Fearless Management
How to be happy in the corporate world (English Edition)
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A dive in the human condition – body, soul and spirit – recognizing that the Professional has these same dimensions, which need to be understood and managed. The understanding of each human being and the group of individuals will provide the organizational dimensions, since the organizations are also live organisms, with body, soul and spirit. The comprehension of this holistic view is fundamental to allow the company to create an environment where individuals are happy and reach high performance levels, so that the company may add value for a better society. This book is a stroll through this world, where we are guided, with clarity, through the words of the author.
Fábio Colletti Barbosa
This book unites the professional pragmatism with the spirituality necessary for our professional activities.
Marco Antonio Bologna
Alfredo has a dream: develop a company that reconciles the company's objectives with the objectives of its human capital, in such a way that every person achieves happiness by performing what he/she likes to do or for learning to like what he/she is expected to do. Alfredo works daily to make this dream come true and also on its improvement. Now, in this book he tries to pass on this experience, a real way of living without fear.
Cassio Casseb Lima
Alfredo Assumpção guides us to celebrate the realization of dreams step by step: Being, Knowing and Doing. This book is not only aimed to those who live in the corporate world, but also for those who are worried with the appreciation of the human being and with the future generations.
Matiko Hume Vidal
The Professional trajectory as the founder and director of Fesa Global Executive Search Transforming Leadership motivated Alfredo Assumpção to pass on his experience. The result is in “Fearless Management”, which advocates respect for each person as a successful formula for making a business thrive.
Coluna Negócios & Cia - Jornal O Globo
Assumpção is a born entrepreneur. In the book “Fearless Management” he brings together concepts discovered along a 35 year journey, based on the belief that the body and soul cannot be divided in the business world.
Jornal Valor Econômico
Legacy of a Man
When I began writing for the flap of this book I soon realized I was writing directly about the author, the person who gave me the pleasure, the honor, and the unique opportunity of helping to build a company, writing a story that will remain a legacy to several generations of professionals willing to discover the universe of this marvelous executive search industry.
Well, I began by asking myself why. For those who know Alfredo the answer is very simple: He is this book! In its essence. Direct, candid, transparent and objective. Here we have in Black and White how Alfredo imagined managing a company, creating a work environment capable of providing people the basis that we are always looking to keep our personal and professional axis (when they are not connected?).
In this book we can find the path to develop a sincere and fair leadership as we idealize them for one day to accordingly practice the same. Almost an autobiography, the book transcribes a style of management that, although paved on years of academic study and also on the autodidact profile of the author, it is based on the respect with which he has always sought to deal with the human being. After all, even though classified as human resources, first of all we are human beings, and we need to be treated as so, so that we may continue to dedicate most of our lives to a purpose greater than our own professional and personal goals.
Fearless Management deals with what is currently most modern on people management and inevitably, about the success derivative from this style, capable of effectively alluring, retaining and motivating differentiated talents, being capable of putting together so many different personalities giving a unique identity to the real designation of the group. In these pages we have concrete examples of how to practice team work.
Without a shadow of a doubt, what we find in these pages is an example of courage filled with the simplicity of those who became an Executive, but above all sought to remain a Man against the various issues and hardships we encounter in our daily journey to make this world a better place for us.
Renata Dolabella Fabrini
Paving the ground
When the ground is paved
How many roads were built at hard costs, even in the middle of the jungle, and after some time disappeared for lack of good terrain preparation? However solid the concrete and the tarmac may seem, neither of them will resist if the layers underneath them have been neglected. First it is the undulations, then the holes and, soon afterwards, unstoppable erosion.
This is a reality we have lived many times over which represents a parabola as to what happens in many companies. The job of enterprising or leading as an executive demands so much that it is possible that nobody notices the need to take good care of the ground upon which the structure is based; check whether it is in order, with no clefts or threatening voids either below ground or between floors.
There is already a lot to take care of on the visible surface, for the market is implacable. With the slightest mistake everything can be lost. It is not by chance that the energy turns to be used in the construction. Once the building is standing, it must be kept so regardless of what comes next: rains or storms, winds or hurricanes.
