businessmen like Jorge Gerdau and has also spent time developing projects to improve public administration Luiz Fernandes / Andujar Press Jorge Paulo Lemann still plays tennis every day In September 2012, he won a senior category tournament in São Paulo He also follows the main international championship circuit and has come to know players like Roger Federer Garantia’s reputation as an aggressive, efficient bank also attracted attention abroad In 1994, Jorge Paulo Lemann invited former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher to Brazil to meet business leaders Stephanie Mitchell / Universidade Harvard Jorge Paulo Lemann has been increasingly involved in activities connected to education In 2011, he received Harvard’s president Drew Faust A meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was part of her program Sérgio Lima / Folhapress At 73, the former surfer has become the wealthiest man in Brazil The management style he launched more than four decades ago has spread worldwide through the companies he has acquired in the United States – AB InBev, Burger King and Heinz Bibliography “A cerveja põe seu dedo na Copa.” Veja, June 8, 1994 “Agressividade é marca Banco Garantia.” Folha de S Paulo, March 27, 1995 “A hipótese de Lula.” Veja, November 29, 1989 ALMEIDA, Lívia de “Todas as cores dinheiro.” Veja, January 19, 1994 AGUIAR, Marcelo; KASSAI, Lucia “4 Meninos e suas Ferraris.” IstoÉ Dinheiro, April 12, 2000 BALARIN, Raquel CSFB conclui aquisiỗóo Garantia. Valor Econômico, November 1, 2001 BARROS, Guilherme “Livre para assumir novos riscos.” Época, June 15, 1998 BARROS, Guilherme; BREITINGER, Jaqueline “O rolo compressor está chegando.” Exame, June 22, 1994 “BC descredencia Garantia e Multiplic como ‘dealers’.” O Globo, June 29, 1995 COHAN, William D Money and Power — How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World London: Penguin Books, 2012 COHEN, David; VITURINO, Robson; VIEIRA, André “Quanto você vale.” Época Negócios, September 2012 CORREA, Cristiane “A invasão brasileira na Bélgica.” Exame, October 18, 2005 “Ele quer dominar o mundo.” Exame, June 26, 2008 “Essa desceu quadrado.” Isto É, November 17, 1999 “No limite.” Exame, December 13, 2000 “Todas as faces da GP.” Exame, January 8, 2002 CORREA, Cristiane; AMORIM, Lucas “Os multiplicadores de talentos.” Exame, March 24, 2010 CORREA, Cristiane; CAETANO, José Roberto “Os brasileiros que chegaram ao topo.” Exame, March 17, 2004 CORREA, Cristiane; NAPOLITANO, Giuliana “Comprar empresas é com eles.” Exame, May 21, 2008 COSTA, Maira da “GP Digital.” Exame, August 25, 1999 COSTA, Roberto Teixeira da Mercado de capitais – Uma trajetória de 50 anos São Paulo: Imprensa Oficial, 2006 CUNHA, Rodrigo Vieira da Como fazer uma empresa dar certo em um paớs incerto Conselhos e liỗừes dos 51 empreendedores mais bem-sucedidos Brasil Rio de Janeiro: Campus, 2005 “Derrota na Davis.” Veja, April 4, 1973 DINES, Alberto “Ficaram todos muito felizes.” Vip, September 1, 1997 ELLIS, Charles D e Partnership — e making of Goldman Sachs London: Penguin Books, 2008 “Falta cerveja, como nos últimos anos.” Folha da Tarde, December 30, 1987 FERRAZ, Eduardo “A sucata virou ouro.” Exame, February 21, 2001 “Fora da Davis.” Veja, March 29, 1972 GAMBIRASIO, Alexandre “No Garantia, o mérito da meritocracia.” Gazeta Mercantil, April 29, 1991 GRINBAUN, Ricardo; KASSAI, Lúcia “O fim Matrix.” IstoÉ Dinheiro, July 10, 2002 “Guinada na Brahma.” Veja, November 1, 1989 “Hopping.” The Economist, March 25, 2004 JANE, Joyce “Lara Resende deixa Banco Garantia.” Jornal Brasil, November 22, 1988 JARDIM, Lauro “A última grande jogada.” Veja, May 20, 1998 “A Budweiser é nossa.” Veja, July 23, 2008 “No assento ejetável.” Veja, August 