I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
This executive is living in fear
|
It’s not a story of mine. No. The great Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in his book Antifragile compared two people: a high-level executive with a good salary, dressed in a suit and tie, and an immigrant taxi driver, self-employed, with a variable income and dressed as best he can. ​ Taleb remarked that, while the executive may seem to have a calmer, more secure life with a better salary, better suits, and nicer restaurants, deep down, he lived in immense internal fear. He sh*t in his pants. This fear comes from his status. Everything he now has and doesn’t want to lose. Comfort zone or the pay check drug. ​ The executive trembles whenever company cutbacks are announced, loses sleep thinking he might be fired, and feels like his world is crumbling if his boss calls him into the office for no apparent reason. Why? Because the well-paid executive fears losing his lifestyle, being unable to pay the three mortgages he has, the car, and his kids’ school fees. And he fears this because, unlike the self-employed immigrant taxi driver, he has two major problems:
​ Therefore, the taxi driver is more antifragile, which essentially means being better prepared for unexpected events, disruptions, and change. ​ The taxi driver is used to earning a lot some days and nothing on others, having good months and less favorable months, and above all, dealing with uncertainty and change. ​ Security and certainty vs. uncertainty and change. ​ But you could work this around in your favour. ​ You could simply accept that there is no greater security or certainty than knowing that life is uncertainty and change. ​ This is why personal growth, remain flexible and alert, a side business or investments, are so important to keep your pants clean. ​ If you look for help in that regard, you can click below and start working.
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 👇
Most PPP evaluations are designed by committees obsessed with checking boxes. Not with selecting the best partner. The result? Overcomplicated scoring matrices Subjective criteria disguised as science Endless “clarification” rounds A perfect environment for disputes… Sorry. A PPP evaluation is not an academic exercise. It’s a decision. And decisions must be fast, clear, defensible. So… how do you design the perfect evaluation? The 3-Step PPP Evaluation That Actually Works Step 1 — Choose only...
When you spend enough time in Europe, you usually end dealing with a bank. It’s as lovely as a tooth pain. The EU is the bureaucracy hell of the world. A place that tells you even how the cap of a bottle of coke must be… and of course, they did not think about any market testing or user case. What for? Well… Banks. You can’t live without them, but you hate them. Mastodonts with benefits. Shield by government. Too much money invested in lobbies… or finding imaginative solution to hide bribes...
Many people challenge my preferred RFP strategy for PPPs: “Pre-qualify strong consortia, set a minimum technical pass/fail, and award to the best NPV bidder? They’ll just bid low and renegotiate later!” I get it. That tactic has been abused in Latin America for years. But we need to ask: Why has +20% (often +50%, +100%, +200%) become almost inevitable there? Let’s look at the real causes: Why PPP prices skyrocket after award 1) Renegotiation is systemic. In transport PPPs, up to 78% of...