I love the speaker series, where VIP visit a BSchool to speak. No matter what they talk about, there are always relevant lessons to grasp. That is why on Friday I drove from Stanford to Berkeley to attend to Mr. Rato’s conference. It was worth the 90min drive. He gave a very interesting speech on the state of the World economy. It was better than reading the economist cover-to-cover.

The questions were also challenging, asking his views on the situation of Latin America and redistribution within countries. At the end, he tended to get into cheerleader mode: “The World economy is doing better than ever”, “economy in Latin America is at its best in 20 years”, etc… He did not get into specifics, only a real view from the top. Some of my friends at Berkeley were dissapointed by his approach. But at the end of the day Mr Rato is a politician, so he will not get into detailed discussions as if he were a professor.

Unfortunately, he did not get into, in my opinion, the most enjoyable part of the speaker series, when they reflect on their personal strategies for success. Tipically this includes everything from their motivations, habits, tactics or approaches to life. The only interesting lessons I could extract were: As a politican, always speak softly and deliver your agenda of the day as soon as possible. He actually replied to Mr.Tim Robins from the USA Dept. of Treasury right at the begining of the speach. Afterwards, most of the press stoped paying attention.

Funny details: He is from Asturian descent, and he really looks like that. After the speech, the Haas dean gave him a gift. Being Mr.Rato a Haas MBA 74, he deserved a school sleeveless pullover. Mr Rato quickly posed for a nice photo with the vest, as if he was a soccer player.

Not-so-funny details: I had lunch with my PhD friends Carles, Mario and Cristina at Berkely and wander for a while. After the 90min drive back, my car died on the parking lot. I hope it can be easily fixed on Monday.