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JUL09
‘Everyone who enjoys thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed. Herein lies the difference between those who create and those who enjoy.’ Friedrich Nietzsche
Barcelona – Sant Cugat Open Day at the Barcelona – Sant Cugat CampusCa
mpu
sLuis de Sebastián “What he liked best was being a grandfather”RRHH PAS
E-N
ews
2 Summary Editorial
Five months after ESADE’s Barcelona – Sant Cugat campus opened for business, we can proudly say that this dream has really come true.
Just two years ago, it seemed like the day that we would be able to touch and feel the new campus was still eons away. We talked about what it would be like, what facilities it was going to have, how we would get there... And now, after much effort on the part of many people, the campus is not only real, but it has become part of our daily lives to such an extent that it seems to have always existed.
In the centre spread of this edition, you will find photos from various events that have been held on the Sant Cugat Cam-pus. These photos capture the atmosphe-
re of life on the new campus – in short, images of the enthusiasm that ESADE and its people put into all of the institution’s projects.
There is still work to do: the student dormitory is set to open in January 2010, and there are still a few other details that require improvement. But with the enthusiasm and hard work of the ESADE community, we will turn this into an opportunity for the organisation to keep growing and improving.
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Fam
ous
anni
vers
aire
s On a day like today 1952 (19 july) the XII Olympic Games of the modern era were opened in Helsinki, with the
participation of 69 countries and 4,436 athletes.
1969 (21 july) Apollo XI astronaut, Neil Armstrong, became the first man to set foot
on the moon.
1976 (3 july) Adolfo Suárez was appointed Spanish Prime Minister by King Juan Carlos I,
and sworn into office on 5 July.
1992 (21 july) ESADE Alumni Association was launched.
3
4
18
10
12
20 The portrait
Plural thinking
Colaborations:
Cristina Català (Getting away from it all) María José Marimón (The comic)
Cheking text & translation:
Language Advisory
Design art direction:
Sintagma Edicions Corporatives
Imprent:
Imgesa
Editorial board:
Óscar BistuéIvana CasaburiGema CastelAnna DíazDavid Fernández-ManzanosAna Solá
José Antonio MengualSusana MotillaAdela NebotSusana PérezJosep SolerMónica Sisternas
CrEdits:
This magazine is printed on recycled paper
It has become part of our daily lives to such an extent that it seems to have always existed
Remembering Luis de Sebastián
Interview
Parallel lives
This month’s personality
Welcome to Campus ESADE Barcelona – Sant CugatRemembering
Luis de Sebastián
This month’s personality
Parallel lives
Plural thinking
The portrait
Interview
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E-Noticias 3
Luis de sebastiánRemembering
Letter to Luis de Sebastián, our Luis
Dear Luis,
A few days ago, Vicenç Ferrer passed away. And like you,
Vicenç was also a Jesuit. Smiling, he once claimed in a tele-
vision interview that death does not exist: “There’s only a
here and a there”. It is always a comfort to hear words of
wisdom directly from the great scholars of our times.
Those of us who knew you, some more and some less, agree
on the great honour we have had of being able to share a
moment or two with you while you were among us.
As Josep says, you were a diamond capable of polarising the
white light from all the different types of people you met and
of producing the most astonishing colours. You could talk as
easily with kings as you could with the earth’s poor and dis-
possessed, who you supported and defended through your
articles, lectures and activities. Elegant in form and subs-
tance and at once balanced between opposites: fearful yet
courageous; tempered and combative; extremely respect-
ful and polite, yet also forthright and direct; communica-
tive and analytical, yet always constructive and enormously
generous; you gave everything in the name of serving others
and in the name of social justice.
On the day you left us, even the phones fell silent; as if sens-
ing that the most highly regarded teacher that we have
had the pleasure of knowing had embarked upon his final
journey.
However small the deed may be, we now have the moral duty
to do something that would have pleased you: to follow the
example of your wisdom, compassion and dedication.
Because although we may not be wise, we are many in num-
ber. This, along with our love, we owe you.
A fond farewell,
Joseph Miralles, Isabel Navarro and Fina Planas
MeMories
reception is located at the entrance to the school, and working there has given me the opportunity to meet
and interact with lots of people every day. i remember that you would always greet us with a broad smile,
saying ‘Good morning, Jaume. How are you, lovely Adela?’. We would talk about your family, about your
friends, and in the past few years, about Juana, that little princess whose photos you would sometimes
show us. I think of these little moments – minor, but warm, just like you were, Luis. Thank you for the chance to
get to know you, for letting me learn from your wisdom, from your human side, from your faith, from
everything, Luis. Thank you for everything. Adela Nebot
What he liked best was being a grandfatherIn the late 1990s, I had the good fortune of spending time with Luis in Washington. At the time, I was working at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Luis was working on a short project at the Inter-American Institute for Economic and Social Development (INDES), one of the IDB’s departments, which required his support from time to time. Because he had come to Washington without his family, he and I saw each other more often than would otherwise have been possible. One day I told him that I was thinking about bringing my three small children to an event that the bank held for its staff once a year. He urged me to attend, saying that the event was usually very nice; he seemed interested, but because he was a consultant and not a staff member, he hadn’t been invited. I told him to come with us, and that we’d figure out a way to get him into the event. The site had been set up as an amusement park for children (and for the young at heart!), with rides, swimming pools, and so on. When we reached the gate, with Luis at the back of our group, we were asked to identify ourselves. That’s when I thought to myself, ‘Now we’ve gone and done it!’. But Luis proudly announced, ‘I’m the grandfather of these children!’. And we were told to come right in. He was so pleased with his new role that he spent the rest of the day telling everyone he was my children’s grandfather. It was the proto-preamble to what would become one of the greatest joys of his life: having his own grandchildren, whom he loved dearly. I was delighted that my children could have such a splendid grandfather, even if it was just for one day.
Padrecito SebasOne day, after eating in the seventh-floor cafeteria of the IDB, Luis went to pay for his lunch. The girl at the cash register, who was from El Salvador, blurted out, ‘Hombre, padrecito!’ (‘Hey, little Father!’). Luis reminded her that while he may have been a padrecito in San Salvador, he was now married and a padre to two wonderful children. A lot of good it did! From that day on, as far as the Salvadorean cashiers at the IDB were concerned, he became what he had been years earlier: ‘el padrecito Sebas’. We never did find out if it was because he had been a Jesuit priest or because he was a padre to two wonderful children.
Sincerely,Carlos Losada
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4 E-News
“ “There aren’t many business schools with their own social network at the moment. ESADE will be one of the first
Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about social networks, not only outside ESADE, but also within the institution. What can you tell us about them? You could say that we’ve been working towards launching ESADE’s own social network over the last few months, which in actual fact will be the basis of the new Intranet.
Do you know of any other business school that’s already got its own social network? There aren’t many with their own social network at the moment. ESADE will be one of the first.
