Five key learnings from Oriol Guixà's leadership

He is known as the copper man, but not because the metal represents his leadership style, but because it is the sector in which he has exercised, for decades, an unrivaled captaincy. Oriol Guixà has led, since the 80s, the only copper foundry in Catalonia: La Farga.

A company he acquired at just 28 years old, at a time when its financial state did not assure a prosperous path —the company was in the red and in liquidation—, and which he has managed to turn into a family multinational (today his daughter Inka Guixà is at the helm) that invoices more than 1,500 million euros annually in Catalonia and 1,200 million dollars in the United States, and is a world reference in copper recycling technology. What keys can be extracted from his successful leadership?

Oriol Guixà, non-executive president of La Farga and president of the private business foundation Femcat, was the protagonist of the latest meeting of the True Leaders cycle, organized jointly by EY and The New Barcelona Post. In the consultancy's offices, with the windows wide open to the sky and the inspiring skyline of the city, the executives present were able to absorb part of the learnings and reflections from Guixà's career, which goes beyond La Farga and Femcat. His involvement with the Catalan business fabric has led him to also be a member of the full board of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Executive Committee of the UPM (Unió Patronal Metal·lúrgica) and a trustee of various business entities.

"A person committed to copper, to business activity, to innovation, to Catalonia, to Osona and to the family business," defines Joan Tubau, partner at EY and head of Assurance in Catalonia. But what the merits do not say, but he does transmit live, is that Oriol Guixà is a humble, intelligent, committed and generous person, who thanks his family, and especially his wife, for having accompanied and helped him in building this path, both business and family.

1. From crisis to opportunity

Oriol Guixà was born in Barcelona, and had one part of his family in Bages and the other in Sant Quirze de Besora, at the head of a textile factory. He graduated in two engineering degrees, aeronautical and industrial, and studied them in Madrid. His passion for engines led him to Motocicletes Montesa, where he was head of the R&D department until 1982, and from there he led the trial team that won the World Championship in 1980.

And it was precisely during the 80s —when he collaborated with his father-in-law's law firm, Vicenç Fisas, advising on industrial aspects— when he found himself facing a company that would change the lives of two families: his own and the Lacambra family, owners until then of the company La Farga. The company had many years of history: it was founded in 1808 by the Lacambra family, but it was at a critical moment and Oriol, in fact, had to advise and manage the liquidation of the company. At 28 years old.

Curiosity, a high capacity to manage risk and, according to him, "unconsciousness," led him to acquire it together with his father-in-law. Both analyzed the company's accounts —in the red— and the situation and opportunities offered by the sector, and they went for it. What for the Lacambra family was a crisis, for Guixà was an opportunity.

2. A filter when choosing projects: alignment with the DNA

— What would you say to the 28-year-old Oriol Guixà who ventured to acquire La Farga?

— That he is unconscious — jokes Guixà.

He jokes, but at the same time he doesn't. There was a high risk in taking on the project, but he had something that gave him security: "It was a technological challenge, and that was in my DNA." In fact, for Guixà, this is a key aspect when choosing a project: "You have to make sure that the challenge is consistent with your DNA, with your personal capabilities, with who you are. If so, you will do it with enthusiasm and you will succeed."

3. The vital moments of companies require different leaderships

Oriol Guixà speaks wonders of his daughter Inka. "She has exceptional abilities," he says proudly to the attendees, while highlighting the differences in the leadership of the father and the daughter. Not because one is better than the other, on the contrary, but because both leaderships have been essential for the company's vital moment. And he explains: "Inka is a business woman, and I am a technical man. At the time I joined La Farga, a leadership like mine made sense because it was necessary to develop the industrial process."

But now the needs are different: "Now we need a business woman, who brings strategic approaches, a vision for the future. Who understands business timings...". In fact, he assures that he is "too nervous with business" and that Inka has taught him to take it differently. "Take it easy," she tells him. Things have their rhythm, and they must go precisely at that rhythm.

4. The challenge of succession in family businesses: governance and generosity

To ensure a prosperous future for the family business, for Oriol Guixà there are two basic strategies: governance and generosity. "Setting up coherent governance is fundamental to ensuring a long trajectory for the family business." And that does not mean that management cannot be outsourced. In fact, management and governance are different things: "Management can be outsourced, but the heart of the company's governance must be in the family," he assures.

In fact, what Oriol tries to transmit to his children is that "at a minimum, they will always be shareholders of the company" and, therefore, they must know it well to be good shareholders. However, that is not the only role, because they have Inka as CEO, "but it could be that the next generation does not have that luck, and another path has to be sought."

He also assures that family businesses require a lot of generosity and "not being envious at all." And in generosity, he adds a very demanding requirement: "first the company must come, and then the family, because many other families actually depend on the company."

5. More than in influence, leadership is in DNA and experience

Although he had business ancestors and now has business descendants, Guixà believes that business leadership is neither taught nor transmitted from generation to generation. On the one hand, he believes that one is born a leader: "If you are not born with a spirit of leadership, you will hardly be able to acquire it over time," he assures. And whoever says leadership, says "spirit of business risk, innovation or entrepreneurship."

But in addition, he believes that the best way to learn is not through the influence of parents, "which is too limited," but by living it: "one must experience it oneself to be able to acquire the learnings and aptitudes." The key for the parent? To give freedom and accompany, because the learnings will be acquired on their own.

Of course, one must accompany by setting an example: "From my parents I learned the culture of effort and also respect for other people." In addition, he also appreciates his father's curious spirit, who loved to find out the why of things, from a chemical and physical perspective; and that promoted his "innovative spirit."

Inka, who observes him with pride and tenderness from the front row, must also be very clear about what her father has transmitted to her through daily example, but we don't ask her. We will have to do it later —hopefully very soon—, when it is she who sits in a True Leaders chair.