He is a doctor, specialist in surgery from Harvard University Medical School, he practiced as a specialist in general surgery and digestive system for 26 years in hospitals in the United States and Spain. He has devoted much of his life to research to unlock human potential, especially in times of challenge, uncertainty, and change. He has spent more than 20 years giving courses, conferences and working with management teams to enhance human capacities such as leadership, teamwork, change management, health, well-being, happiness, communication, creativity and innovation. He also published books, among which are “Living is an urgent matter”, “Reset your mind”, “Now Me”, “Your three super powers”, “Leader’s Wood” and “The answer”.
News: What prompted you to give talks?
Mario Alonso Puig: My patients began to tell me that what I shared with them about how to deal with the disease in a different way, I was helping them, not only when it came to overcoming their ailments, but also in different aspects of their lives. That prompted me to pass on my knowledge to more people. They were the ones who told me that I had a great responsibility to get this content and these approaches to people who worked in companies, because they were convinced that it would help them not only professionally but also personally.
News: Who were your guides?
Alonso Puig: I have had many guides throughout my life. I have found a lot of inspiration in books on neuroscience as well as on philosophy, history and psychology. I have also found a great guide in nature itself. And, of course, in my own patients, who have shown me their ability to deal with their illnesses. The level of courage and determination that I saw in them was truly amazing to me. To all these guides I must add my family, my wife, my children and my friends, as well as my own reflection, my experiences and my desire to connect with silence.
News: Who is a potential leader?
Alonso Puig: Everyone is a potential leaderbecause a leader, man or woman, is a person capable of influencing and capable of transforming, he is a person capable of building bridges where there are only walls, of creating illusion where there is only despair.
News: Who are your leaders?
Alonso Puig: The number one leader is Jesus Christ, because he was someone who transformed, from love, from compassion and from the capacity for forgiveness. I have also found leaders in people who are taking companies to truly amazing places, people who feel part of that success and build fundamentally very human companies.
News: Who do you admire?
Alonso Puig: To anyone who wants to improve themselves. I admire people who are capable of transcending their ego and thinking about what they can do to improve the lives of others.. I admire all those people who, despite the difficulty, despite the adversity, despite the uncertainty, remain confident that the best is yet to come. I admire people who, regardless of having reached an extraordinary level of knowledge, remain humble, continue to maintain that ability to listen, that interest, that curiosity to discover.
News: Do you still practice as a surgeon?
Alonso Puig: No, I left surgery 23 years ago after practicing it for 26 years.
News: Have you always liked to inspire others?
Alonso Puig: Yes, because somehow I have always thought that every human being has a level of greatness inside that cannot even be imagined. For me inspiring is helping to discover that hidden greatness and helping it to unfold and flourish.
News: What do you want to leave viewers in your talks?
Alonso Puig: The feeling that they are extraordinary. The feeling that they can and deserve to be happy.
News: What refund do you get?
Alonso Puig: They tell me that they discover an illusion, a serenity and a confidence that they did not have before.
News: Who is he leaning on?
Alonso Puig: In those referents in the field of neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, in science. Those are the people who inspire me, people who have a great vocation aimed at reducing the suffering of other people. They inspire me to help people rediscover their true greatness.
News: Have you ever felt powerless?
Alonso Puig: Yes of course. There have been many times when I have had the feeling that I had no strength, so I ask the Universe for help.
News: Is a leader born or made?
Alonso Puig: We are all born with the potential to lead, to influence, to transform. What happens is that not everyone displays that potential and makes it a tangible reality, a reality that the senses can perceive.
News: How would you define a true leader?
Alonso Puig: Like a person who has been able to transcend his ego, like that person who thinks more about what he can give than what he can get. They are people who have developed a deep, wide and far-reaching gaze. They are people who can see more than what is apparent, who can understand the connection between different things and who can know where certain behaviors lead.
News: Are you experiencing the best life you can have?
Alonso Puig: I consider myself, as the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset said, a gerund, not a participle, that is, I am not completely made, but little by little I am becoming. Therefore, I am not experiencing the best life that I can have.
News: How is self-esteem different from ego?
Alonso Puig: Self-esteem is the result of recognizing the greatness that exists within. This recognition affects not only one person, but also affects others. In other words, I not only recognize my greatness, but I also recognize the greatness of others. The ego would never allow me to see others with that level of greatness. The ego is maintained by generating rivalry.
News: Do you think that after the pandemic humanity changed something?
Alonso Puig: There are people who have changed, who have realized what really matters. There are others who simply have not realized what really matters and are still trapped in old habits of thought, in old ways of being and being in life or in the world.
News: Have you ever mentored political leaders?
Alonso Puig: Yes, on one occasion I gave a conference for the two majority parties in Spain and the conclusion reached is that they had to do everything possible to understand each other.
News: Do you have a challenge to meet?
Alonso Puig: I have many pending challenges, and the most important is to discover how we can help each other to be truly happy.
News: Within the framework of the conferences that you will give in March in Argentina, what topics will you address?
Alonso Puig: On March 18 I will be in Buenos Aires and there I will talk about “Your health, your well-being and your happiness also depend on you.” On March 19 “Lead and lead from being”. In Salta, on March 24, I will give a workshop on “Leadership and well-being in times of uncertainty” On the 25th, in the same city, I will address “The mentality of the number one”, and to culminate I will be on March 30 in Bariloche with the conference that will deal as the central theme “The Hero’s Journey”, a metaphor on the transformation of the human being.
by Claudia Pandolfo
