Guest Appearance #2 – Henrique Brenner

New segment in “O Limpa Vias” - every month I will invite a friend for a guest appearance in the blog writing about a particular topic. I’ve met Henrique here in Brazil, and more than a colleague, he has become a very good friend of mine. I’ve been learning a lot from him during the last months, and I find his views on the business consulting job particularly interesting. I challenged him to write a little bit about our job and share it with you. Stay tuned.

It’s Monday, a quarter to 6 in the morning and I am suddenly awaken by the bright light on my wife’s dressing table. She’s got a flight at seven to Rio de Janeiro, where she is going to spend the whole week. Again. Our weekly travelling routine has made roughly five weeks of actual living together out of the whole five months of marriage. But I am not complaining. We both knew from the beginning of our relationship what it meant being both consultants.

After Daniel asked me to write something about consulting, I did some research on the internet and found several texts about the consulting industry, firms, career, etc. However I didn’t find one that presented the consulting job as I see it, intense. Just to be fair, I will restate the common view; yes, the consulting job is work intense. One shouldn’t expect less than ten hours work per day or, depending on the project’s complexity, twelve to fourteen hours work per day. That implies, for instance, in difficulties to keep one’s workout routine, although I do have some colleagues who are disciplined enough for this.

On the other hand, a consulting job typically presents other intensities which, in my view, compensate by far the heavy work load. One of them is that it is experience intense. In just a few typical consulting career years, a consultant is probably working in a dozen of different projects, clients and industries in dozens of different cities. A consultant is also learning and applying several of business administration disciplines independently from his or her background. And all this sums up with work intensity, i.e., one learns a lot in a very short period.

However, this is still just a little bit further what is already written about a consulting job on the internet. Now the interesting part is that a consulting job is also people intense. People, either from the client or from the team, are what make every day in a life of a consultant. The human interactions in this kind of job is greater than usual because it doesn’t depend on one’s particular impulse for human interactions, but rather because human interactions are an inherent aspect of the job. A consultant travels, has almost every meal, works and parties with people from work. In just a few years a consultant is meeting real geniuses, but also real charlatans. Yeah, unfortunately, sometimes it happens. Also a consultant may meet some people very hard to deal with, but also make real friends for life. And that is the intensity that makes it worth it after all.

And that’s one very nice way of seeing things…

Photo Diary - Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul

Last week I had to travel to Mato Grosso do Sul for work, and since I was there, I took the weekend to visit one the most famous brazilian nature’s marvel – Bonito. The name of the place by itself, sums it up. It was probably one of the most beautiful experiences that I will ever have.
Not going to write much. This is one of those cases in which a picture is worth a thousand words.

Day #1 - Afternoon
Arrived in “Bonito” friday afternoon right in time to visit “Estância Mimosa” - a huge private property with seven different waterfalls and a beautiful walking track surrounded by a huge variety of wild animals (got to be careful with the alligators!).

Day #2 - Morning
Waked up early, had a nice breakfast and headed to the “Blue Lake Cavern”. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe it. Went deep in the cave, and at the end, there it was, a perfect blue lake.It’s really hard to believe your eyes when you’re there. Of course there's a scientific explanation for the blue water related with the limestone, but I leave that for your research.

Day #2 – Afternoon
After visiting the cave, it was time for the most unbelievable and beautiful adventure of the weekend, the so called “Flotation at the Natural Aquarium”. You enter one of the many small rivers in Bonito, right where it starts, and go down with the flow during 2 hours. I had never seen such clear water in my life. It kind of reflects as a mirror when you’re in the outside, and once you get in…. Well, see what happens below (no Photoshop or image edition of any kind was used).

Day #2 – Night
After a long day, it was time for a nice dinner and a walk in the city center (when I say city center I mean a 500m street and that’s it, it’s a very small city). I’m posting the menu available at the restaurant since it offered several types of meat that I had never tried before. As far as new experiences go, I had alligator meat (hard to believe how good it is) and ostrich (a bird with red meat!). Still had time to go for an ice cream having to choose from a menu in which I didn’t know 80% of the fruits.

