José Antonio Sentís (1953-2017), the person we all aspire to be
On this day, three years ago, pancreatic cancer took away my father's life. He was, and will always be, my mentor, my partner and my biggest friend.
He is the best human being I have ever met, the role model we all wish to have, and the type of person we all aspire to become.
There is not a single day that I don't miss him.
He was so generous that, even in the worst days of the illness, he was still more concerned about helping others than about himself.
He was the type of leader we always demand in this very forum. He had 2000 employees and still had his door always open, he went to visit each and every delegation of the company to talk to all employees, travelling non stop even during weekends to let them all know that he was there for them.
He always shared his successes even when he was the only responsible for them, and took complete blame for anything that went wrong, even when it was not his fault.
He was, and still is, incredibly respected as a journalist, an analyst, and as a leader. He taught seasoned politicians how democracy worked the first years of the Spanish transition when he was only 23 years old. He spoke in thousands of TV Shows and Radio Debates, he wrote thousands of articles, taught in many universities, and gave advice, always without expecting anything in exchange, to many of the most powerful people in Spain.
He knew Chiefs of State, Ministers, Presidents of some of the largest companies of Spain and Latin América and he spoke with the same level of respect, empathy and kindness to them than to homeless people in the street, students, interns, employees, clerks, drivers and sales people calling in the middle of a family dinner.
He was offered many relevant positions, many times, but never accepted exchanging his freedom of thought, speech and action. He turned down many offers because they were against his principles and, many times, against the law, never accepting corruption even when many people around him would.
He read thousands of books, he started his career at 17, working in 3 places and studying political science and information sciences at the same time. He was extremely knowledgable in so many different topics, from politics, to international relations, economy, defence and terrorism, that he helped fighting decisevely as chief of national information in ABC during more than 10 years, not allowing ETA to breathe. He predicted that the world would exchange freedom for security the very day of the 9/11, way before anyone else.
He always protected his sources, and he always triple checked everything before publishing or saying it, reading newspapers from both the left and the right, of more than 5 countries almost every day. He was able to write about anything, any time, always knowing what was going to happen before it happened, always being able to shed light in what was most important, not more popular, and fighting what was wrong, even when it harmed him personally or professionally.
He was one of the only people that actually cared about others. He tried to help people become aware of the wars, injustices and human rights violations that took place all around the globe while most people chose not to.
He was my partner when I started developing the projects that you see me share. He was the biggest inspiration, source of happiness, gratitude and confidence that I ever had, he was my guide, my moral reference and, over all, he was the biggest friend of my life. We used to speak 4 hours a day, and was lucky enough to work with him for 10 years.
There are no words to express how grateful I feel to him and my mother, and how painful it is not to have him now. Selfishly, because I still need him. But also because he was such a genuinely happy person. So moral that he was at complete peace with himself, and he was destined to enjoy an incredibly well earned retirement, but cancer had other plans for him. He deserved so much to enjoy the last part of his life after working more than 12 hours a day for more than 40 years, but life is not fair.
I know It is a personal post, but, I believe, it is more than that. I share with you because, the same way he helped me find my path, knowing about him can help you become a better person and a better leader. Everyone talks about how we should be as leaders and human beings. He just was.
Even if you didn't know him, he cared about you, and wished you and your loved ones happiness and wellbeing. And so do I.
Thank you for everything father. Proud beyond words
“You are not more than the others, nor you are less than anybody else”. José Antonio Sentís, 03/04/1953 - 10/11/2017
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