|
I’m still recovering from the images of the invasion of Ceuta. For those who don’t know, Morocco sent. through action or inaction, around 80,000 people into Ceuta, a Spanish city in North Africa. More than 140 people died. A city doubled its population in a matter of hours. Spanish intelligence warned the police, the government, and Morocco. Some were celebrating some King holidays. Others were simply on holidays… Faced with what was coming, the police decided to let people through rather than start shooting. The thing is, people are still talking about why the Spanish government did nothing. The Prime Minister didn’t even interrupt his holiday and only showed up to provide answers 40 days later… The conspiracy theories multiplied. Some incredibly complicated. With Israel or Russia involved. With spies and the sort of things people invent when they know they’ll never get to write the next James Bond film. There is something I have learned over the years. And I even think science backs it up. When faced with complex problems, the solution, or the reason something happens, is usually the simplest one. The most straightforward. The thing right in front of everyone that nobody wants to see or acknowledge. Incompetence. Plain and simple incompetence. Combined with poor systems. A lack of training. And emergency communication channels that haven’t been tested. The most obvious usual suspect. But one that is too simple. And scary… When I explain situations like these to clients, they put their heads in their hands. Others nod. Others get depressed. Most of them also smile… Eventually. If you’d rather the shock came from me than from your next unpleasant surprise or terrible crisis, you know where to click.
​
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. |
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
You know what I like saying. The most expensive piece of infrastructure is not a tunnel. It is not a bridge. It is the Send button. Welcome to Northern Ireland. Project Omega. A 25-year PFI plant for wastewater and sludge treatment. The SPV, Glen Water, put a £4.4 million claim. The issue? Failures by Northern Ireland Water to meet its obligations for an existing incinerator. Typical… the client not meeting expectations… And this is what everything stats to be interesting. There had been...
There is a strange phenomenon in big projects. The bigger the project becomes… …the smaller your world gets. Egos kill more projects than bored consultants. I’ve seen it. Normally, it goes like that… You spend your morning discussing clause 38.4. Lunch reviewing the debt sizing. And your afternoon arguing whether a risk should be red… …or dark orange. … and what would be the right color after mitigation… Meanwhile: Interest rates move. A contractor issues a profit warning. A Government...
You arrive to the room like a child with new shoes. First project meeting. Excited. Then a guy with not much hair says… “The SPV will pass the risk down through back-to-back contracts, subject to equivalent project relief and the lenders’ step-in rights.” You nod. Of course you nod. You have a degree. Twenty years of experience. And a LinkedIn profile that says “strategic leader.” You cannot possibly ask what the hell that means. So you write “back-to-back” in your notebook. Twice. Must be...