Our Business is a
‘People Business’
September 2013
By C. Bruett
I recently sat down with Wesley
Mendonça Batista, President and
CEO of JBS S.A., and second
eldest son of JBS founder José Batista
Sobrinho, to get his thoughts on his
life, our company culture and how
each of us can contribute to the success of JBS.
T
n n n
he interview is scheduled to
begin at 2 p.m. MST and end a
short 15 minutes later. Wesley,
in Greeley for a series of annual
reviews with JBS USA business
unit leaders, maintains his legendary
marathon-like pace of meetings and
conference calls. Scheduled to depart
shortly after our interview for São
Paulo, home of JBS global headquarters, Wesley’s time is in short supply.
I hope to get about 10 of our scheduled 15 minutes to share some of the
thoughts of our global CEO with the
JBS family.
Of course, the meeting does not
start on time given back-to-back-toback business meetings, but once
we are able to close the door of his
modest third floor office and sit down,
Wesley speaks passionately about his
family, his life, and our business for
more than an hour – ignoring phone
calls and other potential disruptions.
His passion and determination is both
inspiring and cause for reflection.
After spending but a few moments
with Wesley, any JBS team member is
forced to ask themselves, “Am I doing all I can to help JBS succeed?”
FROM BRAZIL TO THE U.S.
The beginnings of JBS
are well-known to many of
us in the JBS family. José
Batista started the company in 1953 in Anápolis,
a modest-sized city in an agricultural
region in the State of Goiás, Brazil.
The legend goes that José began his
business by slaughtering only one or
two cattle a day and selling the meat
to a local butcher. He grew the business — slowly at first — by providing
meat to the workers who were busily constructing Brazil’s new capital,
Brasilia, in 1956. In the late 1960s,
José bought a slaughterhouse and
began to build what would one day
become the largest animal protein
company in the world.
Wesley started his role in the company at an early age, learning from his
father the business of buying and selling cattle, and the values of working
hard and expanding your knowledge
every day. Sitting in a meeting with
Wesley today, you can’t help but notice
his attention to details and his desire to
understand even the smallest element
Continued on PAGE 2
In February 2011, Wesley became President & CEO of JBS S.A.
of the topic at hand.
“I started work when I was very young and at 17 I left
high school to run a business. Not to work – I was already
working – but to run a business. Over my career, I think
I have put a huge amount of effort into working hard and
learning every day. Things that you do not know are not a
problem. But to not have interest to know or to learn – that
is a problem. You must have a desire to learn. Focusing on
the details has been one of the keys to my success.”
In 2007, JBS officially entered the U.S. market with the
purchase of Swift & Company. Hicks Muse, a private equity firm, purchased Swift from ConAgra in 2002. After less
than six years of ownership and less-than-expected financial
results, Hicks Muse decided to sell the company. Enter JBS
S.A., the largest beef processor in South America. Largely
unknown to the U.S. beef and pork industries at the time,
JBS faced regulatory scrutiny and the questions of industry
observers skeptical of Swift’s ability to experience a turnaround under Brazilian management.
Wesley considers the acquisition of Swift “the most memorable
moment of my career.”
why is Swift not performing well?”
And, according to Wesley, the answer to that question is
both obvious and the key to our success today.
“When you look at the livestock business, it is very
THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF MY CAREER
simple. Our business is a people business, not a
“People used to always ask me, ‘why did JBS acquire
manufacturing business. There is no advantage in buying
Swift in 2007?’ Well, the answer is very simple. The first
cattle – we can all access the same market. There is no
thing we did when Hicks Muse put Swift up for sale was
advantage in selling the meat. Whether domestic or export,
analyze the U.S. market and the beef players in the marthe same markets are open to everyone. The beef plant is
ket. What we discovered was that one company – and I
a labor intensive business. It is not like medicine where
will not name this company – remained profitable every
a new technology is created that puts you 10 years ahead
year, even during the BSE crisis of 2003.1 But Swift was
of your competitors. So, if you buy the same cattle and
losing money. So, we asked the question: If somebody else sell the meat in the same markets, what is the difference?
was able to not lose money in good and bad times, then
Why was Swift not performing well? Management. How
1
In December 2003, the U.S. experienced its first case of Bovine
you manage the business is the difference.”
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or “Mad Cow Disease,” in a cow imImagine this. You have operated a successful business
ported from Canada. The incident immediately closed access to international markets with 65 nations implementing full or partial bans on U.S.
beef imports.
