EAE News
TEDxEAEBusinessSchool: Breaking through fear!
11 de November de 2020
“Hello fear, nice to meet you. I acknowledge and accept you, but take my hand and lets walk together through this adventure called life”.
What is fear? Is it our enemy or, just the contrary, a misunderstood ally? The situation that Spain and the world as a whole are facing at the moment due to the pandemic has generated widespread fear throughout the population. Health uncertainty, economic instability and social life limitations are some of the reasons that have fed this collective fear
So, how should we respond to such a scenario? Break down and cry or grab the reins of our lives? There are no experiences that we cannot learn something from, just as there are no fears that we cannot control. To demonstrate this fact, TEDxEAEBusinessSchool ran a brilliant TEDx session in which different experts explained how to make fear an ally, based on their own experiences. Are you ready to break through your fear? Let’s get started!
Teresa Busto:
Are you more ‘Yesbut’ or ‘Yeahsure’?
The Vice-President of Airbus, Teresa Busto, began the event “Breaking through fear” with the symbolic and entertaining story of two characters named “Yesbut” and “Yeahsure”, who have to take on a professional project assigned to them by their boss. Yesbut starts every response saying “Yes, but...”, while Yeahsure says “Yeah, sure” to any input
With these two postures, the Vice-President expertly demonstrated the importance of attitude when facing challenges and the value of being able to learn from our failures.
“When we fail, we have two choices”, explained Busto “We can moan bitterly and taking a maudlin attitude, which only forces us down a one-way track in the wrong direction; or we can do what I do. Every day, when I leave home, I look in the mirror and say, “What a woman!”.
Gour Saraff:
Out of the country, out of the box
The second expert to share his insight was Gour Saraff, the Managing Director for Europe of the India Chamber of Commerce Spain Chapter, who shared some of the key points if his impressive career as a professional and salesman.
He explained that he had to leave and return to his native India several times, as his projects did not always go as expected. He faced financial and emotional crises but giving up just was not an option for him, so he eventually achieved success. Therefore, he is a great believer that “every individual has the possibility of transforming the world”.
Ana Molina:
Fear 2.0: Have you download the latest version of your fears?
The third speaker was Ana Molina, a dermatologist who has built a great professional career. She added her own particular insight to the event with an analysis of fear and our perception of it. Molina emphasized that it is time to shift away from the old way of perceiving fear and failures, and start seeing them as steps towards success.
“One of the things that makes us happiest is change, challenges and learning new things”, explained Molina. “However, our software is outdated. We have to update it to be able to see beyond our fear of change!”.
Cristina Vesteiro:
Passion, the other side of the scales
After Ana Molina, it was the turn of one of the most striking profiles to take part in the event, Cristina Vesteiro, the Chief Inspector of the National Police Corps and the Head of the Madrid Cavalry Unit. She gave an overview of her career and how she reached the senior positions that she now holds. She focused on how not only has she had to tackle some very dangerous situations, but also make her way in institutions traditionally run by and for men.
“Barriers and fears are all in our minds, so we have the power to overcome them”, explained Vesteiro”.
Jesús Alonso Gallo:
Entrepreneurship, Karma and Blockchain
After a break between presentations, the investor and EAE Lab mentor Jesús Alonso Gallo discussed the world of entrepreneurship, giving an insight into his personal life to show that everything happens for a reason and how, in some way or other, helps build towards our future plans.
“Launching an entrepreneurial venture is selling, and selling is convincing through your words. However, there is more involved. Being an entrepreneur requires you to serve. I have learned that is you do not create something with all your heart and the vocation to serve a group of customers, it will probably not work out well for you”.
Camila Chacón:
No more messages! Tell me a good story to save the planet
In her presentation, Camila Chacón shook the event up with here energy and the great way that she expresses herself. She focused on how fear evolves over the course of our lives and how important our attitude to fear is.
“How can we escape fear?”, she asked. “Well, the idea is to face the fear and say ‘Hello fear, I am Camila. I acknowledge and respect you, but take my hand and lets walk together through this adventure called life”..
José Luis Santamaría:
Collective Artificial Intelligence: The Last Jedi resolving organizational problems /strong>
We are social beings and, as such, the collective has a great influences on what we are like and how we perceive and tackle our fears. The CEO of Newbeing, José Luis Santamaría, understands this and, with this in mind, his presentation focused on tackling fears from a collective perspective.
“In many cases, it is our challenges that move our aspirations, but what matters is how we approach the challenge because that is what makes the difference·, explained Santamaría. “Perhaps the way we approach these challenges in terms of collective intelligence is an areas that we have to analyse with greater attention”.
José Luis Abajo “Pirri”:
The hidden weapons of change
To finish off the event, it was the turn of the Olympic medallist and fencing champion, José Luis Abajo, better known as Pirri. He concluded the TEDxEAEBusinessSchool session with a really interesting presentation in which he enthusiastically recounted the path that led him to win Spain’s first ever Olympic medal in the sport.
“It is the attitude that we take towards life that changes things, so it is essential to train it every single day”, emphasized Pirri.