Surely, you have found yourselves in a situation at some point, whether on a personal, family, friendly and/or professional level, where a decision that you thought was specific and one-off, ended up becoming a long-term commitment.

Regarding the previous paragraph, I will briefly tell you two true stories associated with my time in the corporate world and my own company, with different endings.

During my time in dependent employment, I worked in a company that was only a few years old in the market and whose administrative offices had an open concept and at that time there was only one closed meeting room, which was called “the fishbowl”, because it was all made of glass.

I still remember one afternoon when the general manager called me into the office and said, “Hugo, something has happened recently that I should know about and would like you to tell me about.” And indeed, there had been a problem with the planning manager. I explained the situation exactly as it had occurred and the solution I had proposed. He replied, “I appreciate your honesty. I would add these points to what you’ve said.” And then he said, “Oh, by the way, I already knew what happened, and if you hadn’t told me exactly what happened, you would have been coming to the company as a customer.”

In that sense, from my perspective, this event changed our way of working going forward, and with this simple act, complete trust was established. More than 15 years have passed since then, our professional lives have taken different paths, and we still maintain communication and friendship.

On another note, my brothers and I own a small business, established over two decades ago, that specializes in selling construction finishes for offices, homes, and other sectors. Among the products we sell are roller blinds and curtains. Therefore, a client who was involved in office construction asked us to supply them with roller blinds for their offices.

Regarding this, the cost wasn’t high, to which we replied that we could provide the same services at cost with flexible payment options. However, the proposed business transaction didn’t go through. Some time later, this same client shifted to building multi-family residential buildings and is now a major player in this sector in what’s known as Modern Lima. While we maintain good communication, we’re not among their top-of-mind suppliers.

Some lessons learned from these two stories.

• Trust is a supreme value; it takes a long time to build and can fade due to poor communication or a failure to understand the other party’s needs.
• Truth above all, especially today in a world where relativism of opinions and different truths are advancing in our society in general.
• One must always take responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions.

Now I will share some quotes with you, related to the lessons learned from these two stories.

• “Trust is a gift you give freely and an honor someone must earn.” Author unknown.
• “He who is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important matters.” – Albert Einstein, German-Jewish scientist.
• “People who have trust issues only need to look in the mirror. There they will find the person who will betray them the most.” Shannon L. Alder, American physician.

Some experts say that football is the most important of the least important topics, so I’ll leave you with this thought for some introspection: Am I a trustworthy person? This question is borrowed from the talk “The Art of Listening” given a few days ago by a very good friend, Carmen Julia Rivera.

So keep your spirits up, you’re still working on and polishing your best version, and don’t forget: row against the current and out to sea!