Today I would like to ask permission to leave the technical issues of management and governance for a moment, to report a brief extract from my diary.

My goal is to take some of my professional experience from these past 41 years. These are things I didn't learn from books or at university.

We are currently undergoing a change of era. 

Deep changes, some disruptive, both in the corporate world and in society. New paradigms, new knowledge, new work models, all of this directly impacts our professional life.

This entire process of change demands a lot from the professional, generates unemployment, losses, paradigm shifts, adaptation, but in the end, everything somehow stabilizes, as it is part of the maturation process.

The answers to past problems will not necessarily be the answers to current problems.

Observing people, their attitudes and knowing the experience they lived, always helped me a lot to understand the moment, allowing me to manage daily challenges.

I hope this brief report can, in some way, help you.

"Diary, August 31, 2021

Today I turn 61 years old.

This has been a different time, as on the 29th I lost my dad, and I am still processing this event.

It's interesting how our minds work, because despite everything, I feel calm and I'm here reviewing some classes that need to be taught this week.

I was, as usual, with the television tuned to the Bloomberg news agency, I think it's an addiction I bring from my corporate life as C-Level, but it allows me to keep up with what's happening in the business world, however, today I was looking for another channel, in order to start to relax, as it is already 22:30, when I go through the NetGeoWild channel, I see the program that my daughter is one of the protagonists, Dr. K Clinic of exotic animals. (My daughter is a veterinarian specializing in wild and exotic animals and works with Dr. K in Broward County, Florida.)

I always watch the program, but today it was different, seeing her in an emergency room, being broadcasting in over 160 countries, being considered as a reference, here in Brazil as in the United States, triggered, like a movie, my last 40 years of professional life experiences, starting, around 1979, when I joined Coopers & Lybrand team as a trainee.

It was a journey, full of challenges, many things lived and experienced, that not even a university can teach.

For sure many mistakes and some successes...

Various positions: external auditor, internal auditor, controller, financial director, CFO, general manager, in various sectors of the economy: services, food, animal feed, chemical, metallurgy, rubber, tanning, auto parts, textile, automotive, agricultural, most with responsibility for managing operations throughout Latin America, and sometimes including responsible for businesses in other continents.

During all this time I experienced several different economic moments, very challenging, hyperinflation, several devaluations, many economic plans, currency changes, and others.

In the corporate world, it was no different, many challenges, that sometimes, at the time it was happening, it seemed like it would never end. Many reorganizations, operation downsizing, construction and implementation of manufacturing plants, sale of operations, purchase of companies, due diligence, merger, split, dismissal, admission, hiring, project implementation, electronic systems, and much more.

Oh my god, how many things I went through!

Much of my time was spent on a business trip in Brazil and abroad, of course, this implies being absent from family life for a long time, especially in my time where everything, exactly everything, needed to be in person. There were many long journeys. I remember my record was 48 international trips in one year.

Sometimes a lot of stress, but also a lot of good times.

Interesting that even those moments that seemed to me to be a wrong decision, over time, proved to be the best option.

I met and worked with many brilliant professionals, but also with some horrible people, in this case, luckily, a minority, however living with these toxic people, helped me to mature a lot as a manager, and also as a person, and now I understand that it was part of learning process, which allows me to be what I am today.

Thirteen years ago, a little tired of corporate life, and also doing my risk management, I moved into my own business, starting Crossover Company. It wasn't easy, sometimes I wondered if I had made the right decision. I had some invitations to go back to the corporate world, but somehow, I don't know how.

However, at these moments it was very clear that I had to continue with Crossover.

It was a very complex few years, one thing is for you to work for a corporation and another thing is for you to start a company from scratch, betting everything on this company. On twenty-four hours, working at least fifteen hours a day, seven days a week.

Not that it's very different today, but I think I've gotten used to it, moreover, I've learned that when we do what we like, when we see a purpose in our efforts, such as bringing knowledge and support for the strengthening of corporations and the development of professionals, nothing it's boring, on the contrary, it ends up being very pleasurable.

It is interesting that when we are experiencing all of this, there in the middle of the hurricane, it seems that time takes a long time to pass, it seems that there will be no solution, but in the end everything, somehow, passes.

Looking at the past from today's perspective, it's as if this all happened a second ago.

What have I learned from all this?

• The first learning is that patience is an important virtue, as everything happens in its own time, and that everything, somehow, passes,
• That every experience, whether good or bad, is an input for our maturation as a professional and as a person,
• That even the decisions taken, which at first seem to us to be wrong, may, in the medium and long time, prove to be correct,
• Despite all the knowledge obtained in the academy as well as in daily life, this is never enough, we need to continually seek knowledge and learning, this is called lifelong learning,
• I learned a lot more from mistakes than from hits, but for that, I needed to learn to recognize that I made a mistake, which was not very easy, as we are not trained to make mistakes. With time and maturity comes the humility to recognize that it was not infallible and could make mistakes,
• Another learning is that we are nothing alone. To win, we need a committed team with excellent professionals, and I certainly had and have the best people and professionals in all my teams that a manager could have. I am immensely grateful for having the opportunity to live with each one of them,
• I also learned that it's not the money that moves me, but the challenge, that money is a consequence,
• That being ethical, in order to have the expected conduct, within society's moral values, is the greatest asset that a professional can have, there is no money to pay for a clear conscience.
• There is no leader, no followers, and your hierarchical position does not make you a leader. The leader, at the very least, needs to be aggregator, inspiring and trustworthy,
• Also that instead of worrying about keeping a job, the most important thing was to keep employability.

If I would do it all over again?

Yes definitely. Everything I am today is due to all of this. Of course, I would live all this again, but always with the support of Marcia (my wife), who has always been supporting and participating as a guide in the most difficult times, because without her it would be very difficult.

If there is something that would change?

Yes, I wouldn't have missed my daughter's 15th birthday party, being out of the country discussing corporate annual planning. But this is past and I have to leave this in the past as life goes on.

But seeing her on television, as a high-performance professional recognized for her excellence, all this achieved by her own effort and dedication, in addition to being an incredible daughter, makes me understand that all this effort of mine was not in vain.

Well, it's already two o'clock in the morning, I better go rest, because in a little while, another professional training program will begin.

Wow, if I could share a little of this experience with the students, it would be all good, maybe one day I'll write a book....

Apparently this journey is not near the end.... is it?

Good night diary."

I'm sorry if this account was too long, but I hope that somehow it can help you through the challenges of professional and personal life.

Be sure that any and all experiences, even those that hurt us, will make you more resistant, stronger, and much more aware.

Everything we go through in our life, make sure it matters!

May we leave this world better person than when we arrived!

Reflect, Innovate and Be Happy!