71% of business leaders are pessimistic about the political scene in 2022

“There is no island of excellence: no company is doing well, consistently, if Brazil is doing poorly.” The evaluation of the doctor in psychology Betania Tanure, a specialist in organizational behavior and a partner at the BTA consultancy, sets the tone for the world view of some of the country’s main business leaders.

BTA research done exclusively for the leaf between the 1st and 10th of December with 277 leaders, including company presidents, vice presidents, directors and members of the board of directors, points to a consistent increase in their perception of the country’s social problems throughout 2021, from the worsening of the pandemic.

According to the survey, 79% perceive an increase in the set of social problems existing in Brazil — a country where a significant part of the population is hungry and seeks bones to taste some meat, while a few dispute private jets for vacation trips, with charters to the Caribbean at a cost of R$ 900 thousand.

As a result, engagement with social issues increased in 2021 to 49% of respondents, an increase that was even greater among company directors (65%) and presidents (57%).​

Engagement, in turn, brought with it the concern about the 2022 elections: 71% are pessimistic about the Brazilian political scene. The same feeling of hopelessness involves 48% of executives when it comes to the country’s economy. An even higher percentage (73%) is pessimistic about the maintenance of social inequality in 2022.

“I hope we vote for someone who awakens hope. In 2018, Brazilians voted on the basis of exclusion, not belief”, says Fábio Barbosa, CEO of Fundação Itaú, partner at Gávea Investimentos and member of the board of Ambev , Natura and the United Nations Foundation. He claims to have no candidate yet.

“In 2022, I’m worried about high inflation, volatility in the markets caused by the elections, and the fear of a new wave of Covid-19”, he says.

For Barbosa, it is necessary to believe in a better tomorrow than now. “We need someone to rally people around a positive motto, like Barack Obama did in the United States with ‘Yes, we can’ [sim, nós podemos]. Life gets very difficult without hope,” he says, referring to the former US president and his motto in the 2008 elections.

“I want change, I don’t want what’s there”, says Fernando Bertolucci, 56, Suzano’s director of research and development, referring to the 2022 elections. companies to be more active, “more vocal”, in building a better reality for the country.

“There is less room for new heroes and more room for active collaboration between business and civil society,” he says.

Hopelessness about short-term politics is greater than about the economy. The survey asked executives about expectations for Brazil in 2023, that is, after the elections. Of the total sample, 47% said they were pessimistic about the Brazilian political scenario in two years, while 43% said they were optimistic about the Brazilian economy in the period.

If the political scenario is not exciting, business leaders feel much more confident when it comes to Brazil’s ability to control the pandemic — 69% said they were optimistic in this regard in 2022, while this is the expectation of 73% for 2023.

“We will have another challenging year ahead, not especially challenging. Our biggest advantage is having the vast majority of the population vaccinated”, says Paulo Kakinoff, 47, president of Gol Linhas Aéreas.

“I’m not saying that the pandemic is over, nor that the process [de vacinação] made no mistakes—he could have been quicker. But, compared to 2021, we are better prepared, even with the recent advancement of the ômicron”, says the executive, highlighting the corporate role around vaccination, such as Unidos pela Vacina, launched by businesswoman Luíza Helena Trajano, chairman of the board of administration of Magazine Luiza.

The movement, which presents itself as non-partisan and without commercial interests, brought together companies and professionals to create action fronts in all states of the country and in the Federal District, in order to clear bottlenecks in the vaccination process. Kakinoff was one of those who participated in the initiative.

“In this sense, I have a benign vision of 2022 and my feeling is of gratitude. We managed to mobilize millions of people and strengthen SUS [Sistema Único de Saúde]”, says the president of Gol. “But the macroeconomic concerns, of course, are great.”

On the other hand, in terms of business, expectations are positive. “Everything that has to do with the entrepreneurial ability to face challenges is seen, for the most part, with optimism”, says Betania. So much so that 34% of respondents say that the company’s revenue in 2021 closed on schedule, while 42% indicate that the result was above or much above expectations.

“The year 2021 was one in which the company’s culture was put to the test and passed the test”, says Betania, referring to the challenge of keeping the team engaged in the face of the second wave of Covid, at the same time that it was necessary to expand , diversify or digitize operations.

According to the survey, on a scale of 0 to 10, 70% of executives rated the company’s culture as a fundamental tool to face the moment of crisis. “In 2022, it will be the turn of companies to test hybrid work, a different reality from remote work”, says Betania.

