Bruno Frossard, CEO of Techduto Tecnologia in Brazil, attended the Oxford High Performance Leadership Programme to help him lead his growing company and increase turnover from $10 million to $50 million with the same number of staff. The programme helped him identify his leadership strengths and areas for improvement, and reinforced his belief in his leadership style while also showing him that no leader is perfect and it's important to leverage others' strengths. He found the individual coaching especially valuable in helping him address his fears of failure. Frossard plans to make subtle changes to how he interacts with colleagues based on what he learned and would recommend the programme to other leaders.

1. SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL WWW.SBS.OXFORD.EDU
Oxford High
Performance
Leadership
Programme
An Interview with alumnus
Bruno Frossard
I operate in a business that is growing in a
very challenging industry, and we’ve got
ambitious plans to grow it still further. We are
aiming to increase turnover from $10 million
to $50 million, with more or less the same
number of staff, by exploring new segments,
implementing lots of systems and increasing
productivity, for example by better aligning
rewards with performance.
So as I discussed this with our board of
shareholders, the question that formed in
my mind was: do I need to change? And
that is what brought me to the Oxford High
Performance Leadership Programme.
I enjoyed filling in the questionnaire as part
of the preparation for the Programme. Life
is always so busy that we don’t get much
of an opportunity to think about ourselves,
or learn about what sort of leaders we are
from the people we are supposed to be
leading. In my organisation we do have 360
degree feedback in theory, but everyone is
too careful to tell us directly what they really
think. So this questionnaire from Oxford
was a good and rare opportunity for me to
understand my team and how they assess my
leadership.
The programme has reinforced my ideas
and beliefs about my leadership style. One
of the psychometric questionnaires allowed
me to identify my ‘natural strengths’, my
‘fragile strengths’ and the strengths I need to
develop. A characteristic of mine that came
across all too clearly is that I tend to take
everything on my shoulders.
Bruno Frossard,
CEO, Techduto Tecnologia, Brazil
Oxford High Performance
Leadership Programme alumnus
“Do I need to learn new
leadership skills? Or should I
continue with what I have and
improve and enhance that? Or
neither? Or both?”
“So perhaps the most important
idea that I took away from this
programme is that you cannot
expect to be the perfect,
complete leader.”

2. SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL WWW.SBS.OXFORD.EDU
Whatever your strengths, there are always
things that you can’t do or that others
can do better. And that’s fine: you need to
understand your strengths and then work out
where you can improve and where you should
think about bringing in other colleagues or
outside experts.
My one-to-one experience with Trevor was
excellent. I’d never had coaching before – I
always meant to, but never got around to
it – and I discovered that it gave me a space
in which to explore my fears. As a leader you
always put a brave face on things and talk
positively to your team. You then go back to
your lonely office and start asking questions
of yourself. My big fear is that of failure, of
not achieving what I want to achieve. The
coaching helped me to face that and explore
it; then Trevor gave me lots of techniques that
I can use to address these feelings whenever
they crop up.
I’m going to make incremental changes from
the moment I get back to the office on
Monday. It will be very subtle – I will just be
thinking differently, finding other ways to
interact with colleagues, and other ways to
approach tasks.
I learnt a lot on this programme from
colleagues who came from so many different
countries, different industries, different
sectors and different types of organisations.
But however diverse our backgrounds, we all
have similar issues and challenges.
One of the really good things about the
programme was that there wasn’t a single
style of teaching. The large-group sessions
were great, but I felt particularly comfortable
sharing my views in the challenge groups, the
peer-group coaching, and the small-group
tutorials.
Even if you come from another country, the
moment you walk into the building here it
feels as if you are at home. The staff members
are very friendly. The food is great. And the
hospitality is great. Even though we had very
long days, from 8.30am to late in the evening,
we didn’t feel it. The variety of teaching
styles, different members of faculty, constant
feedback and questions mean that you don’t
feel bored and you don’t feel tired.
When I was considering it there were
some case studies in the brochure that just
resonated with me, and made me want to
come. It was hard work, but everyone on the
programme was there for a similar reason and
committed to contributing and getting the
most out of the experience. What I learned
from my experience there was absolutely
worth all the effort.
You can discover more about the Oxford
High Performance Leadership Programme
by visiting our programme website:
www.sbs.oxford.edu/hpl
“I would say to anyone
contemplating applying to this
programme that you won’t
choose it – it will choose you!”