Leading with Purpose Through an Era of Transformation 

For more than three decades, his professional life has revolved around a question that remains as relevant today as when he first began working in leadership and education: how can people and organisations continue to grow when the world around them keeps changing? 

That question has shaped a career spanning leadership development, executive coaching, higher education, research, and business management. It has also influenced the way he leads Formación Universitaria, the institution he helped build around a model of accessible and flexible education. 

His recognition at the Men’s Awards 2026 represents an important moment in that journey. He sees the recognition with satisfaction, but also with a sense of responsibility. For him, an award has real meaning when it recognises not simply professional achievements, but a way of understanding business, leadership, and relationships with people. 

The fact that the recognition comes from Colombia adds another dimension. Latin America has demonstrated a strong interest in entrepreneurship, leadership, and business transformation, making the recognition particularly meaningful after more than thirty years dedicated to business, education, and people’s development. 

Yet he does not regard the award as a destination. 

If anything, his career reflects the opposite idea: leadership is a continuous process of learning, adapting, and helping others develop. 

From Managing Results to Understanding People 

His approach to leadership has evolved considerably over the years. 

Early in his career, management was more closely associated with objectives, processes, performance, and results. Experience gradually led him towards a broader understanding of what makes organisations work. 

A company can have strong technology, financial resources, sophisticated processes, and ambitious plans. But none of these elements can create sustainable results without people capable of making them work together. 

That realisation became central to his work in leadership development and executive coaching and eventually led to two decades of research into meta-leadership. 

The concept is based on a relatively straightforward observation: people are different. They do not all think, communicate, react, or work in the same way. 

Consequently, leadership cannot always be based on one fixed management style. 

A leader needs to understand the people they work with and adapt their approach accordingly. For him, there are no professionals who are simply “good” or “bad” in absolute terms. The ability of a leader to recognise potential and create the conditions for people to perform at their best can make a significant difference. 

This philosophy has also shaped the culture of Formación Universitaria. 

The organisation’s purpose extends beyond providing qualifications. Its objective is to help people develop professional opportunities and cultivate the mindset required to adapt to change. 

Taking a Risk on Online Education 

One of the defining decisions of his career came in 2001, when Formación Universitaria began developing its online education model. 

At that time, online education was far from the established reality it is today. Traditional expectations around education were still strongly connected to physical classrooms, face-to-face teaching, and conventional institutional structures. 

Choosing to invest in digital education therefore meant accepting uncertainty. 

There was no guarantee of how technology would evolve, how students would respond, or whether the market would ultimately embrace the model. 

The organisation nevertheless believed that education needed to become more accessible and flexible and decided to act on that conviction. 

Twenty-five years later, Formación Universitaria has educated more than 200,000 students from more than 90 nationalities and has approximately 250 professionals within its organisation. 

Looking back, the decision illustrates one of his fundamental beliefs about leadership: the future cannot simply be waited for. At times, it has to be built before there is certainty that the decision will succeed. 

That experience also reinforced another lesson. Innovation always involves uncertainty. Avoiding risk may appear safer in the short term but remaining inactive while an industry change can carry its own cost. 

Keeping People at the Centre 

The same people-focused philosophy influences how he approaches leadership within the organisation. 

For him, motivation is not something a CEO can simply demand. 

People become committed when they understand the purpose behind their work, feel connected to the organisation, and believe their contribution has meaning. 

This requires communication and trust. 

Leadership cannot be conducted entirely from an office. It requires listening, observing, asking questions, and maintaining a genuine connection with the people within the organisation. 

At Formación Universitaria, continuous improvement forms part of this approach. Feedback from employees is considered alongside performance indicators to understand what is working and where changes may be necessary. 

The objective is to create a level of ownership in which employees do not simply feel that they are working for an organisation, but that they are contributing to something that also belongs to them. 

That distinction matters because sustainable performance depends on more than individual targets. It depends on whether people understand why their work matters. 

Five Principles Behind Strategic Decisions 

His strategic thinking can be understood through five principles: vision, adaptability, people, innovation, and purpose. 

Vision provides direction. An organisation needs to know where it wants to go before it can decide how to get there. 