Thus, in the effort to keep the house standing the foundations may weaken, given that they have not been very well prepared from the start. So they keep suffering the wounds of an often porous and swampy soil. Then when you least expect it, for reasons invisible to the naked eye, the entire house collapses. It was strong but only on the outside.
The same analogy could be made with health. We know very well that everything starts with the correct stimulation of the immune system. For the formation of a healthy body in early childhood there is nothing better than mothers’ milk. It is a simple, natural care, as obvious as saying that it is good to drink water from the spring.
Companies need this injection of beneficial agents as well. Those who can offer the “magic potion” are the executives by injecting solid values and, most of all, the permanent disposition to dialog. This implies listening before speaking. After all, an organism is only capable of reacting against attacks from pathological agents when it is inclined to recognize the signals of their presence. Otherwise it will always fall prey to “Trojan horses”. We are well aware of their existence, but, in spite of that, we still open the gates of our fortress so that they can enter and destroy it, from the inside out.
Soil preparation has direct reflections on the articulation of everything that guarantees corporate health. It is by paving well that you guarantee growth with minimal risk. All of the elements capable of keeping everything standing that is built over it will be there. Everything is present in this complex equation in which many sciences are concerned, including the calculation of the terrain’s natural movements and the probability of the presence of harmful agents, which must be preventively neutralized.
To pave, according to the dictionary, means to coat the ground with everything that is necessary to guarantee its integrity. This book shows how to do it at every stage of a company. Yes, because at each new floor it is recommended that you do this preparation again with the fair/same amount of ingredients. It is a job that requires technique and, above all, talent. With his talent, Alfredo presents us with a text that encourages the constant search for integrity in companies.
No matter how many courses you take, intellectual preparation does not guarantee the making of an executive complete in his performance. In this fundamental mission, people will have to delve into their own selves in order to find their balance points, which are crucial for getting the job they have ahead of them done. Nowadays, knowing that some corporate environments are sick, it will be necessary to act with delicate, surgical and therapeutic precision. It is like a paving artisan may proceed, leaving a work prepared so that posterity keeps on improving it. The ways opened by the Greeks and Romans are there in Europe to prove it is possible.
Whatever is done with this holistic intention will certainly have deep effects in the cure that companies look for so assiduously these days. Many of them are not conscious of their wounds yet; others know them already, but try to hide them instead of treating them, as though this attitude could prevent the effects of illness. It is necessary to act exactly in the opposite direction: to sharpen every sense well in order to find the more effective healing elements, those that will bring back the health to corporate environments for the good of everyone, from the top to the bottom of the company. Certainly: with beneficial effects on the entire surrounding environment. Nothing less than the planet itself where we live would benefit from this.
Amalia Sina
Executive with broad experience in high management; directed multinational companies
University Professor
Author of six books, among others Crise e Oportunidade [Crisis and Opportunity]
Sat, Chit and Ananda
Hindu tradition says the visible universe was created out of an ejaculation of the Creator (in scientific language, it is called the Big Bang, i.e., Great Explosion), after which three forces called Sat, Chit and Ananda organized it since that of the atom until that of the immense galaxies.
Alfredo José Assumpção, by writing Fearless Management: much can be created, all can be changed, follows the same pattern of the Creator of All, showing to be a true son of God, as “Being” or “Existence” is the translation of the word Sat, “Knowing” or “Consciousness” that of Chit, and “Doing” can be freely associated with the word Ananda.
Relating everything that was said with the creation and management of a company, it can be said that, first of all, a company obviously needs to exist (Sat), i.e., it is necessary to gather a group of people around a common purpose, forming a harmonic whole. Second of all, it is necessary there be a conscience or intelligence (Chit) that establishes goals to be achieved and finds out which ways lead to these objectives, searching constantly for ever clearer and more precise directions. Third of all, it is necessary there be joy in its members regarding the existence of the company, i.e., pleasure in serving, beatitude as to accomplishments and the concretization of ideas that allow one to bring benefits to as many people as possible, all of which can be associated with the word Ananda.
