An Inspiration Break with Sira Abenoza
"Ever since I started teaching at ESADE I have felt very comfortable and very closely identified with the institution’s values, which I share completely"
Why did you decide to become a researcher and focus on solving social problems with a focus on self-sustainability and the use of social intelligence to foster social innovation?
I think there are two aspects to my vocation. I studied business and philosophy at the same time. The vision of business that they gave us at university seemed very frivolous to me. I felt the need to bring my concerns about justice and ethics into the business world. Coming into contact with unjust situations and seeing that the business world lacked a commitment to this issue awakened in me the desire to find a profession that would allow me to help improve this situation.
Another issue I’ve always been very concerned about is the lack of communication. I’ve seen that many of the world’s problems have to do with a lack of dialogue. If we all had the will and the courage to sit down with other people and really listen to their reasons and to who they are, and if we had the courage to present ourselves as we really are, many problems would be solved.
My commitment to teaching social responsibility has to do with this double motivation – helping to resolve or improve social injustices, and promoting dialogue.
How did you become a university lecturer, and how did you end up in the Department of Social Sciences at ESADE?
When I finished my two degrees, I started researching in the world of business ethics. Soon enough I was offered a job teaching classes at Pompeu Fabra University, and I liked it very much. I’m a very curious person. I like to investigate and learn about things, and I also like to communicate and share. That’s why, to me, teaching has always seemed like a gift.
Later, I did an executive course at ESADE that was taught jointly with Stanford. I met some people from the Department of Social Sciences and they offered me the chance to come here and teach classes on social responsibility. Ever since I started teaching at ESADE I have felt very comfortable and very closely identified with the institution’s values, which I share completely.
What aspects of your activity at ESADE do you find most exciting?
For me it’s very exciting – and I consider it a great privilege – to teach such intelligent students. It’s a tremendous luxury! My field still generates a certain amount of controversy. Even the most sceptical students can ask a question or make an intelligent critique, and that’s terrific. I like it very much.
I also like the fact that we have space for innovation, and I’ve been able to create a project like Filosofia a la presó and other new projects, including one that we’re now starting with the MIE students, which is also about dialogue. I never stop – one way or another, I’m always thinking up new projects.
Where do you get inspiration when you’re searching for ideas?
My environment is very heterogeneous. I studied two very different disciplines in two very different environments... Above all else, I think I’m inspired by people – the conversations I have with friends and acquaintances, this exchange of such different visions. And also art – I’m very inspired by literature, but also by cinema and thinking.
What you do when you need to disconnect?
I need to disconnect from everything very often. I need lots of solitude every day. I get up very early every morning. My partner always makes fun of me because almost two hours pass from the time I get up until the time I leave the house. But it’s because that’s my time to be alone, doing things very slowly and somehow trying to find balance and calm to start my day. It’s a very sacred moment for me.
What’s your greatest dream as an academic/professional working to solve social problems with a focus on self-sustainability and the use of social intelligence to foster social innovationworking on social responsibility and strategic management?
My dream is to continue to spread the methodology that I use to promote dialogue in other settings and environments. For example, I’ll be going to Belfast shortly to make a documentary about Socratic dialogue between former IRA members, Unionists and former British soldiers. I also plan to take it to Central America. If everything goes well, it seems like there’s also interest in the United States. With this year’s MIE students, I’m also doing a project that takes Socratic dialogue out into the street... The idea is that dialogue is the starting point for mitigating conflicts – as in Belfast – and for creating new projects and solutions. Really, my dream is to spread true dialogue like a virus, infecting everyone!
What phrase, song, book or movie do you think of often?
For books, I’d mention two by Rilke: Letters to a Young Poet and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Those two books have really stayed with me. And how about this quote from Walter Benjamin: “To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.