Adaptability is equally important because business environments rarely remain stable for long. A strategy that works today may need to change as markets, technology, customer expectations, and competitive conditions evolve. 

People remain at the foundation of execution. A strategy ultimately depends on professionals who can translate ideas into action. 

Innovation, meanwhile, should not be reduced to technology. Innovation begins by questioning existing approaches and asking whether something can be done better. Technology can support that improvement, but it does not define innovation by itself. 

The final principle is the purpose. 

A company needs to understand what it contributes to and why its work matters. Without a clear sense of purpose, growth can become an exercise in numbers rather than a sustainable business objective. 

In today’s environment, competitiveness is therefore no longer determined solely by the quality of a product or service. Trust, relationships, credibility, and the ability to create meaningful value have become equally important. 

Education Must Keep Pace with the Labour Market 

For an educational institution, remaining relevant requires constant attention to what is happening outside the classroom. 

His approach is that courses should not be created simply for the sake of adding new programmes. Education needs to respond to real professional needs. 

That means listening to companies, observing emerging professions, identifying changing skill requirements, and updating programmes accordingly. 

It also means accepting that education is no longer confined to one stage of life. 

Professionals increasingly need to learn, unlearn, and learn again as industries change. Skills that are valuable today may require updating tomorrow, while entirely new areas of expertise can emerge within a relatively short period. 

This is why lifelong learning, professional development, specialisation, and adaptability have become increasingly important. 

The value of education, therefore, is not limited to transferring existing knowledge. It also lies in preparing people to continue learning when that knowledge changes. 

Creating Space for Creativity and Improvement 

Creativity requires freedom, while collaboration depends on trust. 

He believes professionals should have the space to propose ideas, question existing practices, and identify opportunities to improve. 

Not every suggestion will immediately become relevant or workable, but an organisation where people feel unable to question established ways of working can eventually become resistant to change. 

This philosophy also influences his approach to mistakes. 

A culture that automatically penalises every mistake can produce employees who become reluctant to take risks. While caution has its place, excessive fear can also limit experimentation and innovation. 

The objective is not to encourage careless decisions. It is to ensure that mistakes can be analysed and converted into learning. 

Continuous improvement does not mean being permanently dissatisfied with what has already been achieved. It means recognising that even successful organisations can find better ways to work. 

What Makes an Exceptional Leader? 

For him, exceptional leadership requires a combination of qualities that can sometimes appear contradictory. 

A leader needs vision, but also humility. 

They need the ability to make decisions, but also the willingness to listen. 

They need ambition, but also purpose. 

Alongside these qualities, he identifies resilience, emotional intelligence, adaptability, communication, strategic thinking, and awareness as increasingly important. 

The traditional leadership model based primarily on authority is becoming less effective in an environment where professionals expect greater involvement, and organisations depend increasingly on collaboration. 

Leadership is moving towards influence. 

This becomes particularly important as artificial intelligence changes the nature of work. 

Machines can process information, automate tasks, and analyse enormous volumes of data. They can significantly increase organisational capabilities. 

But qualities such as empathy, judgement, ethics, trust, and the ability to inspire people remain fundamentally human. 

As technology becomes more capable, these qualities may become even more important. 

The Leadership Implications of Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence is likely to be one of the most significant forces shaping leadership, education, and talent development over the next five years. 

However, he believes its impact should not be considered exclusively from a technological perspective. 

The deeper transformation will be organisational, cultural, and human. 

Education is likely to see continued growth in lifelong learning, personalised learning models, micro-credentials, hybrid education, and data-driven approaches. 

At the same time, human capabilities such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, emotional intelligence, leadership, and the ability to work effectively in complex environments will become increasingly valuable. 

This is where meta-leadership becomes particularly relevant. 

As organisations become more technologically sophisticated, leaders will need to understand different behaviours, perspectives, and working styles and adapt their leadership accordingly. 

At the Digital Enterprise Show 2026, he highlighted the need for a more humanistic approach to leadership—one capable of connecting innovation and efficiency with prevention, talent development, and the human dimension of organisations. 

The central challenge is therefore not whether organisations should adopt AI. It is how they can adopt it without losing sight of the people who ultimately determine how technology is used. 

