“The how matters”: The lesson from Inditex CEO Óscar García Maceiras
“The how matters”: The lesson from Inditex CEO Óscar García Maceiras
Business 07 November 2023
Óscar García Maceiras, at the forefront of the fashion company, talks to Do Better about the importance of values and organizational culture when it comes to pursuing business goals.
“All of us in business have to be extremely careful with numbers, with results, because we owe it to a whole range of stakeholders: our shareholders, our employees, our customers… But all that can only be achieved with a solid corporate culture and a very clear set of values capable of providing a purpose for engaging in business activity.” This was the message put across by Inditex CEO Óscar García Maceiras in his talk with Do Better after the inaugural lectured he offered to students joining Esade in the 2023-2024 academic year.
García Maceiras was guest of honor at an event in which he was accompanied by the Director General of Esade, Xavier Mendoza, and the Rector of Ramon Llull University, Josep Antoni Rom. During his address he stressed that a solid corporate culture and clear values are the vehicle for defining and achieving the business purpose.
Continuing education is essential in such a complex and changing world
His speech was marked by three values that, as he put it, have accompanied Inditex on its long road from being a small clothing workshop to becoming one of the global leaders of the fashion market: humility, caution and ambition. Three values that he recommended the new students to adopt, in both their professional and their personal life.
“Humility keeps you in a permanent state of listening, a permanent understanding of what your customers want,” he explained. “Caution forces you to be aware that there will be ups and downs, but that you have to be prepared to cope with and adapt to any new circumstance.” And lastly, ambition translates as “ambition to carry on learning, understanding and listening.”
In this spirit, he encouraged the future professionals to look for a project that wins their hearts and appeals to their emotions, and to never stop training academically. “Continuing education is essential in such a complex and changing world, where the keys are constantly changing. You need to be permanently on the lookout for new answers,” he said.