Álvaro González Alorda: "You only discover your own heart when you submit to it submission

On Tuesday, March 3, Álvaro González Alorda,director partner director emêrgap, gave auditorium lecture in the auditorium lecture by the association of Tecnun in which he shared ideas and recommendations forstaff professional development . Sixty people attended, including employees, students, and alumni the School.

González Alorda has helped transform more than 100 companies in 40 countries across Europe and America. He studied at the University of Navarra, IESE Business School, and Harvard Business School. He has published four books on management: The Next 30 Years (2010), The Talking Manager (2011), Head, Heart, and Hands (Aguilar, 2022), The Journey (Aguilar, 2026), and two novels: Riverview (Ediciones B, 2024) and Volver así (Ediciones B, 2026).

University is a time of transformation, for many a time to leave home, to find their purpose life... What is the most important lesson to take away from your years at university?

I believe that today there are two types of universities: the real ones and the mere academic machines that only issue degrees, leaving the hearts of their graduates untouched. What sets them apart is their ability to contribute to the development of their students' character, transforming their lives.

Every time a university graduates a student who does not read, it becomes complicit in a fraud: that of producing mere technicians without the human depth to understand—or contribute to solving—the enormous diversity of challenges posed by today's world. Challenges that require comprehensive solutions, with an anthropological foundation, not simply social, economic, political, or technological patches, such as updating an app by adding a few lines of code. In the second row of the dock for this fraud, we should seat those professors who failed to instill in their students a passion for reading, perhaps because excessive dedication to administrative tasks has drained their intellectual vitality. And in the front row, those students who have not developed the self-discipline required to find time and space for reading in an era of constant digital distraction.

With whom can these conversations take place so that they go beyond the most superficial layer and reach the deepest part of the human being?

There is no format more transformative in an educational institution than a conversation between a veteran professor and a young one, or between a professor and a student. That is why university leaders with a transcendent vision and the purpose contributing to the comprehensive transformation of students' lives have a responsibility to ensure that their dedication of resources and energy to the pursuit of academic excellence or research cause them to fall into the trap of settling for a insignificant impact on the hearts of the thousands of students who pass through their classrooms. Therefore, for universities to leave a mark on the hearts of their students, the transformation must begin with their leaders, who have a responsibility to inspire their Departments heads Departments professors to develop the ability to mentor students on the fascinating journey of transformation that begins at university.

Now that you mention support, and considering that Tecnun offers all its students a support service and a Guidance and Well-being Unit, what makes a good mentor?

A mentor someone who has developed the ability to accompany others on their journey of comprehensive transformation, for which three qualities are necessary.

The first is to have more experience and knowledge. That's the easy one. The second is to lead an inspiring life. There may be many teachers who are good people but don't lead inspiring lives. The difference between being a good person and someone inspiring is the epic daily effort to live up to one's own values and purpose. When someone tries to live like this, they keep their heart young and inspire others: they radiate a force that challenges and invites others to strive for goodness, truth, and beauty.

The third quality of mentor method: mentoring is an art and requires a certain amount of internship Sometimes, people confuse their ability to mentor with having occasional conversations with students. There are even those who believe they are approachable because they say their office door is always open. But it is not enough to have your office door open; above all, you must have the door to your heart open, to allow others to peek into your life and, from that very vulnerability, enter into theirs.

That is why I would say that the challenge is to accompany with "head, heart, and hands." With the head, guiding intellectual construction with ideas and arguments; with the heart, delving into the battles of the heart; and with the hands, turning the challenges of transformation that we all face into concrete, everyday behaviors.

Where can we go to learn more about these "battles of the heart"?

It is difficult for a single person to exhaust the richness of the human heart. That is why introspection is insufficient for understanding oneself. One only begins to travel through the National Geographic of the heart when one opens it, when one shares it, when submission.

Today, there is a great challenge in the academic world, where there are many cultured, well-read scholars with intellectual depth, but who have shared little. Their lack of closeness and excessive caution in expressing their feelings with vulnerability have prevented them from getting to know other hearts in depth. As a result, their intellectual depth has not managed to rise to a higher level, that of human depth, and they end up falling into a hopeless pessimism that is camouflaged by a skeptical pose. 

What recommendations would you give to cultivate everything we have discussed in this interview?

If anyone wants to seriously work on their own transformation and self-development, I suggest starting with the 5Ds: rest, sports, per diem expenses, per diem expenses , and spiritual dimension.

• Rest: this does not only consist of getting the necessary hours of sleep (between 7 and 8, according to medical science), but also refers to engaging in activities that enrich us and allow us to disconnect from our routine.

• Sport: doing the right exercise, according to our circumstances and preferences, to ensure our bodies function properly and we have the energy we need to live a full life.

• per diem expenses: consuming healthy food that nourishes the body and strengthens the will through temperance.

• per diem expenses : cultivate our human depth by reading at least twenty good books a year. The tragedy of many people in college today is that they have the same per diem expenses as a reggaeton singer.

• Spiritual dimension: giving meaning to our lives and purpose our existence. There are many ways to live, but each person must find their own path. For those of us who have faith, trying to know the God from whom we expect everything and discovering that He lives within us is a precious path. But those who do not have faith can find other ways to expand their spirituality and recognize the spirit that dwells within them. There are many ways to live, but each person must find their own path. Cultivating the spiritual dimension requires silence. And today, silence is threatened because noise occupies everything. It is difficult to find spaces of silence.