“True leadership begins when we choose inner truth over outer praise — daring to rewrite the narrative and lead from the essence of who we are.”
The personal development and organizational development industries are evolving rapidly. New concepts in leadership and learning are informing how individuals and businesses develop. Strategies that enhance emotional intelligence and innovative approaches, such as the use of art, are helping individuals work more effectively and be happier while doing so. Large shifts in mindset are enabling people to lead with intention and foster positive workplace cultures. These sectors now focus on scalable solutions that merge emotional insight and imagination to enhance team collaboration and productivity. Leadership training today is all about helping leaders remain authentic. It prepares them to face challenges with clarity and compassion. As more people seek human-centered methods, these industries are redefining how we understand success, purpose, and relationships globally.
Ignacio Bonasa’s path from an international banking executive to a transformational entrepreneur and soulful leader is the embodiment of the power of inner alignment to create external impact. Founder and Executive President of Liderarte and President of two major European associations, he coordinates more than thirty initiatives that reshape how people learn, lead, and connect. With innovative approaches such as Aprendizaje por el Arte (Learning Through Art®) and initiatives like Dale la vuelta a la tortilla (Turn the Table), Bonasa has demonstrated the power of art and emotion to drive deep change in performance, purpose, and wellness. This feature explores his philosophy, projects, and vision of the future of work, offering insights for leaders across industries.
Ignacio Bonasa’s Strategic Evolution: From Global Banking Executive to Transformational Leader Focused on Soulful Entrepreneurship and Impact
Bonasa’s early career unfolded in the competitive world of international banking, where he quickly rose to executive positions. As CEO of BBVA Portugal and President of BBVA Dinero Express, he was responsible for overseeing complex global operations, managing financial risks, and responding to rapidly changing economic environments. These roles refined his strategic thinking, sharpened his crisis leadership skills, and placed him at the top tier of corporate management.
Yet beneath the surface of professional success, Bonasa felt increasing dissonance — a disconnect between outer achievements and inner purpose. Seeking to align his values with his work, he transitioned into entrepreneurship, launching real estate ventures that gave him more freedom and long-term insight into structural growth and stakeholder relations.
At the same time, he faced a personal crisis that sparked a profound transformation. Burned out and emotionally distant, he began to reimagine leadership as a path rooted in soulfulness — one that honors human depth and integrates business competence. Today, he applies his executive experience to inspire movements grounded in purpose, compassion, and inner truth. He empowers people to lead with authenticity, resilience, and conscious presence.
The Birth of Liderarte: How Personal Crisis Sparked a Movement Rooted in Soulful Leadership
During this turning point, Bonasa experienced a profound inner awakening — a moment that dismantled the illusion of success defined by titles, achievements, and external validation. Although he held prestigious positions, he was struggling with a growing sense of emptiness, where accomplishments felt meaningless and daily roles masked his authentic self. In the silence that followed, he discovered a deeper calling: to help individuals build not external monuments of success, but rich inner landscapes of meaning, authenticity, and connection.
From this realization emerged Liderarte (Lead with Art), a movement based on the conviction that the soul must be at the heart of leadership.
Rather than offering rigid formulas or models, Liderarte creates secure, expressive environments where individuals are encouraged to confront their truth, embrace vulnerability, and reconnect with what truly motivates them. Under Bonasa’s leadership, the organization has launched over thirty pioneering projects that merge personal transformation with leadership development. These projects have revolutionized how leadership is taught, practiced, and lived, combining strategic direction with emotional depth.
Through Liderarte, Bonasa disrupts conventional business paradigms and proposes a powerful alternative: leadership as a journey of self-discovery, collective elevation, and long-lasting impact, built not only on performance indicators but on the power of the human spirit and soulful purpose.
Aprendizaje por el Arte® Methodology: Merging Neuroscience, Emotional Intelligence, and Aesthetics to Humanize Leadership
One of Ignacio Bonasa’s most impactful contributions is Aprendizaje por el Arte (Learning Through Art®), a groundbreaking methodology that integrates neuroscience, emotional intelligence, experiential learning, and the expressive power of the arts. Developed as an antidote to the limitations of traditional analytical models, this method recognizes that profound learning and transformation come not only through logic but through embodied, emotional experience.
Bonasa’s approach seeks to engage the whole person — mind, heart, and body — through painting, theater, music, and movement. Participants are invited to express unconscious emotions, break through internal blocks, and reinterpret limiting beliefs. These artistic processes act as powerful mirrors, revealing patterns, inner truths, and hidden strengths that often remain beneath the surface of rational dialogue. At the heart of the method is the brain’s neuroplasticity — its capacity to rewire through new experiences — which Bonasa uses to promote lasting emotional and behavioral change.
