Some things just cannot be expressed (in words)
This week I am dedicating my article to the ‘just cannot be expressed in words’ box.
Now and then I read something that is truly baffling.
Like last week, the Spaniards were not happy - ‘unspeakable botch’ said euronews. Their transport ministry had commissioned trains for 2 regions in the north only to realise that they did not fit the tunnels AFTER they were built. Wow!
You must admit that is rather incredible.
Of course, the secretary of state for transport and 2 other transport-related heads have resigned.
But is it really the transport secretary’s fault? A great case study in leadership.
In leadership, we encourage leaders to empower their people. And people want to be empowered too. No one wants their boss watching over their shoulder or wanting every detail. That would be micromanaging and therefore frowned upon.
Leaders are taught to focus less on the details and more on the vision, future and leading their people as they climb the leadership ladder. And to trust their people to do the necessary. And trust is the foundation that great leadership is built on.
So, what do you do when your people miss a rather critical fact?!
There have been other instances (internationally), where the heads of departments, and ministries have resigned to take responsibility for a blunder. And I have, in those instances, thought it was the right thing to do. Typically for moral or ethical reasons such as personal misconduct or allegation of corruption, etc.
But in this instance, I do feel sorry for the transport secretary. She certainly needed to have a view of the bigger picture, especially costs and timelines. But the details she would have entrusted with her ‘team’.
Imagine if she had asked her team, ‘and these trains fit our tunnels?’
She would have had grunts coming back. ‘Surely you trust us with this minor detail, boss?!”
But even if the team fell short, I wonder why the train builder missed such a crucial fact. Spain had ordered bigger trains to carry more passengers and in more comfortable coaches. Unfortunately, with the bigger coach design, no one checked to make sure they fit the tunnels. Especially given the region is more mountainous and its tunnels are not of standard dimension. Yet another uniqueness that should have alerted a stakeholder involved in the project.
The order was placed in 2020 and the error was spotted in 2021 and production was stalled to rectify the problem. The delivery of trains has been delayed to 2026 from 2024. The details in the articles I have read are a little sketchy. I think no one has provided a valid explanation (unspeakable error after all). But the matter was highlighted (I presume leaked) in February this year (2023). Possibly because it is an election year and citizens and constituents rightly want answers.
I do too. I just want to know who didn’t do their maths! An investigation into the blunder has been initiated. But I think it might take a while.
I started writing this article to describe my inability to express my weekend mountain biking experience but got distracted by Spain.
I could not express to my family the finer details of my cycling experience. The intensity I felt as I meandered through the jungle is hard to understand for a non-mountain biker. Rebalancing the bicycle after slipping on a tree root whilst cycling uphill is truly a challenge and a skill. It is something that I don’t think about but do automatically, making it hard to express. And these minor actions (to rebalance) take up so much energy that it increases the heart rate quickly. Often feeling like a blood vessel might burst. So intense yet hard to describe. I guess I just ‘expressed’ it here.
During dinner with my family the only answer I could give them to the question, ‘how was cycling today?’ was ‘cycling was amazing today!’
The amazing cycling experience - the photo does not ‘express’ the true steepness of gradient!
Some things can only be ‘expressed’ through experience. And not all of us will get a chance to experience everything. And that’s fine too.
But here’s the thing. Be fully present in whatever you experience, even the mundane. Because that’s a way to engage our sage brain.
I am fully present when I cycle otherwise, I would surely crash!
As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com