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 👇
The pattern... Different country. Different name. Same movie. A “strategic” project. Big announcements. Strong political backing. Aggressive bids. Beautiful financial models. Everyone smiling at financial close. And then… After bonuses paid and elections won… Reality. Costs go up. Time disappears. Risks… yes, those that were “managed” and “transferred to the party better able to deal with”, start showing up. Suddenly: - contracts are “reinterpreted” - assumptions were “too optimistic” -...
When people talk about successful projects, these are the usual suspects: The deal was clear from day one Risks were allocated… not hidden The wrong bidders didn’t show up Time was respected Decisions were made early The contract was readable Banks believed the story Equity had skin in the game The public side knew what it wanted Advisors added value (for once) Construction was not “optimistic” Problems were solved fast Ego was controlled Operations were considered from day one Someone owned...
Yesterday I heard: “I’m too old to change career.” C*jonudo. Look. Think of Bernie Marcus. He was 49 when he got fired from his executive role at a hardware retail chain. The 70s. No InfoJobs. No Trade Me. No LinkedIn. And I doubt he felt like photocopying his CV and knocking on doors. If you’ve been there… you know. So he sat down in a café with Arthur Blank and made a decision: He was going to destroy the people who had fired him. I like that. Vengeance is underrated fuel. Together, they...