u ntitled Barcelona – Sant Cugat Open Day at the Barcelona

‘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
Campus
E-News
JUL
09
_untitled
09
Luis de Sebastián
“What he liked best was
being a grandfather”
RRHH PAS
Barcelona – Sant Cugat
Open Day at the
Barcelona – Sant Cugat
Campus
2
Summary
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Editorial
Welcome to Campus ESADE
4
Interview
Barcelona – Sant Cugat
Five months after ESADE’s Barcelona –
Sant Cugat campus opened for business,
we can proudly say that this dream has
really come true.
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.
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.
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.
In the centre spread of this edition, you
will find photos from various events that
have been held on the Sant Cugat Campus. These photos capture the atmosphe-
10
This month’s
personality
12
Parallel lives
It has become
part of our daily
lives to such an
extent that it
seems to have
always existed
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,
18
Plural thinking
and sworn into office on 5 July.
1992 (21 july) ESADE Alumni Association was launched.
Colaborations:
Editorial board:
Óscar Bistué
Ivana Casaburi
Gema Castel
Anna Díaz
David Fernández-Manzanos
Ana Solá
20
José Antonio Mengual
Susana Motilla
Adela Nebot
Susana Pérez
Josep Soler
Mónica Sisternas
The portrait
Cristina Català (Getting away
from it all)
María José Marimón (The comic)
Cheking text & translation:
Language Advisory
Design art direction:
Sintagma Edicions Corporatives
Credits:
Imprent:
This magazine is printed on recycled paper
Imgesa
Famous anniversaires
3
Remembering
Luis de Sebastián
E-Noticias
3
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Remembering
Luis de Sebastián
astián, our Luis
eb
S
e
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is
Lu
to
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What he liked best was being a grandfather
Dear Luis,
e you,
ssed away. And lik
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a comfort to hear
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ay
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here and a ther
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e more and some
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ve
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sing the
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types of people yo
nt
re
ffe
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th
l
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white light from
ing colours. You co
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ith the earth’s po
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so
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ormously
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in the name of serv
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hi
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ve
ga
generous; you
social justice.
and in the name of
ll silent; as if sens
fe
es
on
ph
e
th
en
ft us, ev
at we have
On the day you le
garded teacher th
re
ly
gh
hi
t
os
m
ing that the
upon his final
g had embarked
in
ow
kn
of
re
su
had the plea
moral duty
journey.
, we now have the
be
ay
m
ed
de
e
th
l
However smal
you: to follow the
d
se
ea
pl
ve
ha
ld
at wou
tion.
to do something th
passion and dedica
m
co
,
m
do
is
w
ur
mexample of yo
we are many in nu
e,
is
w
be
t
no
ay
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Because although
e you.
ith our love, we ow
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g
on
al
,
is
Th
r.
be
A fond farewell,
abel Navarro and
Joseph Miralles, Is
In 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 though
t
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 Sebas
One 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 marrie
d
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
Fina Planas
Memories
e the opportunity to meet
m
n
ve
gi
s
ha
e
er
th
ng
ki
or
w
entrance to the school, and
eet us with a broad smile,
gr
s
ay
w
al
ld
ou
w
u
yo
Reception is located at the
at
th
r
ople every day. I remembe
t your family, about your
ou
ab
lk
ta
ld
ou
w
e
W
and interact with lots of pe
?’.
la
e. How are you, lovely Ade
otos you would sometimes
ph
se
ho
w
ss
ce
in
pr
saying ‘Good morning, Jaum
tle
lit
years, about Juana, that
friends, and in the past few
ank you for the chance to
Th
is.
Lu
e,
er
w
u
yo
show us.
e
lik
st
ents – minor, but warm, ju
side, from your faith, from
an
m
hu
ur
yo
om
fr
I think of these little mom
,
om
g me learn from your wisd
get to know you, for lettin
u for everything.
Adela Nebot
everything, Luis. Thank yo
4
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E-News
ESADE’s
social network
“
There aren’t many
business schools with
their own social
“
network at the moment.
ESADE will be one of
the first
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.
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 visiting 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 itself 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 messengers and Twitter, for instance. They
can’t imagine a network that’s not interactive 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 networks 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 Facebook. 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 unrelated 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 concerns, 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 marketing 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, administrative 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
E-News
Another case...
