LOURDES 2013

The third conference of Management, Spirituality and Religion, was aptly set in Lourdes.

Miracles have been present in the life, soul and dreams of mankind since time immemorial and are an essential constituent of the fabric of human societies, archaic as much as modern, religious as well as secular. Miracles are the hopes and magic of the beyond: a sign from the transcendent; the chance of winning the lottery; making an idea come true.

We as humans have always wished to rise to The Man of Lamancha’s challenge: ‘dream the impossible dream’, whether through thriving for excellence, by following transformational leaders or in daring to defy conventional wisdom.

We occasioned the event in Lourdes, a Marian pilgrimage site, to Pentecost – arguably the holiday most identified with the Virgin Mary in the Christian calendar. The Mayor of the town and its pilgrimage administration committee visited the conference for a special session; and an artistic program on the theme of ‘women and the sacred’ accompanied the conference.