Last June I had the opportunity to attend the Wobi Event in Bogotá, “Be Beta”, a space that brings together a group of curious minds who share a passion for business. This was a great experience to complement my i-Flex program in the context of learning and gaining inspiration from many influential figures in business and other areas. It provided an excellent opportunity for networking and I came away feeling that my mind had been greatly stretched by the experience.

The message the WOBI “Be Beta” Forum put across was our need to understand that both organizations and people are now constantly called to reinvent themselves, to experiment and learn; we need to identify new opportunities, explore them quickly and try them out. Beta businesses and companies should be in a constant state of trial and error, with people being prepared to put forward their ideas and to be part of a progressive organisational culture with dynamic strategies.

I spent two valuable days filled with learning, thanks to the shared knowledge and experiences of the speakers.

Here are four great lessons for today’s leaders:

1. Reward effort more than success (George Kohlrieser): Being a secure bedrock in the team is so relevant. It is about inspiring others and creating everyday challenges which encourage the team to take risks and to explore, in a confident environment. Then, when evaluating the results, process and effort must be considered to be more valuable than any success or failure.

2. Believe, Create and Achieve (Alex Roviera): He set out three key aspects that are crucial for a company and for leaders:

   â—‹ Believe in your team and their capabilities: Relying on them will make a more efficient and effective team. Delegating and giving important tasks makes people feel involved and be more willing to compromise. Leaders must motivate in order to cultivate talent within their teams.
    â—‹ Create coworking and collaboration: Set up spaces and tools for shared knowledge, where people can be open to cooperating with their colleagues.
Likewise, create an organizational structure where decisions are taken in the right place with the right people.
    â—‹ Achieve success and failure: Assessing and socializing are not the only positives; also missteps can give the team the opportunity to identify the main mistakes and to propose possible future solutions and ways of confronting the situation. “Develop a culture of CREATE but be prepared for FAILURE” (Pau Garcia-Milà)

3. Do fewer things BETTER (Ken Segall): Simplicity is also saying “No” to a thousand things, it is being focused on the activities that really give value, avoiding an excessive number of meetings and appointments and taking advantage of all the technological tools that exist nowadays, which enable us to work from different environments. As Kory Kogol also mentioned, “Avoid the culture of “Busy”, use the culture of “Productivity” and you will see the changes in the organization.

4. Be passionate about what you do and you will do 1% more each day (Carles Puyol): This lesson from the soccer field is a perfect fit with many day-to-day activities, not just related to business. Passion really moves people and make us go further, be curious and ask many questions in relation to that passion. It allows us to convert problems into opportunities and to be more demanding. In this way we will be able to achieve 1% more each day, to demand greater and more valuable knowledge, so as to create a better version of ourselves every day.

Overall, the WOBI Forum was an extremely inspirational experience and one from which I continue to reap the benefits as I put into practice what I learned during those two days. It was a real highlight of the i-Flex programme and provided what could well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear some of the world’s most respected leaders and thinkers imparting their wisdom.