Each One Teach One

I feel that now our team looks like that Boy Scout patrol I used to lead during my childhood: we worked hard, we laughed a lot and we would get things done.

I haven’t written in a while because we have been busy putting something together that dazzles me everyday and now when all is starting to make sense, I am writing again. We have such a great group of people that I do not even know who is leading.  Everyday I show up to work and there is a continuous 360 degrees feedback session. 

When I was a boy, I spent a long-time being part of an organization founded by Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, the Boys Scouts movement.  There were some practices that until now just made sense to me like each troop was divided into patrols formed by 8 members.  These patrols adopted names from animals that represented the spirit of the team.  They participated in all types of competitions, but there were never individual competitions.  When one competed, you were always representing your patrol, a group who always walked with the leader up front and the sub leader at the back to ensure that we all moved at the same speed and no one was left behind.  I feel that now our team looks like that patrol I used to lead during my childhood: we worked hard, we laughed a lot and we would get things done.

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Trust: The Underrated Enabler

My mother was a tough lady and in order to be trusted and supported, I needed to earn it. Every time I look for a new position I do research about how trust is managed within that specific team and if I will be in a key position to influence trust.

my-brothers

I was traveling from Cape Town to Panama to attend my mother’s funeral and my brothers agreed that I would speak at the ceremony. I was sitting on the plane trying to think what to write since she has been a huge influencer in my personal and professional life. It was an impossible task to fit it all in one speech. Then I decided to just focus in one word that will define her greatest legacy in my life. After hours of thinking that the perfect word was ‘trust’. She trusted me to do well, always. It didn’t matter how much I failed in something, she will always be there to cheer for me.

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