And what exactly is Web 2.0 and social networks all about? In a nutshell, you could say that Web 2.0 becomes a reality when you get impartial and spontaneous help from people visit-ing your website or social network. With Web 2.0 we’ve gone from a static site, where the communication is unidirection-
al, to a website where communication is from ‘n’ people to ‘n’ people.
Does this mean that all these tools will completely change the way we communicate? Rather than saying they’ll ‘change’ how we communicate, we should be saying that we still haven’t taken on board the fact that how we communicate has in it-self already changed. Most of us don’t realise that the new generations coming to our institution have a different concept of sites, and one that’s got little to do with the static websites that we’ve been used to up to now. They’re young people who’re used to chatting all the time, using mes-sengers and Twitter, for instance. They can’t imagine a network that’s not interac-tive or one that you don’t get a reply from.
How did the idea of putting together the ESADE social network come about? It started last year, during the summer. We’d all heard things about social net-works but didn’t really have much of an idea what it was all about. So, we decided to look into it and started off with Face-book. And that’s when it struck us: “Wow! We could really boost a relationship, whether it’s a professional relationship or a friendship, using a relatively simple tool like this”. At the same time, we’d been working on the new Intranet, which was
then in the testing stage but still needed a bit more development. And the social network will give us the infrastructure we need to develop it.
How will this be useful for ESADE? Within our institution, with all the unrelat-ed groups that come under the collective umbrella of ESADE, when it comes down to it the social network will be a meeting point where these groups can share con-cerns, doubts, ideas and experiences, etc. I’m convinced there are undergrad students out there who’re interested in online marketing, yet who may have no contact, as such, with MBA students; in spite of the fact that they share the same interests, which could just as well be mar-keting as skiing. We’re not putting the ESADE social network forward as strictly professional or recreational. There’ll be room for everything.
Who should be included? The key is that the network will include all of ESADE: candidates, students, alumni members and non-members, faculty, ad-ministrative staff, businesses, etc. And why not even VIPS?
Could you give us some examples? Let’s start with the case of prospective candidates. They could use the social
Mauri Añaños talks to us about the phenomenon of social networks, and how ESADE plans to be part of these networks. He also explains the challenges he faces in his new position as Director of Academic Services, since taking up the post last September.
EsAdE’ssocial network
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E-News 5
network to get in touch with not only the Admissions Department, but also with other candidates who’re probably ask-ing themselves the same or quite similar questions. It’s more than likely that, at this very moment, somebody at home in New York’s surfing the web and debating whether or not to come and study at ES-ADE or go to some other business school. And perhaps, ten blocks away in the same city, someone else is doing exactly the same thing. Imagine if we could put them in touch and strengthen that con-nection. And if this can be done for two people, then why not expand it to include all candidates from United States or those who’re having second thoughts or mulling over the idea of getting in touch with ES-ADE. Or why not put these people in touch with our groups of students from United States who had to make the same deci-sions last year and who’ve since spent a year living and studying with us on cam-pus. The number of services we can offer candidates is limitless.
Another case... On the Educational Innovation Support Unit (USIP) syllabus web pages, for exam-ple, we could create collaboration areas that go beyond the subject boundaries; maybe even linking up with Executive Education, MBAs, faculty who are not di-rectly involved with the subject, students on the programme, even administrative personnel or alumni – with all the profes-sional experience that each of them have to offer.
Will alumni also be included? Yes, of course. Through social networking, the association will be able to offer a wide range of new services to all its members.
The potential is unbelievable! In parallel to this, don’t forget that ES-ADE’s administrative personnel and fac-ulty will be in permanent contact with this immense group of forty thousand people. I really think we’re not yet fully aware of the initiative’s potential… for the time being at least. Based on these initial ideas, we’ll have to let the network evolve, so that it’ll one day be as powerful as forty thousand individuals in terms of creativity.
Do you think people will abandon Facebook? That’s not what we’re aiming for. ESADE’s social network has to be dynamic enough so that we open our social network when we get to ESADE in the morning, much in the same way that we open our mail right now, either because we’ve signed up to groups, or because that’s where our contacts are... Once it’s up and running, specific applications could be incorporat-ed over time to include academic admin-istration, teaching and work plans, etc., until we’ve integrated all the functions currently available through the Intranet. The idea isn’t to do away with Facebook or other networks that might be useful to us for reasons that have nothing to do with ESADE.
There’s always a business side and a fun side Obviously, there is in everything; and there’s also a fun side to the Internet. Years ago, when workers were given ac-cess to company phones for the first time, they were used partly to make their jobs easier by getting things done faster, and also for other stuff that was, let’s say, not exactly job-related. And this is still the case today with the Internet and email. I’m convinced that these new ways of understanding technology – the increase in efficiency and opportunities that eve-rybody working with Internet will benefit
from – will far outweigh the fun side of things.
Are many people from our institution involved in this project? Over the next few years, I think the project will involve most groups at ESADE though external groups will be drawn in as well. For example, we plan to establish the role of the visitor and also give recruiting com-panies access. We want to contact all the groups that are involved, because, quite frankly, I think ESADE’s got the capacity to take on lots of projects and that a lot of great ideas are hatched here. This means there’s often no need to go looking for ideas elsewhere.
Will it be necessary to use a driver to boost these projects? Well there won’t be just one, but rather several drivers; some will be official and others, spontaneous. And these will emerge from the dynamics of the social network itself.
Changing the subject a little, what challenges and projects do you now have as part of your new job? This new job comes with a series of un-certainties and hopes. On the one hand, we’ve got the ICT, which is the service that I’m most familiar with. There’s been a change of track in terms of manage-ment, which we hope will strengthen the department, and the challenges are just as important – or more so – than those we’ve faced in the past. In Information & Knowledge Services (SIC), the chal-lenge involves thinking about the service provided over the next four or five years. Obviously, we’ll still have a library, but the concept of library that we have today will change; though having said that, this doesn’t mean change for change’s sake. We need to think about whether our in-
“ “
The key is that the network will include all of ESADE: candidates, students, alumni members and non-members, faculty, administrative staff, businesses, etc.
stitution’s current trends in habits and needs will mean keeping certain models or considering new ones. In terms of the Registrar’s Office, we’re faced with major challenges, amongst which we will have to rethink our role in terms of ESADE as an institution and adapt to its divisional structure. And as for the area of Organisa-tion, this is being redefined and we hope it’ll be a great help to the various ESADE departments and services in the future.
And finally, where do you think Internet is heading? Well, I’d have to say I’m not sure about that one. There’s a lot of talk about se-mantic webs and things like that... What is clear, is that, in the immediate future – whatever that might be – it’ll probably be in line with the idea of permanent connectivity; whether through mobile de-vices or mobile applications, etc. And all this of course will be combined with cheaper communication costs.
