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What would you do in this situation?
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In a meeting. Not long ago. ​ Something cost 15 one month ago, and then… now it costs only 10… No matter if I’m talking about millions or billions. It’s the same. ​ This is what crossed my mind… Do you want an award? Or… a pat in your back? Or being fired? ​ The question to you. What would you do? ​ Well… in my case, I wanted to be polite, be positive and constructive and all that sh*t that MBAs teach around the world. So I just said politely. “If that’s true, you should be fired”. ​ Yeah… I had to breath heavily, several times, to avoid saying the first thing that crossed my mind. ​ Hopefully, it sounded even better due to my heavy Spanish accent. ​ Let’s be honest. ​ Would you put your money on that project? Your money. Into that project. Run by that team. ​ Really? ​ I can imagine myself going to a risk committee when I was doing bids… “Last month, the project was 15 billion, but today – magic – it’s only 10 billion, awesome, right? Give me 500 million from our company’s pocket to put in this project. Is it not wonderful? We are going to win it?” ​ What would you think that it would happen to me? Or to you? ​ Now think that the taxpayer will say when everything blows up… if you were not fired on the spot and milagrously all bosses died on a hurt attack during the meeting with a blank check on the table… and you used it for the project! ​ That’s the “I want this to happen” bias. ​ One of the most dangerous. The killer. The white-shark. The T-Rex… of all biases. ​ Your ass is not going to look nice when they bite you. ​ And this bias happens all the time. Or I reduce the cost to something palatable or it’s not done. Or I cut the project into pieces or it’s not done. Then… we’ll see what happens with the interfaces… or maybe I won’t as I’ll be retired in the Caribbean. Nobody is counting the sum, the value of 3-4 projects… but I’m cutting ribbons 3-4 times. ​ Look. ​ I insist. ​ There are some basics… including common sense. ​ 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 | C-Suite Executive | Mentor, Coach, Strategic Consultant | Real Estate Investor | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
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