I’m writing this from China…

I’m here for a trade fair… well… two.

Tiles. Kitchens. Bathrooms. Doors. Windows.

As you know, I’m building my real estate empire on the side.

Which means moving my @ss, meeting suppliers, asking questions and starting from zero somewhere nobody particularly cares what I did before.

Former CEO?

Lovely.

Board experience?

Wonderful.

Twenty years in infrastructure?

Very impressive, sir.

Now, how many toilets would you like?

Fair enough.

Look.

There’s a lesson here for anyone working in infrastructure or consulting.

Your experience only helps if you know where it stops.

You may have delivered five motorways.

That doesn’t mean you understand a hospital’s operating requirements.

You may have advised on ten availability-payment PPPs.

That doesn’t mean you understand the demand risk on a toll road.

You may know the contract backwards.

That doesn’t mean you know whether the contractor can actually build what it says.

But admitting that in a meeting?

Oh dear… as I’m called here in the booths…

What if someone discovers you don’t know everything?

They might revoke your consultant licence.

Confiscate your nice pen.

Make you travel economy.

So you nod.

You recognise enough of the vocabulary to feel comfortable.

And you quietly replace the things you haven’t checked with things you’ve seen before.

That’s how experience becomes an expensive assumption.

Here, I need to remember that.

I know how to negotiate.

But negotiating brilliantly with the wrong supplier would still make me an idiot.

Just an idiot with a discount.

Before discussing price, I need to understand what I’m buying, who will deliver it and how I’ll verify that it meets my requirements.

The same applies to your next infrastructure project.

I have a recommendation for you.

Ask yourself this in your next meeting:

What am I assuming because it worked on my last project, and what evidence do I have that it applies here?

Anyway...

Projects are intense.

They drag all your energy and attention.

You get so deep into it that you stop looking outside it.

Every conversation is about your programme, your procurement, your contract.

Meanwhile, the business world keeps moving.

That’s where today’s sponsor, the Morning Brew.

Their free business newsletter is a simple way to keep an eye on what’s happening beyond your own project bubble.

Now, back to the fair.

I have a business to grow and some embarrassingly basic questions to ask.

P.S. Twenty years of experience. Still asking someone to explain me the differences between door hinges or what should I use, PVC or aluminum for my windows. Anyway, better now than after ordering 200.

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