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You don't need to be a billionaire to feel like one
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You probably know the story. An Arab billionaire sends his son to study in London. Naturally, he buys him a gold-plated Ferrari. A few weeks later, the son calls home. “Dad, I have a problem.” “What is it, son? Do you need more money?” “No, Dad. It's embarrassing. All my friends go to university by Underground. I'm the only idiot arriving in a gold Ferrari.” His father goes silent. Then replies: “My son, you should have told me earlier. I'm sending you £300 million immediately. Buy yourself an Underground.” This joke explains something that we infrastructure people spend our entire careers trying to explain. Good infrastructure makes everyone's life better. Even billionaires. You can own a Ferrari or ten. You can even have a chauffeur. But when an entire city is stuck in traffic, your Ferrari is just a very expensive place to sit. And your chauffeur is simply another person who is late. A functioning Underground? That's different. It doesn't care about your net worth. It gets you there. A good road doesn't ask whether you're rich. A reliable power grid doesn't give preferential treatment to billionaires. A properly functioning water system doesn't check your LinkedIn title. Infrastructure is one of the few investments where individual prosperity depends on collective prosperity. And that's what makes it so extraordinary. Maybe… but only maybe… we should remember that next time we're debating whether a project is worth building. The real return on infrastructure isn't always visible in the financial model. Sometimes, it's simply a better life. For everyone. If you are interested in building more infrastructure faster and more efficiently, click below… you’ll wish with all your heart have entered before. ​The Room​ 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 👇
Accidents aside because of lack of maintenance and incompetent managers and politicians, Spain has made great things in high-speed trains. Let’s go back in time to the good times. 1988 The country decided to build a high-speed railway between Madrid and Sevilla… or Seville. 470 kilometres. New infrastructure. New technology. A country with no previous high-speed rail experience, but willing to become a top guy. By April 1992, passengers were travelling at 250 km/h. About three and a half...
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