5, 1998 KAHN, Joseph “Credit Suisse Buying Brazil Investment Bank ” e New York Times , June 11, 1998 KAUFMANN, Luiz Passaporte para o ano 2000 São Paulo: Makron Books, 1991 KESMODEL, David; VRANICA, Suzanne “Unease Brewing at Anheuser As New Owners Slash Costs.” The Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2009 LAMOUNIER, André “Como é difícil virar a número 1.” Exame, May 8, 1996 LEONARD, David “The Plot to Destroy America’s Beer.” Business Week, October 25, 2012 LETHBRIDGE, Tiago “Gestão brasileira feita por brasileiros.” Exame, February 24, 2010 LETHBRIDGE, Tiago; CORREA, Cristiane “Quem precisa de banco?” Exame, December 14, 2011 LEWIS, Michael O jogo da mentira – sucesso por entre as ruínas de Wall Street Rio de Janeiro: Campus, 1992 “Lobos e cordeiros da Bolsa. Veja, May 24, 1972 Nenhum coraỗóo ộ de ferro.” Exame, June 22, 1994 MACINTOSH, Julie Dethroning the King – e Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2010 MANO, Cristiane; AMORIM, Lucas “Uma nova máquina de negócios bilionários.” Exame, September 20, 2010 MATTOS, Adriana; ADACHI, Vanessa; CASADO, Letícia “Buffett e 3G compram a Heinz.” Valor Econômico, February 15, 2013 NETO, José Salibi “Os princípios de uma vitoriosa cultura de gestão Brasil.” HSM Management, January/February 2008 “O banqueiro atrás das grades.” Veja Rio, August 25, 2010 “O jogo está dado.” Exame, April 15, 1992 “O País futuro virou a terra dos paradoxos.” Exame, August 9, 1989 NOGUEIRA, Paulo “A número brilha no topo pódio.” Exame, September 4, 1991 “Réquiem por uma era.” Exame, June 3, 1998 “Now, 56 varieties.” The Economist, February 23, 2013 OGAWA, Alfredo “A guerra das cervejas.” Exame, January 12, 2000 PIGNAL, Stanley; Barker, Alex “Bud’s Top Tier to Share 1.2bn bonus Pot.” Financial Times, March 9, 2012 PINHEIRO, Flávio “O GP Garantia.” Veja, October 6, 1993 PORTELLA, Andréa “Motorista salva lhos de empresário de seqüestro.” O Estado de S Paulo, March 10, 1999 RYDLEWSKI, Carlos; MARTINHO, Victor “O Brasil desarmou a bomba.” Veja, September 14, 2005 ROMERO, Simon “Brazil Beer-Merger Partners Charge Obstruction by Coke.” e New York Times, February 11, 2000 SÁ, Luiz Fernando “O número 1.” Interview, March 1994 SIMONETTI, Eliana; ALMEIDA, Raquel O caỗador de empresas. Veja, June 11, 1997 “Grã-finos na lona.” Veja, September 10, 1997 SCHROEDER, Alice A bola de neve – Warren Buffett e o negócio da vida Rio de Janeiro: Sextante, 2008 VASSALLO, Cláudia “A vida depois Garantia.” Exame, October 7, 1998 “Saúde!” Exame, July 14, 1999 “O modelo não era tão modelo assim.” Exame, September 11, 1996 VERSIANI, Isabel; CABRAL, Otỏvio Relatora aprova Ambev com restriỗóo. Folha de S Paulo, March 30, 2000 WALTON, Sam; HUEY, John Walton – Made in America Rio de Janeiro: Campus, 1995 Acknowledgements got to know Jorge Paulo Lemann, personally, in January 2007, when I announced my intention of writing a book on his rise and that of his partners, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira In his best low pro le style, Jorge Paulo very courteously inched a bit “All we did was copy a little from Goldman Sachs and a bit from the Walmart Nothing more than that Anyway, I don’t really think this is the right time for a book.” I insisted on the issue with the three businessmen over the following four years Nothing I nally came to the conclusion that there would never be a “right time” for them Jorge Paulo, Marcel and Beto simply did not want this kind of exposure erefore, I decided to run the risk myself To write a book under these conditions, I relied on the comments of almost 100 people (a number on the condition of anonymity) Warren Buffett is certainly the best known name on this list We spoke for an