Transformational Leadership with Professor Juan Carlos Pastor

Everyone should be given the opportunity, resources and support to inspire others. This was the key sentiment of the Transformational Leadership seminar, led by Juan Carlos Pastor, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at IE. The seminar took place on Wednesday July 4th, 2018 at the IE Madrid campus as part of the Effective Management for Security Professionals program, aimed at developing security executives’ managerial skills.

The work of security professionals adds extensive value to an organization, but their potential as strategic, C-suite leaders is often overlooked. Nowadays, security has become a fundamental issue regarding every aspect of our daily lives, not just the ever-changing market. The work of security professionals has therefore become a key contribution to strategic management and it is vital that these specialists are equipped with the necessary skills to become transformational leaders.

According to Juan Carlos, the three great tests of a leader are “Crisis, Conflict and Change”. With this in mind, participants explored the case of a company whose management and employees were in dispute. By encouraging the group to analyze the successes and failures of each employee as a leader, they could offer suggestions on how to strengthen key leadership attributes.

Toward the end of the seminar, Juan Carlos asked participants to measure their own leadership skills against those of the case study characters. Encouraging honesty and openness, participants took part in collective feedback and discussion, acknowledging the challenges they face as leaders themselves. The majority of participants expressed the desire to improve their practice of self-reflection, something that Juan Carlos believes is crucial to becoming a successful leader.

“We are all out of touch with what we do,” he tells participants, “but the greatest CEOs in history were self-aware and adapted to change”. For Juan Carlos, the art of transformational leadership begins with creating your own goals and working tirelessly on them, with self-reflection being the single most valuable practice to a successful executive. “How do you inspire others? You wake up in the morning and inspire yourself”.

If you’re a security professional looking to inspire your organization and contribute to key C-suite decisions and strategy, visit our website to find more about the Effective Management for Security Professionals program.