Oh my God, look at that guy!

June 24, 2015

Exclaimed a four-year-old toddler sitting with his pale legs together in one street’s sidewalk in Bayfield. I was wondering if he had learned how to peel a tangerine before referring to me with such composure. We did not get to argue though. I was on my way to Paposa Springs from Durango, 106 kilometers with two mountain passes of over 2.300 meters above sea level, intermittent showers, yo know, those clouds; and bad wind. I was doing 6 kilometers per hour, yet the butterflies were doing worse; they approached me at full speed, they were not able to stop at the flowers; we would be pretty pissed off if the dessert cart passed through the living room at that speed.

I met Jack Day. What does Jack do for a living? He used to be an engineer and now he is a senior touring cyclist. He retired four years ago, after forty years producing videos for music bands and all sorts of audiovisual pieces and advertising campaigns for companies. He suddenly realized he was sixty seven years of age, widower with three grown and independent sons. What could he do to avoid forgetting about living? He had never practiced cycling and asked himself if he would be able to. Of course I would—he said to himself. You always can do it, the more we say we cannot, the more obvious it seems we do not want to. Well, that being said let me continue with the story. So, in order to prove himself he could do it, he decided to travel from San Francisco to New York for five months. It’s not that bad as a start. From that moment on, every year (this is the fourth in a row) travels through scenic routes and national parks all over the United States. He currently is an experimented touring cyclist who tells fabulous stories about life and people. I saw in his eyes that he does not need to talk about his past to feel fulfilled, and the most important things is that, at his seventy one years of age, he is someone who truly inspires others.
Jack asked if the sail helps me and the answer I gave him turned out to be an analogy. The wind, I said to him, has to provide you with a continuous push, not gusty; gusty winds are not good at all, they destabilize. The wind has to fluctuate in a reasonable range of stability; if it is a breeze, it becomes pretty useless; if it is too strong, you better take cover. It also has to come in the adequate direction; the more unfavorable, the more skills I need. In a nutshell, sustainability, responsible leadership and strategy–eight out of ten small/medium companies in Spain lack these qualities. And this is a vulnerability factor against the slightest turn of the circumstances.