On October 29, IPADE Business School welcomed more than 300 alumni, current participants, business leaders, ISTMO subscribers, and invited guests for the 12th Annual Istmo Forum. The 2019 edition of the event, titled “360 Leadership: Choose your Mindset,” explored the types of mindsets that encourage entrepreneurship and fostered dialogue on the role of the modern businessperson, the potential impact businesses can have when they work towards a common good, and the activism necessary to continue to conduct business within the current global context.
“This year, the event is focused on 360 leadership, because we believe that true leadership is integrated and comprehensive,” said IPADE Dean Rafael Gómez Nava during his welcoming remarks.
The event featured speakers and panelists from various different sectors, all representatives of the nine different mindsets that are considered fundamental for effective entrepreneurs and visionary business leaders: innovative, conscientious, disruptive, auto-didactic, perfectionist, empathetic, and observational and creative. Speakers included Dan DeFossey and Roberto Luna, founders of Grupo Chilango Gringo; Antonio Murad, founder of Yolcan; Melina Cruz, founder of Homely; Jorge Cueto-Felgueroso, founder of Prison Art; Oswaldo Trava, founder of InstaFit; and Claudia Jañez, president of Dupont Latin America, in addition to other business leaders and various IPADE professors.
Sessions during the event focused on the multiplier effect of the businessperson, current opportunities in Mexico, digital transformation, and the power of business to work towards a common good.
“We’re a country full of young people, and we have everything that we need to ensure that these people have opportunities here in Mexico,” said Claudia Jañez, president of Dupont Latin America, during her keynote session. “Younger generations are demanding a significant social change, and companies that successfully incorporate an innovative mindset are the companies that are going to survive.”
“When your reason for becoming an entrepreneur is money and you take shortcuts to ‘achieve’ this goal at the cost of work conditions, quality, etc., then you’re on the wrong path,” added Antonio Murad, founder of Yolcan, a social enterprise that works with local families to produce and deliver fresh, seasonal organic produce. “When you’re focused on transformation and your purpose is creating well-being for the producer or a quality product for the end consumer, those shortcuts aren’t necessary, because you know where you want to go and the values that will get you there.”
The event concluded with a networking cocktail hosted by the event’s sponsors.
About ISTMO
Founded in 1959, ISTMO is dedicated to “publishing what is truly worth knowing.” Today, the ISTMO community consists of executives, business leaders, and entrepreneurs that look to the magazine as a place to engage with today’s top management concepts based on an understanding that the business world has a responsibility to create positive social benefits on a global scale. Learn more (site in Spanish).
