Hoot Reading

"I wish you to gasp not only at what you read but at the miracle of its being readable.' - Vladimir Nabokov

The education system is in crisis. Too many students are reaching grade 4 not able to proficiently read at level. This can't go on - children deserve to read and Hoot Reading is on a mission to help every child become a reader.

VP of Growth

HierSales

"We're all here to do what we're all here to do' - The Oracle, The Matrix

The better mousetrap fallacy refers to the mistaken notion that if a company produces a technically better solution, it will be successful in the marketplace. Building a better mousetrap means nothing if you can't sell it. HierSales helps SaaS companies in seed, growth, established, and expansion stage setup and execute scalable and repeatable sales programs to drive sales and revenue.

Founder + VP Sales

Trafalgar School for Girls

“Transform the education of tomorrow, today.”

Provide strategic direction for the Trafalgar-McGill CoLab: https://www.trafalgar.qc.ca/community/colab

Board Member

commonsku

“Systems streamline success; they eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel every time.” - J.R. Rim

commonsku is a SaaS platform that enables promotional products distributors to automate and streamline their processes in order to grow and scale their business, including their e-com.

Built entire sales team and sales processes from scratch and went on to Increase client base from 600 to 800 companies propelling transactional revenue from $1B to nearly $2B in 18 months.

VP of Sales

clevr

“An organization‘a ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” - Jack Welsh

Clevr helps school districts consolidate and centralize manual forms and workflows into one clevr platform.

Developed and executed go-to-market strategy for landing and expanding into the US K-12 market. Landed in 7 US states and expanded market share which resulted in 45% year-over-year growth as well as landing the biggest client in company's history.

Director of Sales

ThinkDox Inc.

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” - Peter Drucker

Driving efficiency and transformation while reducing the cost of compliance for public sector organizations by providing the Laserfiche Enterprise Content Management platform.

Introduced Laserfiche's digital transformation suite of solutions in new verticals including K12, NGOs and banks. Continued expansion into municipals, hotels and retail. Together, these resulted in a double of revenue year-over-year.

Director, Business Development

PowerSchool

“People buy from people they trust”

Help school districts increase student growth by better managing K12 talent through focused talent management software.

Landed and expanded new SaaS solutions into the Canadian K12 market while building out a dedicated sales team and process for Canada.

Account Executive - People Admin

“Systems thinking allows us to see the consequences of our decisions before we make them.”  - Peter Senge

Harnessing the power of research to inform data-driven hiring and increase student achievement. Hit President's Club year-over year as well as becoming the recipient of the Pinnacle Award for highest sales achievement and the Rainmaker award for closing the biggest deals in company history.

Sales Manager - TeacherMatch

“Putting the right people in the right seats is the first step to creating an effective system.” - Jim Collins

Strategically work with school districts from coast to coast to help minimize lost learning days by addressing teacher absenteeism and professional development through the SmartFindExpress software platform. Hit President's Club on my first year and subsequent years thereafter. Landed biggest deal in company history for Canada, locked up the Ontario market and landed and expanded into the Quebec market.

Regional Sales Manager (Canada) - eSchool Solutions

The Learning Box

“Building a business is about creating a system that can run and grow without you.” - Robert Kiyosaki

Founder and CEO of the Learning Box which was dedicated to ensuring school success for students in K-12.  Providing individualized instruction based on skill based learning for all core subjects. Went to oversee programs in over 32 schools, 3 learning centres and service thousands of students.

Educational Director and Founder

English Montreal School Board

“Great leaders understand the importance of developing systems that outlive them.” - John C. Maxwell

As an elementary school teacher for 12 years in this school board, I worked with students from K-6.  I was a lead teacher for school reform and a trained SmartBoard Instructor as well as First Steps Instructor.  My students consistently scored in the top percentile across the entire school board in both math and English language arts.

It's also where I learned many of the skills that made me an exeptional sales professional because teaching and sales are two sides of the same coin.

Elementary Teacher

VP Sales | 🚀 Propelling SaaS Companies to New Growth | Lifelong Sales Mentor and Teacher

“Without a system, you are just hoping for results.” - Michael Gerber

💎 Rare breed. I pivoted from public education to EdTech. Went on to introduce 14 SaaS solutions in OMS, EDRMS, EdTech, Fintech, RegTech and E-com. As a teacher, I learned how to bring out the best in people and discovered that sales and teaching are two sides of the same coin.

