The Award

This video was shot in Bogota, Colombia, where we held an event for the second edition of the IE Business School Prize for Economic Journalism in Latin America. During the event I had the opportunity to fire some quirky questions at media wizard Jorge Castaneda, the former Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs and board member of CODERE, and at Luis Enrique Berrizbeitia, Executive Vice-President of CAF, who has one of the most wonderfully rich voices I have ever heard.

Both Codere and CAF, together with CNN, Portafolio magazine, and the Colombian daily “El Tiempo,” sponsored the prize and event. I would also like to mention that my colleague, Igor Galo, played a crucial role in the whole process. The plan for the coming year is to have a third edition of the same award, and to launch a new award for Asian journalists. Anyway don´t miss the journalists and media awarded. Surely among the best in Latin America.

A Hawaiian Passion

The idea to shoot ¨A Hawaiian Passion¨ came about in Colombia while Entrepreneurship Professor, Paris de L´Etraz, Juan Jose Güemes, and myself were attending two different IE Business School events in Bogota. During a coffee break, Juan Jose happened to mention to me that Paris is passionate about paddle boarding, which he practices in the island of Kauai in Hawaii, where he has been vacationing for the past 15 years.

Obviously, upon visiting Kauai, I immediately loved the place, not to mention paddle boarding, which I had never even heard of before. Nothing stimulates me more than my ignorance.

In this video, Paris talks with mythical board shaper Dick Brewer, to whom he offers a present from the painter and surfer, Miguel Panadero. We also meet the amazing handicapped painter, Mo Hamilton. Apart from that, Paris quotes Paul Theroux and introduces a Hawaiian concept called ¨Holoholo,¨ a tool he thinks entrepreneurs can use for idea creation.

I hope you like it.

Whistling

In a conversation before the making of this video, Quantitative Methods Professor, Tang wenjie (汤文捷), told me about the trip she made, on her own, to Russia and Kyrgyzstan, among others… And how, after graduating in Physics, she ended up at Insead, France, for a Ph.D in Decision Sciences. She also happened to mention that she often whistles. Coming from the Canaries, I am very familiar with el silbo gomero, a traditional whistled language from La Gomera, the island which got awfully burnt this past summer. And so, I had the privilege of listening to Wenjie whistle in Elizondo, the village of José, that famous bullfighter who fell madly in love with Carmen.

Prof. Tang wenjie says in the video that quantitative methods is like weight-lifting. Well, it’s for you to believe her or not.

On the topic of whistling… some say it is the music of the soul. It’s interesting to consider that even before there were any instruments, there was whistling.

Talking to strangers

When Professor of Leadership, Diversity and Social Capital Steven D´Souza told me on the phone that he wanted to go to the London Olympic village in Stratford to talk to strangers, my immediate thought was that I was that first stranger. I had never met him before. Then, for no reason, or maybe because I also play tennis, the film “Strangers on a train” popped into my mind. The main character in the film is an amateur tennis player named Guy Haines who meets a stranger, Bruno Anthony, who is already familiar with Guy’s marital problems thanks to gossip items in the newspapers. At some point, Bruno tells Guy about his idea for the perfect “Criss-cross” murder(s): he will kill Guy’s unfaithful wife and in exchange, Guy will kill Bruno’s father. Since both were strangers to one another, unconnected, there would be no identifiable motive for the crimes and thus no suspicion.

Well, Prof. Steven D´Souza and myself did finally met each other in London, and met other strangers (a Czech Olympic volunteer and a South African Olympic athlete.) I am happy to say we never plotted to kill anyone… but only talk about the importance of meeting strangers to strengthen social capital.

Photo Professor Steven D’Souza in theotherphoto.blogs.ie.edu