The beginning of the Industrial Revolution, which was a process of technological, economic, and cultural transformation of society dates back to 1760. It was a transition from a rural agriculture and trade-based economy to an urban industrialization and mechanization-based economy. This process, made possible thanks to the development of technologies such as steam and electric power, has been going on for almost 300 years, because changing a society cannot be done in the blink of an eye: it is a process that normally takes several generations to complete.

Today, our generation is the pioneer of a new transition, this time towards a digital society. Humanity is experiencing an economic, cultural, and technological transformation process that will undoubtedly lead us to a new way of structuring society. Once again, we are witnessing world-changing technology. If we once electrified our cities, businesses, and homes, we are now digitalizing them. Despite the apparent speed of today’s technology, this is a process that began decades ago and will continue to unfold for decades to come. There are still many years of change ahead.

Genís Roca at Inspiring Boards 2023: our social impact transcends.

The digital phenomenon is transforming education, commerce, mobility, leisure, politics, the economy, culture… that is to say, we should not only explore the new business models that it can enable, but we should also be aware of the changes that it will bring about in our social model. In the same way, in recent centuries we have established the rules for managing labor relations, and now we have to discuss the rules that govern information. It will be crucial that we discuss and agree on who owns the data, who can use it, and for what purpose. This is a new chapter in the social contract that rules the world.

Digitalization will change production systems and business models, and therefore power structures and economic, political, and social leadership. We have seen it before in history and we know that business opportunities come into play when this happens, but there are also geopolitical and social agendas. The future of both enterprises and countries will depend on how to combine the opportunities offered by technology with the new needs for the development of a fair society.

We are the children of the industrial society and the parents of the digital society, and each society needs its social contract. We are the first generation of a social change that we will have to explore, discuss, and negotiate. Our task is to rethink our business activity in a more radical way, seeking continuous improvement, but also aware of the social changes that will take place. This task will take us all our lives, because changing the world has never been simple or quick.

The next 30 or 40 years will define the way the world will be, just as it did during the Industrial Revolution; fortunately, there are companies such as ISA that are confirming their commitment to fair development by incorporating this type of debate, as well as the responsibility debate, in their spaces for reflection and co-creation, such as *Inspiring Boards. They do the right thing because we have a responsibility to the next generation. *Inspiring Boards 2023, an international event for boards of directors of ISA and its companies in Latin America, whose mission was to strengthen ESG and corporate governance best practices.

*Inspiring Boards 2023, an international event for boards of directors of ISA and its companies in Latin America, whose mission was to strengthen ESG and corporate governance best practices.

La entrada WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO THE NEXT GENERATION se publicó primero en ISA.

At ISA and our companies, we recently achieved carbon neutral certification in five countries where we operate in Latin America. With this milestone we became the transmission company certified by Icontec with the largest geographical coverage.

But what does it mean and why are we committed to being carbon neutral? How did we achieve this certification? Why should everyone be interested in issues like these?

Nathalia Gómez Andrade, from ISA’s Sustainable Development Department, tells us in this videoblog (in Spanish)

La entrada Be carbon neutral se publicó primero en ISA.

Since she was 26, she was among TV cameras, scripts, and big stages. Today, her life is driven by a higher purpose: to help us live on a better planet than we found it. Do I really need it? Is it essential? These are some of the questions she often asks herself in a world that, as she says, is frenetically compulsive because of its need to consume unconsciously. On the occasion of Jaguar Month, we had an inspiring conversation with María Fernanda Yepes, a green-hearted activist whose way of feeling life has been changed by felines.

ISA: How did María Fernanda Yepes get closer to felines?

María Fernanda: It was a process. I have never been a cat lover. I was afraid of them and found them impossible to decipher. Through the years, I had the opportunity to live with felines and I began to fall in love with them. I began to understand their behavior and to relate deeply to them. They analyze and filter, and are very independent. I like it.

ISA: How much do you know about jaguars and biodiversity?