Aprendizaje por el Arte has proven effective across corporate training programs, educational institutions, and therapeutic settings. It redefines learning as a deeply human, multisensory experience that awakens empathy, ignites creativity, and fosters authentic self-expression. For Bonasa, art is not a luxury — it is a vital tool to reach the soul, build connection, and cultivate holistic, heart-led leadership.
Transforming Crisis into Creativity: Turning Pain into Purpose Through Soulful Programs
Bonasa’s core philosophy, expressed through the movement Dale la vuelta a la tortilla (Turn the Table), reflects his belief that personal crises can become turning points for transformation. Just like flipping a burnt omelette reveals unexpected textures, breakdowns — when faced with courage and introspection — can lead to richer growth and deeper meaning. This holistic vision underpins two of his most emblematic initiatives: ARTEcoaching and Womentoring.
ARTEcoaching fuses classical coaching with symbolic, aesthetic expression, encouraging participants to bring their inner visions, doubts, and emotions into physical form — through paint, sculpture, movement, or other creative channels. This hands-on process generates powerful self-reflection, unleashes imagination, and strengthens leadership skills grounded in authenticity.
Alongside it, Womentoring addresses gender inequality by fostering women-only mentoring spaces where vulnerability and strength coexist. Through coaching, collaborative inquiry, and embodied practices, women build clarity, confidence, and networks to thrive in leadership roles.
Both programs demonstrate the power of soulful reflection and expressive action to transform pain into purpose. Whether recovering from burnout or breaking through systemic barriers, participants are invited to flip the narrative, to turn the table, and reclaim their stories with courage. Under Bonasa’s guidance, these programs go beyond offering tools: they awaken individuals to their potential for change. Every step becomes a courageous act of transformation.
Championing Holistic Well-Being Through the European Association’s Vitamin Organizations Model
As Executive President of the European Association for Well-being, Ignacio Bonasa has scaled his soulful leadership vision into systemic impact. At the heart of his model is an integrative framework built on eight interdependent dimensions of well-being: physical, mental, emotional, purposeful, professional, social, financial, and technological.
Bonasa defines successful businesses as Vitamin Organizations — companies that nourish all eight dimensions explicitly in order to achieve sustainable performance, foster innovation, and strengthen long-term employee engagement. In his view, well-being is not a bonus perk or a passing trend — it is a strategic foundation for growth. Under his leadership, the Association has introduced a suite of transformative tools: certification systems, organizational culture blueprints, and tailored training programs that embed human-centered values into the daily practices of companies. These tools help organizations navigate uncertainty while aligning profit with purpose.
Bonasa’s approach elevates well-being to a core organizational capability. In a world marked by burnout and complexity, the Vitamin Organizations model provides a powerful roadmap toward mindful, effective, and enduring success.
The Role of Soulful Leadership in Promoting Diversity, Inclusion, and Conscious Cultures in Europe and Beyond
In his role at the European Association of Soulful Organizations, Ignacio Bonasa brings structure and clarity to his vision of diversity and inclusion, one based on humanity and consciousness. He warns that diversity without compassion is superficial, and inclusion without awareness is performative. To take organizations deeper, Bonasa created the ALMA (Soul) model, a values-based framework built on: Authenticity, Leadership with Heart, Motivation with Purpose, and Action that Transforms.
This model serves as a compass for re-humanizing corporate environments, where diversity is not merely tolerated but celebrated as a source of collective intelligence and strength. Bonasa encourages leaders to tune in to the “invisible voices” within their companies — voices silenced by hierarchy, bias, or cultural norms. By honoring individual stories and infusing empathy into governance, organizations unlock creativity, team spirit, and emotional resilience. His soul-driven leadership integrates storytelling, appreciative dialogue, and co-creative ceremonies that reconnect people to meaning at work. These practices yield real outcomes: higher employee engagement, stronger stakeholder trust, and greater brand authenticity. Bonasa’s message is clear: when companies lead from the soul, they don’t just get better results — they become transformative forces for good.
Advice for Leading with Purpose, Authenticity, and Courage
Drawing on decades of experience, Ignacio Bonasa offers a powerful maxim for leaders and changemakers: “Do not betray your soul to fit into spaces that no longer reflect your truth.” These words reflect a hard-earned truth: external success is meaningless without internal coherence. Bonasa emphasizes the importance of radical self-inquiry. He urges leaders to ask: Does my current path help me grow? Or does it keep me trapped in survival mode? He challenges professionals to move beyond the need for validation and embrace the discomfort of authenticity. For him, real leadership is not about control or perfection — it is about the courage to release what no longer serves and to live one’s unfolding truth. This often means leaving behind jobs, routines, or relationships that suffocate the soul. But Bonasa reassures: the freedom found in alignment far outweighs the fear of change.
And when failure strikes, his invitation remains: Turn the Table — because within every ending lies the seed of a new beginning.
