I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
You didn't know this about the Chunnel
|
The Channel Tunnel, or "Chunnel," connecting the UK and France, was one of the most ambitious engineering feats of the 20th century. Over £9 billion or about $21 billion today. 50.5 kilometers (31.4 miles) of tunnel under the English Channel. Politicians smelling the blood of taxpayers… Paradise for corruption and things that can go wrong. During the project, some lonely managers noticed something strange. The daily records for soil removal from the British side of the tunnel didn’t add up. Thousands of cubic meters of chalk and dirt were being excavated, but the number of dump trucks required to remove it kept fluctuating wildly. Some days there were too many trucks, and on others, there were too few. They decided to investigate. Trucks were "disappearing" before completing their assigned trips to the dumping zones. Curiously only on the British side… Pirates! Well… In the Kent countryside near the British side of the tunnel, fertile soil was at a premium. Word had spread among farmers that the chalky spoil being excavated from the tunnel was perfect for enriching their fields. Every night, farmers were sneaking onto the construction site and bribing drivers to "accidentally" dump their loads on private farmland instead of at the official disposal sites. Some drivers were reportedly paid £50-£100 per load, and the farmers, thrilled with their new topsoil, happily spread it across their fields… This illustrates the unexpected challenges of managing logistics on massive construction sites. As well as creativity of local communities, my friend, in "participating" in infrastructure projects… And missed business opportunities… I created a document with the more important lessons learned of my last project. Probably not as spectacular… but some of them equally laughable.
​
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 👇
I told you about Horward before. 1982. New York. A young guy joined a company. Not as CEO. Not as strategist. Not as “Head of Vision.” Director of Retail Operations. Exciting, right? Mid-level. Replaceable. Just another guy executing someone else’s plan. The company was called: Starbucks The guy was: Howard Schultz At that time, Starbucks didn’t even sell the “Starbucks experience.” They sold beans. Machines. Coffee equipment. No romance. No Italian fantasy. No global empire. Just beans. But...
Excellent professional. First in coming in. Last in leaving. Sacrificing holidays, family time and even health. Limited recognition. Or not recognition at all. Tried to change career path. “If only you had specific experience”, “It would be great to have it done it before”, “But this is complicated”, “If you had more exposure to clients”, “what’s your commercial experience”. Don’t blame those questions, or the messengers. Fear is logical. In today’s world where you have to cover your @ss at...
You talk to that person and think, This must be someone important. Vice President. Well… time to listen. It was urgent. And my agenda always has room for interesting people. Then… 30 seconds into the conversation, you realize this is going nowhere. How he talks. What he asks. The rush to prove the title… something I wasn’t interested in. Well… Disappointment. Then… You check LinkedIn and notice the company has more Vice Presidents than assistants, associates, managers, and project managers...