Open to the Possibilities of Wonder

Lessons For Turbulent Times from a Titan of Latin America and the World

Alejandro Otero's "Tablon de Pampatar" 1954. Among the favorites by Venezuelan artists of Gustavo and Patricia Cisneros.

Each year I read extensively and widely and summarize my recommendations, but rarely read “business” books.

And in the business literature I do read, and love, business is almost incidental. They are books about character, persistence, vision, mistakes, learning and above all leadership. And they capture a lens on a time and place whose unobvious experiences provoke us to think about our worlds differently.

I had dinner with a wonderful entrepreneur and a policy leader recently, and one asked what book do I most wished I had before I worked with astounding teams to build enterprises – our own or mentoring global entrepreneurs building themselves. My answer is now immediate with the new Challenges are Our Business: Adapting, Re-inventing and Thriving Across a Century of Change.

Gustavo Cisneros, who we sadly and unexpectedly lost at the end of last year, is not a household name among the new generation of tech and policy leaders in America today. But he and his family’s gutsy story is legend across Latin America.

What he built – started with one truck his father bought at age 18 in Caracas – spread first as one of the largest distributors of Pepsi and other consumer products in Venezuela and then across the region, to one of the largest privately held media enterprises not only in the region but globally. His was a story of unstoppable learning, focused on the first principles not only of a given business today, but upon the trends and changes driven by technology and political shifts. He cultivated some of the most accomplished thinkers and actors of his time, and with time became as much their example and teacher.

But for a handful of courtesy conversations, I regret never getting to know him – among other reasons he was apparently also one of the greatest readers of his generation. But I (and now we) am blessed two-fold.

His daughter Adriana is CEO of this enterprise, leveraging foundational lessons with very new instincts for a very new world and time. And in so doing, making it one of the most disciplined institutions embracing rapid technological change, and as a mentor to hundreds of rising entrepreneurs – especially women – in the region, America and globally.  

Second, she worked with him in the last year of his life to finish this marvelous story, structured to focus on lessons any leader can follow and benefit from. I couldn’t put it down, put notes in the margins, and have recommended it to any leader who will listen.

I would have trouble naming many people who have taught me more about a changing Latin America, beautiful Venezuela in ongoing times of crisis, and life and impact more broadly. I asked her for some of her thoughts on this important new book, and its context for today. She kindly bore with my questions.

Why did your father take on sharing his story and lessons?

I think he was fully aware that his life had been an adventure of epic proportions.  And that his story was unique and interesting.   But most importantly, he was always surprised that business biographies, or business success books of Latin-Americans are never available in our part of the world.  Our culture somehow has a hard time celebrating the success of the business community, of business leaders, or the private sector.  He wanted to change that, and he knew that he had an inspiring story to tell for future generations.  

His first biography came out in the 90’s.  It was called Pioneer and is even a better read… it was published by Planeta who at the time  was very nervous because it was their first business biography.  Its had more than seven editions… we stopped counting. The format of the new book is more like a booklet and it will never come out in hard cover intentionally because he wanted it to be as affordable as possible to students in the region.

It is clear in the book that you lived many of the lessons he shares. What surprised you, as a CEO and what was most central to you, when you read it? 

The greatness of Venezuela and the promise of Latin America.  He had such a great run.  I remember a lot of it, but it was just the backdrop of my childhood.  Now as an adult, and 22 years into the demise of Venezuela I can see how small the world must have seem to him in the end.

You became a leader in an organization at rapid, even exponential change driven by technology. How did you balance lessons of what worked at a time, versus now? Are there in fact still “first principles” that were true then, true now, and will be true in wherever AI and new technology will take us? How can one be “maniacal about the numbers” the way your father was - a time of more private equity - in a pace of change that feels more like a time of venture capital?

We grew up in a region with not a lot of local options to finance complex deals or attractive public markets. That was when his NYC relationships ushered by David Rockefeller at Chase Chemical became key in terms of access to capital.   Being a private company was not an option, but the only viable way for us to scale like we did. It also gave us the freedom to explore new opportunities quickly.

Your father writes that with all your experience in moving from a consumer-packaged goods to a media juggernaut it was your experience in satellite that “shaped the future of (y)our organization.” What were the lessons here?

Totally.  When I was in high school, I saw my father assemble the DirecTV deal.  We launched that service in Latin Ameria – two years ahead of the US - when it was supposed to be the other way around.   This was the first service of its kind in the world, and we launched the first privately owned satellite over Latam. 