➡️ My passion is going from zero to one - I have a reputation for landing and expanding SaaS solutions in new territory while building sales teams and sales programs from scratch.

➡️ Thanks to my teaching background, I have strong coaching and mentoring skills that enable me to build cohesive, collaborative and high performing sales teams.

➡️ Landed and expanded SaaS solutions in the US, Canada, the UK, France and Australia.

➡️ M&A | Integrations | Change management - Played key roles in several VC acquisitions and investments.

I'm currently on a mission to change children's lives through literacy. If you're ready to take the reading strategy at your district to a new level, send me a DM.

Karim Kuperhause

The biggest barrier to fixing education isn’t outdated curriculum, low test scores, or teacher shortages.

It’s the belief that better instruction will save a broken model.**

People keep saying Bloom’s Taxonomy is outdated.
They’re right — it is.

But that’s not the real problem.

The real problem is the mindset that made Bloom’s Taxonomy popular in the first place:

If we tweak instruction, we fix learning.

That mindset still runs the show:

✅ “High-quality instructional materials”
✅ “Learning intentions & success criteria”
✅ “Aligned targets”
✅ “Coaching cycles”
✅ “Depth of knowledge charts”
✅ Small-group rotations
✅ Pacing guides

Every initiative is just a new flavor of the same old idea:
optimize the teaching minute.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:

You can’t patch a factory-model classroom into delivering mastery.
The model itself is the bottleneck.

Benjamin Bloom showed this decades ago with his 2-Sigma finding:

When students receive
✅ individualized tutoring
✅ mastery-based progression
✅ rapid feedback loops

…the average kid performs at the 98th percentile.

That wasn’t an instructional tweak.
It was a model transformation.

And that’s exactly why 2-Sigma never scaled in districts:

It doesn’t ask teachers to teach “better.”
It requires the system to be redesigned — structurally, philosophically, operationally.

Once you accept 2-Sigma is achievable, you have to confront:
	•	Age-based cohorts don’t work
	•	Standard pacing creates predictable gaps
	•	MTSS becomes a remediation machine, not a prevention system
	•	Tier 2 and Tier 3 aren’t surprises — they’re baked into the design
	•	Time-based progression caps student potential
	•	Teachers need to spend less time delivering content and more time mentoring kids

And now — for the first time ever — we actually can scale the 2-Sigma model:

AI tutors
Continuous assessment
Mastery pathways
Instant feedback
Teachers as mentors and coaches
Students advancing based on learning, not birthdays

This isn’t about Bloom’s Taxonomy anymore.

It’s about the worldview the system refuses to abandon.

Because the future of education won’t be built by improving instruction.
It will be built by reinventing the model just like Studient is doing.

And the sooner we shift from tweaking the old system
to designing the new one,
the sooner we stop talking about gaps —
and start talking about breakthroughs.

From ABC to ARR | K12 Education Top Voice | Outcomes. Or. Nothing.

Vicente Valencia

VILENTIA

Unfiltered advice about PPP and Infrastructure. 
PPP Training and Coaching
SPV Management and Advice
Strategy, Bids, Market Lead Proposals and much more.

Founder

Homizy

Love the challenges, the design and changing spaces and cities for the better. 

We give a second opportunity to old buildings and houses creating unique homes.

Co-Founder and Investor

Camarounds

Confounder and investor. 
If you can get a cab in 3 min with your mobile phone, why should be different for a plumber, electrician or cleaner. 
Camarounds is leading this community helping thousands of customers in Panama.

Co-Founder

VIP LIFE PANAMA

Leading VipLifePanama to become one of the biggest in the Santiago region in Panama

Cofounder and Board Member

NX2 Northern Express Group

The Pūhoi to Warkworth project is a PPP (Private Public Partnership) between the Government and a private consortium, the Northern Express Group (NX2). While the NX2 will be responsible for financing, designing, building, maintaining and operating the motorway for up to 25 years, the motorway will remain a public asset.

