In mid-2015, browsing LinkedIn from my living room, I came across Antonio Monerris. His profile caught my attention and, as I usually do in these cases, I sent him a message. After congratulating him on his professional achievements, he suggested we have a videoconference. Like a kind of blind date, we met a few days later. I found him to be friendly, open and very passionate about what he does. What struck me most was his enthusiasm for connecting people.
In July 2015, I found myself in an office in Barcelona trying to sell a Lean Management project to the owner of a translation company, a contact of Antonio Monerris.
For almost two years I was launching new projects that took me back to Barcelona practically every week. The company was achieving good results and an important change in the way it worked. This attracted the attention of an American multinational from the same sector, which finally took the company over.
One thing that I fondly recall is how, in March 2016, before the buyout was finally completed, the owner and CEO of the Barcelona company asked me to go with her to New York to meet the Americans and give her my opinion. This really filled me with pride. It showed the high level of trust we had reached in each other during our professional relationship.
After the takeover in mid-2016 things changed a lot for me. The Americans had their own plans, which didn’t include external consultancy. It wasn’t until 2021 that we started talking about working together again.
The American multinational had grown exponentially and was operating all over the world, with clients that included all the current leading tech companies in Silicon Valley. It was an extremely demanding environment. The good news was that its leaders were interested in replicating the Barcelona model throughout the organisation.
In October 2021 I found myself in a video conference negotiating with the entire executive team of the American multinational, and ended up closing one of my biggest projects worth hundreds of thousands of euros. The company with more than 1,500 employees and an annual turnover of 300 million dollars needed a total transformation – it was really exciting
Beyond the project itself, there are three main reflections and lessons that I’ve been able to draw from this experience:
1. We must be generous in appraising the qualities we see in others. Thanks to that, my good friend Antonio Monerris set me on the path of this beautiful story. I couldn’t be more grateful to him and to the CEO of the Barcelona-based company.
2. You must always do a good job. As one of my mentors says: “How you do anything is how you do everything”. If I hadn’t done a good job in Barcelona, I would never have ended up working with the Americans.
3. You have to be connected – lone wolves don’t get far. We aren’t worth what we know, we’re worth what our network of contacts is worth. Social networks open up the possibility of connecting with almost anyone. We live in a world of abundance, and we should take advantage of it.
If you want to transform your organisation, arrange a no-strings-attached introductory meeting with me and you can tell me about your company’s problems or the concerns you have. I’ll give you my point of view and pinpoint what you can do to achieve your goals.
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