María Fernanda: The jaguar is absolutely fundamental for the environment and our ancestral world.  It represents life, balance, health. In indigenous cultures it is a knowing, powerful, outstanding being. From an ecosystemic point of view, its presence is vital because it is an umbrella species, with no other species above. It regulates the soil and protects water and forests.  Little by little, I have been learning and discovering the importance of the most imposing animal of the American rainforest. Our king of the jungle.

ISA: Why worry about the fate of America’s big cat?

María Fernanda: If there are jaguars, there is life. But today it is considered a near-threatened species.  In Uruguay and El Salvador, it is already extinct. The biggest threats are industrialization, retaliatory hunting, the reduction of the biological corridor, and livestock farming. It is a matter of concern. The jaguar must be protected.

ISA: Let’s talk about passions. How was Casa Felina created?

María Fernanda:  It is a dream that I am building with my partner. It is born in the midst of the pandemic as a consequence of a major change. I am redesigning my life. I started acting at 26. It came unexpectedly, but I welcomed this opportunity with love and gratitude for more than 17 years. However, for quite some time now I have been slowing down. We humans have been taught that we have to do stuff all the time, that we must produce and live frenetically. But it’s time to stop, to do different things.

ISA: How do you see life now and how does it relate to Casa Felina?

María Fernanda:  It’s very hard to stop, to enter into a state of contemplation, which is precisely what nature teaches us. We measure success by how much work we have and how much money we make. Maybe, money is dragging us to destruction due to the need to want more, have more, go further, give more all the time. We definitely must learn to receive from within, to give us calm, space, time, peace. That is what I am doing. That is also Casa Felina, where I understood the need to go back to the essential. Human beings need to find the path and the map because we got lost. It is imperative to recover our traditions.

ISA: What is Casa Felina and what are the main goals of this project?

María Fernanda:  Casa Felina seeks to protect a territory, as a center of development of awareness at all levels: human and mental development, and the development of being and doing, but with awareness. We want it to be in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which has been declared a new World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which is totally coherent for us. This is what we are working on. We would also like it to become a large digital library of knowledge in the future. Our symbol is the jaguar and our main goal is to protect it and its associated biodiversity. Here we share a purpose with ISA and that excites us.

ISA: Why do you talk about building a culture of peace?

María Fernanda: Nature brings us calm and peace, but we don’t know how to live with it because we are always lacking. For us, it’s never enough. So, we exploit it mercilessly. When we learn to live in balance, we will live a culture of peace.

ISA: How should our relationship with nature be? Also, give us a final message.

María Fernanda: When are we going to give back to nature some of what it has given us? That must be a pressing question for us, because time is running out. Future generations are coming and, what kind of planet are we going to leave them? The time to act is now.

La entrada Felines changed my life se publicó primero en ISA.

Imagine you are an assembly line worker and one day your boss tells you that your area in the factory will be automated in six months.

The company prepares your transition into another area, an area with new tasks requiring a new set of skills. This has always been your work, so you feel that maybe you won’t be successful in this new role. Your savings are tight, you have two children in college, your in-laws live with you and their illnesses require constant support, and you are the sole breadwinner in the family.

This is the story of a real person who had to learn new skills to respond to technological development. Stories like this are becoming more and more common and, although this one had a happy ending, it is not always the case, because some workers don’t have the motivation to make the transition or companies don’t provide the tools and environment to do so.

Today, emerging technologies such as Big Data, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Quantum Computing, Edge, among others, are reshaping jobs and redefining the skills required in industries and geographic regions. 

For as long as these emerging technologies are perceived as a future in which machines and humans complement each other, opportunities for companies and people are huge. According to Accenture’s “Reworking the Revolution” study, by 2022, artificial intelligence alone is expected to increase revenues by 38% and employment by 10%.