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6 E-News
in Chinatraining Executive
It was an intense experience, both politically and professionally, and it’s not easy to decide what to share with the ESADE community. To show the different sides of the experience, we have decided to divide it into three parts, and to discuss, firstly, the campus where we were working for a month, secondly, the city and its people and, lastly, the visiting executives we had the opportunity of meeting.
Beijing University CampusThe first thing that strikes you is the size, and the four entrances patrolled by security guards. Every time you walk into the building you need to show an identity card, which, if you don’t speak Chinese, is incomprehensible except for your photo and some numbers. Constantly-swelling rivers of people on foot or bicycle run through the campus at all hours of the day, and even at weekends. In fact, one of our courses had been scheduled for Saturdays and Sundays, and one night as we were coming out of a piano recital we’d been invited to, we saw a lecture hall packed with students attending a lecture.
The truth is, we were treated very well and the people were very thoughtful. In one classroom, there was an assistant who helped us to switch on the equipment and check it was working at the beginning of every class, and who also helped students throughout the course. One kind thought was the cake and flowers that we received when both Josep and myself celebrated our birthdays in Beijing. Another particularly fond memory was the invitation to dinner at the Dean’s home. It was a proper Chinese meal, with his whole family, including wife, two children and father-in-law. All were absolutely charming.
The People and the CityThe city is huge. It took us at least an hour to get from the campus to the centre. The underground was the best way to get around, even though the station names didn’t coincide with the ones in our guidebook. It seems that the names are chosen while the line is being built, and then changed if it’s felt necessary. And what can you say about the Chinese? There are lots of them, and they’re everywhere. But watching them cross the street is really something: If you’ve ever been to Naples or Mexico City and you thought crossing the street was insane
there, just try it in Beijing. Don’t try to find out the regulations, because there aren’t any. Whatever the traffic lights may say, just follow the pack and try to get into the middle of it. The cars love the challenge of stopping within a hair’s breadth from your legs. Along with everything else, you need a lot of patience: Everything goes very slowly, and there’s no point trying to speed it up. The most difficult thing is communication, whether in Chinese or in English. If you don’t believe it, just ask Josep Franch, who asked to have his room cleaned and was immediately brought a salad. Or ask me how it’s possible, after a month’s stay at the hotel, that reception claimed there was no Ivana Casaburi registered there. It seems my husband was registered in my room, and if I wanted to put something on the bill, then he was the one who had to sign for it.
Chinese ExecutivesChinese companies are an institution and a symbol of national pride. We took the opportunity to visit one: Baidu, the Chinese Google, where we were met by the Brand Manager. After crossing a 500-metre-square expanse of people at computers, we finally reached the Meeting Room. The meeting lasted two hours, all in Chinese with simultaneous translation. But it was all very interesting, for its form as well as its content.
There is one final detail of the experience that we would like to share with you: the Baidu Marketing Manager’s participation in our classes. In theory, we went over the participation in that two-hour meeting. His presentation would be in English, and he would talk about the company’s communication strategy. But the presentation began in Chinese, and after a few minutes, as he was still speaking Chinese, we asked the translator what he was saying. She replied: “He says that as he is Chinese, and as the students are Chinese, he will give his presentation in Chinese.” We didn’t understand much of what he was saying, but it was amazing to see how our students’ eyes lit up; lit up with national pride. When the presentation was over, the executive went back to talking to us in English as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Without a doubt, China is a wonderful country that offers visitors great experiences on both a personal and a professional level.
In April, two professors from ESADE’s Department of Marketing, Ivana Casaburi and Josep Franch, travelled to Beijing to deliver classes to a total of 180 BIMBA students (Beijing International MBA) at Beijing University. A few weeks later, Professor Jordi Vinaixa, from the Department of Business Policy, joined the team.
Josep and ivana with invited managers of Baidu (Chinese company) and China Consultants
BiMBA’s buildings (Beijing internacional MBA)
students in EsAdE’s classes in BiMBA
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E-News 7
Visual identity guide
Last April, the Department of Corporate Marketing launched a new Identity Manual. Based on a redesign, the idea of this new publication is to lend greater coherence, unity and strength to our brand.
This new guide contains all the essential building blocks: It will allow us to work with the visual identity of ESADE yet leave us enough freedom to be creative.
It’s important to remember that the use of the manual is not restricted to those who manage the brand from within ESADE. It can also be used by those who work with the brand externally, including designers, agencies, printers, etc., enabling us to share materials to promote our brand.
Those of you who have already had a chance to skim through this publication will have realised that it’s only in Spanish. The idea behind a monolingual publication is to make the manual easier to use and avoid the duplication of information. However, if you need the logo in other languages, it can be downloaded in high resolution along with the latest version of the guide in PDF format, by simply clicking on the following link:
www.esade.edu > intranet > institutional information > corporate identity
From the Department of Corporate Development, we’d like to encourage everyone to use this guide and promote its use. Only through coherent communication can we achieve the recognition and identification of our corpo- rate values. In doing so, we will accomplish our long-term goal of laying the foundations for the development of the ESADE brand.
version 0.1/april 2009
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8 E-News
WE WON tHE Cup! ANd tHE LEAguE!!
ANd tHE CHAMpiONs!!! A Chronicle of Grand Slam Month
Long live the newlyweds!On Thursday 28th May, a group of ESADE colleagues and friends gathered together in a Barcelona restaurant to celebrate some good news: Our colleague Valentina Luengo said “I do” to her fiancé, Antonio Matteu, on 12th June. The entire ESADE community wishes them every happiness in their new life together. Long live the newlyweds!
What a month! On May 2nd, the dream scenario started to unfold into what will be remembered –for the moment at least – as the greatest season in Barcelona FC’s long history. A 6-2 win against Real Madrid, and La Liga all sewn up. Some of us were lucky enough to see the game away from Barcelona, surrounded by other culers, in a Barcelona supporters’ club in Valencia. That’s when you really understand FCB’s slogan, ‘Barça – more than a club’. Thousands of miles away, other fans were cheering the match – even as far away as Beijing! And can I just say that the email report of that experience is priceless; just ask any of our culers colleagues, such as Manel Peiró, Pere Batallé, Joan Roig, Jesús Palau, Josep M. Vergés or Joan Sureda, all of them jubilant after the resounding win.
There was hardly time to savour the victory before May 6th, with Chelsea waiting at stamford Bridge. That was all that stood between us and the Champions’ League final. Off to a rocky start with a home goal, and then, just as hope is running out, the 93rd minute sees the misery at the Barcelona end turn into a roar of euphoria as Andrés iniesta scores! Next stop? ROOOOOOOME! And the third title is one step closer!
