I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
I scored you many goals
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First week of “relax” and meetings to celebrate my well-deserved holidays. Having been for so long on the infrastructure world, logically I’ve been catching up and meeting people from banks, private equity firms and infrastructure investors, in general. In a coffee with investors talking about how I could help them in the future, I was asked something like… why would I be a good advisor for them. I was thinking that we were practising the art of conversation and coffee tasting and this caught me totally out of guard. “Because I scored you many goals” – without thinking. Not the best answer, I’m afraid, but they loved it, and we could continue our coffee. And you know that I love coffee… Well… I correct. You know that I love good coffee… And why did they like my answer? Well… This is a constant in business. If you wonder, why the FBI uses hackers to protect their IT system or help them to “spy” on others’ computers… well… I’m sure you can guess. The best security guys can perfectly be former robbers. So, I guess that someone wanting to buy infrastructure, or any other thing would love to have a seller from the other site of the table advising them. I know where all the tricks and flaws could be in an asset. I’ve delivered many. It’s like buying a house… you would love to have a former real estate agent with you. Don’t you? If so, and you want to learn a few tricks about infrastructure, you need to take a look to this. ​The 15 Top Lessons of a PPP Project Nightmare - The audiobook​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
That’s how many countries approach infrastructure. Big pipeline. Big announcements. Zero learning. Norway did the opposite. Smart those guys. In the early 2000s, they tested PPPs with just three projects: E39 Klett–Bårdshaug (opened 2005) E39 Lyngdal–Flekkefjord (opened 2006) E18 Grimstad–Kristiansand (opened 2009) That’s it. Three shots. Not fifteen. Not a political fireworks show. A controlled experiment. Same model. Same timeframe. Comparable results. And guess what? They delivered. On...
A few days ago, I had a big argument with my team in Panama. They had spent almost 3 weeks trying to convince a client to change banks for her mortgage. It was a no-brainer.Lower interest rates.Lower fees. They showed her, over and over again, different scenarios… all in vain. You may wonder how, after 2 or 3 days of trying, they kept pushing. She is a public servant.And the team was trying to convince her to move from a government-owned bank to a fully private one. I repeat.Public servant....
The French writer and poet Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add… but when there is nothing left to take away.” And yet… People still have 10-line disclaimers in their email signatures. Or worse… the “please don’t print this email” line. I’ve reviewed bids where they were one step away from including the name and breed of the bid manager’s dog. Horror vacui. Or just… “just in case”. Every extra word that doesn’t serve a purpose?...