Hector A. Ruiz

The other day at work I was having a conversation with a coworker about one of those sensible topics we are working on to become a better society.

A few months ago, I was working in a project with a fellow Project Manager from a foreign country. We had several meetings and conference calls, and I was amazed on how poorly he treated the people who were under his title, regardless if the person worked for his, mine or anyone else’s company.

I shared this with a friend over a few drinks one night, and my friend -who used to work for someone of the same nationality of the PM- said to me: -“Oh yes, that’s the way they are. They are very into hierarchy. They behave one way if you have a title that’s under theirs, and they behave in a completely different way if they are under you. It’s just the way they are. They respect hierarchy and that’s the way it works for them.” A similar example was brought to my attention when a friend who lived in a certain country where the people are very into punctuality, told me: “It’s part of their culture. It’s the way they are.”

All of this makes me wonder: in this new era of globalization and equality -something I’m all in favor of- where do we stand when it comes to qualities like this that appear to be intrinsic to a group of people who share a particular behavior in common?

Am I wrong in saying that people from country “X” are nut about punctuality? Am I offending anyone if I say it is common for a certain nationality to thrive for respect and hierarchy? I would like to say no, because otherwise, why would we have all the articles:

20 things to know before moving to Sweden

Things not to do in Denmark

7 useful culture shock preventing facts about austrian culture

That brings me to my next question: is it fair to associate a group people with a certain behavior in common, regardless if it is positive or negative?

The prologue of my book -written by my best friend Dr. Lorne Lopez-, states that my book is uses “the old-school free speech some of us today long for”. As an analysis of a society done by a foreigner, something that I wanted to clear up from the very beginning of my book, is the resource of generalization and how I wanted to avoid it as most as I could. In the end, I will generalize just like when my friend would say “oh yes, people from that country are very into hierarchy”, or like when my other friend would say: “people from that country are very into punctuality”. This is because when I see certain patterns recurrently occur in a group of people who have something in common, I cannot help but to state that maybe there is a chance that someone who belongs to that group, will also have the same characteristics.

In my book, I will state that Venezuela’s society was filled with flaws and cracks that contributed to initiate the debacle of the country that has led to its current collapsed state. The thing is that, society is not an omnipresent, omnipotent invisible entity being that surrounds us and which we can’t interact with.

Society is made by people, and in Venezuela’s case, people with a lot of similar characteristics in common.

A common trend seen on non-fiction books is for authors to normally include one or two famous phrases at the start of their books. My reading of this is that firstly, the author intends to pay tribute and honor the person who pronounced the phrase, and secondly to use the phrase as a foundation for the manuscript that will follow.

When the time came for me to decide which phrase I would include in my book, I contemplated several options within the hundreds of works and famous moments that have ocurred throughout mankind’s history, and that could have a direct relation with the content of my book and the message I intend to send with it. Among the many options I had, there is one I would like to share with you, as everytime I think about it, it brings me a motivating and inspiring sensation that not many modern-day cliche phrases can bring, especially when considering setting a new goal or a new objective, regardless of its difficulty and challenge. It is an interesting contrast against the current trend of motivational hope and dream seeker phrases one can find anywhere nowadays, versus the simple fact of accepting the reality in which you are living. The considered goal set can be anything: graduating from high-school or college, reach a summit in hiking, getting that dream job you’ve always wanted, marrying the person you love, or becoming one of the best tennis players of all time.

In 2018, Toni Nadal -Rafael Nadal’s uncle and trainer- gave a TEDx talk, in which he shared an interesting anecdote that happened between him and Rafael during his early years as a professional tennis player. The story went that Toni and Rafael were preparing the strategy for the upcoming championship match of Montecarlo’s Master Series, which Nadal would be playing against some “random no-good swiss guy”, sarcastically referring to then #1 ranked tennis player in the world, Roger Federer. During the conversation, Rafa asked his uncle about what he thought of what his chances were of winning, to which Toni replied:

“Your chances aren’t good: Federer’s forehand is way better than yours, his backhand is better than yours, his volley is way too good and better than yours, and his serve, well, let’s just say…” and at that point Rafa interrupted him and said: “Whoa, whoa, nice kind of encouragement you are giving me to go outside and play against him…”

Without hesitation, Toni told his nephew: “Well, I can lie to you if you want, no problem. However, in a few minutes, Federer won’t lie to you at all. It’s better for you to face facts and know what you are up against with. That being said, let’s find solutions to the issue at hand”.

