Citizen Neringa
When I first talked with Qualitative Methods Professor Neringa Kalpokaite about shooting a video for the other side series, she explained how she uses qualitative methods to evaluate quantitative surveys. Hence it seemed natural to talk about politics and the way we vote.
For my part, once again I found myself drawing on the Orson Wells –Joseph Cotten partnership for inspiration, not only because they did such great things together, but also because Joseph Cotten happened to be married to one of my grandmother’s cousins, Patricia Medina, an actress too. That’s why it seemed so fitting to have Citizen Kane as a mental backdrop for this video. Shouldn’t we all try to be good citizens? You have to agree that if we were all conscientious citizens we would be much better off…
Professor Kalpokaite studied politics and has developed a model for regime transitions based on the Spanish transition from dictatorship to democracy. She is young, knowledgeable. and most of all good company.
An Urban Hike
Professor Marijo Bos is a Californian who teaches leadership at IE Business School. She’s been living in Madrid for some ten years now, having made it her base for teaching and living in between business trips around the world.
Since she literally has no time for herself, she has come up with a clever way to combine work and pleasure. She does what she calls her world urban hikes. This time was in Istanbul. One of the first things she does when she arrives in a city is to take a brisk two-hour walk. Listen to her reasons for doing this, and be prepared to see some serious urban walking!!! Sometimes I had real problems keeping up with her!
Marijo Bos is President of the European Professional Women’s Network (EPWN), and also a student of the IE Executive Master in Positive Leadership and Strategy.
Crazy Countries
The first sentence of Anna Karenina is one of the best-known openings of any novel: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Somewhat similarly, finance professor Juan Fernandez seems to think that all countries are crazy, but each country is crazy in its own way.
The crazy country he has in mind in this video is the US, where he has been living for the last 20 years. As you know, from October 1 through 16, 2013, the United States federal government went into shutdown and curtailed most routine operations after Congress failed to enact legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014. Regular government operations resumed on October 17, after an interim appropriations bill was signed into law the day before this video was shot in Washington D.C.
Prof. Fernandez concludes that this is a historical moment for the US that will have knock-on effects around the world.
Europe
In ancient Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus after she assumed the form of a dazzling white bull, taking her away to the island of Crete where she gave birth to Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. Meanwhile, back in the 21st century, modern day Princess Europa appears to have been abducted in much the same way, but this time by a god called Crisis, aided and abetted by petty-minded critics and sheer schadenfreude, leaving her cast aside and forgotten in a far-flung corner of the world.
In this video IE Law School Dean, Javier de Cendra, defends Europa using some very convincing arguments. He touches on all the key issues – natural resources, the environment, the future of humankind – concluding that Europe as a whole has an important role to play in this world. He basically says that we have to stand up for our dreams and ideas.
The video was shot in Maastricht, the day Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, the oldest reigning Dutch monarch, abdicated the throne in favor of her son Crown-Prince Willem-Alexander. Maastricht was where Dean De Cendra studied, and also where he proposed to his wife. Go Europa!!!
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!