The new Pūhoi to Warkworth project will extend the four-lane Northern Motorway (SH1) 18.5km from the Johnstone’s Hill Tunnels to just north of Warkworth. It is the first stage of the Ara Tūhono – Pūhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance. It will be open for traffic by late 2021. Ara Tūhono means a connecting pathway (Ara meaning pathway/passage and Ara Tūhono means connecting or linking one part to another).

Chief Executive Officer

A30 Express

A30 Express (former Nouvelle Autoroute 30 s.e.n.c) is the private partner responsible for the Highway 30 completion and operation, in accordance with a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement signed on September 25, 2008 by Nouvelle Autoroute 30, s.e.n.c. and Ministère des Transports du Québec. This agreement ensures the design, construction, financing, operation, maintenance and repair of the PPP completion project of the A30 and some complementary road sections as well as the operation of a toll plaza over a 30 year period. 

In total, A30 Express manages almost 2.0bn$ in assets which encompass approximately 75 km of highway, including two major structures over the St Laurent River and the Sea Way, the S. Marcil Bridge (1.8km) and the M. Parent Bridge (2.8km).

A30 Express (former Nouvelle Autoroute 30 s.e.n.c) is the private partner responsible for the Highway 30 completion and operation, in accordance with a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement signed on September 25, 2008 by Nouvelle Autoroute 30, s.e.n.c. and Ministère des Transports du Québec. This agreement ensures the design, construction, financing, operation, maintenance and repair of the PPP completion project of the A30 and some complementary road sections as well as the operation of a toll plaza over a 30 year period. 

In total, A30 Express manages almost 2.0bn$ in assets which encompass approximately 75 km of highway, including two major structures over the St Laurent River and the Sea Way, the S. Marcil Bridge (1.8km) and the M. Parent Bridge (2.8km). 

Vicente Valencia holds the roles of CEO, Project Director and Private Partner Representative for A30 Express.

Responsible for all activities related to operations, maintenance and rehabilitation of the infrastructure 
Managing annual budget circa 10M$
Introducing new maintenance and asset management techniques in Quebec
Responsible for the design, installation and operations of the Electronic Toll System and Intelligent Traffic System (circa 20M$)
Finished on time and under budget the first classic toll system in more than 20 years in Quebec, a challenge from the point of view of technology, time-frame and pre-existing conditions
Evaluation of construction solutions from a financial model point of view
Responsible for the supervision of the civil infrastructure related directly to operations activities
Responsible for rehabilitation works on major infrastructures (+10M$)

Chief Operations Officer

LINK427

Wellap

In few simple steps, Wellap guides the consumers in an intuitive and fun way to purchase the product that meets best their needs without any external influence or pressure. Our application search in the whole internet the best deal that perfectly suits the need of the customer. 
We are a start-up adding value not just on-line distributors and their customers, we are now working in physical point of sales to change the way people choose products and make purchases. 

I have been mentoring and couching of key staff, as well as overseeing the changes in the business model and new strategies. I have contributed to the investor negotiations and board reorganization.

EADIC

Postgraduate studies related to PPP Projects, Finance, and International Management:
Postgraduate course at Alcalá University (UAH): “International Project Management” (Gestión de Proyectos Internacionales)
"Efficient Management of International Projects" (Gestión eficaz de proyectos de ámbito internacional)
“Internationalization of Engineering and Construction Firms” (Internacionalización de empresas de Ingeniería y Construcción)

Lecturer

MCPubliDesign

General guidance about all services related to design, marketing products and printing in all formats, corporate and general public.
Successfully purchased, reorganized, and sold the company
Oversaw increase in sales of 350% in 3 years
Successfully negotiated credit facilities with lenders
Lead new investors and business development negotiations
Mentoring and couching of key staff

Chairman

🤔 Risk-Averse Renegade 💪 | Helping others take the leap of faith | Entrepreneur & Investor | Personal Growth, Business. 🐭 Join the free rat race 🐭

If you need PPP Advice or Training that you WON'T get from the World Bank go to: https://vicentevalencia.com.

I love infrastructure delivery and I have good reasons for that. 

I still remember my third day working in PPPs, around 20 years ago. 

