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Dr. Ignacio Bonasa, President of LIDERARTE and founder of the “Turn the Table” movement, is featured in the special edition “The 5 Most Dynamic Risk Management Leaders Making a Difference 2025.” His story diverges from the traditional narrative of risk management, instead focusing on inner reinvention and soul-driven leadership.
Through his work, Ignacio integrates art into the heart of organizations, bringing a human-centered approach to business. His inspiring voice combines emotional depth and strategic insight, redefining how organizations approach risk, uncertainty, and human transformation.
Ignacio’s Inspirational Journey: From Breakdown to Breakthrough
Ignacio embarked on his journey in finance, holding executive roles in major banks. Despite his outward success, he felt a growing sense of disconnection from his purpose that led to a breakdown. This turning point became a catalyst for transformation. Ignacio rests his life, stepping away from the corporate world to create LIDERARTE, an ecosystem that harnesses the power of art for personal, organizational, and societal transformation. Today, he serves as president of several organizations and has developed multiple transformative projects, all driven by his mission to turn pain into a source of nourishment for the soul, using art, compassion, and emotional wisdom.
The Transformative Power of Art
Art saved Ignacio! Through theater, he rediscovered his sense of self, finding a safe space to express his emotions without fear or shame. Art became a source of healing, allowing him to reconnect with his purpose.
This profound personal experience inspired Ignacio’s professional approach. Witnessing the astonishing impact of art on corporate teams, he developed the Learning Through Art® methodology. This experiential approach ignites growth on multiple levels—emotional, cognitive, and organizational—to help leaders open up, teams reconcile, and cultural shifts occur.
The Art of Resetting
As per Ignacio, resetting oneself is a profound process of stopping, looking within, and rebuilding from a more honest place. It is a radical realignment that requires choosing your truth over your comfort zone.
This process of resetting is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Some people may need to reset once in a lifetime, while others may require it every few years. The key is to listen to one’s soul and intuition, which know when it is time for a reset.
Through RESETÉATE, Ignacio offers a structured method for personal and professional reinvention, leveraging art, emotion, and purpose to guide individuals through this process.
Overcoming Emotional Barriers
Ignacio believes that four major emotional barriers commonly observed in corporate teams are fear of vulnerability, emotional disconnection, rigid hierarchies, and lack of purpose. Art can be a powerful tool for dissolving these barriers. By working on a subconscious level, art unlocks emotions, inspires creativity, and builds trust. One improvised theatre scene can do more for team healing than ten coaching sessions. Art doesn’t negotiate—it reveals. It levels the feeling and awakens connections.
ROI of Emotion-Driven Learning
Ignacio’s approach to measuring the ROI of emotion-driven learning programs like Reseteate involves a combination of qualitative and quantitative tools. These include emotional climate surveys, reduced turnover and absenteeism, increased engagement and eNPS scores, participant testimonials, and documented cases of leadership and cultural transformation.
However, the deepest impact goes beyond numerical metrics. As people start smiling again, teams build trust, and leadership becomes more human, the true value of these initiatives becomes apparent.
Cultivating a Culture of Creativity
As per Ignacio, an organizational culture that best supports long-term transformation through creativity is one that celebrates authenticity and emotional expression. In a Soulful Organization, leadership is human, communication is alive, and culture is a living expression of shared values and emotional intelligence.
The Power of Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership is about embodying coherence between one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. It requires showing up with courage, humility, and presence and being willing to ask meaningful questions and connect with others on a deeper level. Authentic leadership is not about having all the answers but rather about being genuine and vulnerable. Leaders build cultures of trust, empathy, and resilience.
“We Help Companies Evolve Into Soulful Organizations, Where Leadership Is Human, Communication Is Alive, And Culture Becomes A Living Expression Of Shared Values And Emotional Intelligence”
The Essence of Transformative Leadership
Ignacio emphasizes that the key difference between a good leader and a transformative one lies in their impact. A good leader manages people and delivers results, focusing on the operational aspects of leadership. In contrast, a transformative leader awakens souls. Good leadership moves the system. Transformative leadership moves the person—and when you move people, systems change naturally.
Integrating Creativity into Daily Routines
Ignacio suggests that leaders can integrate creative practices into their daily routines through small steps. By starting meetings with reflective questions, using music or visuals to energize discussions, and allowing moments for silence or storytelling, leaders can foster a more creative work environment. Additionally, inviting symbolic thinking and metaphor and sharing emotions openly in safe spaces can also help in cultivating creativity.
The Power of Vulnerability
Vulnerability is the new strength. When leaders dare to say “I don’t know” or “I made a mistake,” they humanize themselves. This authenticity fosters psychological safety, which is the foundation for innovation. Vulnerability doesn’t weaken trust. It builds it.
Reinventing Yourself Mid-Career
Turning the tables is more than just a phrase—it’s a mindset that involves turning pains into power and rewriting one’s narrative with creativity and courage. This process of reinvention requires individuals to listen to their truth, embrace their story, and take action to create a new chapter in their lives.
Advice for Nurturing Emotional Connection and Creativity
Ignacio emphasized the importance of prioritizing depth over speed and maintaining a sense of joy and purpose in work.
Make time for activities that bring them joy, create before you compete, and make space for silence, art, and meaningful conversations.
Integrating Digital Tools
Artistic learning requires a clear intention to amplify human experiences rather than replace them. LIDERARTE’s approach combines theater, music, and emotional learning with digital storytelling, immersive platforms, and a hybrid format. This approach ensures tech serves as the bridge. Emotion is the destination.
The Significance of Technology in Emotional Depth
Ignacio acknowledges that AI and VR can help in personalizing learning and creating immersive empathy experiences, respectively. But no algorithm can replace eye contact, shared silence, or a collective sigh in a theater space. While technology can support emotion, it never substitutes for it.
The Rod Ahead
Ignacio aims to set up an education system with soul—where theater, music, and poetry are core subjects. Where kids learn emotional intelligence alongside math. Through LIDERARTE, he is working towards this vision to establish a University of Wellbeing that fosters purpose-driven leaders from childhood through adulthood.
Looking ahead, Ignacio plans to launch three books, including “Turn the Table” and “The Recipe for Wellbeing,” and roll out international certifications in “Soulful Organizations.” His biggest aspirations are to humanize the world and bring art into boardrooms.
Closing Note:
Ignacio’s approach to risk management is revolutionary. He sees vulnerability as courage and every crisis as an opportunity to rest the soul of leadership. As the President of LIDERARTE and a visionary advocate for emotional transformation, he paves the way for a new kind of leadership.
