![](https://archives-ad.policycenter.ma/sites/default/files/ScarlettVarga_1.png)
Scarlett Varga, ADEL 2018
Deputy Head of Development, Bruegel, Romania
" I found the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program extremely well organized and strategically thought out bringing clear benefits to both the young leaders and the host. I look back at it as a laboratory of ideas for youth. The perfect mix between flexible, creativity inciting sessions on the one side and focused, practical assignments and outputs on the other. These create a fertile incubator for learning, sharing and building networks that will facilitate the development of seed ideas later.
The openness and curiosity that surfaces in this diverse environment is striking. I was so pleasantly surprised to see how easily our cohort forged into a family, all exaggeration aside. We stepped towards each other with ease, looking for each other’s experience, wisdom, humor and kindness. And this is how big ideas are born and great alliances are formed- through openness and empathy. We, Europeans, consider empathy as one of our core value. It was uplifting to feel that people from all over the World share this value. Special thanks to the Policy Center for the New South for making this possible and welcoming us into the ADEL community. "