However, the gap in the skills required to be successful in the new digital scenario is a challenge for the capitalization of this opportunity. Workers will need technical and digital skills such as technological architecture, agile methodologies, data analytics, DevOps (a more agile culture, delivering faster, higher quality products) and cybersecurity, combined with soft skills such as collaboration, emotional intelligence, communication, analytical mindset, and empowerment. In the particular case of Latin America, where approximately 80% of the working population has poor digital skills, this is an even greater challenge, as 97% of companies plan to use artificial intelligence to become more efficient, but only 3% plan to invest more in workforce retraining.

That said, the post-pandemic scenario has helped raise executives’ awareness in transforming the value proposition for their employees. Accenture’s “Care to do Better” and “Future Workforce Research” studies show that, before the pandemic, 67% of workers strongly believed that their employer was responsible for helping them improve their situation, but only 35% of the “C Level” agreed. During the pandemic, it was found that employees’ expectations regarding corporate responsibility for their well-being rose to 78%, and now 55% of the “C-Level” agree.

This is pushing companies to develop more holistic employee value propositions, based on the “Net Better Off” model, which shows that 64% of people’s potential lies in six dimensions: Financial, Emotional and Mental, Relational, Physical, Purposeful and Employable.

The desire of companies to get more involved in the well-being of their employees and technological advances is bringing opportunities in the development of new skills that will make a difference in people’s lives, with a vision of an inclusive working future in which all workers have the motivation, means, tools, and opportunities to adapt and thrive in the digital economy.

La entrada What would you do if they told you that your area would be automated in a few months? se publicó primero en ISA.

Alejandro, General Director of INALDE Business School in Bogota, for more than 15 years, has been involved in topics such as service leadership, business ethics, managerial decision making, and the incorporation of ethics in management education in companies. He is approachable. He speaks with passion, conviction, and common sense. This is a conversation that shows us that ethics is an everyday choice.

ISA: Ethics: of all the existing definitions, which one do you prefer?

Alejandro: Ethos means custom, habits, a way of doing things, that is the root. For me, ethics is human action consistent with human nature. To be ethical is to act in a fully human way.

ISA: Who or what determines what is good or what is bad, what is right or wrong, what is fair or unfair?

Alejandro: There are values and principles that may differ between what I think and what my family, my company, and society think; also, the fact that there are different opinions about what is right does not necessarily mean that there cannot be universal ethics. For me, and by the golden rule of ethics shared by Easterners and Westerners, the right thing to do and the universal ethical principle is human dignity. The rule is: treat others as you wish to be treated.

ISA: How do we know what is the best decision to make when faced with an ethical dilemma?

Alejandro: First, an ethical dilemma is any free, conscious choice. It is not just the bribe-or-no-bribe, go to work or sleep dilemmas. What makes it ethical is the impact to others and to ourselves. For example, when I am late to the office, not only will I be fired (the consequence), but someone is waiting for me and may never trust me again.

  ISA: The ethics of minima and maxima: what does it mean?

Alejandro: It is important to understand that there is a minimum standard of action (not to do what is wrong); this is why it is called the ethics of minima in conduct. In the ethics of maxima, it is no longer enough to do no wrong. I think that anyone who consciously decides not to pursue the maxima is already degrading themselves ethically, because in fact our ethical duty is to make the best of our existence.

I will try to explain it better. If ethics were about not doing what is wrong, for example, no one would condemn an unaware passerby in a park who sees a drowning dog nearby and decides not to act, despite being able to do so. Clearly, if that person chooses not to act, they would not be “doing wrong,” but would we really think of it as ethical? For sure, anyone would say that the person who chose to help the dog, even if it was not their obligation, has higher moral standards.

ISA: Our actions, however “small,” have an impact… I skip the line, I don’t study for the exam because I managed to get the answers before it, the restaurant bill was undercharged… Maybe the culture of the “smartest” is hurting us more than we realize?

