Santiago Iniguez - Dean IE Business School

Pluto downgraded

One week ago, the International Astronomical Union, the collegial body that gathers the largest number of astrologers worldwide, voted to redefine the concept “planet”, a decision that demoted Pluto to the category of dwarf planet. As such, the decision is the result of a conceptual shift, caused by a deeper understanding of the universe and the discovery of other dwarf planets, but the decision has generated intense reactions in many different quarters, including the emergence of Pluto fan clubs. The intensity of the debate is reflected in the fact that “Pluto” has been a dominant tag in Technorati in the past days and it still is.

Interestingly, social reactions caused by the astrologers’ decision on Pluto is analogous to familiar episodes in business, like Volkswagen’s former decision to stop producing the “Beetle” or the intention to change the original formula of Coca Cola, attempted by Roberto Goizueta, CEO of the Atlanta based company two decades ago. We know how this two cases ended. Volkswagen produces a revamped Beetle, still popular both among nostalgic or avant-garde design customers, and Goizueta reverted his decision to change the formula of the product with the highest brand value worldwide, as reported in Mark Pendergrast’s enjoyable book “For God, Country and Coca-Cola”. In fact, some people speculate whether Goizueta’s announcement to change the Coca-cola original formula was aimed at getting a stronger support from customers and the public, a sort of masterly marketing initiative. I wonder whether the astrologer’s decision on the status of Pluto is also -at least partly- aimed at achieving wider recognition and visibility.

Pluto will be out there in the same shape for millions of years, but the way we see it and conceptualize it has changed. The same happens with the rest of the body of our knowledge, which keeps changing as science and culture evolves. When I did my MBA, 15 years ago, few people spoke about stakeholders (*) or EVA –Economic Value Added- and the prevalent preached business-strategy was non-related diversification. After these years, some of the basic propositions I learnt have changed or being questioned and the different management disciplines have developed in consonance with a better understanding of business and organizations, a fact that confirms the need for managers to constantly update their business knowledge and skills.

One of my favorite philosophical proverbs is “Panta Rei” (Παντα ρει, everything changes). As you
remember, Heraclitus, its author, explained that in the same way that the waters of the river where you bath are never the same, the rest of the things in the world keep changing constantly. Despite most of Pluto’s matter will remain the same for million years –it is a frozen planet- our knowledge of it has changed and our vision of the universe too.

(*) An interesting debate on the stakeholder theory of the firm can be found at
http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2006/08/18/corporate-social-responsibility/

Return on Superstar Professors

These days, one of the most commented topics in media and blogs is the so called “Tom Cruise affair”, related to the Chairman of Viacom’s decision announced last week to terminate its contract with the mentioned celebrity. The recommendable article “A Big Star May Not a Profitable Movie Make”, written by Porter and Fabrikant and published in The New York Times this week, explains the possible reasons behind this decision from a managerial perspective. According to the findings of the entertainment industry analysts, collected in this article, “if a star-studded movie does well, it does not necessarily mean that the stars are causing higher ticket sales. In fact, it seems to move the other way around: stars select what they believe are promising projects. And studios prefer to put stars in movies that they expect to be a success (…) Movies with stars are successful not because of the star, but because the star chooses projects that people tend to like”. Apparently, “stars, on average, were worth $3 million in theatrical revenue”, which is, in many of the cases, much less of what they actually earn per movie.

The Tom Cruise story reminded me about the impact that superstar professors may have in the returns of business schools and my intuition is that there are interesting analogies with the movie industry. By superstar professor I mean those academics that have gained an outstanding external recognition which results in high professional fees. They are sometimes referred to as “gurus”. Superstar professors may be instrumental in some cases such as, for example, the international promotion of a business school that lacks exterior visibility, or for attracting large companies as clients of executive education offerings. Interestingly, however, business schools that may look for superstars in order to improve their own prestige may face a chicken and egg problem here since, according to a study presented recently at EFMD Deans Conference, the first reason why professors select a school to work for is precisely the school’s reputation. On the other hand, it seems that when a superstar leaves a school, the effects on the school’s image are not relevant: business schools are resilient and their reputation is not affected, unless a substantial number of its faculty members leave.

Superstar professors tend to be more independent and detached from the school and they normally become less involved in the learning process –particularly in spending time out-of-class with students- than their faculty colleagues.

However, denying the value of superstar professors for business schools would be naïve and unfair, since stakeholders demand them. A major challenge for deans is how to create the necessary conditions in order to produce more academics of this sort and the same time keep the balance in their faculties

One Year After Katrina

A year has passed since hurricane Katrina hit with unprecedented force the Gulf Coast of the US. The people and institutions affected are still recovering from the devastating effects and it seems that it will take some time –maybe years- to return to normality, although things will not probably return to the state of what once was.

