Prof. Dr. Francisco González Bree
Professor of Business Innovation
Academic Director of the Master in Business Innovation at Deusto Business School
Advisor of Innovation for Factoría Cultural
Blogger Cinco Días (El País)
Artist pacobree.com
ABOUT BUSINESS
How do you plan your time between being a professor, blogger, artist, an advisor to start-ups, and a speaker?
Time management among these various activities is complicated. Good adaptation to change change and flexibility are required, but the benefits are very interesting because I nurture the so-called “Medici effect” that consists of finding innovations at the intersections of different sectors and disciplines. I also nurture another very interesting ability called polymathy. A polymath is someone who dominates several different disciplines at a high level, especially in the world of sciences and the world of arts.
Which one of your abilities are you most proud of?
I am very happy to have found the formula to feed my artistic passion and at the same time connect it with the world of business and management. In a recent investigation made by 5 researchers, we found that polymathy can make a person more creative, more resilient, and polyvalent.
Do you consider yourself an influencer? You appeared in the book Influencers by Carlos Rebate. How did you reach this point?
I consider myself a specialist influencer. I do not have excessive followers; however, the ones I have are extremely faithful. On the one hand, I have an influence in the business and management world due to my knowledge of and experience in business innovation. And on the other hand, as a consequence of the art that I create, I have loyal followers that are passionate about science fiction, manga, cosplay, steampunk and cyberpunk.
How did you get inspiration for the topics you write about as a blogger for Cinco Dias and El Mundo Innovadores and to mix them with your artwork? How did you get the inspiration for your digital artwork? Do they both come together in your mind?
I search daily using semantic techniques to find updated and relevant information related to business and innovation. During the weekend, I review articles and studies and I look at two or three with a greater level of detail. Then my mind begins to think about how to create a new article and how to connect it with a metaphoric image that will describe the text that I am going to write. The images have received attention by artistic critics and, as a consequence, I have exhibited my artwork in different cities such as Madrid, London, and Amsterdam since the year 2015
ABOUT INNOVATION
What do you learn when you work with start-ups? How did you start advising start-ups and corporations?
I started in 2006 collaborating as tutor at ESADE for startups and SMEs. In 2010, I was working with the startup Anboto, which was named the best startup in the world that year. Later I collaborated with its founder, Xabier Uribe-Etxebarria, on his second project Sher.pa, which has recently been selected as one of the 100 best artificial intelligence companies in the world. From 2012 to today, I have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs with their business models and business plans both in Deusto Business School and in Factoría Cultural.
What was your biggest failure and how did overcome it?
My biggest failure was setting up a company just one year before the global financial crisis in 2008. The first year, we got enough customers to break even. However, a year later most of these clients told us that due to the crisis they could not hire our services. We had to react quickly and leave the company on a standby basis.
How did you become professor at the Deusto Business School?
I started working with business schools in 2006 as a tutor for entrepreneurs. Later in 2010, Deusto Business School asked me to direct its Master in Business Innovation and they incorporated me with full dedication in 2011.
ABOUT LIFE
What are your mornings like?
I am a very optimistic person with a lot of vitality, so in the morning I am full of energy and desire to start working at different activities. Every morning for breakfast, I have a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, blackberries and walnuts. I accompany it with an orange juice and a coffee.
Movies recommended by Prof. Francisco Bree
You can read Prof. Francisco Bree Golden Rules for Living here.
