"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." One might think that the crack Leonard Cohen refers to in Anthem is something that expresses fragility, and in a way it is, but it is also something that opens up to let something better in: light. The light that illuminates and allows one to see clearly. And sometimes leadership, good deeds, messages that resonate, are those that pass through the crack. Like Nadia Calviño's speech last Friday when she was recognized as Public Figure of the Year by the UPF Barcelona School of Management.
In fact, it was Nadia Calviño herself, president of the European Investment Bank, who spoke of Leonard Cohen's cracks and light and of "the basis of the policies and principles that have successfully brought us here," her light. She did so in her acceptance speech, at the award ceremony at the UPF-BSM headquarters, in front of political authorities, executives and businessmen from the country's main companies, such as Alícia Romero, Minister of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat; Maria Eugènia Gay, Deputy Mayor of the Barcelona City Council; Soledad Núñez, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain; Sílvia Alsina, president and CEO of Roman and vice-president of the UPF-BSM Board of Trustees, and Jaume Collboni, Mayor of Barcelona, who also presented the award to Calviño as Public Figure of the Year from the previous edition.
With this award, the business school wanted to recognize her leadership as the first woman at the head of the European Investment Bank, from where she has promoted initiatives with social impact, which promote cohesion, sustainable development and the green and climate transition. It has also recognized her firm defense of gender equality and female leadership. "At UPF-BSM we firmly believe that education comes from academia, but also from example, through values and role models who share them," said José M. Martínez-Sierra, general director of the school.
Collboni also spoke of role models, values, and leadership, and he, by the way, acknowledged a friendship with Calviño, and even a "devotion." "One of the things I have learned most during these years of public service —explained the mayor— is that what remains significant, relevant, is neither technology nor infrastructure, but people, leaderships, and the values in which these leaderships are inspired, the character on which they are based." For Collboni, current society, and especially students, need good role models, and Nadia Calviño's leadership "has marked an era."
And they don't say it in vain; Calviño has held positions of high responsibility both in the Spanish administration and in European institutions, beyond her current presidency of the EIB. Between 2014 and 2018, she was Director-General for Budgets at the European Commission, ensuring the efficient and transparent use of European funds. In 2018, she joined the Government of Spain, where she served as first, second, and third vice-president, and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
And during that period as Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Economy, she "left a very clear mark, both in the policies she carried out and in how she developed those policies," Romero defended. "Manners are very important, and she showed that with rigor, firmness, empathy, and proximity, good economic policy can be made in a world where women are not the majority."
Romero does not mention cracks or light, but his discourse on leadership seems to draw the same metaphor: "We need strong leaderships that are also capable of paving the way in difficult times."
Paving the way and building bridges so that young people can "change the world." "You are the future, and our priority must be to give you all opportunities." This is how Nadia Calviño addressed the students of UPF-BSM, to whom she dedicated most of her speech. And in fact, not only her speech: minutes before the ceremony, she met behind closed doors with a group of students, from very diverse countries and academic fields, to get to know them one by one, and talk about their careers, their concerns, and Europe.
The New Barcelona Post was able to witness the closed-door meeting exclusively and, despite the very limited time, the students' eyes reflected great illusion and ambition, fueled by Calviño's individual interventions with them, "the leaders of the future." They are, by the way, Alessandro Baudo (Executive MBA), María Ortega (Political and Institutional Communication), Albert Aragonès (Political and Institutional Communication), Isabella Rebolledo (Data Analytics for Business), Ana Castro (Data Analytics for Business), Maria Fernanda Sosaya (Finance and Banking), Luis Alejandro Martínez (Finance and Banking), Leticia Merolli (Public and Social Policies), Luisa María Crespi (Public and Social Policies), Carolina Troncoso (MBA), Eavan Coyne (MBA), Asude Zeynep MSc (International Business) and Hugo Mönnink (International Business).
Leading in times of change
After the private meeting —returning to the ceremony— Calviño spoke about the challenges facing the European Union, precisely, to maintain its leadership in the current geopolitical context: "We lack a single market that allows for economies of scale and the financial muscle for companies, ideas and technologies made in Europe to grow and develop fully here. And the diagnosis of what we have to do is clear, it is unanimous. We must integrate markets, boost investment, simplify rules and build strong international alliances."And for the leaders of the future? She also marked their path, although this one was more inspiring, and she broke it down into three pieces of advice.
The first: Change is the new normal. For Calviño, change is the new normal and leaders must know how to deal with volatility and instability as a permanent factor. "Yesterday's world is not coming back. And tomorrow's world will be very different from what we know, so it is essential to adapt, be flexible, have the capacity to manage uncertainty," she stated.
The second: The fundamentals. We must return to basic principles. "Many things are changing, but the basics remain." For Calviño, leadership requires "what it has always needed," that is: vision, determination, the ability to motivate others, trust and integrity. "Do what we say and say what we do."
And the third: Keep perspective. The most complicated point "in today's world" and especially for younger generations. "The noise does not allow us to see what is truly important, and there is a great shared feeling of uncertainty, instability, and insecurity" that affects motivation and limits the angle of vision of those who have to make decisions. But for Calviño, "to lead, you have to lift your head, listen carefully, look around, take and respect different perspectives, and avoid letting the trees obscure the forest." Or let the light pass through the cracks.