Sci-Tech Academic Director Presents Book: A Small Book on Stoic Philosophy

Guillermo de Haro, Academic Director of Graduate Programs at IE’s School of Science & Technology presented his latest book El pequeño libro de la filosofía estoica (A Small Book on Stoic Philosophy) earlier this month in the first live podcast recorded at IE University. 

This book, written by Haro and Javier G. Recuenco, founder of Singular Targeting, discusses what stoicism is, its history and main elements– and how it can help business leaders.

“The reason why some entrepreneurs are able to succeed in their ventures is because of their ability to solve problems.” Guillermo de Haro

According to Haro, stoicism urges its followers to be resilient: to master ourselves and problem solve despite any outside challenges. 

“When the going gets tough, the stoics get going,” he said. 

The authors use stoic philosophy to discover how people can make better decisions to live a more virtuous and happy life.

The co-authors joined Val Muñoz de Bustillo, founder of the podcast Polymatas, for a lively discussion on “Stoicism for CEO’s” in the IE Tower.

Watch full Video here.

They described the tight relationship of stoicism and entrepreneurship and argued how this philosophy can be applied to grow and excel in our personal and professional lives.

“Stoicism and entrepreneurship are closely related because without being a stoic, it is difficult to be an entrepreneur,” Muñoz said.

The trio discussed how they apply different stoicism principles in their everyday lives.

“Stoicism is a good philosophy for when things get complicated and when there is a lot of uncertainty,” said Recuenco when asked why we are now seeing a comeback of this philosophy.

“It always has a resurgence every time humanity has gone through a period of questioning, strengthening, toughness and resilience,” added Recuenco.

Students attending the presentation asked the authors what attracted them to stoicism.

“Above all, it's realism. It is a discipline of understanding reality as it is and not as you would like it to be,” said Recuenco.

Haro explained that what he found the most interesting about this philosophy is “discovering that many of the things these people did thousands of years ago, we continue doing today.”

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