Still, no hurry. That’s twice we’ve been to celebrate at the Canaletes fountain, though no actual title as yet. After four days with Iniesta’s fantastic goal still buzzing round in our heads, the league was coming to Camp Nou. A win against Villarreal and the first title would be in the bag. Everything was ready for the
big party: the Estadi packed to the rafters with fans clamouring to celebrate a couple of trophies. But the gods of football, so enamoured of this Barça’s game, were also following the ‘other Barça’ – the Barça on TV3’s football comedy hit Crackòvia. They knew that the sequence of the titles meant that the party to celebrate winning the league would have to wait a week while the Copa del Rey, the King’s Cup, was being taken care of. You can bet that as he came out of the game, Joan M. Batista was telling his son Oscar that the best was yet to come.
the turning point or the turning ‘pinto’? The Cadiz goalkeeper who got us through to the King’s Cup final, keeping his cool as he stopped that Mallorca penalty, was the man selected by “mestre Pep” (Guardiola) to stand in the goal mouth and defend this first title of the season. David Fernández-Manzanos – loyalties somewhat divided – and Josep Soler were there in Valencia on May 13th to witness the club’s 4-1 thrashing of Athletic Bilbao. So, after 14 years, the King’s Cup (1), was back in Barcelona. Third visit to Canaletes in eleven days. Cooopa… (1).
Applauded on to the pitch as champions by the opposing team in the Balearic Islands. Thanks to a welcome gift from Villarreal, beating Madrid on the Saturday night, Barça were able to claim the league title before the game against Mallorca. The trophy that they had hoped for, longed for and thoroughly deserved for so long, was going to take its place on the FCB museum shelves: the league (2) was ours. Barcelona fans flooded into the city centre for the fourth time this year, with one more
thing on their minds: that most special thing, that one thing that would be the
perfect end to a magical and unforgettable season: The Champions’ League (3). it was going to be a long wait until the 27th.
Rome, the Eternal City; and an eternal memory for culers. Just days to go until the match, and many of us had no nails left to bite. Anna Díaz, between breathing exercises, was making plans for the birth of a beautiful baby carrying the Champions’ League Cup under its arm, while others strolled proudly along the ESADE corridors knowing that they would be there on the 27th at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, ready to cheer and sing themselves hoarse when the team scored. Ivan Bofarull, Ramon Aspa and Josep Franch were three of the thousands of culers whose chants reduced the Red Army to silence and whose voices, at that moment when Eto’o scored, raised aloft a team destined for a glorious page in history written by the club’s young ones: Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. The Champions League...! (3). And the fifth visit to Canaletes! (not counting the celebration at the Canaletes fountain in Espai 4).
The cup, the league and the Champions! May 28th and Barcelona gets out its replica strip and hits the streets to celebrate with the team. There, in the crowd, I think I can make out Trini Xifré, Anaïs Ciprián and Mònica Solé, all so proud of their Barça. After a few hours going round the Catalan capital, the red and blue procession arrives at Camp Nou and unleashes its euphoria across the stands. The party ends with a firework display. It’ll take a long time for us to really take in what’s happened. Each and every culer will have his or her own special memory of May 2009. Even ESADE was showing off its own historical treble. Now, let’s enjoy it while it lasts. And let’s hope it’s just the beginning of a long series of successes.
VisCA EL BArçA,VisCA CAtALuNyA
i VisCA FuENtEALBiLLA!
Barcelona, June 2nd 2009
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E-News 9
diversityAt ESADE, diversity is a characteristic and distinctive feature of our commu-nity. As a result of the work being carried out by the Committee for Diversity, a diversity campaign has been launched in the campus dining halls over recent weeks. The main objectives of this campaign are to raise aware-ness of the diversity that exists at ESADE, to achieve greater involvement of those who form part of ESADE in this diversity-awareness project and to publicise the activities of the Committee for Diversity.
This initiative features the five groups of diversity that are most relevant to ESADE: gender, ethnicity, age, PAS-faculty and religion. We would like to thank and congratulate our colleagues and campaign models for participat-ing in this event: Raquel Boza, Albert Díaz, Marc García, Julia Rodríguez, Anna Cockroft, Trini Xifré, Jatinder Jit Singh, Josep Mària, Maurici Rolo and Christina Komrowski.
EsAdE
Cont
est
MyE
sAd
E
SeRgi FeRnández, winner of the MyESADE video competition organised by the Corporate Marketing team, enjoyed his prize trip to New York at the end of May. Equipped with official ESADE merchandising, Sergi took some photos of Brooklyn Bridge to remind him of his visit and prove that he was actually there. Much in
the same way that Cristiano Ronaldo’s signing had a major impact on the sale of the club’s strips for Real Madrid, this will probably mark a turning point in the sale of baseball caps and T-shirts for the ESADE Shop.
Participation in the competition was a resounding success. Of the 11 videos
submitted, three made it through to the final decision phase before the jury, which was made up of : Colin McElwee, Cristina Espelta Luque, Eugenia Bieto, Marcelo Planellas, Vega Sainz, Enrique López Viguria, Patricia Sotelo, David Fernández-Manzanos and Montserrat Pachón. During the voting process to pick the winner, more
than 356 votes were received, 42% of which were for Sergi’s video, entitled Sent ESADE.
The magazine’s editorial team would like to take this opportunity to welcome such initiatives, which help invigorate our cultural life at ESADE.
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10 E-News
How long have you been working at EsAdE?I joined ESADE in 1987; it’ll be 22 years this Septem-ber.
What was your impression of the institution on your first day at EsAdE?It was funny because I didn’t really know where I was going. I was told I was being sent to a school and, little by little, I eventually got an idea of its importance.
if you were an historical character, you’d be… María Pita.
if you were a monument, you’d be… A cathedral.
if you were an animal, you’d be… A cat.
if you were a sport, you’d be… Hill walking.
if you were a book, you’d be… An historical novel.
if you were a song, you’d be… A melody.
if you were a quiet spot, you’d be… A cabin on a mountain anywhere in the world.
if you could be somebody else, you would you like to be… A writer.
Quick Questionnaire
Luzdivina de dios gómez Maintenance and Cleaning – Afternoon shift Building 1
And what about your colleagues?I have fond memories of all my workmates; in general they’ve all been fantastic people to work with.
What’s been your best and worst experience at EsAdE?The worst thing was one time when I had to attend to a workman who had accidentally cut his arm and seve-red a vein; I think I was more shaken up than he was. And the best thing was my first Christmas party at ESA-DE. I remember it as a big family celebration.
Can you give us an anecdote from your time at EsAdE?Back in the days before soap dispensers had been installed in the toilets, one of the ladies attending an event at ESADE asked me where she had to press to get the soap out. I told her all she had to do was pick up the bar of soap and ‘give it a little rub’.
Who from EsAdE would you like to have dinner with one day?With somebody who knows how to transmit peace and quiet.
Who from EsAdE would you go to a party with?With somebody who’s happy and who I can have a laugh with.
Where, or in which job, would you like to be in three years’ time?
I’ll be about to retire in three years’ time, so that’s my idea of an ideal scenario*.
personally speaking, which of EsAdE’s values or sig-ns of identity do you identify with most?I identify with ESADE’s human values and solidarity.
