Buying our Ticket to Bombay, Latino-style Written By: Art Shirk
Latin America presents unique challenges and opportunities for leadership growth. This slideshow outlines the opportunities there are for leadership development in Latin American countries. Leaders of global companies and international leadership coaches/consultants need to be aware of these challenges and opportunities to achieve success.
Nowhere on Earth are we more “In over our heads” today than in Latin America, and nowhere is The Leadership Circle mission to “evolve the conscious practice of leadership to steward the planet and to awaken us all to our inherent unity” more urgent and important.
• Colombia is one of the worldʼs largest exporters of fresh flowers, and also home to the longest running active civil war in the world. • South America is the single most biologically rich area in the world, but at the same time includes 6 of the 10 most violent cities on the planet based on homicide rates. • Fueled by growth in middle class, urbanization, increased infrastructure spending, and improved connectivity, Latin America is likely to become one of the most important markets globally, with a gross domestic product of $15.14 trillion by 2025. And, over 25% of the Latin American population survives on $2 per day. • There are approximately 40,000,000 people in Latin America and the Caribbean that belong to the almost 600 indigenous peoples of the continent; 12.76% of the entire American population and approximately 40% of the rural population is indigenous. Many of these indigenous cultures are at high risk due to exploitation of rich sources of natural resources from their land.
Based on the contrasting figures on the previous slide, one can see and understand a Latino world that reacts in a “play not to lose” strategy. However, Latin America is yearning for creative ways of embracing “play to win” strategies.
• In some moments Latin America is viewed as a subordinate sibling to the United States and has a complying tendency to somehow be approved of or accepted by the North. • However, in other moments, Latin America seeks to stand apart from its northern neighbors--protective stance of “we don’t need them.” • Perhaps the most stereotypical version of Latin America evokes images of controlling dictators exerting dominant control over a struggling populace. As is the case around the world and in all cultures, reactive responses abound in Latin America and represent the “center of gravity” of society’s collective consciousness. • What is ever-more visible in today’s Latin America is an opening and hunger for transformative change”or new forms of being and thinking and knowing, for creative ways of embracing “play to win” strategies.
In January of 2013, The Leadership Circle Latin America was officially launched. • Fifty certified practitioners from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico are supported by a core team of consultants and faculty at our headquarters based in Bogota, Colombia. • Prior to launching this Latin American region, The Leadership Circle was actively engaged in conversation about how this methodology, model, and sets of theories could impact the developing world that is Latin America today. • The global community of The Leadership Circle practitioners now includes Latin America as a part of that web.
The Leadership Circle’s vision is bold - They believe that the window-of-opportunity for this shift particularly in Latin America is NOW. • In this decade, Latin America is experiencing an “age structural transition” in which the total active working population is larger than the dependent population of youth and the elderly. • One way of looking at that trend is from the perspective that the largest group of emerging leaders is searching NOW for the best ways to expand their leadership consciousness and capacity.
The Leadership Circle’s vision is bold - They believe that the window-of-opportunity for this shift particularly in Latin America is NOW. •The challenges encountered in Latin America are not unlike challenges faced in other parts of the world, particularly in developing countries. • Practitioners of The Leadership Circle all sense that the global community is at a precipitous time of history and know that an evolution in their way of making sense of the world is at the root of tilting the future toward a sustainable path.
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