13 May 2019

AGBU Europe is relaunching its flagship program Goriz to facilitate the leadership development journey of talent holders. Goriz stands for the nucleus of the apricot fruit which embodies the fabric of our nation.

As modern societies are going through multiple, simultaneous and continuous phases of rapid changes, our new industries require a unique type of human capital. The leaders of the future will need to have a unique mindset. They will need to be resilient, courageous, comfortable with uncertainty and have a high level of tolerance for ambiguity.

The Goriz Leadership programme aims to respond to this need by training young professionals to become the leaders of tomorrow while making positive use of their distinctive Armenian identity. The designers of the programme believe that young talent holders have the potential of pushing a novel idea into shaping a movement which is fueled by inspiration and energy. As we know, the power of the small has proven to be impactful in the sphere of politics, as shown by the recent upheavals in Armenia, as well as in the commercial industries, by means of startups, etc.

Designed for a cohort composed of 15 males and 15 females, in the age group of 23-35 years old, the Goriz Leadership programme consists of 2 group seminars as well as personal field work to be conducted by each participant under the supervision of the programme’s manager. The cohort is exposed to world-class leaders engaged with their Armenian identity and invited as guest lecturers during the seminars.

The first seminar for the 2019 cohort was held in Brussels in the month of April. Hosted by the Boghossian Foundation in their magnificent venue, the seminar included two special lectures on leadership provided by Pierre Gurdjian, ex McKinsey country director of Belgium and current president of the Free University of Brussels (ULB), and Armen Ovanessoff, head of the think tank representing Accenture in Davos, G20 and other global platforms.

The two lectures addressed topics such as the alignment of purpose and meaning and the distinctiveness of leadership within the age of artificial intelligence and corporate social responsibility.

The participants of the Brussels’ seminar also engaged in experiential workshops on positive framing and meaning. These workshops included exercises on self-reflection as well as pair and group exercises.

Finally, participants were matched to ongoing projects which serve the Armenian nation. The purpose of the programme is to apply the knowledge learned during the seminar to in-field work. Through the Together4Armenia platform, 17 participants committed to be actively engaged in AGBU driven project in Armenia. The rest of the participants will use the skills that they learned to develop the projects which they are already involved in. These projects include IT is Armenia, ASK Football Academy, Yerevan Marathon and others.

Ultimately, the Goriz Leadership programme aims to become an engine to attract, identify, select, train and facilitate talent holders of Armenian origin to serve a greater purpose then themselves. It intends to create and nurture a global alumni network to act as ambassadors of the future global Armenian nation.

For more information on the programme, please contact: goriz@agbueurope.eu