University administrators of the affected areas in Louisiana and Mississippi -New Orleans and surrounding areas, in particular- deserve respect and admiration. In the past year they had to face the challenge of a severe crisis, to implement extraordinary financial decisions and to reinvent their institutions. In light of what they have achieved only a year after the calamity, they are excellent examples of successful improvisational management and true leaders. Just after the disaster occurred, universities experienced the exodus of students wandering around searching for alternative places to continue their studies; many professors moved, researchers experienced the disappearance of years of arduous work and many staff members lost their jobs.

A look at major strategic documents published in the websites of universities such as Tulane or Loyola New Orleans, to name but two, show the profound impact that Katrina has had on the life of the institutions and its members. Indeed, the crisis generated in the post-Katrina age is already influencing the mission and the activities of the affected universities. For example, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that "changes in higher education in the area have been dramatic: New Orleans's Delgado Community College, for example, has shifted its emphasis from liberal arts to job training, to prepare graduates to rebuild the city. Tulane University underwent an overhaul unprecedented in higher education, eliminating more than 200 faculty positions, cutting more than a dozen doctoral programs and five undergraduate majors, and axing eight athletics teams".

What could institutions do, public and private, to help universities in the areas affected by Katrina? Evidently, the first priority is financial resources and, according to different expert opinions, they are not enough at present. I am surprised, for example, that this past year has been a golden year for fund raising in the US, including business schools, but institutions based in New Orleans have not attracted comparative major gifts. Another way to support the recovery of concerned universities is to increase the number and quality of alliances and joint initiatives with institutions abroad. This is a way where business schools, both US based and foreign, can really help.

I take the opportunity to send my warmest regards to Angelo DeNisi, dean of the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. Tulane is a key reference of higher education in New Orleans and abroad and is already playing a major role in the recovery of the state. I am sure that Professor DeNisi, optimistic by nature, will continue doing an excellent job and can count with the support of his colleagues.

Some related sites of interest:

New Orlean's Public Schools One Year After Katrina by The Education Wonks

Lessons of Katrina by Larry Dignan

Katrina, one year after by Alfred Glenstein

Season's Rankings

Historically, business schools have been ranked by different media and education analysts more often than other segments of higher education. In the past years, however, the progressive globalisation of higher education, and particularly of postgraduate programmes, has resulted in increasing competition among universities to attract a larger number of international students, mobility of professors and knowledge as well as in the proliferation of university rankings. This month, Newsweek magazine has published a ranking of global universities where, for the first time, 19 out of the top 45 listed instittuions are non-US universities. Richard Levin, who writes the cover story of this survey, explains that "as never before in their long history, universities have become instruments of national competition as well as instruments of peace. They are the locus of the scientific discoveries that move economies forward, and the primary means of educating the talent required to obtain and maintain competitive advantage. But at the same time, the opening of national borders to the flow of goods, services, information and especially people has made universities a powerful force for global integration, mutual understanding and geopolitical stability".

On the other hand, US News and World report has published recently its America´s Best Graduate Schools 2007 - Ranking of Top Business Schools. The Complete Guide to Business Schools. This survey is a classical in the US, athough not exempted from critics. In a recommendable article published in The New York Times on August 16th, David Leonhardt affirms that "by now, 23 years after U.S. News got into this game, the responses have become pretty predictable. Disappointed college officials dismiss the ranking as being beneath the lofty aims of a university, while administrators pleased with their status order new marketing materials bragging about it — and then tell anyone who asks that, obviously, they realize the ranking is beneath the lofty aims of a university".

This week's issue of The Economist also comments on the US News and World Report rankings. Interestingly, its author opts for pragmatism: "whether the rankings are fair is beside the point, because they are wildly influential. In the 1983 survey barely half of the presidents bothered to respond. Today, only a handful dare abstain".

I have argued in this blog -where rankings have been a recurrent issue of discussion- that rankings, if conducted according to the basic principles of impartiality, transparency and consistency, add real value to the market. In the past years, many new ranking schemes have entered the scene, evidence that the market demands them. Different stakeholders –prospective students, recruiters and corporate clients- see rankings as additional criteria to gather further information and make the educational offerings more easily comparable. However, the remaining question is how can we make rankings more consistent and reliable.

Why should deans blog? (*)

Zach Owens, a frequent commentator asked if we found blogging useful and motivating. Without hesitation, my answer is yes.

BizDeansTalk has been running for a few months and has become an open and respected platform for the discussion of management education issues. Many of my colleagues praised this blog at the recent EFMD and AACSB Deans meetings, which I attended at Rotterdam and San Diego, and expressed their interest in participating. I reiterate that BizDeansTalk is open to all of them. The blog has become an amplifier of ideas and has the potential to be the neutral worldwide online network of the major stakeholders of management education.

Blogging has saved me time, made me more efficient and opened my eyes to a changing media, communication and management education landscape. It has been said that a complaint is worth its weight in gold and I could not afford to let this opportunity of having an open channel to customer feedback go past- you could say it is free CRM. (You might refer to an earlier post of mine) My mistake at the beginning was to set aside a certain amount of time each day. Now when going about my daily business and reflecting on the events of the day, I jot down potential ideas for posts, or sources of information, which helps me better shape and clarify my own ideas and hence makes them easier to communicate. In fact, I use many of the posts and comments published in the blog -and their background research- later in meetings, speeches or presentations.

