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The second Esade Alumni North America Annual Meeting gathered in New York

The meeting attracted almost one hundred business leaders, members of the vibrant Esade Alumni community, and featured the participation of the cardiologist Valentín Fuster
Jornada Nueva York

The 2nd Esade Alumni North America Annual Meeting in New York was unquestionably a memorable event. The goals were to connect, learn, and reflect on future challenges and opportunities. It is one of the most prominent international events of Esade Alumni, a network made up of more than 80,000 Esade alumni in 115 countries. The association has 74 international chapters, fifteen of which are in Latin America and twelve in the United States and Canada.

Lessons in leadership with Valentín Fuster

Dr. Valentín Fuster, an eminent presence in the world of cardiology and a touchstone in leadership, captivated the participants with his talk. “The most important thing as a leader is to set an example. A leader who is not an example is not a leader,” said Fuster. He went on to say that one of the most difficult aspects of leadership is achieving the right mix of empathy, firmness, and seeing the positive side of every person on your team.

He recommended that when leaders are faced with difficult situations they surround themselves with reliable, loyal partners who can help them make decisions, and he appealed to the importance of resilience. “You have to be resilient, very sure of what you want and how it can be achieved, and move forward,” said the General  Director of the Carlos III National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC) and president of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, to the Esade alumni who had come to New York from all over the United States.

Valentí Fuster

In a conversation with the president of the Esade Alumni chapter in New York, Miquel Colet (Lic&MBA 96), Dr. Fuster stressed the role of mentors in young professionals’ careers and recalled the ones that had set the tone of his career and his life. “A mentor is a person whom you trust 100% and who helps you at crossroads. Life is very complicated, and you need more and more mentors as you move on,” Fuster said. He called on leaders to “pay attention to young people” and think about “how society can be helped.”

Regarding the role of artificial intelligence (AI), Dr. Fuster was convinced that “it can help humanity,” although he is also concerned with “how it may affect young people’s creativity.” The cardiologist cited the example of young doctors, who “talk with AI on their computers but do not know how to talk to patients,” for whom the emotional facet has to be foregrounded.

Impactful investment

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The meeting also offered the opportunity to further explore investment with a social impact along with Santiago Mínguez (Lic&MBA 98), director of the Executive Masters programs at Esade. He explored to how ensure that financial capital drives social change while also generating solid profits, even though the percentages may be lower at times. In these cases, Mínguez says that the key to convincing investors is lowering their perception of the risk level they are going to take on and convincing them that if the risk is lower, the return will be, too.

The event closed with Iñaki Ocaña (Lic&MBA 06 / DARH 12), director of global relations at Esade Alumni, who stressed the importance of these initiatives for maintaining the connections, sense of belonging, and spirit of Esade among alumni living abroad. “We have to make sure that our alumni meet up and connect with each other. We know that when people connect, things happen,” Ocaña said. “Esade Alumni’s mission is to support alumni throughout their careers based on our four cornerstones: lifelong learning, professional development, networking opportunities and social impact.”

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