hour in his office e world’s fourth-richest man turned out to be a simple and curious person and asked me a number of questions about Brazil His view of the rise of the three Brazilian businessmen was fundamental for this book I relied on the help of a number of people close to Jorge Paulo, Marcel and Beto Some of those I interviewed were generous enough to receive me more than once and answer a large number of emails I would particularly like to thank Fersen Lambranho, Alex Behring, Roberto ompson, Paulo Aragão, José Carlos Ramos da Silva, Marcelo Barbará, José Olympio Pereira and Rogério Castro Maia Milton Seligman and Alexandre Loures, the heads of Ambev’s communication area, made my work much easier in researching information about the company and interviewing its executives Jim Collins, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing several times when I worked for Exame magazine over almost 12 years, accepted the invitation to write the foreword (Perhaps he thought it easier to agree than put up with my incessant requests.) Collins succinctly summed up the philosophy that guides the Brazilian businessmen in a few pages Taking the decision to write a book like this would have been more difficult without some advance conversations with a number of people, particularly Pedro Mello, Alfredo Ogawa and Carmen and Laurentino Gomes Each guided me in their own way on how to make the fewest number of errors during the process I cannot omit Eduardo Oinegue, who gave the courage to take on the project Without his push, I might still be waiting for the “right time.” I am also grateful to friends who read the rst dra (in part or in whole), corrected mistakes, suggested changes and pointed out ways to make it a better read ese are Patrícia Hargreaves, Dimitri Abudi and my editors, Hélio Sussekind and Marcos da Veiga Pereira e enormous dedication that Hélio and Marcos gave to the project was essential in giving me the dence to I go ahead with it I would never have completed this book (or anything else in my life) without the support and influence of my parents, Edinézia and Domingos About the author RISTIANE CORREA is a journalist and public speaker specializing in business and management In almost 12 years as an executive editor with Brazil’s best-selling business magazine Exame, she produced and coordinated dozens of in-depth reports on some of the largest corporations in Brazil and abroad Dream Big is her first book C Contents Credits Foreword by Jim Collins The building of an empire The “invaders” of Anheuser-Busch A surfer at Harvard Looking for the “PSDs” – Poor, Smart, Deep Desire to Get Rich Mission announced is mission accomplished Deliver the goods, or you’re out From bankers to businessmen The formation of the triumvirate The rib of Garantia Why have a business plan? “Like crazy people” The seeds of self-destruction One trick pony Kill the competition through its cash “São Paulo and Corinthians in the same team” Paris, New York, London, São Paulo and 8,500 e-mails The one billion dollar reward The next launches Photos Bibliography Acknowledgements About the Author ... team; on the one hand, there is inherent risk in doing one big mountain, then the next big mountain, then the next-bigger mountain a er that; on the other hand, if you don’t have new big mountains... When the Brazilians and the Belgians came together to merge into the biggest beer company in the world, people wondered how these two cultures could coexist Yet they became a uni ed whole How. .. Busch was nervous, and wanted to know if an offer would be made and for how much Despite the fact that they were on the verge of the biggest deal of their lives, Lemann and Telles showed no pressure,