Furthermore the discipline of finding newsworthy management education articles each morning means that I am more up-to-date with the sector and better able to react. I have become much more efficient in the search of information, now using rich panoply of Internet technologies, blogs being only one. Information is indeed power.

Blogging has also been an immense opportunity for networking. Interestingly, my experience is that most of the networking does not happen openly through participation in the blog but many of the readers contact me via email to address the discussed issues or to deal with other particular concerns. It is extremely interesting to be in contact with students, professors, managers and journalists from all continents and reassuring that many times we live similar situations and that our solutions to common problems, more often than not, coincide.

Blogging has also brought me many unexpected opportunities to speak at different conferences. It produces a sort of multiplier effect and as I attend more conferences and keep talking about BizDeansTalk the number of my participations at prospective events increases exponentially, something I am not entirely convinced is desirable though. Furthermore several companies have contacted me with their solutions to problems that I might have raised in the blog.

If I may say so my own school has committed itself more than others to uses of e-learning. I see it therefore as imperative that I use or refer to them myself in the blog, or at least become aware of trends and new developments. How can anyone who claims to teach business not be aware of technological trends?

My experience is that many deans are reluctant to expose themselves too much, and many shy away from the technological aspect, but blogging is a very healthy and productive experience. Over the last year I have seen that many more deans are writing their ideas on their own school websites, which is an intermediary step to blogging. I do definitely recommend all my colleagues to blog. As they are already in the public eye and in time most will be blogging in any case, they might as well embrace the times. I have the dream that more concerted efforts and increased exchanges of ideas will grow and improve the sector to everyone’s benefit.

The Arduous Life of Freelancers

H.C. Robbins Landon: “1791: Mozart’s Last Year”

Many careers can be run on a freelance basis. Being self-employed has many advantages, basically the freedom to choose work assignments, independency and more room for creativity. It has also serious drawbacks, such as its potentially precarity and that working hours normally extend far beyond the standard working schedule of employed people. Traditionally, freelancing has been common in professions such as journalism, writing or consultancy, and according to Wikipedia's "Freelancing on the Internet", the Internet has brought many opportunities for would-be freelancers.

W.A. Mozart, whose 250th birth anniversary is commemorated this year, worked basically as a freelance composer, a fact that forced him to accept almost any order received from friends or strangers. He was once approached by Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Prussia, and offered the position of conductor of his court’s orchestra, an offer that he declined since he felt very close to Joseph II, the Emperor: “I enjoy living in Vienna, the Emperor loves me and I don’t care about money”, he is supposed to have told a friend. Later, the Emperor heard about this and asked Mozart to become his Chamber Composer, although the retribution was not substantial -800 florins. When he was asked about his honoraries at the court he responded that they were “too much for what I do; too little for what I could do”.

A major risk of freelancers is that they must handle contracts, negotiations, accountancy and other management functions by themselves. Here, Mozart did not prove to be very skilled, according to his letters and to different biographies. He seemed to have always lived on the edge of his economic possibilities. However, his endless capacity for work –he even composed in the presence of friends and at social gatherings-, his music knowledge and experience, as well as his geniality allowed him to sustain his family decently and pay the expensive health bills of his wife Constance at different spas during her recovery from illnesses, although he only left his own wardrobe as inheritance. He is attributed to have said: “People make a mistake who think my art has come easily to me. Nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not studied over and over”.

Mozart died young, at 36 years old, the illness causing his death being still a matter of controversy, although biographers mention dropsy or rheumatic fever. Had he lived the same time as some of his contemporary musicians (Haydn: 77 years; Salieri: 75 years) he would have probably produced many more works, and maybe transformed the way we understand music today.

I believe that freelancers need a strong support from their families to cope with their stressful way of living. I am sure that Constance was a dedicated wife, caring for his husband and extremely respectful of his work. However, she was subject to many attacks after the musician’s death. As Robbins Landon refers, she was accused of being “a sex kitten, she was superficial, silly woman incapable of understanding Mozart, she mismanaged the household finances and encouraged him to live a scatterbrained, if not dissolute life”. This writer devotes the first chapter of the book here referred in vindicating Constance and rejects all these criticisms as spurious. They were probably the consequence of envious slander from Mozart’s detractors.

