Dedication
This is my first book written under my own name and I want to dedicate it to several people.
First of all a great woman, a spectacular person, of which I am proud to know and consider myself her friend.
That for me is a real pride. It is very difficult today to find someone so brilliant at the same time, so simple, so humble and sincere.
These are very difficult qualities to find today. She is who loves her work above all else, but what matters most is the well-being of people and that they are really able to see not only well, but to find themselves.
That is, if you don't know her, you will think it is impossible. I have discovered over the years that there is nothing impossible for her. Because its purity and capacity to always seek positive solutions to what others leave as impossible, is incredible.
The same time, when she has to explain something that cannot be fixed, she does it with the greatest tact, love and sensitivity in the world.
She is a person who understands that you can learn from her, even if our worlds have nothing like it…
The best thing about all this is that she shares it with you so that you can improve as a person and as a human being, helping you whenever she can.
I believe that any people who know you or have crossed your path are proud of having shared their life with you. Since there is only one way to shine more by your side. Even if you like to go unnoticed.
Thank you for everything we have shared and what we still have to share, lots of laughter and happy moments.
To Dr. Patricia Montull Vila
Secondly, I'm a big fan of Barbara Oakley. I contacted with her to tell her that I was going to mention her in this book.
I have to say to all of you, she is the best representation you can find of what a true "Coach" is. Not only did she answer me and show interest, but I felt supported, encouraged to continue with my project; and above all, reinforced and valued.
I tell myself every morning when I wake up that in life you have to improvise, learn, adapt and overcome the obstacles that come your way, in order to move forward. And for me personally, in my humble opinion, she represents a clear example of this.
Apart from being a person who demonstrates day by day to have an incredible humility and know how to support, giving support to everyone else. She really meets all the expectations of my philosophy of life, that if someone shines in life and you admire with her and learn from her, you will shine more.
I use her technique to study, I have done very well. I am the clear example that your method is effective. But her humanity, simplicity and personality make her even greater.
Thank you Barbara for taking care of me and being the way you are.
And thirdly, I also want to thank someone who has helped me a lot with her words, to get to build this book.
Because the right questions that force you to spot flaws so you can improve them help you get the most out of yourself.
I remember my childhood with nostalgia, the good times, when we gathered whole family, when we would get together at breakfast, laugh and talk about our daily chores. The flavor that I loved was eating a cupcake that was named as my mother, and it tasted like that, like glory.
That's why, in a new journey totally unknown to me, as it was to go deeper into a new work network such as Linkedin, a little over two years ago, I decided to ask the person who inspired me most confidence once I opened up, about my profile.
I was totally unknown to him and he really should not have shown any interest, or the work, or the effort he put into me.
The pleasant surprise I got was that his answer was plain, sincere, and honest, made me see and reflect where I could have some shortcomings so I could improve. I felt like when I talk to a classmate, I go to a class to learn from someone or I am trying to make someone better. And I liked that. I liked it very much.
From then on, not only did I consume the products as we usually did at home, but I also followed, day by day, what he published and what he did professionally through the social network.
I can tell you that for almost all of you he may be a great unknown, but he is a brilliant mind of this country, a great worker.
In this last year, which has been extremely hard, he has been at the foot of the barrel supporting, uniting and giving not only support, but strength to all his team. That is very complicated nowadays.
All of you in the next pages will read what in my opinion is coaching, but really, if I have to give you an example of someone complete who practices it at a business level, at an executive level, at a team level and at a leader level, it is without any doubt of him.
Because he has been able to adapt to all this, always expanding the new needs of people, to create a more sustainable and better world, both in terms of food and the environment.
You only have to look at the effort he has made managing the company and how he works. From Dulcesol to Vicky Foods and be plus, combining quality with innovation and service; something very difficult to combine.
And the most surprising thing is that every day the team of people who work with him are proud to do so, because they learn and enjoy their work.
Thank you Rafael Juan
Chapter 1- Thanks to all the o.n.c.e. team
We are so used to really complaining about everything that we don't like, about everything that bothers us and about everything that we see wrong, that people have forgotten to say thank you. Remembering how we have come to build and be who we are, thanks to those little details that have helped us and given us strength to get where we are; not just us, but the people we love.
My mother is a very fighting person, tremendously hardworking. I suppose that, like all her generation, she was born on February 18, 1947. And I'm lucky that despite her condition I can still enjoy with her.
My parents have both been hard workers. My mother worked two jobs (like all your parents at that time), she cleaned and was also a hairdresser, a beautician and her hobby was sewing.
Now that I'm older, I have to admit that when I look at things I've done it by myself, I value them very much. But at that time when all my classmates wore clothes bought by their mothers and my mother made them all by hand. -What you all like to call customization nowadays- I wasn’t so happy about it when I was a kid.
And the dresses and blouses, she loved to embroider them for me. Today they are true works of art, although at that time I preferred some jeans…
Joking aside, we were a normal family and one night like any other, my parents went to sleep and when my mother woke up, she couldn't move on her own. She was only 35 years old.
Now everything has advanced a lot, we don't realize what progress is being made and the improvements that medicine is making. We are used to being given solutions; we don't see all the research and effort behind it. You only realize when you have a case. She had a stroke. Now you know what it is and the guidelines to follow.
We met when she came home, not only that she couldn't move a hand, but she couldn't walk and it took her a very long time to do it again. That's when I discovered what the word "love" means, for better or for worse, because my father not only lived up to it, but he exceeded expectations. It was very difficult because character changes and my mother needed to feel active and useful. Big problem in that situation she was in.
We were very lucky that the doctor who was treating my sister, who was asthmatic, saw the recovery process and my mother's effort, as my father was involved in making her home recovery at that time. She only wanted to be able to work because she was in a depression and felt useless. She put us in contact with an entity that was totally unknown to me at that time, even though I was small and didn't understand what we were going for, the o.n.c.e. (For those who are not Spanish the O.N.C.E. means National Organization of the Spanish Blind, it was created by Ramón Serrano Suñer on December 13, 1938).
It's that organization