The Commerce Times

Cultivating leadership

Javier San Juan speaks at TRS. Courtesy of Rashel Shamsipour

December 1, 2009 1 | By Kristina Gustauskas

Being a leader was always in the cards for president and CEO of L’Oréal Canada, Javier San Juan, who has managed the seventh most important multinational business subsidiary in the world for the past three years.  His experience running operations from Argentina to Romania cultivated his 17-year international career path within the L’Oréal Group, and provided the core credentials to become the leader he always aspired to be.

Regarding the concept of the role itself, San Juan had some advice to give Ryerson students at the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre’s Learn from Leaders workshop Nov. 16. He sat down beforehand to share some of those ideas.

How did you first come to work for the world’s largest cosmetics and beauty company?

I grew up and finished university in Spain, and then I went to France and took a two-year post-graduate degree in business administration there. Afterwards, I had two offers: Novartis and L’Oréal. After working with Novartis, I decided that I wanted to get into a different kind of company and consider a career change. I think I had a good fit with the head of human resources at L’Oréal, who asked if I would consider working there, and of course I said yes.

“I think I had a good fit with the head of human resources at L’Oréal, who asked if I would consider working there, and of course I said yes.”

With a 17-year international career with L’Oréal – director of finance in Russia for four years and sales and marketing director in Spain and France, to name a few – were you always working your way up towards a presidential position?

I think the nicest job in an organization is to be a CEO, and that was what I was aiming for. I found it was the natural progression of things. I was lucky enough when I was 26 that my first job was chief financial officer in the Philippines at Novartis.

When looking at what makes a great leader, is there such a thing as being naturally-born one, or is it all about having the right tenacity and passion?

I don’t think anyone is born to be a leader. Leaders are people who feel comfortable leading and taking responsibilities more than executing somebody else’s ideas and orders. They need to have a willingness to lead and feel comfortable doing it. If you have the right tools and make the sacrifices, you slowly get there.

What qualities do you consider essential to be a leader?

Not the qualities a leader has, but the qualities a leader should have: the capacity to listen, drive to make collective success and the capacity to take risks, aiming to make as few mistakes as possible, but to not be afraid of them.  The biggest quality is being able to communicate a vision and engage people to follow. People can be convinced they are leaders, ask people to follow them into the jungle, andJo find themselves completely alone.  It’s not enough to have a vision and a will; you need to be able to communicate – get people to follow your vision.

“It’s not enough to have a vision and a will.”

Does the pressure of the role ever become overwhelming, and how do you cope with that?

A good leader is a person that is always checking and always asking questions about the right direction. What can be done? You need to be sure where you’re going, but also questioning – asking yourself if it’s right. This contradictory state of mind can be overwhelming.

What is the one thing you hope students take away from the presentation?

If there’s one thing to remember, it’s that leadership has nothing to do with one person’s self, but has to do with others. I have a team of people who are better than me, each with a level of responsibility. Most papers written about leadership are written from the viewpoint of the leader. Marketers should write for consumers, for example, not products. It is about the people a leader engages, not the leader himself.