As a tribute to the master who has given us all so many moments of pleasure listening to his music, I enclose a photograph released recently that shows Constance, among other friends, in her late years. (Image: Constance Mozart, 1840) Let me also add the lines she wrote in Mozart’s commonplace book (Stammbuch) the day he passed away:

“I write now, in deep reverence, to you.
Dearly beloved husband! Mozart, unforgettable to me and to the whole of Europe-
Now you are well –well forever!
At one hour past midnight between 4th and 5th December of this year
He left, in his 36th year –O! Only too suddenly!-
This good –but thankless world- O God!
Eight years long we were joined in the most tender and in this world inseparable bond,
O! Would I were soon joined to you forever.
His most distressed wife
Constance Mozart née Weber
Vienna, 5th December. 1791”

The Duty to Be Just

Plato (427-347 BCE): Republic

Western civilization owes a lot to Plato. His ideas have influenced philosophers and thinkers of all disciplines. He was the founder of Academia, a centre of learning in ancient Athens and probably the first institution of higher education that we know of. The methodology practiced at Academia and used by Plato in his writings was the “Socratic method”, in honour of his mentor. It is based on dialectic dialogue by the participants in a discussion on a certain topic about which a conclusive result is rarely achieved, and moderated by a master –Socrates in all of Plato’s dialogues. Incidentally, the case method used at many business schools is inspired by this learning methodology as was, for example, recently explained in a Financial Times article on Robert Bruner, Dean of the Darden Business School.

One of the most commented Plato’s dialogues is “Republic”, which is centred on the discussion of what is justice, both from the individual and the public or state perspective. In Book II, Glaucon tells the story of Gyges’ Ring to illustrate his conception of justice. Let me transcript the tale as it is told in the book:

“Gyges was a shepherd in the service of the king of Lydia; there was a great storm, and an earthquake made an opening in the earth at the place where he was feeding his flock. Amazed at the sight, he descended into the opening, where, among other marvels, he beheld a hollow brazen horse, having doors, at which he stooping and looking in saw a dead body of stature, as appeared to him, more than human, and having nothing on but a gold ring; this he took from the finger of the dead and reascended. Now the shepherds met together, according to custom, that they might send their monthly report about the flocks to the king; into their assembly he came having the ring on his finger, and as he was sitting among them he chanced to turn the collet of the ring inside his hand, when instantly he became invisible to the rest of the company and they began to speak of him as if he were no longer present. He was astonished at this, and again touching the ring he turned the collet outwards and reappeared; he made several trials of the ring, and always with the same result-when he turned the collet inwards he became invisible, when outwards he reappeared. Whereupon he contrived to be chosen one of the messengers who were sent to the court; where as soon as he arrived he seduced the queen, and with her help conspired against the king and slew him, and took the kingdom.” (Republic, II, 359b-360b).

What would you do if you found a ring with those properties? I hope you don’t agree with Glaucon’s pessimistic view that “no man is so virtuous that he could resist the temptation of being able to steal at will by the ring's power of invisibility”.  He even goes further and says that “injustice’s masterpiece is to be seen as a just person without being so (…) that the perfect injustice consists of committing the worst crimes and being able to make oneself recognized as the most honourable”.
Certainly, science has not yet found any object with the magic effects of the mentioned ring, and you may argue that I am philosophising “what if”, but power in business and in other spheres of social life provides its holders with the resources to makeup or hide wrongdoings. Remember Enron, a recent sad episode in corporate history. I do not want to take advantage of a case that has been analysed extensively and judged, their protagonists being imprisoned or sadly dead, but just to extract a lesson that may be useful to all. The managers of Enron enjoyed a sort of Gyges ring: they were able to get the association of accountants, lawyers and major stakeholders and create a sort of invisibility around their mismanagement. When did everything start to go wrong at Enron? Glaucon’s fable is useful here: when the protagonists realised that they were protected by a magic ring that hided their wrongdoings and, more, they were considered by business community exemplary, a sample of the perfect injustice referred above. From there, everything is a slippery slope towards the worse, like in the story of Gyges.

Regrettably, Plato’s “Republic” does not provide, in my opinion, a convincing justification for why to be just. You may find prudential reasons –fear to be punished- or idealistic arguments –the practice of virtue leads to personal happiness-. For the moment, I still find more appealing Kant’s contribution: the duty to be just is a categorical imperative, something that can not be justified on rational accounts in the way you show that water evaporates at 100 degrees Celsius.

Summer series, Tomorrow:
The Arduous Life of Freelancers
H.C. Robbins Landon: “1791: Mozart’s Last Year”

An Early Vision of Global World

Marco Polo (1254-1324):

The Travels

The book referenced was originally entitled "Description of the world" and represents probably one of the first narrations of the Far East and other world regions through Western Civilization eyes: the author claims in the prologue that he is the man that has traveled more extensively since Creation. It is particularly recommendable at times when literature on Asian culture and business is experiencing a renaissance given the increasing weight of China and India in the world’s economy.

According to tradition, the book was dictated by Marco Polo, a 13th century Venetian trader and explorer, to his fellow prisoner Rustichello de Pisa, after been incarcerated together after a battle between Genoa and Venice. “Prisons favor literature, remember Verlaine and Cervantes” once said J.L. Borges.

