The sixth edition of the international forum America Business Forum (ABF) brought together renowned CEOs, government authorities, scientists, exponents of art and culture, under the premise #ComeBack: it is time to believe, in which they spoke about the future after the global pandemic.
With the presentation by journalist Ismael Cala, the event was held at the Punta del Este Convention Center and brought together the President of Uruguay Luis Lacalle Pou, the footballer Juan Sebastián Verón, the CEO of DLocal Jacobo Singer, the scientist Estanislao Bachrach , the ontological coach Brenda Cohen, the former director of the Washington Post Marty Baron, the ex-manager of Diego Maradona, Guillermo Coppola, the founder of the company Uala, Pierpaolo Barbieri, the businessman Ricky Sarkany and the Argentine diva Susana Giménez, who was recognized as Woman Icon of America.
The guests were interviewed by Cala and by the president of the ABF event, Ignacio González Castro, with a focus on the leadership facets of each character.
Juan Sebastian Verón
The first guest on stage was President Luis Lacalle Pou, who took the opportunity to defend the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC) and to reaffirm his policy of opening up to the outside world. “Uruguay has open arms for the citizens of the world”He said and stressed that the country offers tranquility, peace, trust, cohesion and long-term legal security.
“Uruguay is going to be a place of arrival for many people, where individuals will be able to enjoy freedom and liberty in concentric circles. Mine, to be able to think what I want and act according to my beliefs and that no one puts me in prison for that ”, said the president and insisted on the concept of responsible freedom that he managed throughout the pandemic.
The public was very receptive to his messages and repeatedly applauded the president’s words.
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The organizer of the ABF, Ignacio González with the Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou
After that initial intervention, the event continued with the presentations of the other guests, some in person and others virtual. Two of the outstanding interventions were those of the president of the Uruguayan unicorn DLocal, Jacobo Singer, and that of the Argentine scientist Estanislao Bachrach.
Leadership keys
The president of DLocal, Jacobo Singer, is 30 years old, but from the beginning of his career as an engineer he was exposed to positions of responsibility with teams in charge. In his presentation, he explained what are, according to his learnings, the three keys to leadership.
1 – Lead by example. “This implies being one who demonstrates and accompanies all initiatives together with the team, working together to get things done.”
2 – Know how to listen. This point requires not always having all the answers and knowing how to ask the right questions.
3 – Humility. “Work, go step by step, dream big,” said the executive, for whom it is important that leaders have the ability to dream big and motivate the team and their organization in pursuit of those dreams, “because that is what which ends up translating into the results that are achieved ”.
Mind and body, one
The Argentine researcher and PHD in Molecular Biology Estanislao Bachrach focused his presentation on the link between the body and the mind, emotions and expressions.
“Thoughts are the language of the brain and emotions those of the body”, expressed and emphasized how the things we think impact how we feel.
He explained that emotions are not a product of the situations we live in, but of how we interpret them and the meaning we give to situations. “The thoughts are not neutral, they will determine how you feel and instead of blaming your partner, your boss or your president, much of our discomfort has to do with our way of thinking and this is circular.”
Bachrach stated that “you change according to how you feel. This happens in the head but it also goes to the body ”. Therefore, when one feels an emotion there are two ways to handle it: expressing it (speaking, writing) or suppressing it, and in this case it stays in the body.
“You cannot suppress emotion, but you can suppress expression. Thirty years of studies show that people who do not express get sick more, suffer more. By suppressing the expression of emotion, the emotion gets stuck in the body. When one manages to express it, it generates well-being and that can be done through the mind or through the body ”.
Enjoy life
Already on the last part of the event, the Argentine shoe designer Ricky Sarkany was present. His talk focused on various moments in his life, but made special emphasis on how he experienced the death of his daughter, Sofía Sarkany.
Among the most outstanding phrases of the Argentine businessman, it appears that “children are the ones who teach you.”
“They teach you what it is to be a family and to be a dad, you also learn a lot from the spiritual phase”added.
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Susana Giménez, at the America Business Forum
On the death of his daughter, he said that the following days he did not leave his apartment in Miami but stressed that the rest of the family was able to live the moment in a very “wise” way. “People who are wise live this (death) with a completely different thought”, said.
He closed his space saying that, whatever happens, the important thing is to enjoy the moment. “With Sofia we said whatever happened, we were going to enjoy every moment. Do that, get all the juice out of life.”
The final highlight of the event was the tribute and interview with Susana Giménez, who spoke from her love life, to her fears when she was ill with covid and thanked the medical care and treatment she received in Uruguay.
The phrases left by the event
Luis Lacalle Pou, President of Uruguay
“The Uruguayans showed that they were capable of freedom, responsibility and solidarity. If a balance could be made of the pandemic, which we are still not in a position to do, I would do the same again, appealing to the responsible freedom of Uruguayans ”.
Juan Sebastián Verón, icon of world football
“Team sport is the best exponent to be able to transfer to a company, that of the locker room, of sitting next to the people you trust, of having a vision, a mission, objectives and knowing how to hit the right point so that a person feels important ”.
Jacobo Singer, president of DLocal, first Uruguayan unicorn
“It is important to know who the other is, what makes him happy, what are his emotions. Human warmth is fundamental in everything that is happening and being human, and leading from the human point of view is important ”.
Estanislao Bachrach, PHD in Molecular Biology and researcher at Harvard University
“What we can do at any time in our life is think differently. You can always change the way you think and that will change the way you feel ”.
Marty Baron, Director del Washington Post (2012-2021)
“In many democracies citizens take it for granted that the press is guaranteed, yet without free prey, people will quickly realize that they have lost freedom of expression for themselves. And without freedom of expression, democracy does not exist ”.
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