Thus, we can say this book follows the same patterns established by our “Holiest Director” who created the universe and runs it through Fearless Management.
Lauro de A.S. Raful
Paulo A.S. Raful
Masters of the São Paulo Gurdjieff Group
A remarkable creative talent
In the introduction to the previous Alfredo José Assumpção book titled Caçando executivos financeiros (Hunting Financial Services Executives), we were surprised at the author’s vast knowledge of the finance world. An immediate question arose: how could he fearlessly enter so many tunnels and paths of this so chaotic and adversely disciplined cosmos in order to create, in an almost epic battle, his (Fesa) company? A sensitive poet of a complete limpidness, equally dedicated to musical rhythms, he lets us see in the aforementioned book the other side of the coin, the objective and practical side of a man whose heart is apparently divided, but essentially leaning towards the Arts. One more piece of evidence that the human being, when it focuses on a creative act, needs only that which Camões asked for: “Talent and art”, which is found in this author’s vivid sensibility. As we notice in this new Alfredo Assumpção work, Fearless Management: so much can be created, all can be changed, which is a reflection of a cultured and multi-talented man, a live pulley signaling for everything that emanates from his generous, objective, lyrical and limpidly creative spirit.
If the book Fearless Management: much can be created, all can be changed somehow complements the previous work, in essence it is “something else” in the ascending scale of this “man of letters” (a good writer) and business, as well. If the author states that this accomplishment emerged at the moment where he felt in debt to his fellow humans and felt pressed by colleagues and professionals of his industry, he promptly gives the work its tone when he says that “to treat human beings as people and not any kind of commodities is one of my mottos”. But it is not just one of his mottos: it is his main motto in the world of finance and the chaotic nature of this world.
Not often do we have the opportunity to read so wise and lucid information on modern companies, larger drawings for its human pulsation. This book avoids cold didactical schemes, which are almost mechanically organized. The main point is how to see and treat the human being beyond its flaws and those of the world, aiming at the bigger goal: great men make companies and their successors, seeing that these run the company so that it lives for eternity: great men make great successors.
To study, inform, analyze and develop the work’s subject well, the author has made it apparently diffuse, (polyhedronic) yet one, although “invading” the fields of human psychology, sociology, economics, history… Something that, in the end, makes it difficult to describe it palely in a few pages or much less in a simple introduction. It is a “storm” of teachings, questionings and samples, which go from the base to the top of the business pyramid. The author has remarkable experience. Creating his company (Fesa) was like walking on stones, crossing a stream of water. But he created it, expanded it, gave it a soul, which is the largest breath of dignity of a company that deserves this name.
Alfredo Assumpção exposes all questionings and makes a hook within this informative magic in a wide arched movement that goes from the business base to its top. Setting out from the first point, his sparkle and creative star arrives at the next. It analyzes in a dimension that leads to perplexity the importance of women, men and homosexuals, studies their nature and accomplishment abilities and tosses prejudices to infinity. It goes further: it brings to life the figure of Judas in counterpoint to the organizational figure of Christ, aiming at delineating emblematically the problem of betrayals and various wrong paths that stain companies, as well the good path to create companies. When he describes Christ’s organizational spirit, and without any religious connotations at that, he reminds us of E. Renan in Vida de Jesus [Life of Jesus], when he says: “There has never been anyone who, as much as He, could make His interest in humanity prevail upon the narrowness of self-love in His life”.
The author avoids the more or less schematized self-help and the dogmatic “catechism”. This book is of such a rich and precise specialty that it even indicates the means, without pains, of extracting from the business world the chaff that tries to survive in the middle of the good wheat harvested.
The author’s stylistic elegance and lightness is also worth noting. The poet is all here among the lines and in several chapter passages. The sound of his “how to say” comes also to life, because this is a book born out of poetic chords, musical chords and creative vibrations of the businessman that Alfredo Assumpção is. As our Lé (Alfredo’s nickname) says in Páginas roubadas [Stolen Pages]:
My blood was not blued,
pedigree wasn’t given to me…
But the gods gave him the breath and the aura of the creative talent. If Augusto dos Anjos’ narcissus had a soul, companies with human creatures in all of their ramifications are even more entitled to have it. Alfredo Assumpção shows the way/path/route in that direction. Just follow him.
