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A LEADER NEEDS TO KNOW HIS PEOPLE

April 04 2022
Mauren esquivel

Interview with Prof. María Elena Carballo

María Elena Carballo, from Costa Rica, is a Ph.D. in Literature from Brandies University in the United States. She was a Fulbright-LASPAU fellow for three years. She currently works as a Professor at INCAE Business School, where she develops her classes in the area of ​​humanities and communication. She is a key person in promoting the leadership skills of CAHI Fellows.

On the occasion of starting the 6th edition of the CAHI Fellows Program, we had this conversation with her.

We appreciate the opportunity you give us to have this conversation. We want to start with the topics that you address in the CAHI Fellows Program here at INCAE. How did you come to this development of work on leadership skills through the literature?

Maria Elena: INCAE was a pioneer in this approach. In the year 1990 we began including art, literature and cinema in the master's degree in business. We started this approach after witnessing 2 financial crises, after which business schools in the United States began to rethink their program content and, above all, their ethical approach. We saw that different dimensions were being included, we learned and immediately implemented a course in which we discussed ethical aspects through literature, art and cinema.

At first it was a challenge to implement it at INCAE, because the students were not used to this approach, however, over time it became one of the students' favorite courses. It is now a requirement in the first year program that everyone study leadership with literature. This has given INCAE a distinctive, it also allows people to think differently. The leader has to know his people in order to lead, this knowledge is generated through literature, the development of characters. Literature allows us to know people from the inside, to recognize their nuances.

How does this approach work through the literature?

Maria Elena: I think that we have great difficulty knowing ourselves, the experience of being confronted with diverse characters makes one have a constant pendulum between identifying the character and separating from the character. In the literature, the experience of knowing oneself is produced in order to carry out leadership effectively, for this one needs to know oneself, not to be carried away by impulses and desires. On the other hand, if we don't know the people we work with, we can't recognize the impact we can have on them. The literature helps in these dimensions. It is essential to listen to people, to know how to delegate, but you can only delegate if you know people, if we know ourselves, so that we are able to give and generate trust. The identification process that occurs in the literature is very supportive of all these elements.

What has been your experience as a teacher within the CAHI Fellows Program?

Maria Elena: The relationship with the CAHI Fellows in the classes has been a great learning experience. I am very grateful to this program, because I must say that I have learned a lot within INCAE, but I also have special appreciation for the CAHI Fellows for everything I learn from their health projects in Central America. I have been able to recognize that they are a special group of people, due to the high commitment they have to their projects and the impact on the population they serve.

They are agents of change in the health area, they are working and developing projects in which they are linked to different communities, which allows them to learn from the most diverse and dynamic situations. I teach them communication and leadership, they teach me about the region, the commitment, the state of things and their future. It is an experience where we all win, we learn from each other, this is of great value in the CAHI Program.

You have taught these classes since the first generation in 2012 and up to the present How do you perceive the evolution of the CAHI Fellows?

Maria Elena: I think that each time the selection process of the participants is better. With this I do not mean that the first generation is not as good as the sixth, but rather that the process to identify the best projects in Central America has improved. The experience gained at CAHI and here at INCAE is essential, hand in hand with professors such as Andrea Prado, who have recorded the processes and the way in which the project has been developed. I think that every year we have better projects and very committed people. This evolution has been significant and special for me.

How do you imagine the evolution of the CAHI Fellows program?

Maria Elena: In the first place, I see that CAHI is an open organization, that anyone who has a project with a social impact in the area of ​​health can approach CAHI, I would even say projects that address areas other than health, because beyond applying or not to the program, here is a very interesting and documented experience of 6 years promoting projects with impact in the region. In these 6 years there have been hits and misses, good and bad experiences, so there is an important journey that can and should be shared. For example, I have worked with international organizations that have no connection with health and I always recommend exchanging experiences with CAHI, because here we have developed an effective way to develop and carry out these projects and initiatives.

I believe that we should not limit ourselves to transmitting public health knowledge, but that it is essential that the people assume their leadership. I think it is very important that each one assumes the leadership of their own project, that teams are formed, that this network of leaders is strengthened to involve more people, learn from each other, develop new experiences, have a support group. In conclusion, I can say that building ties and developing leadership and self-awareness are distinctive aspects of the CAHI Program, and going beyond transmitting knowledge and advising on health management projects, because here there is a whole human dimension that makes this unique project.