Into the Unknown

In one of my previous posts, I wrote that being able to do business with acquaintances is ten times easier than with strangers. This is exactly what happened to me.

I received two offers from people that I knew, just by having a conversation with them on the phone. One of the offers felt right in my gut. It just felt right, not only for everything included in the opportunity, but also because how everything took shape. This door opened naturally, fluidly, instantly and without needing to force anything. I accepted the challenge. I was blessed to be able to choose among those alternatives, plus the ones that I received through LinkedIn.

Suddenly, from one day to the next, I was going to work on one of the most successful data consultancy businesses in Europe. I had no idea who I would meet, where I would be living, what the office is like, how I would organize to commute, what life is like over there, and a million other questions. I will be far from my family for six weeks during my first trip.

This time, I did not have any influence on many decisions (which flights and connections, where to stay, etc). I took a red eye at 1am to Washington and had to wait ten hours there. I opted for the lounge, which made the wait much more comfortable.

Then came the long haul to Europe, a seven-and-a-half-hour flight, which landed in Paris. Charles de Gaulle airport is a maze (not amazing). I am still puzzled by how tangled up this experience is, to go from one terminal to the next.

From the luggage pick-up area, I did not have a clue where to go — the connection was with another company and my flight was not in the monitors. One sweet girl looked it up and told me to go to terminal 2 through the shuttle. No one else helped me. Getting out of there seemed like following a spaghetti because there are no clear signs. I hopped onto the shuttle without knowing that the rest of the maze was still ahead of me.

After arriving there and strolling across the whole terminal, I found out that I had to get out of terminal 2F and take a bus to terminal 2G. I was already in a hurry because I was short on time. When I finally arrived at the right location, I could not find my flight company’s booth. A kind woman from Air France must have noticed my panicked face. She asked me what I needed, and then she instructed me to enter my reservation number in one of the Air France kiosks. This was how I finally got my boarding pass. I gasped a sigh of relief when I arrived at the gate waiting area. Just a few minutes later, we started boarding. We stepped outside onto the runway area to take the stairs into a propeller plane. Within one hour, I was arriving at my final destination.

When I reflect at everything that happened to me, and how it happened, I remember the tale “Good luck, bad luck, who knows”.

A seasoned hunter was in Africa with his servant, following the trail of a tiger. When they finally sighted the evasive animal, the hunter quietly and carefully aimed his rifle at the prized predator. When the shot was fired, the barrel of the rifle exploded, cutting off one of the hunter’s fingers. The hunter, screaming in pain, was lamenting his situation.

“How unlucky I am! This is the worst that could happen to me!”, he cried.

“Good luck, bad luck, who knows”, replied his servant.

“Bad servant! How dare you to tell me that losing one finger is not bad luck!”, the hunter screamed. He dragged his servant to an old well and shoved his servant into the deep hole under the ground. The hunter bandaged his wounds and stubbornly continued his pursuit with his servant’s rifle.

Suddenly, the hunter was surrounded by cannibals. They disarmed him, tied him up and prepared him for sacrifice. The hunter had no escape and was starting to pray for his life. Before killing him, the cannibals noted that the hunter was missing one finger. The sacrifice would be no good, because the body must be complete to please the gods. The cannibals decided to release the hunter and let him go.

The hunter immediately ran back to the old well to rescue his servant. When he finally pulled the servant out of the well, he cried “Oh, faithful servant, how ungrateful I was with you! The cannibals almost killed me! This is the worst that I could ever do to you”. And his servant replied “Good luck, bad luck, who knows. If I had accompanied you, the cannibals would have sacrificed me.”

I am still wondering where I am ultimately heading. I have absolutely no idea what I will be doing five years from now. This is frightening. But I believe that everything happens for a reason. All I can do now is to focus on doing the best work that I have ever done in my life. Good luck, bad luck, who knows …