Alejandro: I think that there is a difference between taking advantage of the opportunities that life gives us and taking advantage of the opportunities that we know belong to someone else. They are two very different things. For me, it is very important to understand “the culture of the smart and the dumb” (if I don’t do it, someone else does it). This is where the ethics of character comes into play. It is about who we are. I could get richer, of course, but I would also become a thief, for example.

ISA: What are the most critical values that we need to recover as human beings?

Alejandro: Love and charity (which are synonyms) make us fully human.

  ISA: What can we do to educate on ethics?

Alejandro: We must teach the intellectual reason for the good. We must teach the virtue of doing good. Sometimes, we tell our children that they can’t do something, but we don’t explain why. It is important to explain that every act has a consequence; for example, what happens when we lie?

ISA: What things are normalized in the business world that can lead us to act unethically?

Alejandro: In the corporate world, we have to think about the things that seem normal to us, which are not necessarily so normal; in no case should it be a matter of minima. We must always lead by example, but when we want to be ethical just to be noticed by others, we might be corrupted inside, because there is a reason behind why we want to be seen as ethical. The best action of those who are part of a company at any level is to behave humanely.

  ISA: Let’s talk about your new role in ISA as an external member of the Ethics Committee: What does it mean? What do you expect from this new commitment?

Alejandro: First, I feel an enormous duty of responsibility, and it is for me a great honor.
I hope to be able to contribute based on my understanding of what ethics is, which is not limited to have a very good compliance program in place. I wish to inspire people to understand why it is valuable and convenient to be ethical, to contribute based on ethics at a personal level and based on ethics of character to an organization with really good practices and that always makes sure that things are done well. 

ISA: To conclude: What to read? Who should inspire us on ethics? Please recommend three works.

Alejandro: When studying ethics in depth, we should try to read not only business topics, but also political philosophy. The works I recommend are:

1. Justice, by Michael J. Sandel, a political philosopher who shows us why it is so difficult to get society to agree on what is right.
2. The usefulness of the useless, by Nuccio Ordine, which reflects on how we live in a society that sometimes deems useless what is not economically profitable, and how the things that are most useful to us humans are precisely the non-economic ones: family, the embrace of a child, knowledge.
3. And finally, a very personal recommendation: Fratelli tutti, “All brothers,” Pope Francis’ encyclical letter in response to the world’s migration problems. It is a treatise on humanity.

La entrada Ethics, an everyday choice se publicó primero en ISA.

It has great resources and potential, but also great opportunities. I have lived and observed how we have been distracted as a society, letting idleness, inequality and even indifference (the mother of the degradation of our natural and human resources) show us as one of the peoples that has suffered the most from the violation of human rights. We have not known how to take advantage of this beautiful diamond in the rough, which I confess, began to be polished and shine from day 1 that I participated in the construction of the Sustainable Development Agendas, where we began to be aware of the greatness of our biodiversity, creative ecosystems, strength in ancestral knowledge, education, health and social well-being for the pursuit of the vindication of these rights in our land of hope, what we will call the beautiful chimera. 

Dreaming of a prosperous Luruaco with a better quality of life is possible. It is to have a living hope about the resources we have and to convince ourselves to take advantage of our customs, traditions and ecosystems that identify us before the country. To dream of Luruaco is to have the living opportunity to take care of the bodies of water that are in our territory such as the lagoons of Guajaro, Luruaco and San Juan de Tocagua; to conceive it as a great agro-industrial power, and thus demonstrate how this precious liquid is the treasure that represents life and an opportunity for sustainable development. It is to look at those beauties embodied in mountains and those jewels of the architecture of nature that embrace us, it is the use of our land, our ecosystem to transform it into the great ecotourism power and work for the training and education of our people to bet on the preservation and conscious tourism, and that the mythical Mohana cave in Arrollo de Piedra, the township of Los Límites for the sighting of the titi monkey and to enter the largest ecological trail in the country, from the Isla de los Pájaros (Bird Island) in San Juan to the vast views that Mateo and Barrigón offer.