The book is interesting from a business perspective at least on three accounts. First, it shows how business promotes geographical exploration and knowledge of foreign cultures. The protagonists, both Marco Polo, his father and his uncle, “were men of good family, remarkable for their wisdom and foresight. After taking things over, they decided that they would go across the Black sea in the hope of a profitable venture” as we can read in the first pages. Indeed, they went far. From Crimea they moved to modern day Uzbekistan and further to Cathay (today’s China) where they served the Kublai Khan, King of the Mongols. The book continues to describe Polo’s way back to Europe through India, the Arabian Sea and the Tartar region. In every place they visited, business played a key role and we are told about multiple anecdotes evidencing the importance of trade in their relations with natives.

Map of Transasia Trade Routes

Second, diplomatic skills are core to cross-cultural management, essential for today’s global managers as they were to Marco Polo in his international venture. In fact, he was asked by Kublai Khan to be ambassador of his empire to the Pope and the kings of France and Spain, with the mission of bringing western educators to his country, something he could not fulfill due to the change in the Holy See.

Third, the book illustrates that what people imagine is not less real than what they call reality. We are told about the wall erected by Alexander to stop the tartars, a region where shadows appear and disappear, a tower filled with treasures where a king starves, a dessert where demons adopt voices and features of friends to disorientate travelers, or Adam’s tomb in a mountain’s summit, among an innumerable sequence of incredible episodes. Many contemporaries did not believe Marco Polo and questioned whether his travels were real or fictitious. However, would they have believed that some centuries after it would be possible to fly to Cathay in artificial birds designed by humans?

Next Monday:
Sociability and Informal Relations
La Rouchefoucauld (1613-80): “Maxims”

IF

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936): "If"

It is time to include a poem in this blog’s summer series “Management and Literature”, and I am sure you are familiar with the one that I selected. Kipling’s “If”, originally written for his son, has been one of the most recited and quoted poems in recent times. I have heard it at numerous toasts and speeches made by managers. It is fresh, positive, forward looking and humane. You have probably identified yourself with one or some of its verses at some stage in your career. I hope you enjoy:

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Summer series, Tomorrow:
The Duty to Be Just
Plato (427-347 BC): Republic

Freedom from Deception

Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Meditations

It is rare to find a writing emperor, but even more an emperor that would have wished to have been a philosopher rather than wear the purple. This is the case of Marcus Aurelius, known as the last good emperor of the Antonine's dynasty in the second century of our era, at a time when the Roman Empire was besieged by barbarians. You may be familiar with his image if you have been in Rome and visited Capitol Hill, where his colossal equestrian statute, made of bronze, remains because early Christians believed it represented St. Peter.

Does Corporate Responsibility Pay Its Dividends?

Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility.

A recurrent debate today is whether there exists a causal relationship between economic growth and the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). If the answer to this question is inthe affirmative, a second question raised promptly is: which is the cause and which the effect. There may be different answers to both questions.

The Master of Strategists

Homer: “The Odyssey”

The Odyssey narrates the hazardous journey of Odysseus –or Ulysses, in its Latin version- back to his kingdom in Ithaca from the Trojan War. It was a long trip indeed since it took him ten years to cover a distance which could have only taken few weeks: although the exact location of Troy is a matter of controversy, most historians place it on the western coast of current Turkey, and Ithaca is an island in the Ionic Sea.

Sense and Sensibility

Susan Sontag (1933-2004): Regarding The Pain of Others

In today’s Western World, most of us are lucky to live distant from external violence. Although our chances of suffering a violent attack or an accident may vary, depending on countries, lifestyle or jobs, they are not comparable to the defencelessness experienced by our ancestors, centuries ago. The evolution of institutions, the rule of law and moral progress achieved in our societies make the experience of external violence an improbable event. However, we can still regularly see violent phenomena through TV and other media, watching news on wars, terrorist attacks, murders, natural disasters and similar horrible events.

Ethical Behavior and Secular Effectiveness

Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658):  The Art of Wordly Wisdom: a Pocket Oracle

Management is philosophy in action. This simple theory has certainly given business educators food for thought over the years. Yet it is still no easy task to find a balanced and palatable guide to how thought and action should interact in the corporate arena.

Gracián may not have achieved the same widespread fame as his literary counterparts, but nevertheless played an influential role in the European Enlightenment.

Innovation in Daily Things

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519):  Notes on Cookery and Table Etiquette (*)

Leonardo’s notebooks on culinary affairs ooze with so much irony that he probably wanted them inaccessible, a possible reason why the maestro wrote them backwards; an awkward practice common to all his handwritten documents. Amusingly, a menu designed by Leonardo and Botticelli for a Florence tavern was so illegible that, despite the proportioned figures drawn by the latter, neither clients nor cooks were able to interpret it.

