Last week, Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman had the honor of sharing our message of Truly Human Leadership at the annual Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC) Board of Trustees Meeting in Monterrey, N.L., México.
TEC is a private, non-profit, multi-campus university system in Latin America that is quickly becoming the epicenter of conscious business in the region. Approximately 100 professors are now teaching courses related to conscious business.
Bob’s friend and co-author, Raj Sisodia, has joined Tecnológico de Monterrey as Distinguished University Professor of Conscious Enterprise and Chairman of the Conscious Enterprise Center (Centro de Empresas Conscientes.)
During the day, Bob spoke to 600 Board of Trustees members that includes business, civic and academic leaders
representing 30-40% of Mexico’s GDP. In other sessions, he was also able to speak to more than 50 TEC students and professors and 25 Conscious Enterprise Center board members.
In attendance with Bob at the event was BW team member, Leopoldo (Polo) Juangorena, BW Papersystems VP of Sales for Latin America, who is also a 1991 graduate of TEC. Here are his reflections on the event:
Tecnológico de Monterrey connected me to the world and launched the career I have today with Barry-Wehmiller.
Last week, that circle of two incredibly important forces in my life intersected.
I graduated from TEC in 1991 and was immediately recruited by the Marquip company, based out of Phillips, WI, who were looking for an engineer to install machines in Latin America.
In 2001, I became part of the Barry-Wehmiller family when BW acquired Marquip, which is now part of BW Papersystems.
When Bob was invited to speak at TEC, I was proud to return to the university to participate and bear witness to what he
said and what I know to be true inside our company, that I have experienced over the past 23 years.
For me, it was a special and unique day. The TEC administrators treated me like a son that comes back after a life-long journey. They wanted to know how it feels to be part of a special company, with special leaders developing such a unique culture. I was part of some of the sessions that led to the creation of the Guiding Principles of Leadership and I took our early communication skills class (now Listen Like a Leader) with BW Board Member Tim Sullivan, so I feel I was part of the birth of the culture we spread today.
I talked to so many students and professors, who all wanted to know how I was hired and be part of this dream team for all these years.
The room where Bob spoke to more than 600 board members was vibrating at the highest frequency. A couple of times Bob almost broke down in tears and the emotions became love in the air, and love is the highest frequency at which you vibrate!
Some owners of other companies, who were present with their wives at the event where Bob gave the keynote, asked me how they can implement our culture of Truly Human Leadership! The day was a series of events where everybody felt like they mattered and where everyone wanted to be part of the Truly Human Leadership wave.
In fact, Juan Pablo Murra, TEC’s Dean for Higher Education, told me during the dinner after Bob's speech that I was an ambassador for BW since I have been living the culture. The Dean said he was expecting me to follow up with them and help them to implement a culture of Truly Human Leadership.
When Bob finished, Raj Sisodia, (BW Director of Outreach) Brian Wellinghoff and I were there, and we had the opportunity to give Bob a hug. The feeling was incredible. He was so happy, so fulfilled that you could feel everyone through him.
To me, Truly Human Leadership is a new light or lens to see in the darkness and see the best in people so we can help them see better, so they can serve better.
For my customers, Truly Human Leadership is a way to improve the life of the people they employ and look for a better future in harmony for all.
The message that Bob is sharing is important because it may change the future of the organizations that adopt it. It is a change in paradigm.
Working for a company where the CEO is out sharing this message inspires me to the point that I want to do the same with my customers and the universities.
Throughout the day when people would ask me what it feels like to be part of BW, the simplest answer is that we must give back to the people what we get. We came to this planet to serve and to lead others to find their gifts and serve with them.
Here’s what Luis Gerardo Gonzalez Lopez, an Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Ethics and Conscious Enterprise Professor at TEC said about the day on LinkedIn:
Seeing the impact of #TrulyHumanLeadership on the different groups with whom Bob Chapman had the opportunity to interact is really inspiring. The human-centric leadership vision of your company resonates deeply with TEC's vision towards 2030, "Leadership, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship for Human Flourishing," and our shared values through Centro de Empresas Conscientes.
Bob Chapman's message of hope is transformative, reaching business leaders, students, and professors alike. And I also witnessed other comments on the visit that reflect the profound impact and resonance of the philosophy of Everybody Matters.
Looking forward to continued collaboration and this collective journey towards creating positive change in the world to have a more conscious and flourishing future. 🌟
Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this important dialogue and movement. Let's keep striving to make a difference together!
Here's more from the day at TEC: