I can't cope with unkindness

Being the CEO of GBO is not always easy. Please let me share a personal story here.

From 2006, when I founded OneDocument Linguistic Solutions , I had always dedicated 100% of my professional time and effort to grow the company and turn it into the successful company it is today, thanks to my wonderful staff and partners (especially Estefanía González Rodríguez , without whom, this wouldn't have been possible).

But in November 2019, a new challenge crossed my path: becoming the CEO of a business networking club, leading its international expansion and consolidation. I loved the idea of business friendship, which I had discovered one year before that date, when I was invited to my first GBO event and decided to sign up as a proud member.

And on that idea of business friendship I built, making sure that we were building a club that served a clear purpose: connecting business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors, creating opportunities, and helping them grow personally and professionally.

Four months after that, the pandemic hit us, and being a club that bases our value on in-person business networking events, you can imagine the hard times we have been through; I'm so glad that we kept the boat afloat thanks to an exceptional team of managers, hosts, and ambassadors, and to an incredible community of fellow members that trusted in us despite all the hurdles.

But it is not the pandemic that makes this all so hard sometimes. It is unkindness.

I firmly believe that GBO has to be a club that gathers good people. And I mean kind, good-hearted people, willing to help each other, who share our culture and values, who are positive and practice a high standard of business ethics, who are tolerant, open-minded, and easy-going. A community that wants to enjoy business networking and believes in business as a consequence, not as a goal.

I consider myself a kind person, caring for others and willing to assist whenever assistance is required. And the hardest part of this all (and my coach Maiten Panella knows this well…) is having to receive answers like:

"You are not a networker; you are a spammer!"

"Stop bothering me with your petty events, you m****!"

"F*** off!!!"

Yes. I regularly send out invitations to business owners, entrepreneurs, investors, and startup founders to join us in one of our regular GBO events, because I want to serve that purpose of connecting people, linking projects, looking for synergies, and creating environments in which opportunities arise. And some of the answers are above.

Luckily enough, on the flip side, I find outstanding persons, like álvaro Porras Fernández-Toledano , Bela Lopes, Giulio Zecca , Javier Etcheverry Carretero , Johanna Holldack , to name a few (the list is too long, but I'm sure you all know who I'm referring to ??), and their support encourages me to keep doing what I am doing.

The silver lining is that outbursts like the ones above help me identify the people I don’t want around, and focus on the ones that matter. Because that is what I want to have in GBO: people that matter.

So, if you want my radar to detect you as one of those people to block, help me out here: a “F*** off!!!” will definitely do!

#ProudToBeGBO