Pamela Ayuso, Author at Pamela Ayuso

The Issue Log: Why It Can Benefit Your Company

Pamela Ayuso August 3, 2020

I have spent the last year and a half implementing some of the ideas that Ray Dalio describes in his book, Principles: Life and Work (public library). The book holds great concepts and theories that apply to any company. I recommend spacing out the content and new implementations so that you can ensure that what you’ve rolled out in the past has been fully integrated before moving on to a new idea

One of the concepts that has had a significant impact on our company is the issue log. Dalio implemented it as a management tool in his company, Bridgewater Associates.

What to Do When You Cannot Find the Information System You Need

Pamela Ayuso July 27, 2020

At my company, Celaque, we have been looking for a Human Resources system to keep a more accurate employee database of our contractors, subcontractors, and other personnel at our construction projects. We can have as many as 300 people working on a building during our peak construction months, and using spreadsheets to track this data is no longer enough.

We have been searching for the ideal tool for over a month and have explored dozens of options. However, we have found our choices to be either too expensive or too limited. Sometimes what you need does not seem to exist. In that case, the solution to the problem is not always straightforward. The following steps may be helpful.

The Value of Personal Growth: Pushing Through the Pain

Pamela Ayuso July 20, 2020

The agony of the writer. I am not the first to write about this and certainly not the last. But alas, I will try to render my personal experiences and inspire something positive out of this profoundly uncomfortable feeling.

I’m in the middle of editing my business book, which is an exploration of what I have learned about building a business – it is, in essence, the business handbook I wish I had had when I started as an entrepreneur. I thought the writing process was going to be the hardest part, and editing the book would be a breeze. I would only have to hire a great professional, and the rest would sort itself out.

Building a Culture and What to Consider for Your Business

Pamela Ayuso July 13, 2020

First, a disclaimer: I am not an expert at building company cultures. I have, however, experimented a lot over the span of a decade. Here are some things that have worked for us, others that haven’t, as well as other promising initiatives.

Finding the people that match your mission and values is the centerpiece of a great work culture. Every company stands for different things, and before anything, you need to know who you are. Unfortunately, if you are starting, you may not be entirely sure yet. You may have some idea, but you may not be clear of what it will look like in real life. You may have also inherited someone else’s culture, which may not match your vision of what you want to see in your company.

Your Growth: Developing Good Habits and Eliminating Bad Ones

Pamela Ayuso July 6, 2020

Habits are powerful mechanisms in our routines. They are at the core of the actions we take and therefore the results we achieve. With time, they can help you incorporate more positive actions into your day.

According to Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, habits emerged because the brain tries to save as much effort as possible to conserve energy. They are so useful to us because the brain can automate our actions into a routine. As examples, exercising, eating healthy food, cleaning our inboxes, and keeping our desks clean can become a routine so that we don’t have to think about doing them each time.

Therefore, with habits, we have room in our minds that can be used to solve non-routine problems. We also have more energy to think creatively and grow.

Exploration as a Necessary Element of Innovation

Pamela Ayuso June 29, 2020

Constantly exploring due to curiosity about what others are doing or how to improve is a necessary precursor to any innovation. Through exploration, we can learn about our environment and about new concepts that we can apply to our companies. Relentless curiosity without an explicit agenda is necessary for sustained creativity.

Exploration does not have to be exhaustive. There are endless topics you can research around how to run companies. It is not necessary, however, to be experts at everything to create and grow a great company. Staying curious and constantly exploring to see how things can be improved, however, is.

Expanding Professional Boundaries: How It Encourages Development

Pamela Ayuso June 22, 2020

Last year I had the immense honor of participating in the Central American Leadership Initiative (CALI), a fellowship that brings together leaders from different spheres to interact and learn how to be better leaders. There are four participants from each of six Central American countries, who in most cases, have never met before. I cannot describe the magic that took place when they brought together these musicians, filmmakers, public service leaders, and entrepreneurs to discuss leadership models based on prior case studies.

The program is built to take you out of your comfort zone by having conversations about leadership as well as participating in different types of team-building activities that challenge your perceptions. CALI is a very specific type of program, and not everyone may wish to participate in something similar, but its lessons are universal: getting outside your comfort zone and looking at your life and work from an entirely new perspective can help you transform your world.

A Time to Thank Our Team

Pamela Ayuso June 15, 2020

Last week, we reached the first phase of reopening. Getting there was not easy, and COVID-19 challenged us a company in a way we had never been tested in the past. The pandemic is not over, but we have returned to our buildings and are continuing construction and serving our customers. None of this would have been possible without our fantastic team. Today, I want to thank them.

We all had to juggle personal challenges with our work during our time of shelter-in-place. In a day, we had to move our work from our offices to our homes. We had to adapt with whatever we had available at home, from dining tables to children’s bedrooms, to create new office spaces where none were ever meant to go initially. I know it was not easy, especially for parents, yet everyone managed to adapt to their new physical environment and new work rhythms.

The Journey of the Hero

Pamela Ayuso June 8, 2020

In his classic book, The Hero of a Thousand Faces (public library), Joseph Campbell describes the journey every hero takes to become just that – a hero. He traces myths from all parts of the world and shows that they all follow the same arc, which has set thresholds.

As he describes it: “The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation–initiation–return.”

Pandemic Pivot How is Your Company Looking to the Future

Pamela Ayuso June 1, 2020

“Pandemic Pivot”: I recently heard this phrase from a friend, and I loved it – it acknowledges the situation, yet it puts a positive spin on it. As I have mentioned in the past couple of weeks, COVID-19 is forcing a change. We can resist it, or we can embrace it to push us to a new direction.

A pandemic pivot can be personal, and it can also apply to our companies. How will your company need to change to leverage the changes that COVID-19 is forcing? How can we grow stronger? It is worthwhile to look at a pivot from a variety of perspectives.

Category: Pamela Ayuso