Gabriel’s scarcity rent – it’s management stupid!

About Gabriel

Hi. Gabriel here. I live in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, Spain. Engineer (MsC & Hon. in Communications Engineering) and economist (Degree in Business Science and Bachelor in Business Administration and Management), I’ve been an entrepreneur (you’re right, you never stop being that), I’ve taught technology, production and project management.

Right now I work in a huge 3,5 billion € project: Barcelona’s Airport enlargement. Barcelona’s Airport is the eight in size and one of the fastest growing airports in Europe after four years growing around a 10% each. A thriving airport for a thriving Mediterranean city.

The enlargement will more than double its capacity with a new runway and a new terminal that will be Spain’s biggest building, along with new power plants, control towers and many more constructions and systems.

I am a program manager in the IT area, following projects through their whole life-cycle, coordinating contractors and fitting them in a complex organisation.

Some examples of systems I’ve managed are baggage handling systems (and their integration with AODB and third party systems), airfield lights and beacons control systems, energy control systems (four new power plants and their integration), car-park control systems, baggage inspection systems, multipurpose communication networks (industrial network, video network, high-availability server farm network, user and voice networks), video surveillance systems (security and operational video projects), intrusion detection systems, acoustic impact measurement systems, atmospheric control systems, fire control systems, sound systems, installation/industrial control systems, hydrologic control systems, passenger information systems (FIDS), common use terminal systems (CUSS), and their integration with airport management and operational systems.

I’ve also worked a lot co-ordinating infrastructure with IT systems, as well as participating in preliminary operational tests prior to infrastructure commissioning.

Some projects I have participated in are the new 7R25L runway, the new control tower, the enlargement of the existing 7L25R runway, the enlargement of the existing terminals terminals, and specially the new south terminal that with 500,000 m2 will be the largest single building in Spain. I’ve also participated in support infrastructures such as new energy plants, new urbanisation and road layouts, a new fire station as well as new police quarters, underground galleries, commercial zones, a new regional terminal and a new corporate terminal, platform enlargement, new train / subway stations and highway accesses.

But, you know? As long as you select the right technologies and contractors, the most difficult thing is not to build but to align the different parts of the organisation and the diverse contractors, all with different interests, to the same objective; to be able to work collaboratively, to be able to “sell” the new infrastructure… in short, to get people working effectively.

Quoting an old US presidential candidate: “It’s management stupid!” (well, yes, I’ve changed it a little)

I’ve got a strong interest in management and business models. I like macro and micro-economy, econometrics, going into a deeper understanding of things. Economic thought does interest me, and specially how it relates to the society we live and humanity. And yes, people, people people. If you don’t like people, don’t be a manager!

By the way, did I tell you I enjoy my job?

I like the history of economic thought. Apart from Schumpeter, and Veblen and many more I’ll write about, I’d like to remind you of Tocqueville, that authored Democracy in America, and one of his fears: that democratisation of society would lead to a better world where people would pursue university education only for the degree’s sake. I seek knowledge, I am thirsty and I want to know more. May we walk some of that road together?

Oh yes, I almost forgot. There is a new milestone in my road. For long I had wanted to pursue an MBA. I wanted it to be outside of Spain, enough degrees here. I enjoy my work a lot, so I didn’t want to go for a full time MBA, you guess well: too high the opportunity cost, so an Executive MBA was the right choice for me.

Another restriction: it had to be at moderate flying distance from Barcelona. I wanted them to believe in distance learning as well as to keep a closer eye on us, students. (I’m able to study a lot by myself, communicate with others through technology and I’m not willing to pay to be controlled, I can do that myself).

So I found a school that I liked: Henley Management College, in a country that I’ve always felt identified with: Britain. Henley is fairly close to London, upon the Thames. It’s a small and nice town that in fact I had visited more than once. So I applied, and they accepted me. Do you remember Groucho Marx? “I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.“ well, in this case I’m proud and happy to have been accepted. Right now I’m in the Henley DL Executive MBA intake 35 since June’07.

I don’t want to ever stop learning. But working and learning are not everything. I love reading yes, but I also love science fiction, plays, riding my bicycle, travelling to new sights and sensations, body combat (keeping fit is a necessity and a pleasure too), musical theatre, being close to the Mediterranean Sea and sitting under pine trees, London, Barcelona, and so many different things.

Nice to meet you

BTW, my email, if you want to write me, linkedin me, whatever

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