By Jeffrey Pfeffer, Business 2.0 Magazine, CNN Money
October 2 2006: 11:29 AM EDT
About the same time that the "Da Vinci Code" was hitting theaters in May, I was camped out at a university in Barcelona, discovering some of the lesser-known secrets of Opus Dei, the Catholic society at the center of the book and movie's byzantine plot.
No, I didn't see any albino monks, cilices, or dead bodies. I was merely on sabbatical for three weeks at IESE, a leading Spanish business school founded by Opus Dei in 1958 as part of the University of Navarra. And the only thing I observed was great management.
For starters, IESE recently placed fourth among the top executive education programs in the world, according to rankings by the Financial Times. Unlike many European business schools, which have tried to mimic the U.S. model, IESE is intentionally different, with a greater emphasis on ethics and values both in the curriculum and in how it is run.
During my visit, dozens of faculty and staff members talked to me about what a great place IESE is to work because of its caring culture. Few were devout Catholics and even fewer were members of Opus Dei.
Then, when my wife came down with severe ear pain from flying with a cold, Jordi Canals, IESE's dean, arranged a difficult-to-get appointment with an ear specialist, got a taxi to take her to the appointment, and paid for everything, no questions asked.
Why a caring culture makes sense for IESE is pretty apparent: Emphasizing the long term, the school is interested in the personal transformation of its students and building closer relationships with them, and is willing to make the difficult economic trade-offs to convert noble sentiments into reality.
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