Day #3 – Morning
Rise and shine! It was around 7.30am and I was already heading to the municipal riverside beach! It is probably the cheapest tourist option in Bonito but it really is worth visiting! A nice infrastructure where you can hire all the necessary equipment to dive in the river, feed the fishes and take several cool photos. Unfortunately I only had my cellphone with me and even with the waterproof case, the underwater pics weren’t so good.

In the end, this was a unique weekend with some of the most beautiful sightseeing I have ever experienced. It is not the cheapest option for tourism but it is totally worth it. Nature in its pure state. Thank you Brazil.

Catherine

Catherine offers exactly what the Videogames industry hasn’t been able to offer in a while – something fresh! Nowadays it is such a huge risk for a developer to come up with a new idea or new concept for a videogame. Developers and publishers tend to go for the safe options – new episodes of well-established franchises, or a new game based on something already proved successful. I take my hat off to Atlus, not only for taking the risk, but also for being successful at it, having created something truly unique.

In its core Catherine is a puzzle game, but as a whole, this game is an experience quite difficult to describe. The game takes place in two different dimensions – you either spend time in the dreaming dimension, in which you will come across the puzzle solving levels, or you spend time in an Anime-like world, building up your character and defining his opinions towards his love life. In the latest, it is like you are put into an Anime series. You mainly go to the bar with your friends, have some crazy dialogues about the nightmares you’re having and get drawn into the most important choice of your character’s life – which lover to pick? Will you go with the love of your life – Katherine – or this new, young and sexy crazy girl – Catherine? The choices you make during the game will directly influence the outcome of it, so it’s only normal that game has several different endings.

When it comes down to the puzzles, this game offers some of the most challenging and difficult levels I have ever played in my life. Even if you play it in the easy mode, expect some frustrating moments yelling at your TV screen. But making it difficult is also what makes it interesting and rewarding. You basically have to push around blocks in order to create a path to arrive at the top. Throughout the game you will learn several different techniques of pushing blocks and climbing, earn new items that help you climbing, and face some of the craziest boss-levels that I have ever faced.

The graphics are simply beautiful and very well polished, with a bit of a dark humorous feeling to them, the gameplay is intuitive and addictive, the characters have some serious depth to them (at least for what you expect in a game of this type), and the storyline not only is smart, but also super funny. Finally, the Anime cut scenes are extraordinary and give the perfect complement to the in-game experience.

This is by far one of the most interesting and innovative videogames I have ever played. I’d say it requires a certain level of maturity for you to make the most out of it, and also a nice amount of patience. A very pleasant and rewarding surprise that is available at a very low price in stores.

Street Art + Jazz Sinfônica

When people ask me about São Paulo, I usually reply saying that it is a “more than it meets the eye” city. Even though the city center offers its own architectural beauty, I wouldn’t call it a reference for tourists. However, when it comes to the cultural offering, or having initiatives for leisure time, São Paulo truly is an amazing city, which not only provides you with a wide variety of choices, but also choices for whatever time of the day you chose. This past weekend I took Saturday’s afternoon (again) to walk around the city center and visit a new Street Art exhibition, and Sunday morning to visit, for the first time, the magnificent “Sala São Paulo” and enjoy a concert from the Jazz Sinfônica orchestra of São Paulo.

Street Art - Um Panorama Urbano

Contrary to what I expected, the Street Art exhibition is not by itself a reason to go to the Centro Cultural. However, if you’re in the zone and you have 15/20 minutes to spend, it still is worth seeing. Even though it advertises more than 5 artists in the flyer, you hardly get to see more than 2 works from each of them. 

For me, Banksy and Vhils (hometown street artist from Portugal) were clearly the most appealing names, but taking into account the high hopes I had, I got a bit disappointed. I was kind of expecting something like a small tour throughout the past years of each of the artists but instead I only got a very small flavour and generic presentation over what they have been doing in the Street Art scene. I was particularly drawn into the the works from Jef Aerosol, a French pioneer from the eighties who is known for his portraits of celebrities and, as always, the painting from Nunca, one of the most stylish graffiti artists in Brazil. Also from Portugal we had “Mais Menos” with a pretty strong political and critical stand in the works displayed.