To dream of Luruaco is to see the great plaza of the arepas thrive with our gastronomic artists of the “arepa e huevo” (arepa with egg inside), which I aspire to be the regional center of culture that shows our history, and also the talent of our artisans. The Luruaco of dreams is the society of knowledge, with access to new technologies, with an optimal educational infrastructure for the development of learning and fertile ground for higher education, making us a regional hub for the gathering of different research centers and universities.

To achieve this, we need a biopsychosocial development of our inhabitants, therefore we will have the high quality accreditation in the provision of health services of our hospital, flagship that allows us to be the coordinating axis for the prevention, care, promotion and rehabilitation of diseases, also to ensure the food security program that will be the most forceful in the country and reduce to zero (0) the cases of malnutrition and undernourishment. To allow us to have accessibility to food with the construction of all our tertiary roads. We will have quality utilities for all, and we will be pioneers in the use of clean energy.

This will only be possible if we achieve a participatory construction, if we believe in the power of united work among society as a whole and institutionality, where community knowledge and government tools are coordinated in a great agreement for the prosperity of the territory. Speaking a single collective language, the utopia in this municipality that inspires us will be disseminated to reality.

Mi name is Yeiner Angulo González, social activist, human rights defender, technician in Judicial Investigation and Criminalistics. Currently, intern doctor at the Departmental Hospital of Sabanalarga (semester XIV) and planning and management coordinator of ESE Ponedera. I breathe, dream, and live in the Municipality of Luruaco, Atlántico. Because it can be done.

La entrada Luruaco, a territory to “disoñar” se publicó primero en ISA.

Member of ISA’s Board of Directors

Guest blog

Born in and surrounded by a multicultural family: born in Barranquilla but raised in Bogotá, British mother married to a Cali man from a Chocoan family. This is what only those close to Carolina Rojas Hayes, the new member of ISA’s Board of Directors, know about her. She is an economist with a master’s degree in Public Policy. She has extensive knowledge and experience in the energy mining sector, recognizes the value of working from and for the territories, and has been vocal on equity issues throughout her career. She is a skilled, committed woman who finds in cooking, travel and friends the balance required to remain successful in her work and in her role as an educator.

ISA: Carolina, tell us a bit about your background, how does an economist with extensive experience in multilateral banking enter the energy sector?

Carolina: I have always liked the public sector. I held several positions in the Ministry of Finance. There, I had the privilege of leading very important processes to obtain resources for structural reforms in the country in different sectors that included transportation, education, and energy.

Later, I had the opportunity to join the National Mining Agency, where my career in the mining and energy sector began. Both sectors largely operate in rural or remote areas of the country, and I had the opportunity and the privilege of traveling throughout Colombia, learning about operations of all sizes, and helping these operations and communities to witness the benefits of the sector in their territories. This work allowed us to lead strategies such as mining formalization instruments, gender guidelines, climate change, the reform of the general royalties system, relations, and human rights. I also learned that the mining and energy sector is part of the territories, and entities must ensure better conditions for the territories and communities where they operate.

I was vice-minister of Mines and worked at the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), among others.

ISA: When did your interest in diversity and equity begin?

Carolina: The Ministry of Mines and Energy was a wonderful opportunity for me because that is where public policies are made. One of the most relevant achievements was undoubtedly the progress made in the gender equity agenda. The energy mining sector is highly male-dominated. It is cultural. Not many women are prepared for these types of jobs because they do not work in science or other areas, or because the sector is associated with men. There is a great opportunity to increase women’s participation in these sectors. In Colombia, the total participation of women in the energy sector is 29%. There is a lot to do.

ISA: And what is the value of including women in these sectors?

Carolina: Including women in strategic relations of the energy mining sector is key to understanding the impacts of the sector on communities and how they can be adequately mitigated. I am convinced that gender equity improves society, not only for women but also for men, as they can have new, different roles closer to their families.

ISA: What do you think are the challenges that women face in the industry, besides the corporate challenges?

