Àngels. Anna. Beatriz. Edwina. Elisabeth. Francesca. Gemma. Helena. Inés. Laura. Lorena. Mar. Marta. Matilde. Montse. Nathaly. Nely. Olga. Raquel. Silvia y Zuriñe. These women's names are not chosen at random. They are the first names of the 23 professionals from Barcelona who participated in the W50 Santander Summit at the London School of Economics (LSE). Most of us did not know each other before, but we are united by the fact that over the last 15 years we have been fortunate enough to be selected and granted scholarships in a high-performance executive program that selects 50 women from around the world each year, and trains them in leadership and high corporate management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles.
In these 15 years, more than 500 professionals from all over the world have gone through this training, and we have been brought together at the LSE to rethink leadership in these turbulent times. And, of course, to network and build bridges. And I wanted to rescue the Catalans from this exclusive cluster and give them a name in this column. Almost 5% of these 500 leaders convened in London were Catalans, and this has reinforced our connection with Barcelona, as well as the lobbying and community strength that this fact gives us.
We are women with diverse profiles and ages, executives, founders, entrepreneurs, investors, lawyers, researchers, scientists, academics. All of us have gone through this natural selection of having applied at some point to this program of Banco Santander that has led us to this group that we could say decides a lot and very well. In these two days we have talked about topics as diverse, complex and profound as resilience, risk, ethics, courage, change, decision-making, facing uncomfortable conversations, silence, anti-fragility, trust, impact, health, intuition and technology.
I would not dare to speak of female leadership as distinct from male leadership, what I do dare to say ---and I do say--- is that these topics should also be debated and explored in congresses where there are only men and they are conceived from a masculine perspective. I invite you to talk about ethics, courage, fear, silence, risk, impact, inclusivity, asking for forgiveness and giving thanks, vulnerability, inspiration, loneliness. This is also an intrinsic part of undertaking, creating, managing, leading, growing.
They invited us to put art and artistic expression into our routine as a source of balance and creativity. They invited us to work on the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and to bring out the artist we all have within. Do it, it changes your life. All this is what happens when 500 women from all over the world gather at one of the most prestigious business schools on the planet.
We from Barcelona rocked it in London, yes. And we rocked it because we carry Barcelona in our gaze, in our way of being and managing. Some were not born in Catalonia, but they have chosen this city to undertake, to study, to live, to start a family, and this makes them identify as Barcelonans. This is how they presented themselves in London. And that is more powerful than any other nationality. From Barcelona to the world, in feminine plural.