Who would you pick to interview for the next edition?My co-worker, Sacramento Castillo.
rrHH pAs This new website aims to offer information on everything going on in the Human Resources Service and the different areas that make up the Administrative and Services Staff (PAS), and has been designed to keep you abreast of all the latest developments and answer any doubts you may have on a range of HR issues. Our intention is to create a dynamic and bidirectional communication channel through which you can interact with the HR Service. Via the site, you will be able to share your opinions and make suggestions for improvements, since the main purpose of this new website is to provide the most appropriate responses to the needs of the international PAS community.
The website offers informa-tion on issues including regu-lations affecting Administrati-ve and Services Staff, human resource policies and social benefits for employees as a result of belonging of the ESA-DE community. The site also contains information on upco-ming ESADETraining courses, the latest ESADE promotional videos and events planned for the weeks ahead, among other things.
As a result, we hope this new channel will respond to your needs and that it will also be present in ESADE’s day-to-day running, given that you are the real protago-nists of our work.
A new Human Resources internal communication website goes online today.
http://www.esade.edu/sites/rrhhpas
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This month’s personality
Barcelona – Sant Cugat
Welcome to campus
The ESADE Open Day at the Barcelona – Sant Cugat
Campus on 13th June was an ideal opportunity to show
friends and family around the new facilities.
ESADE Barcelona – Sant Cugat Welcome to campus
The young and not so young among us enjoyed a day full of fun and surprises.
Open Day at ESADE’s new Barcelona – Sant Cugat Campus
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Barcelona – Sant Cugat
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Over 150 people enjoyed a great day’s events at the new Campus and we had a chance to share our work environment with our nearest and dearest.
Open Day at ESADE’s new Barcelona – Sant Cugat Campus
Barcelona – Sant Cugat
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4 Barcelona – Sant Cugat
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Cyan Salon 11
On
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Doughnut + Actimel
It is both alarming and symptomatic that the company responsible for catering at ESADE has this concept of healthy food. Their idea of a romantic dinner would probably be a Whopper (a double cheeseburger, naturally), a petit suisse and some candles; and their ideal breakfast might be something along the lines of a pantera rosa and a BioCentury. But aside from this amusing little anecdote, we believe it’s a fact that ESADE’s catering service is currently failing to meet the quality standards required of something as important as our daily diet. Doing a quick reckoning, we have breakfast and lunch at ESADE on roughly 220 to 223 days a year (depending on whether you use all your ‘days off’ for personal matters), which means that the School should ensure the use of the highest quality ingredients and their correct preparation, as well as hygiene regarding the daily menu.
We should perhaps pause to think about some of the overwhelming signs such as the fact, for instance, that some MBA students opt out altogether and have lunch at IESE. There are also differences in terms of what’s on offer in the different ESADE buildings. Why, in the Masters participants’ dining hall in Building 3, is a salad considered as a first course, when this is neither the case in
Building 1 nor at Sant Cugat? Why do some dining halls charge extra for cans of soft drinks and others don’t? Why do some dining halls offer a selection of ready-to-eat fruit, and others
mainly offer industrially produced pastries as desserts? We could also mention the vegetables, which usually sit steeping in hot water for hours on end, gradually leaching out all their nutrients. Or the fried dishes drenched in oil, the telltale reminders of which neither you nor those around you will easily forget… at least not until long after lunch. Or the fact that leftovers from dishes served in the Executive Education dining hall the day before somehow find their way into the salad ingredients served in the Masters dining hall. However, the situation takes on a level 4 WHO health alert when the Masters dining hall closes and hungry participants are faced with no choice but to venture into the Marquee, where you can’t even go for the grilled meat option.
As a recurring topic of meal-time conversation for a number of years now, questions and criticism of the catering service abound. Perhaps it’s time to come up with some answers with a view to improving the service. Perhaps the
responsibility or, dare I say it, blame, should be shared between the catering company and ESADE. On the other hand, who’s actually at fault here is not as important as what urgent measures should be taken to put this situation right and formally address the torrent of complaints from long-suffering daily users.
Healthy Snack:
Amazingly, this is the latest Aramark promotion to be launched in ESADE’s dining hall and, in all likelihood, HOMEr siMpsON would swap the ACtiMEL for a duFF. The concepts ‘HEALtHy sNACk’ and ‘dOugHNut’ are like water and oil or like being a BArçA fan and cheering on guti: totally opposite concepts. Besides, the small print points out that the promotion is only valid from 4pm; just as the doughnuts are about to roll themselves home to the pANriCO bakeries for resale to MiCHELiN, who’ll probably make tires out of them.
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Cyan Salon 12
para
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Parallel lives…
Mercè gratacós
How and when did you start taking pictures? When? I can even tell you the exact date. I shot my first roll of film on 1st November 1965, with my first camera, a Yashica Minister D, which I’d been saving up to buy for months. As for how, the ‘culprit’ was a person that I had a great friendship with, but who unfortunately left us a few years ago, Rosa Szücs de Truñó. She was an extraordinary
woman. She had an inordinate sense of compassion and was also an exceptional photographer. She’s responsible for my passion for photography, as I’ve never stopped taking photographs since the day I met her.
Why do you like photography so much? It’s hard to say why I like it. I photograph what moves me, what catches my
attention. I think it’s a really satisfying activity and one that I get a lot of pleasure out of.
Could you define photography? I’d describe photography as the magic of perpetuating a fleeting instant, a glance, a feeling and even every-day realities… sometimes a dream or a fantasy. To a certain extent it’s the illusion of making time stand still and capturing a moment
This edition of ‘Parallel lives’ features Mercè Gratacós. For those who don’t know her, Mercè has been with ESADE since January 1977, and is currently working in the MBA Registrar’s Office, in Building 3. Mercè has been an avid photographer since the age of sixteen and she’s agreed to show us some photographs of her travels; her other great passion.
susheela: susheela and Mercè, during our photographer’s last holidays in kerala, in the south of india, last Holy Week.
November 1965: A photography taken with Mercè gratacós’s first reel.
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Cyan Salon 13
Murri: A child photographed in Benin, in western Africa.
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in someone’s life that will always be remembered.
How much time do you spend on your photography? Less than I’d like. I make the most of another of my passions, travelling and discovering new places and people (especially meeting people), to bring home a lot of memories in the form of photos, which I look at over and over again. And when I’m not travelling, I rope in my friends’ kids and grandkids – they make such lovely models – to practice my technique as a portrait photographer.
What type of photography do you like most, portraits or landscapes? Portraits, without a doubt.
Analogue or digital? Do you still develop your photos in the old-fashioned way? I suppose I’m a bit ‘retro’ in that respect as I always used to say I’d never get into digital photography. But it’d be silly to say “Oh, that’s not for me”. So, in the end, I gave in and said “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” and ended up buying a Nikon D80, which is my current camera. But even though I recognise all the advantages and the technical possibilities of the new digital format, deep down, I miss my trusty old Pentax and Minolta analogue cameras. And I especially miss locking myself away in my darkroom and developing my photos in black and white. It’s fascinating how images gradually appear on a blank sheet of paper and become sharper and
clearer right before your eyes... I miss being able to do that these days. And you never know, maybe when I retire I’ll set up my own lab again at home.