I was put on a Board meeting, and my boss told the rest of the board members that "I was the new PPP advisor". 

Not bad for the third day. 

I didn't know what a PPP was, nor even a what a Board was, or shareholders, or construction contracts, or back-to-backs... and there I was. 

Now, after having tendered, managed, delivered, refinanced, sold, a few PPPs in Europe, North America and New Zealand, as a COO, CEO and Board Member, I can tell you many more stories... some of them, "terror stories": extra costs, claims, delays, incompetence, bad clients, terrible contractors, evil designers, etc. 

But I can also tell you many great stories about people. 

Happy people enjoying a new and fantastic piece of infrastructure. 

These assets have transformed for the better lives, cities and even countries. 

I’ll never forget the 15 December 2012, when I opened as the COO, the A30 Project in Montreal. 

I put my beautiful and very patient Spanish wife on a toll both to enjoy. 

Many nights working at night and she supported me all the way long, and I wanted her to live the experience. 

During a break to have diner – it was a long day – she told me that users thanked her saying “Gracias”. 
I’ll never forget the joy and happiness of thousands of people that wanted to cross the bridges that we built.
 
This is the power of great infrastructure, properly delivered. 

This is why, I love that business. 

I also have two secret passions: Real Estate Investing, and a popular newsletter. Everyday, I send a free tip about business, project management, investment, motivation and personal growth. All this comes with Spanish spice. Subscribe, join other +2k free minds and enjoy.

Behind the glamour of billion-dollar infrastructure projects lies a harsh reality: not all succeed... They failed or they were short in delivering what they promised. 

Here you are: 

🚧 15 PPP Projects That Failed and Why 🚧

From political turmoil to flawed traffic forecasts, explore the cautionary tales of PPPs from Spain, Australia, the USA, and beyond.

💡 Swipe through to discover the lessons these failures teach us about risk management, accurate forecasting, and the importance of well-structured contracts.

Lots of learnings for governments, bidders, contractors, lenders and advisors.


#InfrastructureFailures #PPPProjects #ProjectManagement #PPP #NewZealand #LessonsLearned #PublicPrivatePartnerships #RiskManagement #GlobalProjects #ConstructionInsights #PPPChallenges #SmartContracts #pipeline

PPP Executioner | Helping PPP Professionals, Agencies and Equity Providers to market and deliver better PPP Projects | Join the PPP MOVEMENT for Infra tips and stories. Click in My Newsletter

15 PPP Projects that did not deliver

Most PPP projects don’t fail because of construction issues.
Or financing.
Or KPIs.

They fail because people ignore the basics.
The fundamentals.

The principles nobody teaches you in those “PPP certifications.”
The laws I’ve learned after 20 years sitting on all four sides of the table:
government, contractor, equity, and operator.

So here they are.
The 15 Commandments of the PPP Movement.
The no-BS rules that separate a bankable project…
from a headline on the front page of the newspaper.

Swipe.

Learn them.

Break them at your own risk.

#PPP #Infrastructure #PublicPrivatePartnerships #MegaProjects #ProjectFinance #Governance #PublicSector #RiskManagement #InfrastructureInvestment #Construction

The 15 Commandments of the PPP Movement

🚧 The Top 10 PPP Projects to Watch in 2025 🚧

Love to be back from holidays... and what would be a better start than this post?

Remember. 

Infrastructure shapes the future, and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are at the heart of delivering the most transformative projects worldwide.

In this carousel, I’ve highlighted 10 major PPP projects that stand out in 2025:

🌍 Spanning continents from Africa to Asia, Europe, and the Americas
💰 Representing billions in investment and innovation
⏳ Promising milestones, big challenges, and lessons for the industry

Whether you’re tracking aviation, transport, or urban development, these projects are setting benchmarks for collaboration between governments and the private sector.

🛠️ Curious which projects made the list? Swipe through to discover the top 10 and why they matter! 

And for my friends in #NewZealand... No. The Northern Corridor is not there yet... I'm looking forward to hearing some news!!!

✨ Did I miss any other? Share your thoughts in the comments—what’s the #PPP project you’re keeping an eye on this year?

