In a world premiere event held in Italy, Aspen Institute Italia, in collaboration with The Aspen Institute, organized the first Aspen Seminar on Leadership, Globalization and the Quest for Common Values. The seminar, conducted in English, was based on the widely-acclaimed cornerstone program of The Aspen Institute tradition in the United States. The initiative was aimed at Italian and overseas participants who, through an analysis and discussion of selected readings from classical and contemporary authors, examined the issues that leaders of the twenty-first century must grapple with and how to go about interpreting and governing the complexities of the modern world.
Topics discussed during the seminar included the values and limits of democracy, the sustainability of growth models and globalization, environmental challenges, humanism and technocracy, and the relationship between individual conscience, how leaders are shaped and the exercise of leadership. A performance of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” by the participants also provided an opportunity to sum up and reflect on the tensions that exist in a globalized world and the exercise of responsible leadership.
The discussion was prompted and guided by two moderators: Todd Breyfogle, Director of Seminars for The Aspen Institute, and Leigh Hafrey, Senior Lecturer in Behavioral and Policy Sciences at the MIT Sloan School of Management.