Jorge Paulo Lemann Quotes

I was looking at Latin America and who was the richest guy in Venezuela? A brewer (the Mendoza family that owns Polar). The richest guy in Colombia? A brewer (the Santo Domingo group, the owner of Bavaria). The richest in Argentina? A brewer (the Bembergs, owners of Quilmes). These guys can’t all be geniuses...It’s the business that must be good.

having a big dream brings as much work as having a small dream’...

We usually had four big targets a year: market share, expenses, EBITDA and cash.

was enough to understand what Marcel wanted... On a normal day he would sit at the table,

of the 2000s – mainly to preserve future relations among their heirs. Establishing the rules that will guide future generations of partners has been a concern for

Now, if you have a very good [brand] recognition and revenues that do not match the size of this recognition, that means that you have a great opportunity...

A empresa precisa ter o melhor marketing, o melhor produto, as melhores pessoas. Tudo isso é maravilhoso. Mas se você quiser liquidar o seu concorrente precisa ir só caixa dele. Quando ele não tiver mais dinheiro pra nada, estará morto.

A empresa precisa ter o melhor marketing, o melhor produto, as melhores pessoas. Tudo isso é maravilhoso. Mas se você quiser liquidar o seu concorrente precisa ir ao caixa dele. Quando ele não tiver mais dinheiro pra nada, estará morto.

For two months, between the crash of Lehman and the end of negotiations, we were really anxious,” recalled Brito. “Things were out of our hands and nobody knew where the world was going... We announced the transaction in one world and signed the contract to buy it in another... Some of the banks in our consortium almost disappeared... It was as though we had entered a tunnel and, somehow or other, had to get to the other end – only by the other end, it had suddenly started to rain. What could you do? Begin to think of a plan B, a plan C, on other ways of financing...

In the United States, most boards are benign, and the power resides primarily with the chief executive; boards tend to only become significant when it comes time to replace a failing CEO. The AB Inbev board, however, is the primary power center in the company. It exemplifies that boards can play a central role in setting BHAGs, developing strategy, sustaining culture, seizing opportunities and leading through tumultuous times. Without such a strong and unified board, AB Inbev would not have come through the 2008-09 challenges as strong as it did (and perhaps even not at all). The AB Inbev board pays constant attention to its own culture, disciplines and vibrancy, with as much fanatic attention as building and preserving the management culture of the company. Most important, it makes decisions and allocates capital for long-term shareholder value, measured in multiple decades, not in terms of quarterly moments. If more boards behaved this way, we would have better performing enterprises and lasting companies.

You can’t compete with your own partner. You can’t get upset about who gets credit for a deal. The idea that one has to win doesn’t work in any

In the open-plan offices where everyone scrutinized everyone else, anyone who got up to leave earlier than usual to go home was usually greeted with a round of applause. This was done in a sarcastic way and usually accompanied by an awkward question: “Are you working part-time?