After a year out of\nhis natural habitat, he returned to the dental sector with a backpack full of\nsoft skills, which he treasures. The paths he has trodden for more than 15\nyears in the sector will take him even further since the beginning of 2021. The\ndistance between Madrid and Portugal may be small, but the will to overcome the\nchallenges is big. He considers himself an insider who sees the segmentation\nand organisation of the company as priorities. We met Straumann Group’s new\nGeneral Manager Iberia, Ant\u00f3nio Moutinho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was it your profile, focused\non Southern European markets and dynamics, and proven track record of working\nin the medical devices industry that led to the Straumann Group’s invitation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I like to think so,\nbut I judge that it was a mixture of things. Obviously with my experience in\nthe industry, over the last 15 years, you could say I am an insider in the\ndental market. Apart from a year’s break due to a contractual obligation to end\nmy connection with Nobel\/Danaher, I am an insider, not only in the Iberian\nPeninsula, but also in Southern Europe. This led Straumann to look for someone\nto lead the Straumann Group’s Iberian project who already had a proven track\nrecord, and I assume without any immodesty that my career and my CV were not a\nbrake. That is what the (Straumann) Group was looking for, but it was not the\nonly one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, there is a\npart of my management, my soft skills, that are an asset for organisations\ncoming out of this pandemic, that need to reorganise themselves, to look inside\nthe structure, to know how you can take better care of people, know how you can\nbe happier in the workplace, how people can produce more from a distance. They\nare all news aspects in the markets, and the Group is very concerned about them\nand wants to catapult and optimise them. This is one of my priorities for this\nyear and to look inside of Straumann, to look at the people in my teams and guarantee\nthat they have the best conditions, the best training and the best leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What made you leave Portugal\nin the middle of the pandemic to take up a new post abroad? What does this invitation mean at this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a great\nquestion. The fact that we are in a global pandemic and I agreed to leave\nPortugal, was obviously something that made me think of my family. Going\nbetween Portugal and Spain is not something new, I have been doing it since\n2011, so I still have all the mechanisms in place. In the globalisation we have\nthese days, Spain is next door. Madrid is four hours by car. 50 minutes by\nplane. There are people who do this every day. I am not the exception. We have\nto feel blessed for these opportunities and to be able to do things that are\nstill important and that will certainly enhance my career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was the main request the\nStraumann Group management addressed to you in this new project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The number one request\nwas: look after people. When I say look after people, I mean looking after our\nclients, looking after our employees and trainers to look after the scientific\ncommunity that supports Straumann. These stakeholders need to be cared for. Some\nproviding more training, others more tools with some incentive. The pandemic\nhas taught us that we need listen to the people. Some of them are our\ncustomers, others will be in the future and some of them are already, our\ncolleagues, our employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n