About the conference
Latin America is a continent with a history of weak democracies, coups, dictatorships, wars between neighboring countries, guerrillas, internal social conflicts, and of informal business and market development. The influence of private and military sectors on political decisions, as well as the enormous extension of poverty, have, furthermore, led to difficult geographic, social, and cultural integration.
Although these dynamics have changed in the past 30 years, the residue of this heritage remains as a subtle subtext weighing in on the transformation process of Latin American societies. Influential institutions in Latin America such as family, school, and the media also play a crucial role, impacting behavior and practice. Keeping in mind the Latin American process, this conference asks: How does transformation come about? What type of transformation is Latin America actually experiencing?
Transformational processes take place within the interaction of different levels and dimensions of social reality. For each process there is an underlying logic, a way or a mechanism that either facilitates or hinders transformation. In Latin America, many times the expectation, for example, is that a new leader, a new government, or a new law can, almost radically, change national reality. The lived experience, however, is that this transformation does not happen or it falls short of the original expectation. Invariably, the old logic survives disguised in some other form. The same disconnect also occurs within both the private sector and social organizations. For example, a declared policy of corporate social responsibility will be contradicted by the real practices of business activity.
What factors, then, limit systemic transformational process and how can these limitations be overcome? If entrenched interests are powerful enough to prevent change, what role is there for leadership? In what way does the system determine whether individuals reveal themselves as leaders? How might alternative leaders emerge? What resistances emerge to prevent, hinder, or slow down transformation? What else is there besides individuals in transformation processes? How do the subjective world of people, the culture, the collective unconscious, and the social relations work?
This conference will explore these questions, asking participants to consider the new and critical dynamism the world is experiencing and how this course is being expressed, particularly within a Latin American context. Taking place August 10-12, 2016, Exploring Leadership in Latin America is an opportunity to share experiences, conclusions, analyses, practices, situations, cases, processes, research, or reflections that can have an impact on Latin America organizations, businesses, and societies, contributing to their transformation.