I was having another lively conversation with my friend Marcos Polanco this evening. At one point I reminded him that I was through with accepting and dealing with the seven rings of bullshit that surround most business conversations here in Puerto Rico. It seems that every conversation I witness is an endless stream of exaggerations, mis-representations, and even flat out lies.

There is one special version of this business exchange that I find incredibly vile. I call it building castles in the air. It involves in stating that something will be done. However, the conditions necessary to make that thing possible don’t exist. Let me illustrate my favorite, I want to build a company to make widgets. When asked if I will out-source the making of those widgets to China. I respond by saying, I’d prefer to get Puerto Ricans to make my widget. Yep that’s right if any body makes my widgets they’re going to be Puerto Ricans. A very patriotic and noble ideal. But then you ask me, are there a lot of people in Puerto Rico that know how to make widgets? Looking at the floor, I respond in a low voice. I can’t find any qualified widget makers. You press me farther and ask, are the universities actively producing knowledgeable widget makers? I respond proudly, yes. UPR-Mayaguez produces some of the most talented and sought after widget makers. So you ask, so you’ll be able to hire some of those recently graduated widget makers, right? Once again I look at the floor and say, barely audible, no. They’ve all accepted jobs to go make widgets in China for 3 times what I can pay them. And just in case your going to ask, no I’m not actually doing anything to produce more people capable of making widgets.

As I thought about writing this, I recalled what Larry Bossidy admonishes in his book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” that the first rule in successful execution is eliminating all confusion and grasping the truth about a situation. When are the business leaders of Puerto Rico going to grasp the reality of the complex set of lies that they use to build more castles in the air? However, as I was was googling for a nice link about execution, I found a link about Methods of Execution.

Ha, LOL, the same word that we use to exult companies that operate efficiently is the same word we use to kill people. After reading the source, wouldn’t you know it from all places. The third highest ranked link about execution is from Indiana (my birth place, my home state). And people say God doesn’t have a sense of humor.