Balance Between Professional and Private Life

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940):   “The Love of The Last Tycoon”

Far from the many self-complacent autobiographies of CEOs we see published, this book is “one of the few American novels with a convincing and compelling businessman hero” (*). Monroe Stahr, its protagonist, is a relatively young successful movie producer, the archetypal working boss, devoted completely to his job, in total control of his company –though he faces inevitable conspiracies against him-, incomparable expert in his business and caring towards his subordinates. He is described as the “last of the princes” of Hollywood’s golden 30’s, a person with a “fine mentality”, his education however was “founded on nothing more than a night-school course in stenography, he had a long time ago run ahead through trackless wastes of perception into fields where very few men were able to follow him”.

The Balance Between Idealism and Pragmatism. Lessons for Management

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote

Cervantes’ masterpiece, acknowledged by many as the first modern novel, should have been entitled “Don Quixote and Sancho Panza” for the two main protagonists of this book deserve equal merit and recognition and indeed represent two facets of the personality that combined achieve a perfect equilibrium. Don Quixote, ethereal, idealistic –sometimes to lunatic extremes-, detached from material goods, with a noble figure, tall but skinny, a low-level aristocrat who is victim of delusions of grandeur. "Honour" is the motto that drives him to afford risky, even foolish, actions since he has devoted the rest of his life to the old-fashioned enterprise of restoring chivalry customs. Sancho Panza, with a short stature and a distinguishable paunch but with his feet on the ground, is the model of pragmatism who looks for chances to move up the social ladder and takes care for the day-to-day basic needs of the couple, lodgings and food etc. He even has capitalist instincts: when he discovers the properties of the supposedly magic balsam of Fierabras that heals whomever drinks it, he wonders how to mass produce it (*).

The two protagonists represent respectively the “ying” and the “yang” and they are one of the most complementary and synergetic couples of world’s literature. Since they represent opposed personalities, living together is possible, futhermore because they respect and profess profound affection for each other regardless what the rest of the world may think. A quote from Sancho at the end of the novel is illustrative of this, when he takes upon his own shoulders his companion’s mission after Don Quixote’s death: “Let us take the field in shepherds’ apparel, according to our agreement: who knows, but behind some bush we may find my Lady Dulcinea disenchanted, and a comely sight to see”. 

Quixote and Sancho may well characterise the poles that many companies need in their management. Indeed, idealism and pragmatism are not easily found together in a single person. Some managers are the embodiment of strategic vision and passion for marketing, whereas others have a marked orientation towards finance and accountancy. Some are risk-averse and conservative, and well suited for times of crisis, wheras others may drive successfully their organisations in times of growth. A paradigmatic example of complementary profiles in top management was at Philips, the Dutch electronics conglomerate when during the first decades of expansion the company was co-driven by the two founding brothers; one incarnating the innovative and production drive and the other the orientation to market. This synergetic polarity originally inspired the matrix structure that the corporation adopted and maintained operative until the 1980’s.

There is a useful piece of advice to managers if “Don Quixote” is interpreted from this perspective. If you run a company and feel too much inclined to one of the described poles, you should better counteract the undesirable inertia and appoint a senior manager with a complementary profile to keep healthy dialectics.

“Did not I assure you, they were no other than windmills? Indeed, nobody could mistake them for anything else, but one who has windmills in his own head?” tells Sancho to Don Quixote after the ludicrous attack the latter undertakes against the standing constructions, believing they were fierce giants. Well, we may stand before two visions of reality that are not put to the test until actions are performed.

(*) See Carole Slade’s “Introduction” to Barnes & Noble Classics edition “Don Quixote” (New York, NY, 2004) p. xvii.

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote

Cervantes’ masterpiece, acknowledged by many as the first modern novel, should have been entitled “Don Quixote and Sancho Panza” for the two main protagonists of this book deserve equal merit and recognition and indeed represent two facets of the personality that combined achieve a perfect equilibrium. Don Quixote, ethereal, idealistic –sometimes to lunatic extremes-, detached from material goods, with a noble figure, tall but skinny, a low-level aristocrat who is victim of delusions of grandeur. "Honour" is the motto that drives him to afford risky, even foolish, actions since he has devoted the rest of his life to the old-fashioned enterprise of restoring chivalry customs. Sancho Panza, with a short stature and a distinguishable paunch but with his feet on the ground, is the model of pragmatism who looks for chances to move up the social ladder and takes care for the day-to-day basic needs of the couple, lodgings and food etc. He even has capitalist instincts: when he discovers the properties of the supposedly magic balsam of Fierabras that heals whomever drinks it, he wonders how to mass produce it (*).

The two protagonists represent respectively the “ying” and the “yang” and they are one of the most complementary and synergetic couples of world’s literature. Since they represent opposed personalities, living together is possible, futhermore because they respect and profess profound affection for each other regardless what the rest of the world may think. A quote from Sancho at the end of the novel is illustrative of this, when he takes upon his own shoulders his companion’s mission after Don Quixote’s death: “Let us take the field in shepherds’ apparel, according to our agreement: who knows, but behind some bush we may find my Lady Dulcinea disenchanted, and a comely sight to see”. 