On the Educational Innovation Support
Unit (USIP) syllabus web pages, for example, we could create collaboration areas
that go beyond the subject boundaries;
maybe even linking up with Executive
Education, MBAs, faculty who are not directly involved with the subject, students
on the programme, even administrative
personnel or alumni – with all the professional 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 ESADE’s administrative personnel and faculty 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 incorporated over time to include academic administration, 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 access 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 everybody 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 companies 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 uncertainties 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 management, 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 challenge 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,
“
network to get in touch with not only the
Admissions Department, but also with
other candidates who’re probably asking 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 ESADE 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 connection. 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 ESADE. Or why not put these people in touch
with our groups of students from United
States who had to make the same decisions last year and who’ve since spent a
year living and studying with us on campus. The number of services we can offer
candidates is limitless.
5
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 Organisation, 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 semantic 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 devices or mobile applications, etc. And all
this of course will be combined with
cheaper communication costs.
6
E-News
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Executive
training
in
China
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.
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 Campus
The 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 fatherin-law. All were absolutely charming.
Josep and Ivana with invited managers
of Baidu (Chinese company) and China
Consultants
Chinese Executives
Chinese 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.
Students in ESADE’s
classes in BIMBA
The People and the City
The 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.
BIMBA’s buildings
(Beijing Internacional MBA)
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.
E-News
Visual identity guide
7
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version 0.1/april 2009
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 corporate values. In doing so, we will accomplish our long-term goal of laying the foundations for the development of
the ESADE brand.
8
E-News
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We won tHe cup!
And the League!!
And the Champions!!!
A Chronicle of Grand Slam Month
Barcelona, June 2nd 2009
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!
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!
E-News
9
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ESADE 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 participating 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.
Contest
MyESADE
At ESADE, diversity is a characteristic and distinctive feature of our community. 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 awareness 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.
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.
10
E-News
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RRHH PAS
A new Human Resources internal communication
website goes online today.
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 information on issues including regulations affecting Administrative and Services Staff, human
resource policies and social
benefits for employees as a
result of belonging of the ESADE community. The site also
contains information on upcoming 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 protagonists of our work.
http://www.esade.edu/sites/rrhhpas
This month’s personality
��������
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 severed a vein; I think I was more shaken up than he was.
And the best thing was my first Christmas party at ESADE. I remember it as a big family celebration.
Luzdivina de Dios Gómez
Maintenance and Cleaning – Afternoon shift
Building 1
How long have you been working at ESADE?
I joined ESADE in 1987; it’ll be 22 years this September.
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.
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’.
Quick Questionnaire
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.
Who from ESADE would you like to have dinner with
one day?
With somebody who knows how to transmit peace and
quiet.
I’ll be about to retire in three years’ time, so that’s my
idea of an ideal scenario*.
Who from ESADE would you go to a party with?
With somebody who’s happy and who I can have a laugh
with.
Personally speaking, which of ESADE’s values or signs of identity do you identify with most?
I identify with ESADE’s human values and solidarity.
Where, or in which job, would you like to be in three
years’ time?
Who would you pick to interview for the next edition?
My co-worker, Sacramento Castillo.
Barcelona – Sant Cugat
Welcome to campus
ESADE Barcelona – Sant Cugat
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.
2
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Barcelona – Sant Cugat
The young and not so young
among us enjoyed a day full
of fun and surprises.
w
e
n
’s
sade
E
t
a
y
a
Open D
m
a
C
t
a
g
u
C
t
n
a
S
Barcelona –
Barcelona – Sant Cugat
3
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mpus
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.
4
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Barcelona – Sant Cugat
Cyan Salon
11
Healthy Snack:
Doughnut + Actimel
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.
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.
On the divan
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12
Cyan Salon
Parallel lives
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Parallel
lives…
Mercè Gratacós
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.
November 1965: A photography
taken with Mercè Gratacós’s
first reel.
Susheela: Susheela
and Mercè, during our
photographer’s last holidays
in Kerala, in the south of
India, last Holy Week.
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
Cyan Salon
13
Parallel lives
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Malavika:
A girl
photographed
in Kerala,
to the south
of India.
Murri: A child photographed
in Benin, in western Africa.
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.
14
Cyan Salon
The gallery
��������
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.
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?
Cyan Salon
15
The 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.
