The archive of old Catalan magazines (ARCA) preserves some legendary publications from the history of journalism in our country. As an example, many copies of the weekly Destino can be recovered, which was founded in 1937 and had special relevance during the seventies of the last century. Reviewing its covers is a highly recommended exercise, since it allows you to go back in time through the facts, pure and simple, without the distorting filter of nostalgia.
“Two wars that make our farmers tremble,” the magazine titled to refer to the problems of agriculture in the face of foreign competition. “Catalonia, water or death” appeared on a cover to warn of the consequences of the drought. “Fascism, here and now” was the text chosen to denounce the rise of the extreme right. “The government will rationalize tourism,” accompanied a photo of the crowded Sitges beach. “Oil, an energy to be replaced” served to explain the problems of environmental pollution.
Covers that also covered topics such as rising prices, the degradation of Barcelona, new industrial technologies, the future of pensions or the fight against cancer. All of these issues are colossally valid, but it turns out that they appeared in magazines that were published more than 50 years ago. We could be tempted to think that we are in Groundhog Day, like Bill Murray, trapped in a time that repeats itself in a cyclical and stubborn way. But we can also draw other types of conclusions, a little more useful from the point of view of business management.
For example, realizing that some challenges that we thought were contemporary are actually past helps us put the speed of change into perspective. Although in management jargon we like to coin clever terms, such as VUCA or BANI, to show that we live in an environment of constant transformations, reviewing the past teaches us that the truly relevant changes are not so many or so fast. In fact, to ensure better adaptation to certain challenges, it is always advisable to have a historical perspective, which provides us with greater knowledge of the causes and avoids repetition of errors. Because, as the philosopher Juan Donoso Cortés said, “in the past is the history of the future.”
On the other hand, rereading old magazines also serves to question a very common practice in the management of organizations: criticizing what existed before. And it seems inevitable that each new stage in the management of a team has to imply a negative judgment about the previous period, as if it were a self-affirmation mechanism. However, it must be understood that any leadership always incorporates situational conditions and subjective criteria, which it would be advisable to approach from the paradigm of respect, with a real interest in understanding and learning. Furthermore, assuming a new responsibility entails internalizing an imperative reality: that not only farms are inherited, but also invoices.
Although the overdose of the present can mislead us, many of the paths that organizations have to travel have already been trodden before. And along the way, a fundamental crossroads will continue to appear that will force us to choose between “progress in solidarity or rampant misery,” as Destino magazine headlined in December 1979.