I was lucky to spend a spring break from Deerfield with him “on tour” as he activated the signal with the local partners in Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia… many of the executives that worked structuring that deal still work for me. When I met Abel Avellan, the founder and CEO of AST & Science, I knew I wanted to be a part of that. 

Because we had the “corporate memory” of the DirecTV deal it took if a very short time to decide to invest.  We came in as seed, series A, I briefly became head of strategy. We are now a public company, and I sit on the board.  One of the best superpowers leading a 100-year-old company is being able to tap into that “corporate memory.”

How is Latin America most different today, and how did he and you think about your business and leadership in these shifts? Your father and the company had to make significant choices in the political uncertainty in the region - at times near existential. We are arguably in an equally significant and hard to predict period in the region - what lessons to you take here for today? 

The world changed for us in 1998 when Hugo Chavez came into power. My father became enemy #1 of the state. He represented the private sector, had the top TV network in the country, and had strong ties in WDC. All three things Chavez did not like.  We fled under heavy threats. NYC became our base for business and as a family.   We had to reinvent ourselves while surviving.  We had to rethink our identity and adapt to our new reality, and we did it without missing a beat. At that point we very much became “of the world” and not nostalgic or sentimental. My father was adamant about this… adaptability became our ethos.

How do you think about geopolitical opportunity beyond Latin America - how has changes in China and the US affected the world differently than in his regional and US rise? 

Great question, but one that you are better at answering.  I would say that Americans have a tendency of thinking they are the center of the universe, and it seems like other superpowers have emerged.  Have you ever seen the upside-down map of the world pen and ink drawing by Uruguayan artists Torres Garcia in 1943?

“We now turn the map upside down, and then we have a true idea of our position, and not as the rest of the world wishes. The point of America, from now on, forever, insistently points to the South, our north.” - Garcia

Understanding the world from the Chinese perspective is one of the greatest ways we can educate ourselves for the decades to come.

Your father shared many lessons. What does “unforeseen circumstances demand innovation” mean?

Working in Venezuela, and Latin America more generally means learning to be quick on your toes. The political and financial context can change overnight, so you have to be able to have a Plan A, Plan B, Plan Z, and everything in between.

In practical terms this means that innovation has to happen overnight, rather than something planned, or allocated to an R&D department. It also needs to be distributed throughout the company so that anyone can find creative solutions to their problems on the fly.

I feel that this was in my father’s DNA and served him well through many storms. When things got hard, rather than panicking, he would start to ask who had a creative solution and would listen to every perspective however outlining it might sound at first.

Your father had extraordinary focus - strategically and tactically - on the businesses without getting too lost by the macro and things he knew were serious, but he could not control. And yet he was deeply aware and involved in geopolitical shifts and actors. What lessons did you learn in this navigation?

Well, he was a product of his time.  I think his taste for geopolitics started in the 70s , when as he became a successful business man,  he also became a confidante for the US in terms of all things “Latam.”  This was a time when not even faxes were around yet.  I suspect these types of relationships back then were extremely valuable and mission critical.  For decades and up to Obama’s presidency he was the sounding board for the White House - regardless of politics.    Obama, surprisingly, did not have a Latin-American affairs office for a very long time and there was literally no one in that administration looking south. 

When he said “point, point and shoot” repeatedly throughout his career, what does he mean?

My father had an eagle eye for homing in on a problem and would keep asking questions and informing himself until he felt ready to act. He was an avid reader and conversationalist. Every encounter was an opportunity to understand another aspect of whatever issue he was thinking about.

Among his executives he was famous for calling and asking the same questions again and again to see if there was a subtlety or nuance that he had missed the first time. All of this was part of his process so that when he pulled the trigger on a project or decision, he was really confident and well informed and would not be blindsided by something unexpected.

Consistent throughout this book is the importance of building and unleashing talent. What key learning is as relevant for young entrepreneurs and builders today? What are “ad hoc teams?”.  

In a company like ours, people seem to have very long tenure.  Our corporate culture, since the time of my grandfather, is to train a great set of generalist that in turn can hire the specialists.  All of our top brass are generalists - not only in their skill set, but also on the types of businesses they have been involved with.   Every successful team that we have assembled to brainstorm, question or create something new has always been multidisciplinary.

What does it mean to be open to the possibility of wonder?

It means to wake up every day knowing that something magical might happen, that a secret door could open, that a chance encounter might change your views, or that a conversation with a stranger could unleash your creativity.  It means always being in state of “open.”