The gallery
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16
Cyan Salon
Getting away from it all
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Saint-Malo
The corsair city
Saint-Michel’s views
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
General overview
Saint-Malo is a good starting point to discovering 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 Dolde-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 explored Quebec. Preserving its unique walledcity 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 cuisine 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.fr
http://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com
http://www.vacaciones-bretana.com/
A must-see
some mussels and then head on to the village 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 tides
Saint-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 gateway to Brittany.
Arriving in Saint-Michel is a stunning experience 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 menhir
A must-see in Dol-de-Bretagne is the tenmeter-tall menhir.
http://www.pays-de-dol.com/
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 between the 16th and 18th centuries.
http://www.saint-malo.fr/decouvrir/malouinieres.html
Accommodation
The Bay of Cancale
Malouinière du Mount Fleury
It’s a good idea to drive around the bay. A
must-see is the silhouette of Mount SaintMichel, rising up out of the sea. Take a leisurely walk along the beach, stop off for
Saint-Malo and its surrounding region have
a lot of hotels to offer visitors. However, now
that you’re in Brittany, it’s worthwhile spending 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.
http://www.lemontfleury.com/
Hébergement Saint-Malo
http://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com
Menhir of exceptional dimensions
Crêperies and restaurants
You simply can’t leave Saint-Malo without
trying some crêpes, galettes-crêpes, mussels 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.html
http://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com/index.php?id_page=14&id_site=2
Cyan Salon
17
I can’t really claim that
this recipe is British, but
its components certainly
are.
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.
Strawberry Shortbread Tart
Ingredients for six servings
150 g plain flour
A pinch of salt
25 g rice flour/ground rice
50 g fine sugar
100 g butter
1 punnet of fresh strawberries
2 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.
Births
Congratulations 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).
Daniel
Adriana
Marc
Gonzalo
Teo
The comic
The cafeteria
Katie Carr
The pleasure is all yours
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18
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Plural thinking
Our Gardening
colleagues
‘At ESADE, we are
just like everyone
else’
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.
Tundra was founded in Barcelona on 20th November
1981 by a group of parents who wanted to help integrate their mentally disabled children in the workforce.
These disabled individuals were trained as gardeners at the Castell de Sant Foix nursery school, which
is located in Santa Maria de Martorelles (Vallès Oriental) and operated by the Barcelona City Council’s
Municipal Institute of Education.
In 1985, Tundra was designated as a special employment centre by the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security, and in 1993, it was named
a special work centre by the Catalan Government.
Creating jobs for people with disabilities
Since its inception, Tundra’s main goal has been to
create gardening jobs for people with mental disabilities. 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 education and access to housing.
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.
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.
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.
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
A team with good support
The psychologist, social worker and support
staff work to improve occupational, social and
psychological aspects of the experience.
Gardening projects of all sorts
Today, Tundra’s various activities include small and large
interior and exterior maintenance projects, landscaping
Plural thinking
19
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for new developments, and the maintenance and management of the cooperative’s store.
The people
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 supervisors and six people with disabilities. The workers perform a wide range of tasks: general cleaning, planting and
cutting grass, fertilising the soil, pulling weeds, cleaning
planters and plants, watering, etc.
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.’
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 store
The most visible face of the cooperative is the store located at Carrer del Secretari Coloma, 56, in Barcelona.
The store sells all kinds of house plants, outdoor plants,
flower bouquets, soils, fertilisers, flower pots, planters, 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 headquarters and provides a base for the cooperative’s complementary personal and social services. Relatives of the
cooperative’s owners also work at the store on a volunteer basis.
Bárbara
Age 24
When 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.
Carlos
Dani
Age 35
Dani 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.
Rafa
Age 43
Pets: 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.
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.
Paco
Supervisor
He 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.
20
The portrait
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‘I’ve got very fond memories
of the people I shared a
lot of things with, above all,
friendship’
Tere Octubre, Head of Academic Management of Spanish
Programmes for Foreigners and General Information
at the Executive Language Center.
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 choose
just one.
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.
Intimate and personal
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 book you’d like to have written: Any book about cops and
robbers.
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 famous person you’d like to have been: Michelangelo.
The song you’d like to have composed (and sung): Mediterráneo, by Joan
Manuel Serrat.
The city you’d like to get lost in: New York.
The place that most closely matches your character: The Costa Brava.