Culture as glue in the company

This week has brought us an atypical image.

Not because of the senior executives who star in it (Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander; José María Álvarez-Pallete, her counterpart at Telefónica, and José Bogas, CEO of Endesa), which is by no means the first time they have appeared together .

The unique thing about the occasion has been the issue that brought them together.

The Reina Sofía Higher School of Music, founded by Paloma O'Shea 30 years ago, held the annual meeting of her board of trustees on Tuesday at its headquarters, just a few meters from the Teatro Real in Madrid.

For this reason, the school decided to organize a dialogue in which these managers and the rest of the participants, their employers, would talk about the impact of culture in their organizations and also in the framework of the digital revolution.

Ana Botín was the first to intervene in a house that she knows well and where she is the patron in a personal capacity.

The president of Banco Santander entered the premises, getting rid of her cell phone and purse as soon as she arrived, and remembering that the school was created in a garage, as if it were a

start-up

.

And she knows it well because it was started by her mother, one of the great patrons of classical music in Spain, who had the support of established musicians such as Rostropovich, Menuhin, Mehta, Larrocha... Botín apologized to her for not being able to be present at the event.

The president of Santander referred to the role of culture as “the glue of a company, a foundation and a country.

It’s what defines us,” she said.

Because, “how we do things is as important as what.

Obviously you have to achieve the company's objectives.

But how they are achieved is just as important.”

And she added: “Culture is fundamental for a country with a fragmented society that worries us all.”

And within it, “music is what helps us most to value what we have in common and not always focus on what we think differently.”

“Culture is a key element for integration and democracy,” stressed José Bogas, CEO of Endesa, “because it is a transversal element, which has no race or gender;

“It lasts over time and overcomes political regimes.”

Companies participate in culture through their growing social role.

“This social role makes it our responsibility to contribute to the improvement of society and what better way than cultural patronage.”

Endesa invests around 3.5 million euros annually in supporting culture.

Many of its actions are carried out through the Endesa Foundation, which has been in existence for 25 years, and range from the illumination of Spanish historical-artistic heritage to literary workshops in collaboration with the Royal Spanish Academy or artistic workshops with the Prado Museum, as well as sponsoring musical festivals or supporting future musicians at the Reina Sofía school, among other initiatives.

From the left: José María Álvarez-Pallete, president of Telefónica;

Emilio Viciana, Minister of Education of the Community of Madrid;

Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander;

Rafa Latorre (moderator);

Mariano de Paco, Minister of Culture of the Community of Madrid;

José Bogas, CEO of Endesa and Pablo Fernández, president of Clidrive. JUAN DE LA FUENTE LÓPEZ

What atomic energy

José María Álvarez-Pallete focused on the digital transformation we are experiencing and its impact on culture.

“It is a revolution like there have been few in the history of Humanity, a change of era.

And it is already here, but it is difficult to see it because it is abstract,” he said.

“Almost half of the data traffic that goes through telecommunications networks today is no longer human.

They are machines talking to machines or machines talking to people.

Many times people do not know that they are talking to a machine,” he highlighted.

“This revolution is going to change everything.

And we have to decide how we want this to happen.”

“We believe that it is as important as atomic energy was at the time and that it is necessary for there to be an international agency [that regulates artificial intelligence] that generates consensus in such a fragmented world about how we want this to happen.

“We would love for this agency to be here in Madrid.”

The president of Telefónica assured that, at the expense of deciding the model of society we want as a result of this technological transformation, “it is time for the social sciences.

From philosophy, sociology, psychology, law... Because this revolution needs a new social contract that establishes the relationships between humans and machines, rights and obligations."

Convinced that art is essential to preserve human elements, Álvarez-Pallete pointed out that “it is impressive to see how artificial intelligence is capable of completing Beethoven's tenth symphony or an unfinished song by John Lennon.

But he will never be either Beethoven or John Lennon.

Because emotions: empathy, solidarity, love, passion, anger... are not digitizable.”

The Telefónica Foundation, which invests around 11 million euros annually in supporting culture, close to 17% of its budget, aims to provide knowledge around digital transformation.

It does this through exhibitions, debates and workshops in its Fundación Telefónica Space, among other initiatives.

The entity also manages and safeguards the Telefónica Collection, made up of more than 1,000 pieces of art and technological heritage.

Culture and innovation are a mixture from which few business projects emerge, as highlighted by Pablo Fernández, founder of Clidrive, Clicars, Clikalia and ClibrAIn.

“Among technology-based or high-growth companies there is a deficit of cultural projects.”

That is why Fernández believes that there is an opportunity for technology entrepreneurs to launch new business models in this area.

In the field of music there is a great technological challenge because “there are still no music language models that are as good as text or image models,” said this businessman who defined himself as a frustrated pianist after abandoning his career in the eighth year [Ana Botín said that she left it in the fourth grade].

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