Book Talk: “The Art of Going Up and Down the Mountain”
On October 16, 2024, the Georgetown Americas Institute hosted Marcos Peña, former chief of Argentina’s Cabinet of Ministers from 2015 to 2019 during the presidency of Mauricio Macri, for a discussion on his new book The Art of Going Up and Down the Mountain (El arte de subir y bajar la montaña, 2024). Alejandro Werner, founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute, moderated the discussion.
Peña’s Journey
In The Art of Going Up and Down the Mountain, Peña writes about the interrelationship between leadership and mental health, drawing from his personal career in government. After leaving the government in 2019, he embarked on a self-reflective journey to process his time as chief of the Cabinet of Ministers and the impact this position had on his psyche. Consumed with responsibilities while in the position, Peña had little time to reflect on his own mental state. To gather opinions about how assuming a leadership role impacts mental health, he started a podcast where he interviewed others in leadership positions.
Supporting Resilient Leaders
Through self-reflection, meditation, and the discussions he had with others, Peña made a number of discoveries about leadership. The first is that the public generally perceive political leaders as non-human, yet they face many of the same mental health challenges as their citizens. The second misperception is the notion that careers at the top are linear, but in reality they are cyclical, with downward periods as well. Peña described the descent from high peaks of power as a form of trauma which requires a certain amount of processing.
“Going from city government to national government was like going from 3,000 meters to 6,000 meters.” Marcos Peña
He highlighted that in the same way that professional athletes have coaches, politicians need training support for managing their mental health.
Peña discussed negative consequences that can arise when leaders do not exercise proper self-care. Overreaction and poor decision-making are to be expected of leaders who don’t properly take care of themselves. Burnout is also a common phenomenon. Due to the high risks, Peña stressed that individuals should only be in high-level positions for a short amount of time.
The Impact of Social Media
Peña made special note of the role social media can play in impacting mental health. During his career in government he experienced the rise of the digital age, and also the negative impact misinformation and excessive social media consumption can have on one’s health. He likened the idea to nutrition, with the need to consume healthy information online.
Lessons for All
While Peña’s experience comes from politics, he emphasized that the mental health lessons he has learned are applicable to all. We are all leaders in our own way, and therefore we must take care of ourselves and our mental health to serve our communities the best we can.
During the question and answer session he was asked if empathy and compassion can be taught. Peña said that meditation is an incredibly powerful tool to boost one’s empathy and compassion towards others. Another question was about whether women deal with leadership and mental health differently than men. Peña responded that in his research he found that women in leadership are much more sensitive to attacks via social media, and better support systems are crucial in enabling women to flourish in leadership positions.