As a global entrepreneur, Luciano de Vries endeavors to stand out for his conscience as much as his business acumen. Where trendy CEOs tout social responsibility as an accessory, de Vries burrows ethics into his organizational DNA.
“There’s no need to prioritize integrity if it’s always there,” he shares. “Good policies and sticking to them are key. You need to find out your own company’s values and align them with your goals. It may take some time, but there is guidance embedded. This is often what is missing from companies, and therefore people sometimes have to prioritize it in a hurry.”
Still, the CEO of Gaet Holding and the director of Bayswater Capital acknowledge that even purpose-led leaders inevitably encounter ethical gray zones as emerging ventures push boundaries. Luciano de Vries declines to share specifics on past dilemmas he may have faced, but he stresses that when difficult choices surface, he filters options through questions like: “Does this align with our founder’s vision for responsible business? Who could be negatively impacted and how permanent might those consequences be? What tradeoffs between ethical factors are at play?”
By examining dilemmas through an integrity lens, sound judgment often reveals itself. No single perfect answer may exist, but the compass can point in a specific direction.
Luciano de Vries: Make Tech Easy To Use
Unlike some entrepreneurs racing headlong into disruption for disruption’s sake, Luciano de Vries urges innovators to build humanistic technology. “Make technology easy to use and make it support people and their causes,” he insists. “Use it to let people have more free quality time.”
And, he adds, “find the best tech to invest in.”
In his view, automation and artificial intelligence should enable human potential, not replace it. Tech tackling access inequality or the climate crisis makes sense. Applications serving only vanity and excess do not.
But don’t assume Luciano de Vries is an anti-artificial intelligence Luddite. He’s enthusiastic about the great leaps in technology—when used judiciously.
“Chatbots are doing a lot of heavy lifting and are acting as the most perfect Google assistant there can be,” he says. “You just need to learn how to communicate with them, and then they save a lot of time. Just use it as an assistant; don’t let it do all the work. People will notice.”
In all, Luciano de Vries’ hard-earned wisdom models how next-generation changemakers can anchor business growth in conscience rather than compromise it. Tech with purpose over hype. People before profits. And integrity, not just when convenient, but coded into the first principles of disruptive ventures destined to better the world. Values-first leadership never goes out of style.