Are you self-taught or did you have lessons? As I mentioned earlier, I had the best teacher imaginable. Rosa taught me everything I know. I’ve taken a couple of courses over the years, one at the Agrupació Fotogràfica de Catalunya (AFC, Catalonian Photography Association), which I was a member of for many years, and another at the Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics (Institute of Photographics Studies) at the Escola Industrial (Industrial School). But by that time I already had a fair idea of what I was doing. On the other hand, photography is an art that you can never fully master and one that also requires a lot of talent as an artist.
What’s your idea of a good picture? In my opinion, a good picture has to ‘touch’ you. It has to convey a message and move you. I have to confess that some photographs have moved me to tears; and more than once.
A photographer you admire... Phew! There are so many... Perhaps the most important for me is Ansel Adams, one of photography’s pioneers (1902), who took some unique photos of landscapes in the United States that are of an unsurpassed quality, even today. There’s also Robert Doisneau (1912), who I knew personally,
and who was capable of capturing everyday moments like no one else. And Richard Avedon (1923), a fashion and portrait photographer to the rich and famous, but much less well-known for his photographs of ordinary folk in the American heartland. These are captivating portraits of simple people, but he knew how to capture all their dignity. And of course, I couldn’t forget Sebastião Salgado (1944), whose perfect technique in black and white has been used to denounce the horrors of so many senseless wars and the terrible injustices done to the most disadvantaged. And finally, my favourite photographer, Annie Leibovitz (1949), who is for me the best portrait photographer there’s ever been. Her portraits are true works of art.
Do you have a blog or website to share your photos? No, I still don’t have a blog or website where people can see my photos. I’ve also put that off for when I retire.
Have you ever exhibited your work? When I was an AFC member we took part in several exhibitions. Oh, and I’ve won a couple of competitions as well!
What’s your most fulfilling moment in the entire photographic process? I think the most intense moment in the whole process is when you press the shutter and instantly know you’ve got what you were after: The fact that that smile, that look, that gesture, will never fade and will be immortalised in your photo for ever.
Malavika: A girl photographed in kerala, to the south of india.
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Cyan Salon 14
the
galle
ry At long last, she was about to move out of her trailer home and, along with her two sons, Jonah and Mark, move into their new home, a beautiful little white house with a porch on the outskirts of Tucson (Arizona). Finally, the American dream was beginning to come true for Kelly. In fact, it had already started to come true, but she had developed insomnia shortly after Mark was born, and since then has been tormented by constant nightmares. At the moment she’s working in a diner. She has had plenty of work experience and has lost count of the number of different jobs she’s had. Until now, she had lived in a trailer park until Sue, a work colleague, convinced her to apply for a mortgage to buy a house. For Kelly, this was the stuff daydreams were made of: Her? A house? Running water? That very same day, she managed to shake off the ghosts of her past: And they wouldn’t be coming back. Or at least, that’s what she thought. However, on 6th December 2007, Kelly A. Krawzcyck gently dropped an envelope containing the keys to her little white house through her letterbox. Crestfallen, she headed back to the trailer park. Sometimes you dream you’re dreaming, and other times you wake up and you realise that dreams… are just dreams.
At half past twelve – Barcelona local time – on 30th October 2008, three important events for the future of the world took place. Kelly cursed her alarm clock; a master class – in the fullest sense of the term – was getting under way at ESADE, marking the start of the course delivered by Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez; and a death blow was being dealt to the existing international monetary (non)system. But who was the murderer?
Who is to blame for the crisis of all crises?On 12th March 2005, single mother, Kelly Ann Krawzcyck, thought her future looked bright. She was making her way out of First Magnum Financial’s offices, where she had just signed her first mortgage.
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Cyan Salon 15
the
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ryThe main suspects were summoned to Judge Roy Bean’s courtroom. Perry Mason seemed calm as he stood alongside his clients (Kelly & Friends). The prosecutor launched into his attack against their payment arrears, for this was the cornerstone of the entire system. However, Perry was convinced his argument would stand up to the intense pressure of the prosecution, as it was to be based on an oversight of one of the basic rules of investment – found abundantly throughout legal literature in the form of aphorisms and other amusing anecdotes – and which could be expressed as follows: The past is not always a good guide to the future.
The only solid alibi open to Prosecutor Hamilton Burger was that one cannot recognise a bubble before it bursts, and that the banking sector was the most regulated of all sectors in the United States. In addition, he could also call Ben Bernanke as a witness and ask him about the monetary supply and management during the early days of the crisis.
Detective Paul Drake made his appearance in the courtroom. He had been involved in investigating the remuneration and incentives system of Charles “Chuck” Prince III, Stanley O’Neal and Warren Spector. He had also brought along a witness,
Raghuram Rajan, who testified that “banks had recently become aware of massive losses, although these losses have not yet been reflected in employees’ salaries”. This might help Perry Mason to establish reasonable
doubt among the jury.
Another defence witness would be “Lucky” Luciano, who had heard
Alan Greenspan say “the cause
of the problem was that people thought the rating agencies actually know what they’re doing; when, in fact, they do not”. This statement, in addition to sowing even more uncertainty, was to increase the number of suspects for the prosecutor by summoning the rating agencies to take the stand.
The process unfolded just as Perry Mason had expected. The verdict of not guilty was a relief for everyone, and a wave of elation swept through Judge Bean’s gloomy courtroom. Sam Spade, from his corner, thought this trial was a case of déjà vu. The same story, told by all the bards of ancient Greece: the euphoria of lenders and borrowers running riot during a period of low returns and a rapid increase in underlying collateral (housing in this case). The euphoria ground to a halt the same way it had begun: due to reasons outside the control of this earthly terrain. Or what amounts to the same thing, when no good reason other than the phases of the moon is to be found, or when a domestic clash flares up between Zeus and Hera, or when the astral conjunction of Venus with Mars is in the fourth quadrant.
Sam puffed on his cigarette and forced a smile. It was indeed the same old story. However, the causes didn’t lie beyond this world. In fact, they were very much of this world: And there were more or less seven billion culprits. Sam was tired. He hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address. A radio audience roared with applause as an orchestra struck up the Radetzky March over the airwaves. That would most likely be the music everybody would be dancing to for a while. He took another draw on his cigarette and cheerlessly wrapped himself in the dim atmosphere of the city. The applause was still ringing loud in his ears as Sam wondered if the music would ever turn to swing....
NOTES 1/ Rajan, R. (2008). “Bankers’ pay is deeply flawed”. Financial Times, 8th January. An exceptional article on financial sector employees’ pay.
