Antonio Garrigues Walker: A Handbook for Living in the Age of Uncertainty
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2024 9:42 am
Last Tuesday, January 15, we had the great fortune of having Antonio Garrigues Walker (Madrid, 1934) at a meeting organized jointly by Mediapost and the Association for the Progress of Management, APD
The meeting took place at Ginkgo Sky Bar, on the 12th floor of the VP Plaza de España hotel, as part of #APDroof , an initiative based on analyzing topics of maximum interest and current events from the height of the most emblematic buildings in the city of Madrid.
The meeting, moderated by Ignacio Pi, global head of Mediapost, revolved around the latest book published by Garrigues Walker, “Manual for living in the botim phone number data age of uncertainty”. Under this same title, the skeptical optimist Garrigues Walker, as many – including himself – define him, spoke to us about how to face the challenges posed by the current socio-political context, with special attention to two: migratory movements and inequalities.
These two challenges, according to Garrigues Walker, are responsible for phenomena such as populism, which, combined with technological developments and the success of communication on social networks, has brought about an acceleration in the development of things. Everything happens at great speed, in a context in which we are not prepared to respond so quickly. For the author, the time has come for non-populist people to sit down and talk about how to offer alternatives to society. “Insulting and criticising populists is very easy and tempting, but we must realise that it is this criticism that feeds this populism.”
Garrigues Walker insisted that “human beings are resilient, and have shown that they always end up dominating changes”, hence the optimistic approach from which he approaches his thesis. He also added that “the world is better than ever. Poverty has been significantly reduced, there are more democracies than ever and the role of women is increasingly important. We must be optimistic and positive, but not get carried away by these approaches that could lead us to relax.
Given the situation of mistrust, there are voices – especially among the younger generations – that are beginning to question whether democracy is the best path. According to Garrigues, this is because the political establishment is not giving its best. “If a democracy allows itself to not function completely well, it is logical that it begins to wear out.”
In the open round of questions at the end of the meeting, our protagonist stated that the ideal virtue to be cultivated by society is undoubtedly empathy, paying close attention to understanding that it is not possible to be completely right in any debate.
The meeting took place at Ginkgo Sky Bar, on the 12th floor of the VP Plaza de España hotel, as part of #APDroof , an initiative based on analyzing topics of maximum interest and current events from the height of the most emblematic buildings in the city of Madrid.
The meeting, moderated by Ignacio Pi, global head of Mediapost, revolved around the latest book published by Garrigues Walker, “Manual for living in the botim phone number data age of uncertainty”. Under this same title, the skeptical optimist Garrigues Walker, as many – including himself – define him, spoke to us about how to face the challenges posed by the current socio-political context, with special attention to two: migratory movements and inequalities.
These two challenges, according to Garrigues Walker, are responsible for phenomena such as populism, which, combined with technological developments and the success of communication on social networks, has brought about an acceleration in the development of things. Everything happens at great speed, in a context in which we are not prepared to respond so quickly. For the author, the time has come for non-populist people to sit down and talk about how to offer alternatives to society. “Insulting and criticising populists is very easy and tempting, but we must realise that it is this criticism that feeds this populism.”
Garrigues Walker insisted that “human beings are resilient, and have shown that they always end up dominating changes”, hence the optimistic approach from which he approaches his thesis. He also added that “the world is better than ever. Poverty has been significantly reduced, there are more democracies than ever and the role of women is increasingly important. We must be optimistic and positive, but not get carried away by these approaches that could lead us to relax.
Given the situation of mistrust, there are voices – especially among the younger generations – that are beginning to question whether democracy is the best path. According to Garrigues, this is because the political establishment is not giving its best. “If a democracy allows itself to not function completely well, it is logical that it begins to wear out.”
In the open round of questions at the end of the meeting, our protagonist stated that the ideal virtue to be cultivated by society is undoubtedly empathy, paying close attention to understanding that it is not possible to be completely right in any debate.