 

 

 

The entrance is free, and it will take you no more than 20 minutes to go through the entire exhibition, so if you’re close to Praça da Sé go check it out.

Jazz Sinfônica – Concertos Matinais

Knowing that I like classical music and jazz, early in the week my girlfriend asked me if I was up to a concert Sunday morning, in “Sala São Paulo” from the Jazz Sinfônica Orchestra. Immediate question - “how much will it cost us?” -  and immediate answer - “It’s free, but limited entrance”. Allowing the general public to visit one of the best concert halls (if not the best) in the Latin America, and giving them the chance to experience a truly unique concert from a great orchestra without having to spend a single coin, is something worth valuing, so here goes my big up for whoever was the responsible for this initiative.

The concert hall by itself is worth the visit. The way is mixes the classical and historical feeling with some more modern elements in its architecture and design is simply remarkable. It is not in vain that the “Sala São Paulo” always comes as a top 3 must-see locations in any São Paulo tourist guide.

The show lasts a little bit more than an hour and it presents several Brazilian composers. It was the first time I saw an orchestra of this type, and I loved it. I’ve been to some classical music concerts, but adding the drums and some other jazzy essential elements gave it a whole new flavor. The The maestro explained and contextualized each of the seven “acts” that were played, and was able to make a very good connection with the public from the beginning until the end.
In the end, the concert earned a huge standing ovation, and for sure I will dig more about this Jazz Sinfônica orchestra and its endeavors.

Guest Appearance #1 – Henrique Castro

New segment in “O Limpa Vias” - every month I will invite a friend for a guest appearance in the blog writing about a particular topic. To begin this segment, I invited my good friend Henrique Castro, who has been living in Indonesia for three years now, to tell us a little about his experience and how life is on the other side of the planet. Stay tuned.

My friend asked me to write a small text about my life experience in these recent years. The interest resides in the fact that I have exchanged my cozy home country of Portugal for the unknown lands of Indonesia, and so he challenged me to share that experience. 

I didn´t choose coming to Indonesia, I was chosen, no one asked my opinion. I had never even thought of the possibility. In fact I knew almost nothing about Indonesia, and mostly what I knew was related to East Timor´s invasion and struggle for Independence. Oh, that and the famous surf spots of course. “It´s endless beach there, you will surf all day” some told me. “Be careful, they are Muslims, behave!” older others said. Both were wrong. Jakarta, Indonesia´s capital, the world I was about to enter, was neither a peaceful beach paradise, much less a place of religious intolerance.
“No you can´t go to the beach every day, there is no beach here”, ”No you can´t jog or take a walk in the park, there are none. You can take taxis instead” - My soon-to-be boss told me on the phone, couple of days after I knew I was going to Indonesia. Not the best scenario for someone who was used to live in a small city, with lots of nature, clean air and space. Jakarta is gigantic. It has around 10 Million people, just as much as my home country, and its metropolitan area has around 30 Million. In fact, population agglomeration continues beyond the city frontiers, achieving even higher numbers. Daily migration, for work purposes, ascends to couple million people. The first impression of Jakarta, is of a dirty polluted city, full of people and buildings everywhere, and it is quite true.

Something that is obvious is the inequality. Very easily you can see shiny luxury cars, posh and expensive malls full of dressed up men and women, huge skyscrapers, as well as you see low class people, cooking in street wagons next to an open air sewer, people offering you their motorbike taxi services, or just hanging out in the street, sitting in the side of the road, drinking their kopi susu (coffee with milk) and smoking their kretek (tobacco with clove leafs). The contrasts are brutal.
If we analyze the numbers, Indonesia is a typical developing country with a small elite, holding large portion of the wealth, a growing but small middle class, and a largely poor majority. As I learned in school (I studied economics), most social sciences support that inequality and poverty foster crime and violence. It might be so, but surely there must be other X´s in the equation. Here is where Indonesia started to amaze me.

