Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
An election package causes me an allergic reaction
|
Yesterday, I received a bothering message from DHL indicating that my Canadian election package was in its way… So, today… Canada. 1907 Canada was building one of the most ambitious bridges in the world. The Quebec Bridge. A spectacular structure across the St. Lawrence River. Almost 550 metres between its main supports. A masterpiece of engineering. At least… as usual… on paper. The engineer was Theodore Cooper. Experienced. Respected. Confident. Very confident. Maybe too much… At some point, the bridge span was increased. Unfortunately, the calculations weren't properly updated to reflect the additional weight. A minor administrative detail. A little bit like increasing the size of an aircraft without checking whether the wings can still hold it. Details… small details. But Cooper knew his business. He was the expert. And one day, something inconvenient happened. The steel started bending. Literally. Engineers noticed. Workers noticed. Some workers became so concerned that they stopped turning up for work. An interesting approach to occupational health and safety. Unfortunately, not everyone shared their enthusiasm for staying alive. Concerns were raised. Work was temporarily stopped. Then resumed. After all, stopping construction would have been very inconvenient. For the programme. For management. For their reputation. For everyone. Except perhaps the people standing underneath several thousand tonnes of steel. On 29 August 1907, the bridge collapsed. 76 workers died. The investigation identified design errors and serious failures of engineering judgement. An expensive and tragic way of discovering that confidence is not a substitute for competence. Now, I find this fascinating. Because 119 years later, we still have people doing exactly the same thing. Different projects. Different technologies. Better computers. More consultants. And significantly more PowerPoint presentations. But the same problem. Someone makes a decision. Someone else raises a concern. The concern is inconvenient. So it gets explained away. Look. Experience should make you more aware of what you don't know. Not more convinced that you know everything. A good executive asks difficult questions. A dangerous executive makes everyone afraid to answer them. And an extremely dangerous executive surrounds himself with people who agree with him. That's not a leadership team. That's a very expensive collection of mirrors. Which brings me to something else. Before You Send. Private, independent executive judgement for people making complex infrastructure decisions. An experienced second opinion when the consequences matter. And remember this: There’s nothing wrong with being wrong. The problem starts when you become too important to be corrected. And gravity, unfortunately, has never been particularly impressed by job titles.
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
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
After a wisdom toothache, the one thing I most look forward to ending is an election campaign. New Zealand has a fascinating relationship with infrastructure. We want everything. European-quality public transport. Affordable housing. Less traffic. Lower emissions. And, of course, lower taxes. Beautiful. There's just one small problem. We don't want density. Everybody wants trains. Modern stations. Frequent services. Maybe even a metro. Like London. Or Paris. Or Madrid. But please, no...
There was a time when managing a project meant managing a project. You know. Cost. Time. Quality. Safety. The usual boring stuff. Then someone discovered KPIs. Key Performance Indicators. Beautiful invention by consultants paid by the slide. And who have never actually managed a project. They design 47 KPIs. Each with a definition. A formula. A weighting. A threshold. And a 93-page document explaining how they work. Or how they're supposed to work… Of course, nobody really knows… but they...
A helicopter is a jodidamente difficult machine. To fly one, you must coordinate several controls simultaneously. Get one wrong, and things become… let’s say unpleasant. Get several wrong, and your career as a pilot may be short. First, you learn to take off. Then to fly. Then to fly at night. Then in formation. Then, perhaps, in combat. And only after mastering all that might someone reasonably ask you to land on a moving aircraft carrier. In the middle of a storm. At night. Now, imagine the...