Continued on PAGE 3
What is Your Advice for Young People Who Would Like to Grow in JBS?
“Everyone has a desire to succeed, but not
everyone is willing to put more effort in than
normal. Want? Everybody wants! But to
want is not enough.
I have a 21-year-old son and I tell him all the
time: ‘If you want to succeed and grow, let me
tell you what you need to do. Every place that
you work – if people come to work at 7a.m.,
you come to work at 6 a.m. If people leave
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work at 5 p.m., you leave work at 7 p.m. If
people don’t come to work on Saturday, you
come to work on Saturday.”
This is the only way. Everybody wants!
A friend of mine, Bernardinho, is the most
famous volleyball coach in all of Brazil. He has
trained the Brazilian men’s national team for
the past 10 years and they have been world
champion five or seven times. He told me,
‘every player wants to be on the national
team, but not every player wants to train and
is willing to do the work to get there.’ He says
to the players, ‘If you want to be on the national team, you have to train 14 to 16 hours
per day. If you want to train only 6 hours, this
is not enough. Why? Because everyone will
train for 6 hours. You must work harder than
everyone else to be on this team.’”
What Does Leadership Mean to You?
“First of all, it means passion – having a huge
amount of determination to win.
only way to win is to surround yourself with a
good team.
people who are complementary and stronger
than you in areas where you are weak.
Second, it means being simple. We are not
a company that likes arrogance or treating
people poorly. We don’t want people that
think they can ‘do it alone.’ Some people think
they are stars and that they don’t need others, but your quality alone is not enough. The
Third, know your weakness. No one is perfect.
Everyone has a weakness and you must be
able to recognize yours. Throughout my career
I have met people who had a huge problem
with recognizing their weaknesses. This should
not be a problem! You need to be around
For example, my younger brother and I have
worked well together for 20 years. Why?
Because he recognizes areas where I am better than him and I recognize areas where he is
better than me. And I do not mind! This does
not diminish me.”
For Wesley, these are not merely words on a wall, but the foundation on which his father’s company was built.
for a number of years in your home country but have a
desire to do more. You want to take on a new challenge,
grow your business and reach more customers. An
opportunity comes your way in the form of a business
much larger than yours, in a foreign country that you have
very little knowledge of and, by the way, whose language
you cannot speak. Sound challenging?
“When we acquired Swift in 2007, we acquired a company that was much bigger than us at the time. We came
to a country that we were not familiar with and we were
not familiar with how the market worked. I came to the
U.S. to run a business without being able to communicate
– which was a huge barrier. This was the most challenging
and memorable moment of my career. It is something I
will never forget.”
SHARING THE JBS CULTURE
Since 2007, JBS has returned the Swift beef and pork
operations to profitability. But JBS was not satisfied. In
2008, JBS acquired the beef operations of Smithfield and
Continued on PAGE 4
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The Certainty of a Better Future for All Team Members
“
We want to be a company that provides an
opportunity for people to grow in their
career, grow culturally, and grow financially.
We want every team member to be in an
environment where people feel they are
with family. If we do not do this, we are
not accomplishing our mission.
culture throughout our organization
but also engaging a broader audience.
In Brazil, JBS is a well-known company that generates national pride.
Brazilians want to work for JBS
because of its history, its values
and its culture.
JBS S.A. has an annual internship
program for college-level students.
Each year, 20 -25 positions are
available for the program. Last year,
JBS received more than 14,000
applications. How can JBS USA generate that type of enthusiasm in the
United States?
“It takes many things to create the
type of good will we have established
in Brazil. We have to share our values
with the market and be honest about
what we believe. For example, last
year I went to 10 universities in Brazil to speak to graduates and explain
our company, what we believe, our
objectives and how we are involved
in local communities. It is important
to expand our network with local
communities and tell our story. When
people understand our beliefs, our
culture, and our values, and that we
do not compromise our values during
difficult times, then they will want to
work with us.”
Continued on PAGE 5
What is a Normal Day Like for Wesley Batista?
“I get up very early and work until late. Most of my
days are 14 to 15 hours of work. I am usually in the
office in São Paulo by 6 or 6:30 a.m. and work until 8
or 8:30 p.m. but sometimes until 10 p.m.
I start each day with a schedule. It is important that
you start the day knowing what you will do to be
productive. It is not good to start your day in the
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“
the Five Rivers feedlot operations. In
2009, JBS acquired a majority share
in Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, the
second largest poultry company in
the world. With all of this growth in a
short period of time, it can be a challenge to share the JBS culture with all
of its new team members.