#InfrastructureDevelopment
#PPPProjects
#PublicPrivatePartnership
#SmartInvestments
#GlobalInfrastructure
#RealEstateTrends
#UrbanDevelopment
#ProjectFinance
#ConstructionInnovation
#SustainableInfrastructure
#EconomicGrowth
#TransportInnovation
#MegaProjects
#InfrastructureInsights
#GlobalGrowth

Top 10 PPP Projects to Monitor this 2025

AMAZING FRIDAY. 
I still heard today someone thinking that PPPs are about “privatising the public.”

Wrong. Simply wrong... and not just because some people still don't understand PPPs as delivery method. 

PPPs are about accountability.
About delivering on time and on budget.
About getting real outcomes, not excuses.

When a project is 3 years late, 40% over budget, and falling apart after 5 years...
What’s the alternative?
Keep doing it the old way?

The truth?
Some public agencies, consultants, contractors, subbies fear PPPs not because they fail…

But because they expose failure. They break status quo. 

Think about it!

#PPP #Infrastructure #PublicPrivatePartnership #Construction #ProjectManagement #Accountability #BigProjects #PPPNZ #InfraStrategy

Most governments say they want world-class infrastructure.
But then they panic when world-class people show up.
The Ministry of Transport of Quebec didn’t.
They opened the door.
To foreigners.
To competition.
To courage.
The result?
A-30 Expressway. In my modest opinion, one of the most successful PPPs in North America.
Delivered on time. 
On budget. 
With pride.
I was there.
And I still remember the chaos, the cold, and that night before opening when we almost forgot to put live the tolling system.
Today's article is about courage.
Not the PowerPoint kind. 
The real one.

#Leadership #PPP #Infrastructure #Courage #ProjectManagement #PublicPrivatePartnerships #Canada #Construction

View newsletter: PPP & Real Estate stories

Most governments say they want world-class infrastructure. But few have the guts to bring in world-class people. But the Ministry of Transport of Queb

Open article: Dark and Cold by Vicente Valencia • 2 min read

Why do PPPs fail?
Not because of “complexity.”
Not because of “market conditions.”
And definitely not because “it was unforeseeable.”

The real reasons repeat.... 
Over. And over. And over.

Risk pushed to the wrong side.
KPIs that punish instead of perform.
Bureaucrats negotiating with Excel instead of brains.
Everyone says lessons were learned.

But somehow, the next project looks suspiciously familiar.
Here are the 20 real reasons PPPs fail.

#PPP #Infrastructure #PublicPrivatePartnership #ProjectFinance #Construction #Procurement #Leadership #RiskManagement #PPPProjects #LessonsLearned

In a recent interview, an expensive consultant… those that charge you for their offices in the middle of Manhattan and all the MBA fees of the Ivy Lea

Open article: The causes of PPP failure by Vicente Valencia • 3 min read

I like saying that many PPPs don’t fail in construction.
In fact, they tend to fail much earlier.
In meeting rooms full of PowerPoints, optimism, and zero understanding of risk.

In this case, the government tried to transfer every single risk to the private partner… and killed the project before it was even born.

A great case study from Kenya:
A highway that should have been a PPP,
but died in the “market sounding” phase…
and then cost twice as much when delivered traditionally... plus time and reputation lost.

Take a look. 
It’s a story about what happens everywhere when people confuse risk transfer with avoiding responsibility.

And don't get me wrong. 
This project at the end was successful. But this is not what the article is about. 

By the way, have you seen a PPP collapse because the risk matrix was a suicide note?
Comment below. 

#PublicPrivatePartnerships #Infrastructure #PPP #ProjectFinance #RiskTransfer #Construction #Procurement #ValueForMoney #RiskManagement #AfricaInfrastructure #Kenya #Transport #PPPFails #LessonsLearned #Megaprojects #Leadership #Government #Engineering #Policy #InfrastructureDevelopment

“We want a PPP… but we don’t want to take any risk.” That scream comes from the public and private sectors alike… And every time I hear that, I alread

Open article: Let's transfer all the risks by Vicente Valencia • 3 min read

Everyone talks about “value for money.”
Nobody talks about scope for money.

Because when the scope is a guess, the only certainty is that someone’s getting rich fixing it later.