Quixote and Sancho may well characterise the poles that many companies need in their management. Indeed, idealism and pragmatism are not easily found together in a single person. Some managers are the embodiment of strategic vision and passion for marketing, whereas others have a marked orientation towards finance and accountancy. Some are risk-averse and conservative, and well suited for times of crisis, wheras others may drive successfully their organisations in times of growth. A paradigmatic example of complementary profiles in top management was at Philips, the Dutch electronics conglomerate when during the first decades of expansion the company was co-driven by the two founding brothers; one incarnating the innovative and production drive and the other the orientation to market. This synergetic polarity originally inspired the matrix structure that the corporation adopted and maintained operative until the 1980’s.

There is a useful piece of advice to managers if “Don Quixote” is interpreted from this perspective. If you run a company and feel too much inclined to one of the described poles, you should better counteract the undesirable inertia and appoint a senior manager with a complementary profile to keep healthy dialectics.

“Did not I assure you, they were no other than windmills? Indeed, nobody could mistake them for anything else, but one who has windmills in his own head?” tells Sancho to Don Quixote after the ludicrous attack the latter undertakes against the standing constructions, believing they were fierce giants. Well, we may stand before two visions of reality that are not put to the test until actions are performed.

(*) See Carole Slade’s “Introduction” to Barnes & Noble Classics edition “Don Quixote” (New York, NY, 2004) p. xvii.

Sociability and Informal Relations

La Rouchefoucauld(1613-80): “Maxims”

France’s second half of XVII Century saw the birth of “Salons”, living rooms at selected houses where aristocrats, artists and intellectuals met to discuss and gossip about politics, literature, religion, philosophy and other related issues. Attendance to Salons was by strict invitation and apart from frivolous and social aspects, the gatherers aimed at engaging in elevated conversation. Prominent writers such as Molière, Racine, La Fontaine, Bossuet, François Duc de la Rouchefoucauld –our featured writer here- and many other celebrities of the time met at the houses of Mme. De Montpensier or Mme. De Sévigné for rehearsing their works, perfecting their thoughts or just provoking the audience. Thoughts and opinions were formed lively by participants who looked forward to cultivating social networks and getting recognition from closed social circles.

In our times, cocktails and other evening social events play a similar role. Informal relations are the flipside of formal connections happening inside companies and ambitious managers realise the importance of expanding the range of their personal exposure beyond corporate lands. Admittedly, many of today’s social gatherings lack the profoundness of French Salons and people rather practice “easy talk” than discuss about philosophy. Given the long working hours of many managers, many find difficult to reconcile professional and family responsibilities with social gatherings. I recently met a graduate of my school, currently CEO of a major company, who told me that he had given up his social agenda. “How do you cope with increasing demands that managers become public figures”? –I asked him. “Well, I have opted for a very methodical and multiple interaction with my company’s stakeholders”. I can tell from experience that it works, given his sustained social prestige.   

Despite La Rouchefoucauld being a regular attendee of Salons, and many would imagine him enjoying being surrounded permanently by others, he was not fortunate in love nor with friendship and his fate exudes most of the reflections contained in his “Maxims”. He shows deep skepticism towards the meaning and the practice of virtues: “Our virtues are usually only vices in disguise” he anticipates at the beginning of the book.

The fact that most maxims are negative and ironic does not preclude some comfort in reading them, as an exercise of detachment from vacuities and tantalizing human aspirations. Indeed, its reading may be good to enhance humbleness, though some think it prompts nihilistic feelings. I enclose a sample:

-    “3. Whatever discoveries have been made in the land of self-love, many regions still remain unexplored”.

-    “22. Philosophy easily triumphs over past ills and ills to come, but present ill triumphs over philosophy” (see a similar reasoning from Umberto Eco in this blog)

Other reflections raise more courageous and positive instincts from readers, like the following which reminds us of Socrates:

-    “295. We are far indeed from knowing all we want”.
-    “405. We come quite fresh to the different stages of life, and in each of them we are usually quite inexperienced, no matter how old we are”.

The last maxim included in modern editions of the book, although withdrawn by the author in life, leaves room for some optimism:

-    “641. If we are strong enough to own up to our misdeeds we must not fret about them”.

Tomorrow:
The Balance between Idealism and Pragmatism
Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote

The World Is Round

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506): The Four Voyages (*)

Most countries across The Americas celebrate Columbus Day every October 12, commemorating the landing of Christopher Columbus’ expedition, supported by the Castile Crown, at San Salvador (currently the Bahamas) on that same day in 1492. According to different historical sources, the event did not represent the actual discovery of the continent, since the Vikings had reached Labrador Island in previous epochs, but the credit went to the enigmatic Admiral given the subsequent conquest and a successful marketing initiative: Amerigo Vespucci, one of the members of his crew, accidentally gave his name to the discovered continent in one of his letters to a friend in Europe, who later spread the news.

