To open the Moments Estel·lars course at CASA SEAT, we have made possible a very interesting dialogue with IESE, the dean of business schools in Barcelona and historically the best positioned in the private sector, and UPF Barcelona School of Management (UPF-BSM), the leader among schools linked to a public university, according to the main accreditations and rankings. A sector that needs to be conjugated in the plural.
These schools are part of a training ecosystem that in Barcelona is rich in quality and quantity, but that could still be more so if the city wants to be a true hub, a powerful center for attracting talent. This was defended by José Manuel Martínez-Sierra, general director of UPF-BSM, who recalled how in other cities around the world there are hundreds, in some cases, of business schools that put the community that hosts them on the map of economic and educational dynamism.
In Barcelona there are quite a few, and that, according to Martínez-Sierra, "has a lot to do with the idiosyncrasy of Catalan society" and its entrepreneurial spirit. Some will always see the word business with a negative connotation, but they do not seem to be part of the central lane of a Catalan and Barcelona citizenry that sees doing business as a synonym for individual and collective progress.
"In Madrid, we make civil servants; here, we make companies," said the leader of UPF-BSM, who, by the way, is from Madrid, has lived and worked in Catalonia for a few years, and speaks fluent Catalan, recalling that he began practicing by listening to radio talk shows. A true character.
And Utgés also greatly characterizes the spirit of a sector that does not stop and that always has its sights set on options for improvement for students, for its educational community, and for the society that hosts the project: "When you are competing in the first division and you want to win the Champions League, you need to invest." Clear as day.
Martínez-Sierra hammered home the message: "It's a matter of money and regulations." And it is that state regulations and the resources provided by public institutions can still improve a lot, to properly boost a private sector that already makes a great effort to attract (and try to retain) professional talent from all over, for example, in the Catalan capital. Adequately helping with this would be good business for the city, for the country, and for those of us who live in it.