Caio Porfírio Carneiro
Administrative Secretary
Brazilian Union of Writers (UBE)
When the difference lies in the being, knowing and doing
Rarely the well-known statement of Buffon, according to which the style is the man himself, will have found so much correspondence as in Alfredo Assumpção’s Fearless Management: much can be created, all can be changed. In this book, the work and the author reflect themselves clearly in a progressive mimesis.
On the one hand, the size of the challenge accepted in the subject choice witnesses in itself the author’s intellectual fearlessness: he tries to understand and propose an interpretation of the “complex man” in his role as a company manager in both the company’s and his own stages and levels of maturity. Not a trivial task, especially for those who are not satisfied in simply verifying and x-raying reality as it is, but have the ambition to propose what it should be, or how it could be.
On the other hand, the approach taken surprises the less aware. From an expert in human capital one would naturally expect the – at least reinvigorated – assimilation of the teachings of classical or renowned schools, such as certain diners who change restaurants, keep the requested dishes, perpetuating the lack of imagination and intelligence of Esaú and his lentils. An antagonist of this empty conformism, Assumpção is a restless spirit obsessed by the construction of a basis close to a scientific confirmation for the empirically and constantly updated learning. In this construction he adopts, deliberately and without prejudices, non-traditional research sources and paths, privileging, however, a Sartrean methodological substrate of learning through contestation, be it a convict or a provocative one.
The abundance of reflections and propositions, which gushes massively, sometimes seems to answer an unbridled talkativeness and tangle up in an eclecticism of concerns. But, in fact, there is a driving thread coherent with the author’s reiterated determination in the intention to present others with the best of what he could gather in his business success: the ability to delve into the challenge of positioning oneself as a person and a manager in the face of the evaluation paradigms suggested. After all, a Fearless Management presupposes courage to critically evaluate one’s own management. By accepting the challenge, the reader also starts to be an author – an author of their own improvement. It is decidedly not a book to be merely read, but, above all, practiced.
Milto Bardini
Vice-President Bic Banco
A very brief profile of a winner
The personal and professional co-existing over time allows us to talk about the author of Fearless Management: so much can be created, all can be changed, and, in addition, distinguish him in this universe of just a handful of personalities boldly creative, brilliant and lucid. So is Alfredo Assumpção.
If we start describing him as a person, we fatally arrive at a poetic soul with the sensibility of the initiated to write verse and compose melodies in an extreme bohemian vein, such as those capable of staying up all night just to see the rising of the sun (which did not have to show up to interrupt the serenade…).
But he does not limit himself to the enchantment of frank society, and goes beyond the gate of a spontaneous and involving smile. In him we can also register rich contents in simple phrases that denounce an acute intelligence, translated by an unusual entrepreneurial ability – something that is the order of the day in a world that demands ferociously new concepts and renewed resolute attitudes in order to make a business grow among head hunting giants, to associate with respectable international partners and even position oneself to lead the Brazilian market in the segment.
The entrepreneurial Alfredo – a mixture of a consequent and visionary – conceives non-traditional ideas that he describes in his book, where he also reveals how to give them life and form, contributing with an openness and non-egotistical disposition so that the business world evolves and enriches itself with his winning initiatives, his vigorous know-how that I saw closely and from the inside and whose functionality I can attest to.
Because Alfredo Assumpção is a charismatic, courageous professional who is open to the novelty and believes in the human being and the power of trust, which generate transparent and reciprocally enriching relationships. He is capable of being firm and demanding to the point of bruising others and suffering a lot at the same time with his own harshness, even if through his intervention he intended to develop one of his collaborators.