Learning as a Permanent Leadership Responsibility 

More than thirty years of experience have reinforced another principle: success is never permanent, and neither is failure. 

Both can change. 

For him, learning is therefore less a professional requirement than an attitude. 

He continues to study, research, and develop his knowledge, drawing inspiration from Stephen Covey’s concept of “sharpening the saw”—the idea that people need to continually renew and improve themselves rather than relying solely on what they have already learned. 

The lesson is particularly relevant to leadership. 

The moment a leader believes they have reached the point where there is nothing left to learn can also be the moment they begin to fall behind. 

Experience should provide perspective, not complacency. 

It has also reinforced his belief that business performance and people’s well-being are not opposing objectives. Organisations that invest in their people can create stronger foundations for sustainable growth. 

Responsibility Beyond Business Results 

His approach to corporate social responsibility follows the same principle of integration. 

For him, social responsibility should not be limited to occasional programmes or isolated initiatives. It should be reflected in the way a company conducts its business. 

An organisation must create wealth and remain economically sustainable, but it should also consider the impact it has on its surroundings. 

For an educational organisation, this responsibility has a direct social dimension. 

Helping people improve their skills and accessing new professional opportunities can influence not only individual careers but also the wider communities and economies in which those people operate. 

Ethics are equally important. 

Leadership without ethics may produce short-term results but building an organisation that can remain trusted and sustainable over time requires a different standard. 

The question is therefore not only how much a company grows, but how it grows and what it leaves behind. 

Building the Next Stage of Formación Universitaria 

Following its 25th anniversary, Formación Universitaria is entering a new phase of national and international development. 

The organisation is strengthening its physical presence through projects including centres in Madrid and Mérida while continuing to develop its digital model. 

The priority, however, is not growth for its own sake. 

The more significant challenge is maintaining the organisation’s underlying principles while expanding into new markets and responding to a rapidly changing educational environment. 

Artificial intelligence, digital transformation, vocational education, employability, specialisation, and lifelong learning are expected to remain central to its future strategy. 

The objective is to prepare professionals for a labour market that cannot yet be completely defined. 

That requires educational institutions to think beyond today’s professions and consider what skills people will need for opportunities that have not yet fully emerged. 

It also requires leaders who can build organisations capable of adapting to circumstances that cannot be predicted with certainty. 

Advice for the Next Generation of Leaders 

His advice to future CEOs, entrepreneurs, and professionals is straightforward. 

Do not be afraid of making mistakes, because mistakes are part of learning. 

Remain curious and never assume that experience means knowing everything. 

Take care of people, because businesses are ultimately built through people and relationships. 

Be patient, particularly with decisions whose results may take years to become visible. 

And work with purpose. 

In an environment increasingly focused on speed and immediate results, long-term thinking can be difficult. Yet some of the decisions that matter most require time before their impact becomes visible. 

For him, passion remains an important part of that process. It provides the energy to continue learning, experimenting, and developing ideas over the long term. 

The Human Question Behind Technological Progress 

The next phase of leadership will inevitably be influenced by technology. 

Artificial intelligence will change how organisations operate. Digital transformation will alter processes and roles. Education will continue to evolve. The labour market will create new demands and eliminate others. 

But his perspective ultimately returns to a question that is broader than technology. 

Organisations can digitise processes, automate tasks, and use artificial intelligence to expand their capabilities. They can use data to make faster decisions and technology to reach more people. 

What technology cannot decide for them is what kind of organisation they want to become. 

That remains a leadership decision. 

The same is true of education. Preparing people for the future is not simply about giving them access to better technology. It is about helping them develop the capacity to adapt, learn continuously, make sound decisions, and work with others in increasingly complex environments. 

For Formación Universitaria, that means entering its next chapter with a clear objective: to continue preparing professionals for a labour market that does not yet fully exist and developing leaders capable of building organisations that have not yet been imagined. 

After more than three decades of professional experience, his view of leadership has therefore become less about having all the answers and more about remaining prepared for the questions that have not yet been asked. 

That may ultimately be the most practical definition of leadership in a period of constant change: understanding people, accepting uncertainty, continuing to learn, and using progress to create something that has value beyond the organisation itself.