I must admit that feeling loved by Desafío + (Desafío Más or Challenge Plus) has been one of the most “beautiful” moments and one of the things that have given me more on a personal and professional level during this weird and painful year of 2020.
I’m going to tell you why, so, if you want, you only have to keep reading.
Almost a year ago I received an invitation from a great friend with whom I shared some conversations, because that’s what friends do, right? That friend is Mikel Alvira, who I met many years ago at the University of Deusto, when he was participating in the “Ocio cultural universitario” courses of the Institute of Leisure Studies.
The point is that his call “arrived” in a very important moment for me, towards the end of April – beginning of May, approximately. I admit that I didn’t have to think my answer for long; in fact, I think it was: “let me know what I can do, Mikel, and I’ll get right to it. I’m more than delighted.” Well, do you know what was the best part of it? The fact that Mikel wanted me to participate as an “inspiration” in his big project Desafío +. And I, as I said, was delighted to do it. That’s how I came to know about this project. I feel so fortunate.
Resulta que su “llamada” llegó en un momento muy importante para mí, hacia finales de abril, principios de mayo aproximadamente. Reconozco que no tuve que pensar mucho mi respuesta, de hecho, creo que esta fue la siguiente: “dime qué puedo hacer, Mikel, y me pongo a ello. Estoy más que encantada”. Bueno, pues, ¿sabéis qué fue lo mejor de todo?, que lo que quería Mikel es que yo participara como “inspiradora” en su gran proyecto Desafío +. Y yo, lo dicho, más que encantada de hacerlo. Así es como conocí este proyecto. Qué buenísima suerte la mía.
Apart from being a writer, a scriptwriter and a great communicator, Mikel is the CEO and co-founder of Desafío +. The thing is that in 2015, Mikel and Jon Zubeldia, from bodegas Astobiza, who already knew that talent adds and adding multiplies, decided to create the first Desafío + called DSFA-Desafío Astobiza. It was a “moment” where thanks to the reflection carried out about creativity and innovation, they managed to connect, inspire, and move people, in addition to generating a desire to learn and many doses of energy.
Between Mikel and Jon, together with Ana Gómez, Prado Gutiérrez and Pablo Ledesma who joined them during the months after, they form a very special team of E.P. The five of them firmly believe in people, their talent and ability to change, adapt and transform. And that’s how, thanks to their effort, determination, and good work, they’ve managed to create a community of people whose collaboration is key to achieve a goal: to change the world, starting from the area of influence of each person.
Why? Because, using his own words:
The measure is the person. We are enthusiasts. We are facilitators. We get excited with what we do. Our path is passion and to share. We are in movement.
That sums up everything. I mean, I could end the post right now. But, wait, please, let me tell you a bit more, especially for those of you who don’t have time to enter his web and analyze it.
Based on their belief in people, who are the ones who define the organizations, and their faith in humanistic leadership, among their goals are the following ones:
- guiding people’s proposal (ikigai) towards the achievement of their dreams
- creating spaces for thinking and transformation
- generating contexts of creativity, illusion and synergy
- raising awareness and inspiring people and organizations
- creating networks between people to share, learn and enjoy
To achieve these goals, the ones of each person and organization, Desafío + offers different actions for counselling, inspiration or training: desafío+, meetings, seminars, monographic, talks and workshops, in other words, different types of events suited to the diversity of identified necessities where you can share experiences, concerns and good practice. Among these actions, you can find the so-called why, transformer and building plans. But these are just examples.
If you want to know more or want to be informed, you can join the community through this link and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Write your information, which it’s not too much, and that’s it. Done.
THANK YOU, Mikel, for this opportunity, because the best part of this has been reconnecting with you and meeting people like Ana, Prado, Pablo, Fernando, Marian, Paty, Elia, Aina, Perico and Meirav. This is being a real luxury.
Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.