Even though as an expat you feel hugely rich in here, you feel as safe walking in the street as you feel at your home country. In 3,5 years I still haven´t been involved in any type of violent act or feel threatened at all. Violent crime is quite low. Indonesian people are extremely friendly, including towards foreigners. They have a very open culture and love to speak and gossip. They will often talk to you in the most unusual places, and even though they never met you before, in 5 minutes you will already know how many kids they have, what city they come from, how many languages they speak, their religion, their favorite food and their kampung (Hometown/Village).If humans are the most social animal, Indonesians are surely one of the most social animals. Social bonds are easy to create, very strong, and everyone is a natural avid networker. You often use your circle of friends for many purposes: from asking a place to sleep, to business or to ask money while you are unemployed.Living in Jakarta becomes fun, relaxed, and most of all, the opposite of a routine. It is an ugly city, with polluted air and endless hours of traffic, but the people create an environment that more than compensates for that. The beauty of Jakarta, is finding order in the middle of the mess, feeling home even half planet away, and never predicting what can happen on a normal day.

There are many reasons said to be the root of this Indonesian welcoming and warm nature. An Indonesian friend of mine, who is passionate about anthropology once told me there are several factors: First, Indonesian soils (especially Jawa, the main island home to the larger ethnicities) are among the most fertile in the world. This means that for the past thousand years, people in what is today Indonesia, never really had to compete much with each other for food or natural resources. This created a culture of strong cooperation and sharing, opposite to individualism and competition. Secondly, the weather in Indonesia is warm and stable, across the year and across both day and night. This is said to encourage people to socialize, at all times. Thirdly, Indonesian people were never truly colonized. Even though the Portuguese and Dutch dominated large parts of Indonesia, they did so mostly politically, economically, with eventual military skirmishes. But the people never felt colonized, as their kings were still Indonesian (probably paying some tribute to the mentioned foreign powers), and ultimately people could keep their lifestyles, without considerable slavery (doesn´t mean there was no exploration).

Something that can be added to the factors above, is Islam and religion in general. Indonesians, are mostly Muslim (around 80% of the 240 Million). It is in fact the largest Muslim country in the world. If not Islamism, they can choose from other 5 religions, and 5 only (Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism). Other religions, such as Judaism, are not allowed, or in a softer and more Indonesian way to put it: they are not predicted by law. Being an atheist, is also not allowed (by law at least...) when you register your legal documents. The truth, is that Indonesians, are very religious people, but very tolerant at the same time. It is normal in your life to have all kinds of friends, different ethnicities. In offices, you often mix several religions, and is normal your boss/subordinates asking you a 10 minute brake for the 6 pm prayer.

For a westerner like me, it was a shock, arriving in Indonesia. A good shock. I discovered goodness and kindness in people that were complete strangers to me, always willing to help me when I get lost by driving me to the right place, or by coming back knocking at my door after I left my 3-times-their-salary smart phone in their taxi. It is a relaxed and fun place, a place where you go into a warung (a kind of restaurant, Indonesian style), you ask something from the list, and you see the staff going out to buy the ingredients by motorbike, coming back, and going out again because they didn´t buy the right ingredients. It is a place where people in the street will approach you to sell fried tofu, peanuts, fishballs etc, but they will be happier after they realize you speak Bahasa Indonesia and that they can then bombard you with questions while offering you a smoke; happier than if you would buy all their stock.

From the social point of view, Jakarta is a melting pot. Social life, as we imagine it, exists only among the middle and high classes. It is super dynamic to say the least. In Jakarta, everyday there are events, new places, new concepts. Indonesians, as said before, love to socialize, in the case of the middle classes, that means, attend to trendy places, such as coffee shops, art galleries, restaurants, anywhere really where they can meet others and show their branded clothes/accessories (And I´m talking about really expensive stuff) and their technology devices. Social status relates very much to how much money you can spend, how many friends you have, and how modern you are. The concept of “modern” is very influenced by the developed world, through movies, internet, television, brands and so on.