In the survey, 48% of respondents said they intend to increase the hybrid work system in 2022, while 30% are expected to maintain it, and 21% to decrease it. “This model requires a calibration between individual and business perspectives”, says the expert.

The vast majority of companies (84%) will invest more in the company’s digitalization, 74% will increase efforts in the development and training of teams, 63% want to increase investments in the expansion of operations with new channels or units, and 51% will invest more on infrastructure.

See testimonials given to leaf of entrepreneurs interviewed by the survey.

‘Income inequality comes from inequality in education’

2021 was a horror, the issue of hunger was practically eliminated in the country and we experienced this reality again. Solidarity is needed at this moment, to be aware that one cannot depend only on the government. The private sector has to mobilize. We must be aware that social problems do not solve themselves. But it’s not enough to just plug holes.

I believe that the unequal distribution of income derives from the unequal distribution of education. My biggest engagement is in this area. I have a coffee farm in Espírito Santo do Pinhal, in the interior of São Paulo. There we maintain a school for 16 children and young people, up to 15 years old. In the municipality, we took the Parceiros da Educação to help nine elementary schools, either in the training of teachers or in the support of students with delayed learning. Starting this year, we will offer an eye exam to students.

I’ve always been a person connected to us and having to maintain relationships by video was really bad. Not by chance, I saw many people psychologically shaken, this caught my attention. It also caught my attention to see so many businesses suffer, closing their doors from one moment to the next. That place where I was going to have lunch, suddenly, ceased to exist.

Companies are often criticized for laying off workers. Of course, no one wants that, a drastic decision that affects families. But you have to remember the recommendation on flights: in case of depressurization, put the mask on yourself first and then help whoever is next to you. If the company doesn’t take care of its financial health, doesn’t make a profit, it will sink with it.

The important thing is never to panic.

‘No one disembarks’

One of the hardest moments of 2021 was having to reduce the air network in the second wave of Covid, after thinking that the worst was over and that the return would be gradual. This required a very important level of sacrifice from the entire team, which went through everything very united. We adopted a motto: ‘Nobody disembarks’.

So much so that, right at the beginning of the pandemic, after a meeting of the board and the board, we proposed that none of the 14 thousand people on the team be fired. It was a sincere commitment to mitigate the effects of Covid, something that was not limited to a poster on the wall. For this, it was necessary to reduce everyone’s salaries by up to 50%, and those of the board, by up to 70%, until December 2021. This decision was approved by 98% of employees.

At the first board meeting, I warned, ‘We’re going to cross a desert whose extent and temperature we can’t predict.’

To deal with pressure from all sides, we rely on three pillars: brutally honest communication (because the difficulty of reading a situation increases insecurity); maintain confidence and optimism (our sector has always been trained to face pressures and volatilities, we need to rescue these skills); and to be quick in decision-making (three weeks before the first case in Brazil, we already knew that the country would not be spared, the virus was already in New York).

For me, the lesson remains that ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. In my case, the escape valve was living with my 4 and 5 year olds. With this delicious naivete, this world of lightness, sweetness and affection, they were my source of energy and joy. They will never know how much they helped me to face this phase.

‘Covid is called out of automatic’

The second wave of Covid hit hard, and between April and May, I lost two close, very dear friends. We planned to do a lot together and there was no time. It was what gave me the most feeling of vulnerability and finitude. And the call to get out of automatic.

You have to be aware that I can’t control everything. And why should I bother with what I don’t control? The great learning from the pandemic is to take care of the time you dedicate to things and people. Live well in the here and now.

I believe that people have never had such a desire to change. ESG [boas práticas sociais, ambientais e de governança] they are not concepts to be stamped on the wall or in reports. They need to be experienced, with the addition of a letter: C, for consciousness, because any change begins with the individual. If you work on automatic, nothing will be sustainable.

This leads to the new reality of companies, that of hybrid work, which better accommodates the dimensions of life. First, work was brought into the house. And now it’s time to take it home to work.

It is a model that demands more truth, more transparency, more balance. It is a learning journey for both individuals and companies, not ‘plug & play’. But it will be essential to define the winning organizations, which bring together the best professionals.

Since the end of 2020, I have been increasingly involved with philanthropic entities in my city, São José dos Campos (SP). It is my obligation, as I belong to the most privileged class in the country. I bring expertise for the entity to come out of the emergency and sustain itself. And I leave transformed.