Dear friend,
Sometimes I check, or stumble upon, the profiles of businesses that were once everywhere.
They were hot.
All over PR.
Impossible to miss.
And now, years later, there’s almost nothing.
Maybe an outdated mention in an old article.
Frozen in time.
A collection of what used to be.
When you notice that, you pause.
You remember how they made you feel.
You go back to a moment when you admired them, or maybe even felt a bit of jealousy.
And then you return to the present moment.
What was the point?
How should we build?
Of course, sometimes it makes sense to play a short game.
You move fast, deliver, and exit.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
But I don’t think that should be the default.
Here’s my default.
I want to build things with the assumption that they might outlive me.
That they could survive without my constant presence.
That they’re flexible enough to adapt, resilient enough to bend, and simple enough to endure.
Thinking this way changes everything:
- how you design
- how you lead
- how you grow
- how you say no.
And here’s the twist:
Even if the thing you’re building doesn’t actually outlive you,
approaching it this way still makes the journey worthwhile.
Because the long game shapes you as much as what you’re building.
And maybe that was the point all along:
to discover who you are while building something that lasts.
One line to carry with you:
Build like it has to survive you.
Truly yours, this moment.
Armando