Católica Porto Business School marked yesterday the 10th anniversary of its Ethics Forum with the conference “Ethical Leadership: Individual and Organisational”, a milestone moment of reflection and knowledge-sharing that reinforced the School’s role as a national reference in the discussion and promotion of ethics within organisations.
Held on World Philosophy Day, the event brought together academics, business leaders and specialists to explore the contemporary challenges of ethical leadership, as well as to present the results of the latest Ethical Leadership Survey, developed as part of the Forum’s annual study.
In the opening session, the Dean of Católica Porto Business School, João Pinto, highlighted the importance of ethics as a structural pillar in the education of managers and leaders, emphasising the School’s commitment to fostering an organisational culture grounded in responsibility, transparency and social awareness.
The programme also included a musical moment by Eduardo Sorte, a student of the Sound and Image undergraduate degree at the UCP School of Arts, adding an artistic dimension to the ethical reflection of the event.
Throughout the conference, Helena Gonçalves, coordinator of the Ethics Forum, looked back on the “10 moments, 10 years” of this initiative, highlighting its growing impact on the thinking and practice of governance and ethics management in Portugal. The main results of the Ethical Leadership Survey were also shared, revealing the convergence between leaders and followers in the perception that leaders demonstrate behaviours that aim to communicate clear expectations, make ethical decisions and show that ethics is an organisational priority, although challenges remain in providing concrete support for formal ethics programmes.
One of the central moments of the conference was the keynote by José Teixeira, CEO of Grupo DST, who offered a distinctive perspective on the relationship between leadership, ethics, art and philosophy. His contribution emphasised the importance of critical thinking, reading and humanistic education in shaping more conscious and responsible leaders, arguing that “we must teach to ask questions” and that progress is only meaningful when everyone starts from equal conditions.
This reflection was further developed in a dedicated roundtable bringing together José Teixeira, Raquel Campos Franco, professor at Católica Porto Business School, and Susana Magalhães, Research integrity officer at i3S – Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, fostering a multidisciplinary dialogue on ethical leadership.
This was followed by a roundtable dedicated to the voices of Portuguese managers, moderated by Sofia Salgado, professor at Católica Porto Business School, featuring Ana Vasconcelos, General Manager at Belcinto, Pedro Pinto de Almeida, CEO and Co-Founder of Teach For Portugal, and Luís Silva Santos, CEO of Ascendi. The speakers shared concrete examples of how ethics informs strategic decisions, internal policies and leadership practices, reinforcing the idea that leadership is, above all, an act of service and responsibility.
The event also included the presentation of the latest collective book “Ética e Compliance: Vozes (e Histórias) de Gestores”, by Susana Magalhães, which brings together practical and reflective contributions on ethics in the Portuguese business context.
The closing session was led by the Pro-Rector of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Isabel Braga da Cruz, who underlined the relevance of the Ethics Forum as a privileged space for reflection and collective construction.
