"Trust in people is the greatest leadership exercise", says Emilio Ruiz Roso, director of management Human Resources at Leroy Merlin Spain. This was emphasized during the fourth session of the cycle 'My experience managing people' at the School of Economics of the University of Navarra.

He also stressed that the mission statement of the human resources director is to lead people and not so much to manage human resources. In this sense, Ruiz assures that it is important to learn to delegate, remembering that the boss delegates the task, but not the responsibility. 

The culture of an organization must change by evolution, not by revolution, says Ruiz. In this sense, the guest comments on the general policies of his business, Leroy Merlin, which every year publishes internally a letter, addressed to all employees, in which some points of this policy are developed. Among other things, the letter reads: "Each of us will make others better". The underlying Philosophy , says Ruiz, is that there is something to be learned from everyone.

The "revolution" of the data

Emilio Ruiz believes that data are necessary. "It is true that digitization generates many data and it is necessary to know how to interpret them so that they are useful for making the right decisions," states director.

The data also brings new perspectives to the leader's mission statement . Leading is also about managing diversity well. "Those who adapt best survive," he said. Adaptability is measured by being clear about the final goal , looking at what I have next to me, seeing what the difference is and implementing actions to close that gap.

In the same way, he pointed out that the crisis has made the Human Resources function become more valuable, and this has been reflected in the fact that Human Resources Management is incorporated into the committee of Management of large companies.

Emilio Ruiz Roso is graduate in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid and for the last nine years has held the position de director de management of Human Resources in Leroy Merlin Spain, a business specialized in the conditioning and decoration in the home.