Sydney’s light rail PPP proved it.

The contract had grey areas. 

The ground didn't. It had many other things. 

What Happens When the Scope Is a Guess... enjoy. 

#PPP #Infrastructure #PPPHorrorStories #PublicPrivatePartnership #Procurement #InfrastructureFinance #PPPs #Australia #PFI #ValueForMoney #InfrastructureLessons #VicenteValencia

Early brief: “Deliver a shiny new light rail through Sydney’s CBD. Easy. Everyone loves trams.” Translation: scope unclear, assumptions heroic, risks 

Open article: What Happens When the Scope Is a Guess by Vicente Valencia • 2 min read

Most contracts fail before they’re signed.
Not because of bad lawyers. To keep those nice offices with views they get the best guys. 
No. 
They fail because they forget about alignment and partnership. 
There are clauses that change everything. 

Today, I propose you this one. And it can change lots of things. 
How partners behave, how risks are shared, how money moves.
I’ve seen it turn adversaries into allies…
and billion-dollar disasters into success stories.
If your contract doesn’t have it, you’re already losing.

Read the full post. Then tell me:
What’s the one clause you’ll never sign without?

#Infrastructure #PPP #PublicPrivatePartnership #RiskManagement #ProjectManagement #Procurement #DealMaking   #InfrastructureInvestment #LegalDesign #ProjectFinance #AssetManagement #VicenteValencia

PPP Executioner | Helping PPP Professionals, Agencies and Equity Providers to market and deliver better PPP Projects | Real Estate Investor | Join 2k Subscribers for this Infra tips and stories

Most projects fail for boring reasons. Not for lack of brains. Not for lack of money. For lack of aligned incentives. Boring, because they repeat over

Open article: A clause you must have in your contract by Vicente Valencia • 2 min read

Would you use a whip to make it happen?
4,500 years ago they built the Great Pyramid.
No consultants. 
No “alignment sessions.”
Just vision, purpose, and execution.
Today we drown in frameworks, governance, and fear.
We lead with consensus instead of conviction.
We manage meetings, not missions.
This article is not about cruelty, but clarity. 
The kind that built wonders.
👉 Read it here.
#Leadership #PPP #Infrastructure #ProjectManagement #Mindset #Construction #PublicPrivatePartnerships

Behind my computer I have a painting from Egypt. And this makes me remember how those guys used to work. They built the Great Pyramid of Giza 4,500 ye

Open article: Would you use a whip to make it happen? by Vicente Valencia • 2 min read

How to make the other party to understand. 
This is one of the key problems that more often I receive on my desk. 
I always start by one question. 
“Have you talked to them?”. 
“Many times”.
“And…?”
“They don’t understand”
“Then, you have not dig enough” 
 
Yeah. 
This is a typical frustration. 
“How the other side can’t understand this”. 
 
Look. 
There are no miracles. 
But there are lawyers. 
They have the incredible capacity of grabbing people’s attention… specially through letters. 
They can also point out that your “crystal clearness” is not such. 
 
One of the advantages of using lawyers is that you must make the effort to explain to an alien what’s going on. 
 
But I leave that for another day. 
For today, think about that project where the other party does not understand. 
Then, click below. 
https://lnkd.in/gXuiU6Ux

PPP Executioner | Helping PPP Professionals, Agencies and Equity Providers to market and deliver better PPP Projects | Join the PPP MOVEMENT for Infra tips and stories

I loved this interview so much! Thank you Andy!

Vicente Valencia breaks it down: PPPs aren’t a magic fix, they’re a delivery model.

But when you’re dealing with large, complex infrastructure, the model works. That’s why countries building massive networks use PPPs consistently. We just need to use the right model for the right project and use it properly.

📌 From: Yarns with Andy – Episode 62
📌 Timestamp: 00:03:31

🔗 Watch full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gWpCjeem
🔗 Follow us: https://lnkd.in/gtrDfhHm

#PPPNZ #InfrastructureNZ #ConstructionIndustry #NationBuilding #DeliveryModels #BuildBetter #YarnsWithAndy

The New York Times (1920)
“A rocket will never leave the Earth’s atmosphere.”
— The New York Times, editorial.

