"Success is rented, and the payment is due every day." The phrase comes up in the middle of a conversation with Carlos Burle, without fanfare, and helps to understand why, despite holding the position of co-CEO of Africa Creative, Marcio Santoro doesn't boast about leading one of the largest advertising agencies in the country.
In an interview with Bravamente, a program in partnership with NeoFeed , Santoro says that the biggest risk for any company is not artificial intelligence, nor competition, but rather complacency. Therefore, he believes that all employees should have a thirst for learning, which he translates as the spirit of "interns."
"In life, you have to make changes to a winning team to keep it winning," he says. And he adds another image he often uses in conversations with the team: "The best time to replace the roof tiles is when the sun is shining."
A surfer since childhood, Santoro says he learned in the sea that no two waves are alike—a lesson he applied to managing Africa. Just as the ocean is constantly changing, companies, consumers, and markets also require permanent adaptation, even more so in the age of artificial intelligence.
Although he acknowledges the speed of technological transformations, the executive believes that competitive advantage will continue to come from the ability to learn continuously. "I think we stop living when we stop learning," he says.
For Santoro, curiosity needs to be cultivated, so much so that, three years ago, he decided to learn snowboarding to return to the beginner stage. The same logic applies to business since, in his view, those who believe they already know everything lose the ability to evolve.
