Bernardo Correia, general director of Google Portugal: “A leader must know how to get out of the way”

It was a network cable directly connected from the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), where his father worked, to the window of Bernardo Correia’s house that dictated the fate of what is now the general director of Google in Portugal: “we were able to have internet at home and that for a kid my age was a discovery.” His connection to the world of technology was never lost, but when it came to choosing higher education he chose Economics.

It was at L’Óreal and, later, at Unilever that he had his first professional careers. In 2006 he stamped his passport to Unilever’s headquarters in London, where he assumed international management positions within the company and an active role in developing the brands’ global digital strategy.

The technological giant Google appears on Bernardo Correia’s CV in 2008. In an episode recorded before the court case pitting more than 30 European media companies against Google became knownaccusing the giant of anti-competitive behavior in the online advertising business, Bernardo Correia talks about the six 16 years in technology which, he insists, are not counted as normal years: “Google years are like dog years, you have to multiply by seven”.

Bernardo Correia has been at the helm of the technological giant’s destiny in Portugal since 2016. He says that “combining passion and competence is the way to be successful in your career”. And he recalls that, until he got here, he had a journey rich in experiences and people who challenged him to be more and better: “I spent my life looking up, physically and intellectually”.

The role of good leaders, says Bernardo Correia, is precisely this: “being someone who is there to let people build their own dreams, their projects, capable of giving a vision that is passionate, but who must know how to get out of the way ” when the moment comes. This is why he insists that he will consider himself successful in his career when his role “is redundant and I am not needed”.

The CEO is the limit is Expresso’s leadership and career podcast. Every week, journalist Cátia Mateus shows you who the Portuguese managers who marked the past, those who direct today and those who promise to shape the future are, how they started and what they did to reach the top. Inspiring stories, told in the first person, by those who dare to make things happen. Listen to other episodes: