The Centaur
“In the 20th century we have discovered that rational thought by itself leads to disaster. We need to balance our minds with another type of discourse: that of myth” says Mythic Thought Professor Juan José Prat.
Prof. Prat has devoted his academic research to the study of verbal culture, with a special focus on the relation between orality and scripture.
Besides research and his classes on mythic thought, Professor Prat loves music. He has edited guitar pieces by 19th century Spanish composer Fernando Sor, and is currently working on the transcription and adaptation of piano music from the late 19th century for an amateur chamber ensemble comprised of strings, woodwind and guitar.
He is also the author of the only general history of folkloristics ever written. This extensive work, published in 2008 under the title of Bajo el árbol del paraíso (Under the Tree of Paradise), presents an analysis of the various – and sometimes ludicrous – theories formulated since the Renaissance about folklore fact and production by the urban literate world.
As you can see he is quite the walking encyclopedia, but most importantly he is just a really nice person to hang out with!!! He even manages to fit some short stories into this video. Don’t miss the one about the centaur!
Les Trois Sports
I don´t know about you but the image of a Professor that I have in my mind is of someone who sits for hours reading in a room with his pipe and a chimney. And if he makes a move, is because he is going for a walk with his dog.
I know that Leadership Prof. Juan Carlos Pastor reads a lot. However, instead of a walk he trains really hard cycling, swimming and running. Thriathon is his passion.
Triathlon is considered by some to have its beginnings in 1920s France. According to triathlon historian and author Scott Tinley, the origin of triathlon is attributed to a race during the 1920s–1930s that was called variously “Les trois sports”, “La Course des Débrouillards”, and “La course des Touche à Tout.” This race is held every year in France near Joinville-le-Pont, in Meulan and Poissy.
In this video Prof. Pastor draws very interesting lessons from the 3 sports he practices. Leadership is also a matter of hard training he seems be saying all the time.
Chicago Heights
In “The American way of life” Ashley Montagu described Hell as the pocket edition of Chicago. Well, Organizational Behaviour Professor Tara Wernsing tells me that she doesn’t care about Chicago’s corrupt and dubious past. As a Chicagoan she just loves the vibe of the city, although she now lives in Madrid.
In this video Prof. Wernsing uses Chicago skyscrapers to talk about leadership. Among other things, she says that the one thing leadership and these amazing buildings have in common is that they both require dreamers and realists.
Something else Prof. Wernsing said off camera is that she has a feeling that there is a third career out there waiting for her. She doesn’t know exactly what but she is sure that some big change lies ahead. It’s incredibly interesting to hear her talk not only about her field of expertise but about life in general.
In addition to all this, she loves to run and practice different kinds of personal defense…
Beijing Opera
Although this video runs for just three minutes, it actually took six months to shoot from the moment Operations Management professor Cui Zhijian and I first talked about it. It wasn’t because I thought it was necessary for Prof. Cui Zhijian to go to Beijing to do it, or that we needed support of other actors or an orchestra…It was because I knew that he was going to need the right make-up artist. As you know, the masks they use in Chinese opera add a great deal of drama and meaning to the proceedings, but finding a make-up artist that could do the job properly was no easy task. He asked among his connections in the Chinese community in Madrid, and I did the same with my Chinese professor and friends, but to no avail.
It was only by chance that I met make-up artist Eli Serrano García, who appears briefly in the video. A colleague of hers came to IE to do the make-up for another video, and when asked if she would be able to do it she replied that she couldn’t but that she knew someone that might. Mission accomplished!!!
On another note, the images of Beijing you’ll see were shot when I went to Beijing this April with IE Dean, Santiago Iñiguez. Unfortunately there was no way Prof. Cui Zhijian could join us. You can’t have it all.
P.S. Prof. Cui Zhijian is a Beijinger who has also lived in Paris and Canada. Ich bin auch ein Beijinger!!! It’s a real pleasure to listen to him talk about operations and the Beijing Opera. By the way, the second opera he sings is Ba Wang Bie Ji, which was turned into the film “Farewell My Concubine”. The film won the Cannes Palme d´Or. Excellent!!!
The Cook
One of my all-time favorite films is The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover by Peter Greenaway. It’s a great story and the cinematography is excellent. I would’ve loved to have been able to render my own small homage to this film, but unfortunately there are no thieves I can think of around here to work into the script. The cook only won´t do!!!
Joking aside, I’m delighted to say that what I do have is an excellent cook, namely Leadership Professor Balvinder Powar. He is not only capable of masterfully mixing ingredients to create a delicious dish out of almost nothing, but also of using cooking as a metaphor to talk about leadership, Gandhi and life in general.
I enjoyed listening to Prof. Powar as much as I enjoyed tasting the dish he prepared during the shoot. I just love Indian food…
P.S. If you get the chance, try the Indian food at Tandoori Station, where we shot this video. You’ll like it, believe me.
