Jorge Paulo Lemann Quotes
120 Jorge Paulo Lemann Quotes
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[In April 2008] One factor that distinguishes us (He and partner Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles) and other businessmen who served to keep us together was the common ability to take risks. I mean, we would never have done what we did if we had not stumbled together to take some risks.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
Courageous is the coward with no option. I do not think we have courage, because it was something that came gradually. In 1983 when American Stores decided to buy, the first takeover happened in the Bolsa de Valores de Sao Paulo. We spent $20 million in it, it was too much money for us at the time and we entered into a business that we had no idea what it was…
Jorge Paulo Lemann
In 1989, we decided to buy Brahma, 15 days before the election of Lula Collor. The more rational among our other partners were terrified by this purchase and did not want to move forward. And the three of us said, ‘We’re gonna walk, whoever wants to come, come – who’ever doesn’t want to come - don’t come.’
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On the wave of openings/listings in Capital Bovespa in April 2008] What is happening is one of the best things in recent years in the Brazilian economy. These IPOs all these IPOs, the fact that it is taking several companies in industries that never paid taxes, to formalize. I think that’s also a spectacle to attract more entrepreneurs to do great business because they are seeing that whoever does so well and gives some may have an extremely favorable result in financial terms.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
I think a lot of people coming opening [listing] capital is just because you see a pot of gold here. This is bad, because the pot of gold can disappear. I think you have to really believe that a company a listed company is an animal that is healthier than an unlisted company, and she is more likely to survive and grow. And it is still necessary to find out what are the basic rules that make a listed company work well and succeed, and embrace them.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On the analysis of a new business] Over time, I began to trust and depend more on studies, projections and various opinions in a more formal decision-making process. But the feeling will never disperse. We take risks deeply based on much more than sentiment analysis. I would say that we acted before with 80% feeling and 20% of study and, nowadays, this mix may be 50% - 50%, but I would not want to go in the direction to be 90% and 10% of study feeling. I guess what you feel in your belly is as good as what is on paper.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
If I’m going to invest in a company and you tell me that it will manufacture gold dust or pepper, I do not care. I’m much more interested in seeing who’s there playing the management, what these people think, what they believe. I am a person who believes strongly in human assets, that is my priority, always.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
We basically think the ideal is a company that has shareholders and public shareholders also working within the company, because they certainly are interested in perpetuating the business.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On American Stores] Our plans were different to the U.S. Did not occur as planned and we lost a lot of time.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
For many years, we evaluated 10 to 15 business ideas every week. We were able to back good ideas with capable entreprenuers. We seemed to know winning management teams when we met them.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
It’s like a tennis match. Sure, you’re out to kill the other guy, but if you live by the rules, it will be good for both of you.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
It hasn’t been a bad investment. Especially since, once the the recession is over, LASA [Lojas Americanas or American stores] will be a strong going concern.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
I think that Wal-Mart can grow (in Brazil) at the same rates it grew in the United States up to 10 years ago when it had the market totally open to itself.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[In 2000 on GP Investimentos internet interests] The approach was to scramble very fast and do a lot of things. We just hoped that it would somehow work out. If only one venture succeeded, we would recoup our US$80 million. If two ventures got through to a successful IPO our return would be one hundred percent. If we were to be successful with three, then a two hundred percent return was imaginable.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On the progress of internet based funds in 2000] We began to move more slowly and entered a more thoughtful period. We felt it was important to buy in during 1999, but as we entered the second quarter of 2000, we were wondering how we might package companies together in some way. Perhaps we could have taken IPOs to the market as a collection of companies. One huge potential we thought we had was linking the IG site to Telemar, our telephone company. For example this might have allowed the sale of internet services with telephone services and taking IG to cellular telephones for e-commerce.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On IG: Internet Gratis] we thought we’d get 750,000 subscribers within a year, but we had over 1.5 million in 75 days.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
If we had lost all of the money we invested in the internet business, we would still have survived. Our biggest investment was still in brewing and we expected to get 15 percent economic value added per year for that business. We planned to take Brahma worldwide, already Brahma was the third largest brewery in the world.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[In 2010 on whether Brazilian businessmen are prepared to lead in the near future in the process of globalization] Without a doubt. And many are even already doing this.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On Brazilian examples of globalization] We have numerous examples in the food industry, such as refrigerators, which have made significant acquisitions in Europe and the United States.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
Our main attribute is that we have been tested in an environment of great economic turmoil and major transformations. The ups and downs of the economy prepared us to deal with adverse situations. Brazilians tend to go abroad to invest in sectors considered old.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
The Americans… prefer to focus their efforts on high-end segments.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[In 2010] It was actually reading the books and teachings of Jim Collins who helped me build our business trajectory.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
My dream is to make the company a global management model of the XXI century.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[In 2010 on the bottlenecks that can harm Brazil’s competitiveness] Chief among them is education. We need to focus on the quality of education. That goes for both the students of primary and secondary education as well as for businesses. The great asset of a company is its people.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
I can adapt to any place. Most importantly I am fully aware that the culture is different in other countries.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[In January 2008] We do not intend to touch the business in China just to dig there.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
A good administration and an appropriate culture can work anywhere in the world.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
Among our major influences was the best investment bank in the world today, Goldman Sachs – They learned with meritocracy… and the need to provide opportunities for people. Wal-Mart – With Sam Walton we learned that to get to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you must be calm to go all the way through the rainbow and be very motivating to employees, treat them well and also to customers. And General Electric - we did not have direct contact with them, as in the other two cases but we always read everything on Jack Welch, GE’s annual reports were our Bible. Based on these three aspects and more on what we were learning to do business, we have built our own culture.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
Europeans got a scare when there appeared a bunch of Brazilians in Belgium.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
Our culture believes that the individual should act as owner-acre and also said in its
Jorge Paulo Lemann
We were never the kinds of entrepreneur who wants all the profits our ourselves and seeing the rest as ‘Indians’…
Jorge Paulo Lemann
A culture that favors things being simple.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
The culture is to work hard, very hard and has no ‘cakewalk’.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
And essential part of communication is… everything is talked about openly… [No glass walls]
Jorge Paulo Lemann
In our culture, nobody progresses if we do not create a replacement.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On what motivates him] The idea of not doing anything I do not like. When I turned 60 years old, I was on the board of directors of a Swiss company and received a letter from the president of the council congratulating me for my birthday and telling me it was time for me to stop and enjoy life. I was furious, I wrote him a letter saying I did not intend to do any of that. Honestly, I enjoy working. It’s what I enjoy doing.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
[On his partnership with Carlos A Sicupira and Marcel H Telles] I think we were successful because the union was fully aware that the three together could do much more than anyone individually.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
What moves me today is the will to ensure that companies have permance, durability.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
To illustrate what I thought of durability, I’ll tell you a story: When I was young, I was in Japan and did an interview with Matsushita, the great Japanese entrepreneur of the time who was 80 odd years old. Suddenly, he began to tell me of his plans for the company for the next 500 years in a most natural way. The truth! I, a Brazilian who was barely managing to survive until the next day was impressed by that.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
Create a big dream. Keep it simple, easily understood, and measured. Attract the right people who work well together. Measure results consistently. You can create, run, or improve anything with this formula.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
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