Reflections of an entrepreneur: The value of what endures

"These lines do not stem from an academic treatise, but from the hard knocks life has dealt me after years of struggle on all fronts: as a professor, consultant, manager, and finally, as an entrepreneur. I have learned that reality teaches much more than books if one knows how to look at it with the right mindset." José Ignacio Fernández López (See profile).

Episode I: Recovering the businessman's name

Antonio Valero, who was my professor and colleague at IESE, always insisted that we must use language properly in order to understand each other. It's the only way we can all speak the same language. I'm concerned to see how the figure of the businessman has been distorted in Spain, often associated with exploitation or illicit profiteering, while the term "entrepreneur" is elevated almost as a shield to avoid that negative image.

For me, the distinction is vital: an entrepreneur is someone who starts something, but a businessperson is someone who, in addition to starting, has the fortitude to drive and sustain the project. I am the son of businesspeople and have experienced what this work entails since childhood; that's why I know that the image sometimes portrayed by the media is profoundly false. Businesspeople are, perhaps, among those who perform the greatest social work in our country.

Episode II: The boundary between business and enterprise

It is essential to distinguish between the figure of the entrepreneur and that of the businessman. A business, as the Royal Spanish Academy states, is about dealing and trading to "increase wealth." The focus is solely on making money, without considering the human or material resources used. A company, on the other hand, is a project with a long-term vision.

A true company must generate a useful benefit for society based on ethical principles and produce wealth to be distributed fairly between capital and labor. But above all, it must be born with a desire for self-sufficiency: to survive as long as possible while fulfilling its purpose. Those who lead this are not just looking for money; they are seeking to bring an idea to life and sustain it with tenacity, generosity, and leadership.

Episode III: The Growth Trap and the Tantalus Syndrome

Today we live under the dictatorship of quantitative growth. It seems that if we don't sell more or earn more each year, we're failing. It's what I call the Tantalus syndrome: that endless desire that is never satisfied because, as soon as we achieve one goal, we're already looking for the next. This physical obsession with "more" often uses methods that exhaust people, with grueling schedules that destroy families and forget that the worker is not a machine.

Faced with this external explosion, I propose "business implosion": growing inward. It's about pursuing quality, renewing the product, and maintaining exceptional service without the need for senseless expansion. Good business leaders are the officers in the trenches, not the generals in the office. They are the ones who share the bread and the hardships with their employees, valuing the social impact of their work above financial gain.

Episode IV: The family legacy and the art of retiring

I remember that when my father introduced himself, he always said that four hundred families depended on his company. That was his life, not his personal fortune. He made his children work in the factory in overalls, eating and living alongside the workers as one of them. That kind of example is what builds a solid family business, but that solidity is put to the test when it comes to succession.

Knowing when to retire requires immense generosity and humility. It means knowing when to relinquish one's own work and allowing others, even one's children, to steer the ship in a different way. I always advise successors not to disregard what their predecessors accomplished: don't change things simply for the sake of change. If something has worked, reflect deeply before breaking it. The survival of the company must always take precedence over ego.

Episode V: The need to return to silence

My reflections don't stem from the latest management manuals, but from a humanistic view of the working person. I'm convinced the world would change if we all dedicated a few minutes each day to absolute silence, to thinking about who we are and what role we play here. We need that "personal implosion": to see ourselves from within, without noise or constraints.

Before taking action or becoming obsessed with endless progress, an entrepreneur must know what they truly want to achieve. And to do that, it's essential to pause and reflect. Only through deep reflection can we bring out the best in ourselves to build a world that is, quite simply, a little more humane.

José Ignacio Fernández