This Thursday ends the 16th edition of the QSP Summit, the European summit that brings together, at Exponor, more than three thousand people, 120 exhibitors and seven dozen expert speakers in the areas of management and marketing. Once again, the Municipality of Porto is at the event to show what differentiates the city and makes it present, always and increasingly, dynamic in several areas.

Certain that the event is "very important from the point of view of the region's capacity to lead a conference that, in a certain way, brings back transforming ideas and brings a lot to the management and marketing area", the Alderman of Economy, Employment and Entrepreneurship confirms that "what we bring is that Port. It is the Port linked to the economy, to entrepreneurship, to talent and, this year, also the Port linked to wines", the differentiating factor for the location of companies in the region.

Ricardo Valente believes that the QSP Summit is "the demonstration of what the city wants to be: multifunctional, multipolar, open to discussion and with the ability to project disruptive ideas.

On the other hand, this is also another opportunity for the city to open itself "to the people who come from all over the world" year after year and meet here "a Port very different from what, maybe, they had perceived last time". "The city is very different every year and people notice a very dynamic Porto", underlines Ricardo Valente, next to the Municipality's stand where the iniciatives sucha as ScaleUp Porto, Porto Leading Investors, TERA  and Great Wine Capitals will be presented.

A Portugal leading by example

At the beginning of the two days of lectures, which will be attended by about 3,200 participants, 70 speakers and 120 exhibitors, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Trade and Services referred again, as he had done the previous day, at Teatro Rivoli, the importance of the QSP Summit as "contribution to development, for the country to grow with inspiration and good practices.

Welcoming "the mobilization achieved" by the event, Nuno Fazenda reinforced the message that "today, we have a positive Portugal, of confidence, with confident exporting companies", but also assuming "an increasingly leading role in climate action" and "a strong brand in the international tourism plan".

For the president of Associação Empresarial de Portugal, the QSP Summit is "a help to reflect the future. And the focus of the future is people, it is the competence that continues to make the difference." "Being a leader nowadays", believes Luís Miguel Ribeiro, "is to have an orientation for the collective and to deal with uncertainty".

Anticipating the announcement that the QSP Summit will continue to be held at Exponor for at least the next four years, the general director of the event admits the will to "be the European hub for management and marketing. "Anticipating the changes of the future," added Rui Ribeiro, "we chose this theme - "Shaping the Leadership of the Future" - to focus on how to have more inspiring companies and brands.

Bureaucratic leadership produces passionless workers

Introduced as "one of the most influential management experts of our time," Gary Hamel held the attention of all participants in the first lecture of the two-day QSP Summit. Addressing the topic of current leadership challenges, the author and professor asked and answered, "are we changing our organizations as fast as the world around us? No".

Disbelieving of the investment of leadership training witnessed in 2022, the American states that "if today we don't have the leaders we need, it's not more training we need, but a radical change in structures", eliminating both the layers in companies and the ideology of those who manage.

Gary Hamel brought to the QSP Summit data showing the direct relationship between bureaucracy - "a product of the 19th century and whose premises are no longer true" - and the drop in productivity in several countries.

"You have to stop giving power to a few and distribute it among many," argues the management expert, noting that "having many subordinates doesn't make you a leader. What does is having people who want to follow you" and who feel involved in the strategy and decision making. "There is no leadership without passion, and there is no passion without freedom," he warned.