So how do you accomplish this?
How do you make sure the values that
adorn the walls of our plants, facilities, and offices around the world are
not merely words on a wall?
“There is no magic. You cannot
just say, ‘these are our values.’ You
have to live them. The most efficient
way to implement a solid culture in a
company is to provide an example of
what we believe our values to be. We
must demonstrate them every day and
then they will cascade throughout our
whole organization. It starts from the
top – it starts with me. The way you
treat people, the way you apply the
values. ‘Determination’ – this starts
with me and the team that reports to
me. They must display strong determination at all times.
‘Simplicity’ – each of us must demonstrate this: how you treat everyone,
how you address problems, how you
handle the day to day issues.”
It’s not only about spreading our
office, in the plants, or in the feedlots without
having a schedule.
Stay very disciplined with a clear agenda. You
want to look back on your day and say, ‘Wow, I
accomplished a lot today.’ If you arrive without a
schedule, you can get lost and spend several hours
not producing.
What is Your
Favorite Meal
to Eat at Home?
“I enjoy a simple meal. Meat
– beef, pork, chicken or lamb
– with rice, beans and eggs.
Nothing sophisticated.”
“People always ask me, ‘Wesley, what keeps you
awake at night?’, and I always give the same answer.
I am not concerned with the market or the latest
This year marks the 60th anniversary of JBS, the world’s
international trade problem. What keeps me up at
largest meat producer. Processing more than 93,000 head of
night is not being 100% certain that we are the
cattle, more than 77,000 hides, more than 50,000 hogs, more best in every part of our business. Good moments
than 18,000 sheep and more than 8.7 million chickens –
happen. Bad moments happen. Markets go up and
every day – JBS is ranked 725 in Forbes Global 2000 list of
markets go down. Every business has cycles and
the world’s biggest public companies based on sales, profits, sometimes margin is good and other times it is more
assets and market value. For perspective, JBS is larger than
of a challenge. We cannot control this. We do not
Sprint Nextel, ConAgra Foods, Yahoo, Gap, Bed Bath & Be- control the exchange rate around the world. We do
yond, Ralph Lauren, and all of our competitors in the global not control if the market in China will grow by 10%
meat industry.
or 5%. We control what happens inside of our doors.
Our size and scale are quite impressive, but our mission We have the best team in the industry and we can run
is not to be the largest. It is to be the best. How can each
our business more efficiently than anyone else. This
of us contribute to fulfilling the mission of making JBS the we control. If we are 100% certain that we are the
best meat company in the world?
best in everything we do, then our business will have
longevity.”
“How do we become the best? First, our team. We have
the best team in the industry. Our business is a people busiAfter more than an hour of sharing his life’s passion
ness and we have the best people in the business working
– JBS – with one team member out of the more than
at JBS. Second, attention to details. Our business is a detail
140,000 of us worldwide, I asked one final question – a
business. If you do not like details, this is not the business
simple question, yet one that obviously held great imfor you. Every small piece is critically important and every
portance to Wesley: What do these past 60 years mean to
team member has a major role in our success. If all of us
you?
are focused on every
Lowering his voice to
detail, then together
almost a whisper, Weswe can outperform our
ley leaned over his desk
competitors. Our misand humbly expressed
sion is ‘to be the best in
how proud he is of JBS.
all that we do’ and for us
Even though JBS is a
this is the key. If we are
sizable company today,
not the best in everything
the same values and
we do, then over time
culture on which the
we will be behind. It is
company was founded
like a marathon. We must
remain with us today.
continue to work hard
“This anniversary
over each mile of the race
means a lot to my famto be the best in that mile.
ily and to everyone
Over time we will be in
at JBS. We have a lot
Wesley Batista in front of JBS global headquarters in São Paulo.
the first position and will
of pride in what we
win the race.”
have accomplished over the past 60 years. We never
paid one bill one day late. My dad – I care a lot that
I asked Wesley how we, members of the new JBS global
we have been able to take my dad’s business to new
family, can help ensure the longevity of the company his
heights and carry his values with us.”
family built in west central Brazil 60 years ago.
WE ARE THE LARGEST.
HOW DO WE BECOME THE BEST?
JBS USA Communications • 1770 Promontory Circle, Greeley CO 80634
970.506.7801 • [email protected]
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