Today the World Economic Forum (WEF) announces this year awards of “Young Global Leaders” (YGL). I am one of them.
According to the website:
“Young Global Leaders represent the future of leadership, coming from all regions of the world and representing business, government, civil society, arts & culture, academia and media, as well as social entrepreneurs.
Nominated under 40, these young leaders are proposed through a qualified nomination process and assessed according to rigorous selection criteria accepting only the very best leaders who have already demonstrated their commitment to serving society at large.”
Back in May 2012 I was asked by a work colleague who was interested in our work if I minded to be proposed to be YGL. I didn’t know what that was, but we then talked about my life, and the motivation behind my perhaps peculiar professional path. Plain honest conversation.
I then read a bit about the YGL, and I was highly impressed. Nominations go through a internal and external evaluation and screening process. Some of the previous awardees include Sergey Brin (Google), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Marissa Mayer (Yahoo), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), and countless other successful CEOs, ministers, athletes, … I found a wonderful Youtube Channel with short videos to “Meet the YGL”. Very motivational and impressive.
And so I forgot about my nomination.
To my surprise, just few weeks ago, I received an email with this Subject:
“You Have Been Honored as a Young Global Leader 2013”
And so I started receiving information about the group, activities, a fellow “mentor”, events, … Turns out I am the only spaniard this year.
Since then I have spent some time back on that YouTube channel, reading information provided, talking with fellow YGLs, interacting with the YGL headquarters in Geneva and hunting tweets and blog posts of other YGLs.
I don´t know yet what really is the YGL, but I am certain this is an amazing opportunity and an honor. I am truly humbled and thankful for this nomination. Reading the roster of fellow YGLs, I can only take this as an acknowledgement of a trajectory that is still very short. It has not been easy, and the passion that drives me rejoices with this opportunity: a clear motivation to help bring Science and Technology closer to Society.
Being a YGL, I am told, is a transformational experience. Certainly, having the chance to get to know such a Forum of doers will be motivating.
For now, I´m planning to squeeze as much time as possible to take the most of this opportunity WEF is offering. Let´s do it.
“I don´t know where is the limit, but I know where the limit is not” @josefajram
Update: Yahoo Spain has run an interview, in spanish. At some point it was on the front page of Yahoo. Crazy day.