Something that is mandatory to mention is nightlife. Whether you like nightlife or not, Jakarta´s nightlife is an attraction worth to visit. There are people coming just for that in fact, mostly from other neighboring countries. Indonesians love to party, and the party is great. Nightlife is fairly diverse, and although mostly it´s quite posh, anywhere you go, you can always meet new people so easily, who will unexpectedly treat you as a friend and pay you a whole lot of drinks. To put it in few words, it is really crazy.

The business world is also interesting. Most of the companies and decision centers are based in Jakarta. Except some manufacturing hubs, the economy outside Jakarta is dependent on natural resources (Mining, Oil, Gas, Wood, Palm Oil etc), agriculture and fishing, or tourism (Bali but not only). The country´s economy is booming, maintaining a high stable rate of growth, good policies, and all positive outlooks. That said, it has its problems. Corruption is derived from the presence of the state and regulations in the economy, as well as from local culture. It is normal to thank your friend, with material gifts or favours, and that is directly translated into the business world. In fact the translation of thank you is “Receive Give” literally. Corruption is something to take into account seriously. Any company or individual that wants to thrive, needs partners/friends that have other partners/friends and so forth. That is probably true in any country, but especially here.It is also fair to say that the business world is fast and dynamic, with a lot of entrepreneurial mentality. Every other office worker has a side business, which occupies part of their office time too. Indonesians are not lazy, they just only work hard for themselves. Expats easily judge Indonesians as bad performers and lazy workers, it has some truth in it. But the reason is often that working for a company, is just not a priority. Indonesians are very good at matching different sides, negotiating deals, and doing all kinds of unexpected things.

I work in an area where I have to negotiate several types of contracts, so I suffer with this. In terms of negotiations, they always put more variables than you into the equation, and while you often think you have taken the upper hand in any deal, you end up later on (1 day, 1 month or 1 year) realizing that you didn´t. The reason is that they have more friends than you, they know better the local environment, they are softer negotiators, they have more patience than you, and they are used to negotiate, it´s the culture.This said, Indonesia is an interesting land of opportunity, with a very specific business environment. I hope and I think it has a great future ahead.

Outside Jakarta, Indonesia is a whole different country. More conservative (no much nightlife except in Bali). More beautiful, more natural, more healthy. You can find the best diving spots in the world such as Raja Ampat in Papua, the best surf spots in the world (such as Mentawai, sometimes called the Mecca of surfers in Sumatra), you can find beautiful desert beaches (Indonesians as most Asians, are afraid of the sun and of getting tanned. You can buy whitening skin cream in almost any supermarket). You can find Orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra, the only two places on earth (Orang Hutan is the word in Indonesian which actually means jungle person). You can find Krakatau, the volcano responsible for the biggest eruption ever. You can find rhinos, tigers and whales and a lot of other animal and flora and vestiges from past kingdoms, sultanates and colonial powers.

Outside Jakarta people are more friendly, more religious, more relaxed and more polite/soft. I have used the word soft before and I would like to explain what I mean. By soft I mean, the ability to say something without saying it explicitly or literally. Softness is the vehicle of politeness, its clothing, its alter ego. Indonesians will rarely disagree frontally with you, confrontation is most rude. Instead, they will either try to make you change your mind, find some consensus, or make you realize that they reject/disapprove/disagree/dislike without them saying it directly. Instead of “No”, other words such as “maybe”,” later”, “eventually” might be used, or for muslims “Insha allah” (translates to “if god wills”, usually used if they don’t want to promise or assure something). Regarding the word “No” only, In Bahasa Indonesia there are at least 4 different ways to say a straight “No” with different intensities.

I could say a lot more about my particular experiences, funny episodes, my hopes and wishes for this country, my expectations. But that would be too much for the purpose of this text. I Think Indonesia has a role to play at all levels. It is a dynamic and rich economy, society and with a lot of potentials to be unleashed. Overall, the mood is good and people are happy. Why worry much now anyway? Land of optimism, land of happiness.

(Some other photos from the past years in Indonesia and other asian countries)

 

  

 

Henrique Castro