The seventh annual Aspen Institute Italia Seminar on leadership and globalization was once again organized by Aspen Institute Italia in collaboration with The Aspen Institute US.
The seminar is dedicated to commemorating Ennio Presutti, one of the founders of Aspen Institute Italia, who passed away in 2008.
Conducted in English, the seminar format is based on that of the widely-acclaimed flagship program of The Aspen Institute tradition in the United States. The event 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 contend with and ways of interpreting and managing the complexity of the modern world.
Topics discussed during the seminar included the benefits and limitations of democracy, the sustainability of growth models and globalization, environmental challenges, humanism and technocracy, and the relationship between individual conscience, leaders’ formative experiences 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 present in a globalized world and on the exercise of responsible leadership.
The discussion was prompted and guided by two moderators: Leigh Hafrey, Senior Lecturer in Behavioral and Policy Sciences at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Giovanni Farese, Associate Professor of Economic History and of History of Economic Thought, European University of Rome; Managing Editor, The Journal of European Economic History, Rome.