2/An article published in the Wall Street Journal, 23rd September 2007, which includes details of an interview with Alan Greenspan published by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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Cyan Salon 16
get
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saint-Malothe corsair city
General overview Saint-Malo is a good starting point to dis-covering one of France’s most enchanting regions. In just a few days, the emerald green waters of the Côte d’Emeraude – with its tides, coves, cliffs, views of the Channel Islands, medieval villages, Dinard and Dol-de-Bretagne, menhirs, the bay of Cancale flanked by the town of Cancale and Mount Saint-Michel – will captivate the senses of its visitors. Saint-Malo is known as the “corsair city”: land of sailors and explorers, the likes of Jacques Cartier who discovered and ex-plored Quebec. Preserving its unique walled-city structure, the city has been destroyed on many occasions, the most recent of which took place during the allied bombing raids of World War II.Saint-Malo is also synonymous with fine cui-sine ranging from oysters from Cancale to mussels, seafood platters and, of course, crêpes and savoury galettes-crêpes, made with sarrasin flour.
http://www.ville-saint-malo.frhttp://www.saint-malo-tourisme.comhttp://www.vacaciones-bretana.com/
A must-see Saint-Malo: The walled city and a stroll around its great walls.
http://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com http://www.atout-saintmalo.com
Les malounières: The city’s palaces and mansions built by Saint-Malo nobility be-tween the 16th and 18th centuries.
http://www.saint-malo.fr/decouvrir/maloui-nieres.html
The Bay of Cancale It’s a good idea to drive around the bay. A must-see is the silhouette of Mount Saint-Michel, rising up out of the sea. Take a lei-surely walk along the beach, stop off for
some mussels and then head on to the vil-lage of Cancale. Take the coastal road back to Saint-Malo. On a clear day you can see Europe’s largest archipelago, the islands of Chausey.
http://www.ville-cancale.fr/
The tidesSaint-Malo: les plus grandes marees d’Europe. A website explaining the phenomenon of the tides.
http://www.grandes-marees.com/
Mount Saint-Michel Is this a portion of Brittany in Normandy? From an administrative point of view, it’s part of Normandy, but for the Bretons it’s the gate-way to Brittany. Arriving in Saint-Michel is a stunning experi-ence in itself. If you go on a misty or rainy day, you’ll be in for an extra treat. Drivers beware: Watch out for the rising tide as cars can get stranded very quickly.
The Le Champ Dolent menhirA must-see in Dol-de-Bretagne is the ten-meter-tall menhir.
http://www.pays-de-dol.com/
AccommodationSaint-Malo and its surrounding region have a lot of hotels to offer visitors. However, now that you’re in Brittany, it’s worthwhile spend-ing a night or two in a typical Breton house, with their gites or chambres d’hotes, or even stay in a malouinière, a small palace typical of Saint-Malo and dating back to the 16th and 18th centuries.
Malouinière du Mount Fleuryhttp://www.lemontfleury.com/
Hébergement Saint-Malohttp://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com
Crêperies and restaurants You simply can’t leave Saint-Malo without trying some crêpes, galettes-crêpes, mus-sels and oysters from Cancale.
http://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com
Ty Bihan: A taste of Brittany in Barcelona Get a taste of Brittany’s gastronomy and culture before setting out on your trip... For more information go to:
http://www.tybihan.com
Getting there The nearest airport is in Rennes. There are direct flights from Madrid and Barcelona and the journey from Rennes to Saint-Malo takes 45 minutes.
http://www.ville-saint-malo.fr/guide/en/road.htmlhttp://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com/in-dex.php?id_page=14&id_site=2
Writing about Saint-Malo means writing about a small area of Brittany with a cultural and historical personality and landscape so strong that it deserves a visit in its own right.
typical houses in dinard’s medieval district
Menhir of exceptional dimensions
saint-Michel’s views
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Cyan Salon 17
strawberry shortbread tart Ingredients for six servings150 g plain flourA pinch of salt25 g rice flour/ground rice50 g fine sugar100 g butter1 punnet of fresh strawberries2 tablespoons of fruit jam
These quantities will give you enough shortbread for a 20cm round tart. If you’re catering for more people, simply increase proportionally the quantities.
Sift the flour, salt and rice flour into a mixing bowl. Add sugar and grate the butter (taken straight from the fridge) into the dry ingredients. Work the mixture with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Press the mixture into a large circle on a flat baking tray. The shortbread should be between half a centimetre and a centimetre thick. Prick the shortbread all over with a fork before chilling for an hour in the fridge. Bake in a preheated oven at 150 °C for about an hour, without browning the surface. Once the biscuit is cool, cut the strawberries in half and arrange on the shortbread, starting from the centre. Warm up the jam so it is runny and use it to glaze the strawberries. Serve as a dessert or afternoon snack.
Shortbread is traditional Scottish biscuit, so called because of the high proportion of fat or ‘shortening’ required. Strawberries, in turn, are an essential component of a British summer and are involved in a plethora of time-honoured traditions. From the ‘pick your own’ farms in the countryside, where whole families pick their fruit straight from the plants (usually following the ‘one for me, one for the basket’ rule and ending in the ‘Collywobbles’ – a fictitious illness invented by parents to stop their children from eating too much fruit on such excursions), to the world famous Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Tournament where over 27 tons of strawberries are eaten every year, even afternoon tea and cricket involve strawberry components.
katie Carr
the
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I can’t really claim that this recipe is British, but its components certainly are.
the comicBirthsCongratulations from the _untitled team to the new mothers and fathers at ESADE and welcome to: Daniel (Xènia Jarque), Gonzalo (Vega Sainz), Marc (Silvia Bueso), Teo (Olaya García) and Adriana (Nuria Guilera).
Adriana
Daniel
Gonzalo
Marc
Teo
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Plural thinking 18
colleagues gArdENiNgOur
Tundra was founded in Barcelona on 20th November 1981 by a group of parents who wanted to help inte-grate their mentally disabled children in the workforce.
These disabled individuals were trained as garden-ers at the Castell de Sant Foix nursery school, which is located in Santa Maria de Martorelles (Vallès Ori-ental) and operated by the Barcelona City Council’s Municipal Institute of Education.
In 1985, Tundra was designated as a special em-ployment centre by the Spanish Ministry of Employ-ment and Social Security, and in 1993, it was named a special work centre by the Catalan Government.
Creating jobs for people with disabilitiesSince its inception, Tundra’s main goal has been to create gardening jobs for people with mental disabili-ties. Under the watchful eye of their supervisors, they work as gardeners’ assistants or manual labourers,
according to each person’s abilities. From the outset, the cooperative has tried to meet all of its workers’ current and potential needs, such as personality structuring, specific rehabilitation, recreational edu-cation and access to housing.
Tundra aims to help all of its workers feel useful to society, and in turn encourages society to see the value of their contributions. In order that people with mental disabilities may enjoy the economic and social benefits of work, the cooperative offers decent jobs that involve a certain degree of responsibility and ensures that other staff members are always there to help.