One of the virtues of Columbus was his perseverance in looking for support and launching his project. He wanted to discover a new way to the Indies (Far East) westbound. Until then, explorers went to Asia following the path of Marco Polo or going around the African Coast. Columbus challenged the extended belief at his time that the world was flat and he further thought that the distance between Portugal and Japan was 2,760 miles –a severe miscalculation since it is over 12,000 miles. Columbus search for alternative financial resources for his expedition reminds us about current fund raising efforts and road shows by many entrepreneurs. After trying at different quarters and getting negative answers from different kings and merchants, he was lucky to find the support of Isabel, Queen of Castile, who was on the right mood just after reuniting the Iberian peninsula under the same kingdom.

Apart from his endurance, there are not many other virtues applicable to Columbus as a manager, according to available sources. He was not a skilled pilot, according to comments of different experts, although he gained with experience. In fact, historians wonder whether he realized he had reached a new continent after his four subsequent travels to America. What is even more obvious is that he lacked leadership skills in his relations with his subordinates. He fought with all his captains and his crew was on the verge of mutiny several times. He could only trust the members of his family, something that results in unsustainable management. During his third trip to America, he faced the opposition of settlers and friars who accused him of mismanagement and was imprisoned by a delegate of the Crown and required to go back to Castile. It is famous his refusal to have his shackles removed during the whole voyage on the ship back to Spain, puffed up with pride. Indeed, self-pride developed over the years as a consequence of his recognized achievements in life was one of his weaknesses, as his son tells us of his passing away: “the Admiral, suffering more severely still from his gout and other illnesses and from grief at seeing himself so fallen from his high state, yielded his soul to God on Ascension Day”…

The account of the first discovery of American land in the book is not as epic as some paintings or movies have portrayed. The night between October 11 and 12 was filled with subsequent confirmations of land coming into sight. I enclose some words extracted from Columbus log-book on his historical landing at Guanahani: “In order to win their friendship –he refers to the natives-(…) I gave some of them red caps and glass beads which they hung round their necks, also many other triffles. These things pleased them greatly and they became marvelously friendly to us. They afterwards swam out to the ship’s boats in which we were sitting, bringing us parrots and balls of cotton thread and spears and many other things, which they exchanged with us for such objects as glass heads, hawks and bells. In fact, they were willingly traded everything they had”. A timeless evidence of business’ prodigy. Who has said in our days that the world is flat?

(*) The book referenced here is a compilation of different writings, including Columbus log-book, and excerpts from works by Bartolomé de las Casas, Hernando Columbus –son of Christopher- and others, edited by J.M. Cohen.

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Common Errors in Family Business

An old father wishing to retire summons his descendants to announce how his properties will be distributed. His plans consist of transferring his businesses, achieved after a long and laborious existence, while he is still alive. The beneficiaries will be his children, who -he is convinced- will continue his legacy and further expand it. In doing so, he acts according to his own principles, respecting tradition and trying to being fair to each but without prior asking his successors about their wishes and aspirations. To his surprise, he learns that one of his daughters rejects her assigned inheritance and rather prefers to look after her ailing father. Shaken by the news, he reacts angrily and not only strips her of everything but even expels her out of the family domains.

Does the plot sound familiar? It is, as you have correctly guessed, the beginning of King Lear, one of the greatest tragedies of Shakespeare. However, similar episodes happen more than expected at succession times of many other family businesses.

I wonder if, when you first read Shakespeare’s play, you judged King Lear’s attitude towards Cordelia, his selfless daughter, as an overreaction, as I did. He mistakes ingratitude for generosity, an error that subsequently causes a tragic sequence ending in his ruin and solitude. His other two daughters, who pretended to respect his desires and to care about him, leave him in abject poverty.

Interestingly, I have found that some business founders –few, I hope- think that an offspring’s refusal to work at the family business is a sign of ingratitude. I remember an unfortunate fellow who, on finishing his MBA, declined his father’s job proposal and explored other opportunities in consultancy. His father not only opposed him but even tried to dissuade potential recruiters from hiring him. A cruel action, but his parents believed they were doing their best in helping their son’s future; an example of “King Lear’s blindness syndrome”.

Succession is a key time at family businesses and experience shows that parents should not take for granted what their descendants want to do as professionals. Property and management are two spheres that are often confounded in the realm of family businesses. Company heirs should ideally decide whether to unite both functions or leave executive positions for the more competent and willing. At the same time, second and ulterior generations of family businesses may do well in collecting outside managerial experiences before they rejoin the family company.

One of the enjoyable characters of Shakespeare’s tragedy is represented by The Fool, the only one that dares to tell the truth about family matters openly, even defiantly, to his King. Strangely enough, Lear listens to him but is not moved enough to reverse his original, mistaken decisions. The Fool plays the role of best advisors to top management. In Lear’s age, only jesters could advise objectively and independently. Fortunately, organisations have become more democratic and advisors do not need to pretend they are foolish to say what they believe, or do they?

Tomorrow:
An Early Vision of Global World
Marco Polo (1254-1324): “The Travels”