49 years later… 

“The Times regrets the error.”
— The New York Times, July 17, 1969 (the day after Apollo 11 launched)

1952 – Lee de Forest, a legendary and respected engineer, (Father of Radio)
“Man will never reach the Moon… Mortals must live and die on Earth.”

1956 – Sir Richard Woolley, Britain’s top astronomer.
“Space travel is utter bilge.”
— Sir Richard Woolley, Astronomer Royal, 1956

Twelve years after calling it “bilge”, Apollo 8 orbited the Moon and Apollo 11 landed on it.

1957 – Lee de Forest again (Associated Press)
(Yes, he doubled down… and was wrong twice.)

“They will never reach the Moon.”
— Lee de Forest, AP interview, 1957

This was an actual newspaper headline in 1957, by the way. 

1957 – Former Astronomer Royal, Sir Harold Spencer Jones
“Generations will pass before man ever lands on the Moon… and even then he won’t return.”
— Sir Harold Spencer Jones, 1957

Twelve years later:
Humans go, land, walk, take samples, take photos, return home, do interviews, and sign autographs.

1958 – Commander George Van Pelt (U.S. Navy). Director of missiles programme. 

“We are far closer to creating a robot that can think than to sending a man to the Moon.”
— U.S. Navy Commander G. Van Pelt, 1958

1958 – John Rinehart, Director, National Bureau of Standards. The top materials expert in the United States

“We are a long, long way from manned spaceflight.
Not in my lifetime, nor yours.”
— John Rinehart, 1958
 
1959 – Dr. Thomas Gold (cornell), Physicists and Astrophysicists. One of the most famous astrophysicists in the world at the time. 

“The Moon is covered in a deep layer of dust.
Any spacecraft would sink instantly.”
— Thomas Gold, 1959
 
NASA had to model the risk that the lunar module might ‘sink’ into the surface.
 The real outcome: the Moon had only 1–2 centimeters of firm dust

1961 – British Interplanetary Society internal memo

“A manned lunar landing before 1970 is a dream.
We simply do not possess the materials, computing power or propulsion technology.”
— British Interplanetary Society, 1961
 
1964 – The Royal Aeronautical Society (UK)

“Even if America reaches the Moon, returning safely will be beyond current engineering capability.”
— RAeS panel, 1964
 
1967 – After the Apollo 1 fire (pessimistic engineering groups)

“Human beings will not reach the Moon in this decade. The risks and engineering complexity have now surpassed what is achievable.”
— Multiple aerospace safety committees, 1967

1968 – French science magazine Science et Avenir

“There is less than a 10% chance the Apollo program will land a man on the Moon before 1975.”
— Science et Avenir, 1968
 
#Leadership #Engineering #Innovation #Mindset #ThinkBigger
 #MakeItHappen #Strategy #LeadershipDevelopment  #ProjectManagement #ComplexProjects

One of the most read posts of the year... the reason? It's so common... and so true!

Want to kill a PPP project slowly and painfully?

Just let the agency treat the design review like a control exercise.

Instead of validating risks, they turn it into a line-by-line approval process.

Instead of trusting the performance specs, they try to redesign the asset through comments.

And instead of letting the Independent Engineer lead, they flood the process with consultants who were never briefed on how PPPs actually work.

The result?
Confusion about who’s responsible.
Endless design iterations.
Delays. Claims. Resentment.
And a clear message to the private partner: we don’t trust you.

Let’s be clear: in a PPP, the public sector is not buying drawings.
It’s buying a service.
Delivered by an asset.
Maintained over 25-30 years.

The mindset has to shift.
From “we must approve everything”
To:
“We’ve transferred risk. Let’s manage outcomes.”

Until that happens, many PPPs will keep falling into the same trap:

Pretending it’s a traditional contract, while expecting extraordinary results.

#PPP  #PublicPrivatePartnership  #Infrastructure  #ProjectDelivery  #DesignReview  #RiskAllocation  #IndependentEngineer  #ConstructionContracts  #InfrastructureLeadership  #MindsetShift

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Karim Kuperhause

Vicente Valencia

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The Battle

Karim Kuperhause

Vicente Valencia

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Karim Kuperhause's LinkedIn Performance

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