About us

  
Many universities around the world choose to specifically address certain issues of special importance or relevance to the general public. One highly prestigious way to do this is to create Chairs dedicated to these issues. Such Chairs are seen as units of academic excellence. 

In contemporary societies, social cohesion, the sense of well-being and progress are related to how solid the institutions are and how smooth the interaction is between the various players with key roles in collective actions: companies, governments, organisations and social movements.
 
The ESADE Chair in LeadershipS and Democratic Governance is focused specifically on developing a programme to explore these questions.
 
The Chair's aim is to foment permanent dialogue between the organisations (companies, public administrations and NGOs) and the individual players (businessmen, managers, political representatives, and social, civic and union leaders, etc.) that are committed to responsibly addressing the challenges faced in governing a world which is both global and local.
 
In addition, the Chair aims to study and promote innovative leadership in accordance with this complex reality.

LeadershipS
 
To great extent, the correct functioning of these players and institutions depends on the quality of the leaders, their personal vision and their ability to create projects which encourage others and help turn their visions into reality.
 
As such, it is essential to analyse the leadership qualities in contemporary society and the conditions which give rise to managers with vision and the ability to motivate others.
 
We should first distinguish between three specific types of leadership: business leadership, public leadership (political and institutional) and social leadership, with all their similarities and differences in terms of skills, values, etc. We must analyse and foment how the three types of leaders interact. The different institutions and rules of the game have to be seen as frameworks for interaction between the different types of leadership, underscoring the role played by the quality of said interaction to strengthen the institutions. We need to observe how the leaders share their thoughts on the type of society they want to build and the values they are committed to.

Democratic Governance
 
Currently, the interaction between players in the public sphere occurs within a framework extending well-beyond the traditional nation-state, national market or local civil society structures. There are also new supra and sub-state institutional levels. We refer to all of these when talking about democratic governance.
 
The notion that there is no longer a single player responsible for the public sphere is key. Rather, each of the sectors has to assume its role in responding to collective problems.
 
As a result, related visions have recently appeared. They consist of different networks with varying structures and they include public, private and social players, all with different types of legitimacy and capacities to respond. They are based on collaboration and the constant sharing and contrasting of visions.

The official presentation of the Chair took place in ESADE Barcelona on 8th March 2006.
 
More than 300 people attended this event held in the ESADE auditorium, including HRH Princess Cristina de Borbón and the Honourable Joan Rigol, former President of the Catalan Parliament. Carlos Losada, ESADE Director General, presided over the event in which some of the Chair's Sponsors played a key role: Jordi Pujol, Director of the Chair; Artur Carulla, Managing Director of Agrolimen representing the Group of Sponsors; Enrique Iglesias, President of the Chair's Advisory Board: and Àngel Castiñeira, Director of the ESADE Department of Social Sciences and member of the Chair's Academic Team.
 
Others taking part in the ESADE Chair in LeadershipS and Democratic Governance presentation were Ariane Arpa, Director General of Intermón Oxfam; Josep M. Carbonell, President of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia; Carmina Ganyet, Director of Inmobiliaria Colonial Operations-Finance Unit; Adolf Todó, Director General of Caixa Manresa and Member of the Chair's Advisory Board; Salvador Alemany, President of Abertis and member of the Group of Sponsors; and Joan Font, Director General of Grupo Bon Preu and also a member of the Group of Sponsors.