Leap Day Blessings. Please click here: https://www.everydayspirit.net/single-post/2020/02/28/Leap-Day-Blessing

Have a beautiful weekend. Today is the 29th of February. 2020 is a leap year. Leap times happen every 4 years as a gift of an additional day in our calendars. “What you pour into this precious and unique Leap Day, you will receive back in a cup of beauty. Sometimes Ms. Davis’s prayers come to my mailbox right when I need them the most. Thanks to her.

Let´s start. God granted us a leap day, and we have to end this subject today. You will be surprised by what I will compose to you today.

Sous Vice Technique to cook perfect meals. https://shop.americastestkitchen.com/sous-vide-for-everybody.html

After reading several publications in relation to this theme, I decided to put this topic in sous vide cooking treatment for some time, maybe until next Leap year 2024. That doesn´t mean I won´t provide a strategic cognitive map for transportation activities.  But it is more complicated to do it on a “fast track state”. As you already know, I always publish spontaneously. I perform the research at the same time I try to work wonders by writing my analysis, sometimes without good reliable data (I can´t afford to pay those databases yet), but based on my past experience. I also try to accomplish the deadlines of my outlines. But once I started to draft the cognitive map for the terrestrial vehicles, I realized this requires more time and analysis from my side. In consequence, I will leave you wondering and expecting more, for the time being.

Knowing about infrastructure finance triggers my brain enlightenment to be unadventurous. Since I am a civil engineer (I studied that as an undergrad), I learned quite some notions about infrastructure for transportation, not just because I spent studying the design and execution of reinforced concrete, pavement and steelworks for buildings, highways, and roads; but because I had special attention to the infrastructure structured finance process which pulls the money for its fulfillment.  In 1999, I had the opportunity to get an overview of the infrastructure credit and equity for certain types of projects and developers (energy plants, transportation projects, concessions, and utilities).  That is how I understood how the Standard & Poors ratings and credit reports are crucial for the benchmark of the risks associated with them.

Based on my past background, I will provide the cognitive maps for the whole transportation combo of mediums (terrestrial, maritime, air and space), but I will do it cured and with quality excellence.  When strategists are trapped without enough information for the future, we can´t be irresponsible to assume based on pilot projects that have been successful for 20 top developed countries,  meanwhile 180 countries on earth are in deep poverty structural troubles.  We can´t risk making incorrect assumptions. The disruptive technologies that affect us in every single activity and industry, are so new, that it is wiser to say that we really don´t know yet where are they taking us.

What is a Sous Vide Strategy? The Sous Vide strategy, as I call it,  literally allows you to cook food sealed in plastic gently in an automatic water bath to the perfect temperature;  and it has astonishing results over the final dish result. Precisely, I need more time to provide a correct cognitive map of our transportation systems and related infrastructure already in place.

Who are the transportation players? The OEMs (Original equipment manufacturers), the project developers (those who build the projects), the Lessors, the Operators, the MROs (Maintenance, repair, and overhaul organizations), the terminal operators (airports, train stations, bike stations, etc), the fuel suppliers (electricity, power, gas, etc), the regulatory entities, the environmentalists, the bankers and equity investors, the new technology disruptors of the industry, the insurers, and finally us, the final customers.  Once you understand all the stakeholders involved, it is pretty much an insane crusade to try to make a strategy cognitive map without their direct help and input. Particularly when each of the main transportation areas is disaggregated in between them.

Why a sous vide strategy when we don´t know what may happen? 