Carolina: There are global cultural challenges. It is a sector believed to be for men, but I have met incredible women in all roles in the mining sector, who prove that it is possible: from women operators of heavy mining equipment to engineers, geologists, among others. In the energy mining sector, for example, work is done far from people’s homes, which poses challenges for women who are starting families.

ISA: But this applies to all levels of an organization…

Carolina: When talking about gender equity, people often mean executive and senior roles, but in my opinion, there is a huge opportunity in operational roles. This does transform communities, and I have seen it: women working in the mining sector, who become independent. This also benefits companies, as they are given a license to operate more strongly if they include women in the base.

ISA: So, the challenge for companies is no less…

A few days ago, I was talking to a male colleague and he told me “look, in the mining and oil sectors they have these schemes of working two weeks and coming back.” There is nothing less familiar, either for a man or a woman, than such a scheme. Why are we keeping men from being with their children every day?

It is a challenge for the sector to improve the quality of life of men and women and to retain the talent, which is fundamental there. In this regard, I am glad that ISA is making this journey through the EQUIPARES Seal measurement. There is the roadmap of how to address recruitment and how companies create the conditions for women to remain in the sector.

ISA: What do you think a woman brings to a company?

Carolina: I believe that women can contribute the same as men. Gender equality allows companies to have a level playing field to hire the best people, because it is a matter of numbers. Some studies say that when women operate heavy machinery, for example, maintenance costs are lower because they are more careful. Simply having different visions provides different contexts for solving problems. This is reflected in finances and profitability. It’s more of an opportunity issue; everyone must contribute.

ISA: So, the equity that we need is not necessarily a matter of gender?

Carolina: There is a wide range of diversity in Colombia and in these regions. There is a lot of work ahead to be more inclusive in this regard. Diversity of ages, experience, regions, sexual preferences. All of this generates contributions for the organizations. There is much more to do around disability; for example, diversity in general is a great asset to organizations and society.

ISA: In your other positions, have you continued to work for this equity?

Carolina: I have continued to work on this cause. I am on the board of directors of Women in Mining, a volunteer organization committed to it. Also, as a consultant, I have continued to work on this issue, because I am convinced that the world will be better this way. The challenge ahead for this discussion is not only to talk about gender but also about diversity, in a broader sense. Diversity is important because different points of view offer different solutions to problems, and that generates a lot of value. That is precisely an insight that I bring to the ISA Board of Directors.

La entrada “The challenge ahead is not only to talk about gender but also about diversity, in a broader sense”: Carolina Rojas Hayes se publicó primero en ISA.

This index recognizes stock-listed companies who meet global corporate investment standards and implement the best corporate sustainability practices in Environmental dimension: biodiversity, climate change, supply chain, and water saving; Social dimension: customer responsibility, occupational health and safety management, human rights management, community management, labor standards, and procurement management; and Governance dimension: anti-corruption management, corporate governance, risk management, and fiscal transparency.

Being included in the FTSE4Good Index ratifies the company’s consistency with the ISA2030 Strategy, inspired in the creation of sustainable value.

“The fact that ISA is being included in this type of indexes is the result from our commitment to ethics and transparency, sustainability, community development, and a determined strategy to face climate change. More than 25.000 tons of CO2 have been offset in several of our energy companies, which makes us one of the few carbon neutral companies in Colombia. We truly believe that the role companies play must change. Today, more than ever, society needs companies that go beyond business, engage in dialogue, and are environmentally responsible” Bernardo Vargas Gibsone, ISA’s CEO, said.

The FTSE4Good is a key tool for consultants and companies and asset managers for the evaluation and creation of responsible investment products. The FTSE4Good index was launched in 2001 in London to measure companies at the Environmental, Social, and Governance dimensions -besides financial criteria- through the company’s initiatives in sustainability, respect for human rights, and the use of clean energy, among others.

La entrada ISA, included again in the FTSE4Good Index thanks to its good sustainability practices se publicó primero en ISA.