In possession of a highly accomplishing executive style, he expresses Leadership which inspires and encourages initiatives, anticipation, the obstinate determination to achieve goals, all of this coupled with a direct, harsh, loyal, trustworthy communicability that always values his team’s fresh but consequent entrepreneurship. He, like other company builders, is not perfect. So very self-confident, he sticks to his opinions and insists on them beyond measure, frequently giving the impression of not listening to others very much. But it is just an impression…
The formation of this unusual entrepreneur goes back a long way. It goes back to a libertarian childhood and adolescence in a small countryside town, passing through the need to fight for life when facing a city like Rio de Janeiro; starting from the nothing that taught him all he knows, he got involved with the study of human beings and walked through a winning career in the HR areas of renowned institutions.
One day he decided to project and amplify his fearlessness and created Fesa. There, by beating and getting beat, he built an experience rich in mechanisms and concepts that shape todays Organizational Technology, which he victoriously articulates and is a reason for the recognition of the genius of the eager professional who commits verbal irreverence’s with the same informality with which he also turns dreams into ideas, which he then makes efficient in the practice of business life.
Alfredo is a special human being, a heterodox, extremely courageous and winning businessman. I enjoy being his friend. I feel flattered with the confidence to be a Fesa consultant. Best of all, I feel proud that the author of Fearless Management: much can be created, all can be changed is a simple Brazilian. In him genius made a curve and stopped to reflect on the work that is offered here to readers and entrepreneurs.
Artur Marinho de Medeiros
Consultant for Human Behavior in Organizations
Evolving personality without losing essence
Alfredo, whom we affectionately call “Lé”, is my brother. We built side by side the embryo of our personality. Afterwards life has distanced us physically and we started to suffer influences of worlds far apart. I myself, as a countrywoman that I still am, many times feared losing him for so many discoveries or, the way I see it, such high flights. But what a nice surprise he gives me now and then, like right now with this book, where he shows to have achieved the great feat of developing his personality without overshadowing his essence. Over time he has gathered knowledge and projected himself. His voracity for knowledge and mainly self-knowledge has also brought him the need to comprehend, in order to better co-exist with other human beings. This becomes clear in his vast explanation about man, woman and the homosexual. To accept and understand differences are traits of higher spirits which certainly make this world better.
This book is an indispensable tool for those who own, intend to own or (live) a company. His conscience of the responsibility of a leader is remarkable, not only in his company, but in the entire universal context. He has a clear role as a multiplier of successful projects executed by integrated people who are also conscious of their responsibilities towards themselves, their institutions, society and the planet.
Based on the solid knowledge acquired in his long, determined, successful career and also on renowned authors, in addition to the technical part, we have here a huge and valuable explanation about the importance of the essence and personality of each human being – the importance of knowing oneself. After all, it is only by knowing themselves that people become stronger in order to face obstacles and win challenges, awaken their inner power and know their potential in order to dominate and use it well.
When the comparison between Judas’ behavior and that of an organizational man is made, the profile of a man who does not know himself enough is demonstrated. This man gives in to the most primitive impulses and thus harms his ability to differ between good and evil, the constructive and the destructive, blocking his pleasurable learning for not being able to distinguish his desires. Unfortunately, there is the portrait of the hardest reality of most men: the ignorance of themselves. So this one, as well as the rest of the texts, works as flashes to all of those who want but do not know how to do – all life’s natural entrepreneurs.
Passion is visible on each page: a passion that transcends the business field and reaches the will to live with wisdom and completeness. It (translates) that mysterious force that boosts from the poorest and most suffering to the richest and most successful mortal. Let us call it faith, energy, mystery of life propulsion, self-confidence – it does not matter what one calls it. What matters is the action of keep standing, strong and confident, come what may.
A great proof of sensibility is shown in Lé’s poems which, with lightness and adequacy, permeate the book. So there is only one more thing left for me to say: congratulations to the great businessman, great writer, great poet, great friend, great brother and, above all, the great human being who really is, knows and does. Evolution on Planet Earth can only happen with the participation of people like you, those who contribute with the denial of skepticism, have faith in life and respect its mysteries. They immerse themselves in knowledge, do what they know how to do and communicate to the world the formula, when found.
Rosane Assumpção Santos
Biology Professor and Touch for Health Instructor from the Brazilian Institute of Muscular Balance
