Connecting leaders with a new book
A new book by Alberto Lopez Valenzuela examines how corporate leaders connect businesses with society
Alberto Lopez Valenzuela (MBA, 2001) has a strong relationship with Cass School of Business, from earning his Executive MBA here, to being a visiting professor and hosting talks at Cass, and has spent more than 25 years working in business information and analysis.
His new book, The Connecting Leader examines how corporate leaders connect businesses with society, especially in this age of hyper-transparency, interconnectivity and media anarchy. The book is full of research and in-depth interviews with many prominent business leaders, and insights from his career, to present a new organisational model to help companies establish and authentic and harmonious relationships with their key stakeholders and constituents.
Alberto explains the journey to writing this book and starting his own business:
In February 2009, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, I was fired. Luckily, I was able to take time to think about what I should and shouldn’t do next. After a few weeks of deliberation, I reached the conclusion that I had no desire to rush back to corporate life. Instead, I decided to start a business, which led to the beginning of the most fulfilling, intense and happiest years of my professional career so far.
His business alva was established with the support and funding of Cass Business School. alva are a technology enabled company that uses AI and Machine Learning to extract intelligence from millions of pieces of publicly available content to help companies make decisions.
The Connecting Leader is a necessity in today’s business. They are the partner that every CEO needs to facilitate a fruitful and fulfilling relationship with all the key internal and external stakeholders of the business. This role is the game changer in enabling companies to succeed in the New Normal.
With this book, I want to put a strong case forward to CEOs and the other members of the board that to actively connect the business with society and its key constituents, the Corporate Affairs Director or the Chief Communications Officer must be elevated to a more strategic position in the company. Equally, I also want to call all aspiring Connecting Leaders everywhere to recognise and seize the opportunity to step up and make the difference to the business (and themselves).
Find out more about his book here.