Thank you! I am so glad you’re here!

Why subscribe?

Here is what I have to offer: opinionated but sound advice, academically researched, but expressed in an accessible way. I will research, interview people, and bring all that fresh and unusual knowledge here.

There are enough conventional outputs out there to feed you with the usual stuff, which works so poorly for too many. That trend makes people unhappy and might even lead to revolts.

I will be incredibly grateful if you subscribe for pay if you can afford it.  But I have worked for so long for no pay, that I am used to it, and I like the freedom and networking that comes with writing here. You do not need to pay, we can be friends, which makes me happy. Please share your views with me.

What should you expect?

I will write about once a week for at least nine months a year. What voice will I bring to you?

It stems from who I am. Born in Uruguay (1951). Educated at the British School there (Rugby captain, Head Boy), naturalized Brazilian, top award as a fledging economist at the Catholic University of Rio, I hold a Ph.D. from Cambridge, lectured at Princeton, published at Stanford, and Harvard.

I authored a few books and many articles, mostly around a subject I am passionate about leading and managing people who are not of Germanic background. I am enthusiastic about this because I believe that peoples are happier and more productive when they are managed as they expect to be.

Because people spend so much time at work, they deserve to be managed in a way that makes them happy. Extricating ourselves from the wrong type of management will also free us from the wrong leaders, and the power they exert on society.

Why does the mismatch happen?

Conventional management sprung up among Germanic peoples. From Weber to Taylor and beyond. It works best for the Germanic group, which includes much of Northern Europe, and the people who migrated to the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is not by chance that the English-speaking intelligence alliance Five Eyes exists. Not that it should be done away with, but it is telling of the culture that binds that organization together, trust runs highest among them.

The same Germanic culture that gave us Five Eyes gave us a management that works less well for the rest of the world. But because there is not much information about how to manage about four-fifths of humanity, business schools all over repeat the Germanic managerial mantra and hope for the best, turning a blind eye to leadership at Brazilian samba schools, for example.

At samba schools, people moonlight to deliver a world-class show on the date and time agreed, for no pay! Yet, when under corporate work for pay, they arrive late, leave early, and ask for sick leave when not sick! That is quite telling of what is missing at corporations and business schools.

How else do I shout out?

I have also held my views in non-academic circles, like for some time writing almost regularly for AmericaEconomia (Chile, in Spanish), PeopleMatters, (India, in English), or SudaméricaHoy, and El Debate, (Spain, in Spanish), and posting (in English) at Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times.

Writing for the established press is necessary and can be fun too.

I enjoyed shouting out from those podiums, but like most writers, I like the idea of writing on the subjects I choose and establishing my periodicity. That independence I have found in Substack.com.

I also write fiction, I am a member of the writer’s guild in Oporto (AJHLP) but on Substack, I do not write fiction, though the same flair may spring up here.

What else do I do?

Much of my income comes from my pension, yes, I am retired. I also work teaching at FIA (Brazil), and occasionally for Harvard Business Publications (HBP). At both, FIA and HBP, I was distinguished with top awards for my docent role with them.

I also do consulting work on Leadership, Management, and Strategy. I also accept invitations to speak in public, which I continue to enjoy very much. I prefer to be paid for the knowledge and amusement I bring. But I readily accept to speak for free when the hosts cannot pay.