Latin America Leadership Program

The Global Competitiveness Leadership (GCL) program aims to provide a new generation of emerging leaders with the essential tools and meaningful network in order to promote competitiveness, development, regional integration, and the insertion of the region into the global agenda. The program has the following objectives:

Promote leadership in action: Provide tools to tackle challenges that exist throughout the region, training leaders to create and strengthen initiatives that promote the democratic rule of law, civic responsibility, and cross-sector collaborations.
Foster personal development and growth: Facilitate interactions and discussions that will help participants challenge, reflect, and expand their worldview.
Engage with the most pressing regional issues: Enable participants to understand barriers that impede development in their countries through multidisciplinary courses with a focus on the economic, social, and political aspects of competitiveness and integral development.
Create a strong and active regional network: Foster a network of responsible and ethical leaders across all sectors to generate a positive impact in their countries and across the region through collaboration and innovation.​

Academic Content

The GCL academic content features a robust roster of internationally renowned professors from Georgetown University. Thanks to Georgetown's prime location and the program's hybrid format, GCL participants get to engage in different topics of interest with many public figures and leading experts and visit important institutions in Washington D.C., and in the region. The connections that students forge amongst themselves, as a unique cohort of emergent regional leaders, and among the many faculty, experts, and mentors that support their GCL journey throughout the program, provide participants with an extraordinary professional and personal network to strengthen their learning and implement their initiatives across the region.

The program fosters experiential learning to promote leadership in action by combining analytical and theoretical frameworks with mentor support, peer learning, and applied activities that enable students to embody personal, social, and global leadership and promote competitiveness in Latin America.

Methodology

The GCL Program is divided into weekly modules that equip students with a deeper understanding of regional challenges and opportunities, global business knowledge, leadership skills, and project development tools. The GCL program spans 10 weeks and consists of the following educational components:

• Academic Courses: Classes are taught by Georgetown University faculty as well as visiting professors from other Latin American countries and institutions. Courses are multidisciplinary with a focus on the economic, social, and political aspects of competitiveness and integral development.
• Case Studies: Case studies are used to illustrate and identify best practices and strategies that could be applied in other contexts to solve critical issues.
• Applied Project: Participants are to develop a high-impact project related to the objectives of the course which is to be implemented in their country. These should be executable and viable projects that produce a multiplier effect that benefits the country’s development (social, economic, political, and/or moral). Students present their projects to a panel of judges during the culmination of the program.
• Leadership Development: Modules are designed to address topics of personal and professional leadership, which provide participants with tangible tools to implement in their daily lives.
• Team Building and Peer-to-Peer Learning: Throughout the program, participants take part in team-building activities and peer-to-peer learning activities that are both fun and educational to promote a greater understanding of the individual and others to create lasting and supportive bonds among the group.
• Conversations with experts: Special guests are invited to speak about their areas of expertise concerning the topics on the academic calendar, allowing the participants to exchange ideas and create links with important leaders from diverse sectors.
• Visits: Participants visit important multilateral institutions, think tanks, and institutions with a focus on the region. Students have the opportunity to discuss important issues with leading experts in Washington, DC.
• Mentorship program: Each participant receives individual support from a mentor throughout the ten weeks of the program.

Sample courses

In recent years, GCL academic courses have included a combination of core and subject topics such as the ones listed below. Please note that some classes may not be offered in a given year due to the availability of professors and guest speakers.

• Globalization, Competitiveness, and Governability
• Economic and Political Landscapes of Latin America
• Leader Mindset
• Adaptive Leadership
• Change Management
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Project Design and Implementation
• Community Leadership in Action
• Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
• Design Thinking and User-Centered Design
• Business and Social Impact
• Global Supply Chains
• Creative and Ethical Leadership
• Leading Change and Innovation
• Leading Teams
• Big Data
• Power and Influence
• Personal Branding
• Leadership Communications
• Negotiations
• Social Impact Storytelling and Narrative Change
• Principles of Democracy in Latin America
• Political Leadership in Latin America
• Sustainability and Gender
• Educational Leadership and Social Responsibility
• Creating Shared Value
• Impact Evaluation and Measurement
• Making a Pitch