Toni resumed his presentation in the TEDx talk: “That has been the way I have understood how training works: accept your reality, which is something that seems to be a very complicated thing to do nowadays. It seems to me that we always have to give positive motivational messages to our people. It seems like we have to constantly tell them that they are the best and they are the greatest at what they do. I think that if you think of yourself as not good enough, and you know exactly the reality of where you stand, that becomees the first step, the starting point to reach our goals”.

It is in this matter where most people and especially venezuelans who dealt (or still deal) with the crisis of their country, have a very hard time accepting something as simple as the truth and the reality of facts.

I have always been someone who thinks like Toni Nadal does: accepting reality helps you know where you stand, where you are, determine what can you do with the resources that you have, determine where do you want to go, what errors and mistakes you made that you must fix, what could have been done in a different and more efficient way, how close you are from your goal, how is your overall plan working and how well are you following the correct strategy to achieve your goal.

In my book I will share and the main causes that produced the collapse of Venezuela, and of course I will analyze them extensively and in a very detailed way; one of them while not being specifically listed or identified, is undoubtly an integral part of the overall message my book brings to the reader, which is the meaninig of accepting your reality. Many of the issues, setbacks and problems that happened in Venezuela, happened because the people involved with them did not face their reality, did not accept it and even if they did, they were unable to find solutions to the issue at hand. Instead, they shielded themselves behind excuses they created, that prevented them from reaching a solution.

In the TEDx Talk, Toni Nadal didn’t mention the year where the anecdote between him and Rafa had ocurred, so I will make a daring attempt of speculating it may have been 2006, because that was the first time Federer and Nadal faced each other in a final championship match in Montecarlo. The result of the match was a convincing victory by Nadal, who defeated Federer in four sets 6-2/6-7(2)/6-3/7-6(5), despite having an inferior forehand, backhand, volley and a serve that was nowhere near his rival’s. What caused that result? Several reasons, I’m quite sure; but I’m also sure that one of the most important ones was the fact that Nadal was able to accept his reality and he was able to find solutions to the issue at hand based on the reality he was. Nadal didn’t find or made up excuses.

This brings me to the closure of this entry, which is what I believe will most likely be the hardest task for my readers, not so much for a non-venezuelan, but for the venezuelan average reader: accept reality. Accept that many things in their country were wrong, despite that when seen from the surface, everything seemed like it was going on great. Accept that when faced with issues, problems and challenges like the ones I discuss in my book, regardless of how good or bad the situation was, venezuelans failed to find a solution. More importantly: accept that everything I state in my book about the failure of their society, is true.

I have nothing against dreaming, believing in something and sharing hope when working to reach a goal and wishing to achieve it; I have nothing against positive motivational cliche phrases like the ones I see every day in social media, because I believe that when properly used and managed effecively, they can bring a fundamental value to the equation of reaching a goal. However, I also believe that every now and then, it’s good for all of us to have a dose of facing reality and put your feet on the ground, in order to come up with a strategy that will allow you to make those dreams come true.

I decided not to include Toni’s phrase in my book for a bunch of reasons, the main one being that I had other candidates such as John Stuart Mill, Rene Descartes and Friedrich Nietzsche infront of him, and I thought it was improper to put Toni Nadal with them. I also thought the phrase served better the environment of a conference as the one he gave, more than a book. However I kept its lesson and the debate that one can initiate based on it: Accepting reality and finding solutions.

Sometimes there are no problems or excuses in life. Only solutions, but only if you want them…