I’ve just returned from an extremely exciting and stimulating trip to Chile hosted by Smarter-Companies partner firm Akloe including Arturo Alba, Rodrigo Leon, and Tomas Viveros. Besides getting to know a lovely city and its citizens, I was thrilled to have such a warm and interested reception for our message around intangible capital.
Here’s a short recap:
ICountant Training – Thanks to Akloe and Fernando Benavides and Caren Medina at In Motion, we trained a group of new ICountants from academic, business and consulting organizations. Believe it or not, this was the first time I did this live. (We’ve always done these training through Webex or Skype which is good but face to face is even better!). I love that Akloe is taking such an open approach and creating a diverse network of ICountants in Chile (and maybe more places later?)
Talks and Networking – This ecosystem of intangible capitalists in Chile was further strengthened by our travels around the city. Our presentation at the Club de Innovacion Chile (thanks again to In Motion) was one of their highest-rated programs ever and was captured in fun photos on the Club's Facebook album. We also had great discussions at the national copper company Codelco and the Executive Training Center at the Universidad Aldolfo Ibanez.
Intangibles in Chile – We were very fortunate to have an advance copy of the new World Bank study about the explosive growth of Chilean wine exports This study shows a clear and direct correlation between investment in intangibles and the 20-year pattern of 9% compound annual growth in wine exports. I sensed an ambition and capability to do this with other industries in the country. (As promised in my recent blog post, I’ll share the full study when it comes out)
World Cup and Spanish – Yes, I was there for Chile’s amazing victory over Spain. After the game, I had a great time walking down Aponquindo and joining the happy and noisy celebration! And or those of you who know that I used to live in Latin America, the answer is yes, I did brush off my Spanish and did pretty well even though I was pretty rusty. Thanks to my Chilean friends for their patience and encouragement. It’s always exciting to get past language and cultural barriers to share our passions and interest in making a better future for people and organizations.
In one of our many wonderful conversations that week, I said that I was hoping to come back in 5 years and see what incredible new intangibles my Chilean friends have built. They all quickly corrected me and said it shouldn’t take that long. Based on the energy and vision I saw on this trip, we will have more to report soon!
Thanks again to everyone. Let’s keep the ecosystem growing!
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