"This is not a better world. We have no place to take refuge."
Article from "El País," issue of January 27, 2010. Author: Juan Cruz
Liz Mohn is a woman with an enormous amount of energy, which she cultivates through discipline -- a trait she shared with her late husband, Reinhard Mohn, founder of Bertelsmann, one of the world's most successful media groups. He passed away in October 2009, and she is now president of the Fundación Bertelsmann. Like her husband, Mohn is active at the foundation in order to promote education and reading, fully aware that the latter can help people increase their understanding and thus escape disadvantaged lives.
Yesterday she was in Madrid for the release of "Cultura de la empresa del siglo XXI: una propuesta" (Corporate Culture in the 21st Century: A Proposal) by Prof. Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Badal, a book jointly published by the Sustainability Excellence Club and the Fundación Bertelsmann. In the foreword, Mohn writes: "The crisis is opening a window for us to develop new solutions." It's a sentence reflective of her optimism. "Yes, it's true," she continues. "The crisis is making companies reflect on what they have done wrong. And such reflection is revealing new possibilities." She herself has thought at length about the shortcomings of the social market economy, coming to the conclusion that "it's clear we must continue along this path, but with corrections." She notes that certain values have been lost and "trust is no longer present. All that mattered was power, money and corporate interests."
She believes that, to a greater degree than in the past, we must now "focus on people, giving them the possibility to improve their own situation as the situation of the business community improves." In addition, one value that society must embrace once again in order to take advantage of what the "windows of crisis" have to offer is discipline -- something that applies to all employees, including management. "Responsibilities cannot be delegated only to be abused," she writes. At the same time, companies cannot function if responsibilities are not delegated.
It's morning, and Mohn has a day full of appointments ahead of her. Yet here she sits, with a glass of orange juice, some water and a few baked goods. Of course she misses the Majorcan breakfast she usually enjoys at home, in Alcúdia, where she has worked and relaxed for over 40 years. That is where she and her husband also pursued their passion of creating public libraries. And that's where she will return to -- having now developed Balearic roots.
I ask her where she gets her energy from. Once again, she speaks of discipline, as if it were a motto: discipline for work, for running in the morning, "for listening to what employees want to tell me." When asked about the world today, a shadow momentarily crosses her normally radiant face. "No, the world today is not better than the one we once had," she says. "Many people have nowhere to go to take refuge, as they once could in their families, in politics, religion, etc. Since September 11 everything has gotten worse. We are increasingly powerless in the face of terrorism and other catastrophes, and young people are also not doing well. They can't find work and feel the uncertainty that threatens us all."
In light of this, she considers the increasingly accepted premise of equality between men and women as beneficial for the future. Now her face is shining almost as brightly as the sunshine streaming into the room from outside. Since we will not be having lunch together, I ask her in parting what she would eat were she on Majorca. "Soup with vegetables and fish," she says. She wasn't served ensaïmada -- the traditional Majorcan pastry she might have enjoyed had she been at home in Alcúdia.
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