Think globally, act locally.” The phrase that for years has been coined to define the spirit of globalization was barely used when César Alierta became president of Telefónica, in the summer of 2000, but it may well serve to summarize his vital legacy and, above all, his management at the helm. of Telefónica, the company that marked his professional career and the one that will make him go down in history.

The manager, who died yesterday at the age of 78 in a hospital in his native Zaragoza, dared to think that the former Spanish telephone monopoly could go beyond the confines of the Spanish-speaking world and spread its influence throughout the planet. . During his almost 16-year tenure at the head of the company, Telefónica came to control almost 10% of China Telecom. To its credit is the purchase of what is today one of the company’s crown jewels, the Brazilian Vivo, as well as Telefónica’s presence in now strategic countries, such as the United Kingdom or Germany. Also some not so satisfactory forays, such as entering Italy or the Czech Republic and the legacy of a large debt that his dolphin, José María Álvarez Pallete, has not yet finished digesting. Yesterday, Pallete remembered him as a “human, intelligent and passionate” person. “Telefónica would not be what it is without a person like Alierta,” he said.

But if Cesar Alierta can be classified as one of the most emblematic managers of the Spanish business scene, it is not only because of his intuition in business but also because of his experienced left hand in politics. It was his ability to manage those connections that propelled him into the business jet set of the time.

A lawyer by training, a master’s degree in Business Administration at Columbia University led him to land at Banco Urquijo in Madrid, where he remained until 1985. Married to Ana Cristina Placer (who died in 2015) and without children, he moved perfectly among the finest of the capital’s business socialites. Beta Capital, the securities company that he later founded, soon became a benchmark in the sector and earned him even more connections among great fortunes, some as controversial as Javier de la Rosa. He was appointed president of the Spanish Institute of Financial Analysts and member of the board of directors of the Madrid Stock Exchange.

It was the time of privatization of large public companies. His friend Rodrigo Rato interceded so that he could manage Tabacalera. During his presidency, between 1996 and 2000, it became the multinational Altadis. It was at Tabacalera where an accusation of using inside information threatened his career, but he overcame it. He was acquitted due to the statute of limitations of the crime.

His work at Tabacalera put him in the focus of the then President of the Government, José María Aznar, who needed to fix the mess that his friend Juan Villalonga had left at Telefónica. There, Alierta did much more than revive it: he turned it into an international power despite his peculiar English and his crude ways. He was one of the first to speak out against the abuse of Google and Facebook, and boasted of not using a smartphone to maintain his privacy. He also mercilessly attacked the EU’s telecommunications policy.

In the darkest part of the financial crisis, in 2011, he founded the Business Council for Competitiveness together with Isidoro Álvarez, Emilio Botín, José Manuel Lara and Leopoldo Rodés. He dismantled it in 2017 without having achieved the political influence he sought. Although he never lacked influence. In 2013, his friend Isidro Fainé, current president of the La Caixa Foundation and of his investment arm, Criteria, had also enrolled him in the Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences. In 2016 he handed over the presidency of Telefónica to Pallete and took refuge until last year in that of the Telefónica Foundation.

Yesterday condolences came from all corners. But above all they resonated in his land and in his club, Real Zaragoza, a passion that he inherited from his father, and that led him to promote the 2032 Foundation to avoid his bankruptcy.