To help its workers adapt to and coexist with the group, Tundra provides ample assistance in the form of supervisors and work support. These mechanisms also help the workers to acquire skills and abilities. Most of the work performed involves direct contact
with the public. This provides an opportunity for interactions that are very useful, both for the disabled workers and the people with whom they come into contact.
A team with good support Tundra began its activity in 1982 with five disabled people and two supervisors. Today, the staff of fourty people includes a manager, a technical director, a store clerk, a psychologist, a social worker, supervisors, support staff, and of course, gardeners with certificates of mental disability.
The psychologist, social worker and support staff work to improve occupational, social and psychological aspects of the experience.
Gardening projects of all sortsToday, Tundra’s various activities include small and large interior and exterior maintenance projects, landscaping
Founded in 1981, Tundra is a gardening cooperative dedicated to integrating people with mental disabilities into society and the workforce. It maintains a special work centre, staffed with supervisors and gardening experts, and offers complementary personal and social adjustment services by psychologists, social workers and support supervisors.
‘At EsAdE, we are just like everyone else’
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Plural thinking 19
for new developments, and the maintenance and man-agement of the cooperative’s store.
Most of the large maintenance projects involve parks and gardens that require the near-constant presence of a team of gardeners. Projects of this sort involve two su-pervisors and six people with disabilities. The workers per-form a wide range of tasks: general cleaning, planting and cutting grass, fertilising the soil, pulling weeds, cleaning planters and plants, watering, etc.
The cooperative works at the facilities of Televisió de Catalunya, ESADE’s Barcelona Campus, and the Caixa Catalunya technology centre in El Prat de Llobregat.
A specialised storeThe most visible face of the cooperative is the store lo-cated at Carrer del Secretari Coloma, 56, in Barcelona. The store sells all kinds of house plants, outdoor plants, flower bouquets, soils, fertilisers, flower pots, plant- ers, chemical products, tools and other gardening materials. The staff based at the store also perform maintenance work for small homeowners’ associations in the surrounding neighbourhood.
The 150 m2 store also serves as Tundra’s headquar-ters and provides a base for the cooperative’s comple-mentary personal and social services. Relatives of the cooperative’s owners also work at the store on a volun-teer basis.
The people
They work as a team, despite their obvious differences when it comes to football (the group includes supporters of Real Madrid, Barça and Espanyol). Nevertheless, they all agree that they are very happy working at ESADE: ‘Of all our maintenance jobs, this one is the best. We have more contact with people. They know us there. We are just like everyone else.’
Bárbara
Age 24When there is no supervisor on duty, Bárbara is in charge (according to her co-workers). Pets: one hamster and one green parakeet. She lives in Sants. Pruning is her favourite task. Her co-workers say she is a pruning expert. His least favourite task is... there’s nothing she doesn’t like. She lives with her partner and her mother.
dani
Age 35Dani owns no pets.He used to work at TV3.He lives in El Besòs.His favourite tasks are cutting and watering the grass. His least favourite task is... He has no least favourite task. He likes everything about the job. He lives with his parents.
Carlos
Age 58 Carlos has worked at Tundra since 1984. His father, one of the cooperative’s founders, worked at Tundra from 1987 to 1988. He owns no pets. Secret: ‘I have a very bad back and I get massages’. He visits his mother in Arenys every weekend. Before working at ESADE, he worked in a maternity ward and at TV3. He now works at ESADE full-time. He lives in Barcelona, near Park Güell. His favourite part of the job is cutting the grass and watering plants in the summer. Pruning isn’t bad, either, he says. His least favourite part is… picking up cigarette butts. He lives alone.
pacosupervisorHe has worked at Tundra for one year and one month. He lives in Horta.He likes a little of everything: watering, pruning and cutting the grass. His least favourite part is… spraying pesticides, because the pack weighs between 15 and 18 kg.
rafa
Age 43Pets: two cats. Rafa is a competitive swimmer (freestyle and backstroke). He attends ASEI camp. He loves karaoke (his favourite song is Paraules d’amor, by Serrat).He used to work at TV3.He lives in the Eixample Dret. Watering and sweeping are his favourite parts of the job. His least favourite parts are hoeing and pulling weeds to make sure the nutrients reach the plants when it rains. He lives with his brother and sister-in-law.
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20 The portrait
How long did you work at EsAdE? Thirty-two years.
What did you do? At first I was in the Registrar’s Office for a good few years. Then, I changed jobs and became Faculty Secretary. At that time the School wasn’t structured into departments, like it is now; so, you could just as easily be lending support to Finance faculty as you could to Economics or Business Policy faculty, as I did. Like many other secretaries, I also worked on the European Charter for a while. After that, I spent nine years as Secretary for the Center for Tourism Management (CEDIT). And finally, my last few years were spent at the Executive Language Center, where I spent three years in charge of Spanish courses for foreigners.
describe your experience and how you remember these years. Every job change meant doing a different task from the one before. So, I was always learning new things and that has been very rewarding.
What were you thinking as you made your way to ESADE on your first day? Oh, that I was coming to work at one of our country’s most important Business Schools.
do you remember your colleagues? And your bosses? Yes, of course, all of them.
in your opinion, what has changed most of all since that first day at ESADE? ESADE’s grown over the years… and it’s grown a lot. We used to work in just one building so we were like one big happy family as we all knew each other. Now, there are a lot more administrative personnel and teaching staff, and this makes it difficult to know everybody as well as we used to in the past.
tell us your most amusing EsAdE anecdote.There have been lots of amusing anecdotes over the years, so it’s difficult to choosejust one.
Intimate and personal
What was your last day at EsAdE like? It was very strange to think that that was the last time I’d be taking the bus back and forth to Pedralbes; something I had done for so many years.
What is your best and worst memory of your years at EsAdE? My memories are generally good ones.
And what are you doing now? Now I’ve got plenty of free time on my hands to do all the things I couldn’t do when I was working, or rather, the things I was forced to do at the weekends. Now I can go to art exhibitions without having to queue up for hours, stroll down the Ramblas, paint, travel off-season... Anyway, there’s a long list of things that I’m discovering these days.
What would you say to the people you left behind at EsAdE? That I’ve got very fond memories of the people I shared a lot of things with, above all, friendship.
the colour you wouldn’t leave the house without: i like green and blue, but i don’t have a favourite colour as such.
The film or play you’d like to have starred in: Everyone who knows me knows i’d have liked to star in a movie with richard gere.
the song you’d like to have composed (and sung): Mediterráneo, by Joan Manuel serrat.
the book you’d like to have written: Any book about cops and robbers.
the famous person you’d like to have been: Michelangelo.
the city you’d like to get lost in: New york.
the place that most closely matches your character: the Costa Brava.
tere Octubre, Head of Academic Management of spanish programmes for Foreigners and general information at the Executive Language Center.
‘I’ve got very fond memories of the people i shared a lot of things with, above all, friendship’
