By Roberto Cesar Durscki
In 2013, I attended CEO Institute I at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. This year, I continued with CEO Institute II at Cornell's Johnson School. (That's me in the photo at the beautiful museum on the Cornell campus.)
For my worklife at Sicredi, the main credit union system in Brazil with over 100 CUs, 1,200 branches, 16,000 employees and $11 billion in assets, these two segments added value in two ways:
1. Improved my ability to systematize, and made the process of plannning and deciding tangible and simple to me and my managers. At Wharton we explored a lot about the process of scenario planning and at Cornell about decision-making frameworks. Bringing those together, we were able to establish some predefined process for the decision-making at Sicredi. That is helping us avoid intuitive and biased decisions, and the risk of ignoring key variables and impacts on crucial business decisions.
2. Bettered my influencing and negotiation skills, thanks to the Cornell program. At Sicredi, I migrated from a back-office area working on credit cards to a different business area focused on core banking. This change requires me to be a strong negotiator. At Cornell this spring, we learned that networking with others is about what we give, not what we take. This idea has made me think a lot about how to create networking opportunities by choosing what I can give away easily. The idea we discussed in the program about “the key to influence is listening” also struck me. Trying to rush a negotiation may backfire, since we need to listen and identify the needs of others before we attempt to influence them.
I’m certainly very anxious and optimistic about attending CEO Institute III at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business next year. I believe I'm ready to complete the program by focusing on the soft skills emphasized at the Darden program, like people management and leadership. Those skills combined with what was already discussed in the first two segments will complete a deep rethinking about my management practices and certainly allow me to add more value to Sicredi and its members.
CUES member Roberto Cesar Durscki is core banking products superintendent at Sicredi, the main credit union system in Brazil with over 100 CUs, 1,200 branches, 16,000 employees and $11 billion in assets.
It's not too late to reserve a spot in the inaugural summer CEO Institute I, slated for this Aug. 17-22 at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Read another CUES Skybox post featuring Durscki just before he started CEO Institute I.