1. Sous Vide Cooking Strategy is a beneficial pause for everyone involved. And particularly in Consulting, this honesty level is appreciated. It is perfectly fine and okay to put things on slow cooking under sous vide. As strategic advisors, we can´t rush advice when no one is an oracle to know what will happen. We can´t play the role of fortune-tellers. Not even those who have invented the disruptive technologies. Sometimes we don´t have all the information in place, just some bits, and pieces. And it is not our fault, it is so new. It is fine to don´t know. Sometimes we lack verified and trustful information. Sometimes we have just one portion of the view, and we risk being myopic.
2. The contextual analysis is not already done. Before applying any strategic framework, including cognitive maps, we must realize a contextual analysis. I have to prepare the contexts for land transportation (cars, trucks, trains, buses, taxis, bikes, motos, scooters); for the air or aviation industry. In addition to the maritime or sea transportation and spacecraft. Without clear contexts in place, our cognitive maps are wrong.
3. Strategic Cognitive maps are not roadmaps. By definition each transportation segment has or they believe they have roadmaps.  But a roadmap is not a cognitive map, which is a tool that provides an exquisite overview beyond the roadmap that we are used to seeing in strategic planning. The graphic representation of a cognitive strategic map is a useful form to make sense of complexity. In our huge overloading big data world, in which we are trying to connect sensors to decision making,  we may be lost.  Any transportation systems analysis without a correct cognitive map can complicate decision making if not made carefully.
4. Cognitive maps for disruptive technologies without a dynamic dimension are also incorrect. We need a tool that can be modified as the decision context changes. And this is not a piece of cake to do.  We are talking about at least 18 contexts that can modify our cognitive map in matters of seconds. These contexts are temporal, industry, technology, societal, institutional policy, regulatory, organizational, geographic, spatial, cultural, political, environmental, ethical, financial, educational, religious, ideological, materials-technical inputs.
5. Given our historic background, we lack an integrative transportation systems overview for the whole picture.  For example, we can´t continue developing each transportation area separately. We can´t continue developing light-train or new electric tiny spacecraft, without looking at how the maritime logistics will be affected.  Without the whole picture of all the transportation systems (terrestrial, air, sea and space) intertwined,  our advisory judgments may be biased because we are used to examining each transportation as separate mediums. Let me explain to you in words of watercolor, it is recommended to paint only on cotton paper of good quality, but I have been exploring with other types of papers that are not traditionally used. And the result is that I have experienced painting over multiple types of surfaces that have at least some degree of cotton or not, including surface made with cellulose, aquaboards, cardboards, framed cotton fabrics with gesso or acrylic boards or cotton canvas. And guess what, I have tested the good and the bad, now I know. And I have not hurt anyone neither I have disrupted the watercolor painting industry.  In the case of transportation systems, all these techs have always been analyzed separately, which is not the correct thing to do.
6. The integrative cognitive framework works wonders when it comes to connectivity of transportation, transit, and infrastructure for mobility. Let me explain this idea with the terrestrial transportation existing means which are: cars, trucks, trains, trams, high-speed rail, buses, micro-buses, taxis, bikes, motorcycles, scooters, three-wheeled cars, USVs, mono-tracer vehicles, skates, skateboards, and our pedestrian infrastructure for walking. Each of these transport mechanisms can share basic infrastructure or not (roads, stations, terminals). But we have segmented each terrestrial means and its infrastructure separately. And this has happened erratically without any type of long term view for the future. For example, it is time to start to integrate what we have, before embracing new tech per separate line.  Have you thought that elevated mono-train rail lines or light trains well designed with its infrastructure platforms can be adjusted and utilized for other mediums as bikes, scooters, even skates? Why do we have to spend money per each transportation means, when we can combine them before proceeding further?
7. Conceptual NAIQI technologies and their applications are in the nascent stage. It is time to put them on sous-vide cooking at least for several leap stages reviews; before proceeding further.  Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum processing, The Internet (NAIQI) and the rest of their applications derived as autonomous vehicles, blockchain support for supply chain management, transportation robotics,  digital twins, advanced optimization tools for operation control centers, biometrics, sensors utilization to formulate more data, delivery drones will make us crazy.  It is too much for our brains to monitor if we are not careful enough. If we were living in an ideal world that doesn´t have religious wars, and we have fixed the poverty level everywhere,  I wouldn´t recommend sous vide cooking, or pausing. But we have inherited 100 years of tremendous challenges, and they won´t be settled from one day to the other.
8. Clean electricity applied to transportation systems could be our next frontier.  With the emerging concept of sustainable cities which are putting people at the core of the towns´development and not the cars; I perceive that meanwhile, we put all the disruptive tech in sous-vide cooking for the sake of understanding the elements to do an integrative cognitive map; why don´t we invest our resources to make the fleets, vehicles shuttles, buses, container ships, trains, trams, taxis, airplanes, spacecraft, etc. to be ultraefficient by using clean energy power? Let´s distract ourselves by cleaning our transportation systems for a few decades, at least until all the strategists from my industry try to figure out where are we going?

Next week we will continue with the cleaning-cleanse activities.

On Leap´s day, this is the only jour in which is valid for a woman to propose to a man. Alex Guillermo Lozano Artolachipi, would you marry me?  I leave you with a beautiful song.  By the way, happy Leap´s day.!

Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY.  Nevertheless, the majority of the pictures, images or videos shown on this blog are not mine.  I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.

Thank you for reading to me.

Published by eleonoraescalantestrategy

Corporate Strategy Artist, San Salvador, El Salvador View all posts by eleonoraescalantestrategy