The Petro Earthquake Shakes the Old Narratives

07/09/202506/09/2025 Andres Tellez Vallejo

Benjamin Cain, in his reflection The Reign of Civilized Psychopaths, argues that the mere existence of a disruptive leadership figure like Donald Trump is enough to put dominant sectors into “shock,” rendering their narratives obsolete. Although formulated for the U.S. case, this argument illuminates the Colombian experience under Gustavo Petro. The arrival of the first leftist president in the country’s history shook the political board, revealing the fragility of traditional ideological frameworks and forcing a rethinking of the very meaning of power in Colombia.

To Govern is to Create: An Analysis of Petro’s Misgovernment in the Light of David Billington

24/08/202523/08/2025 Andres Tellez Vallejo

A reflection on Gustavo Petro’s presidency through the lens of engineering, rhetoric, and missed opportunity.

David Billington, engineer and historian of technology, argued that “engineering or technology is the making of things that did not previously exist, whereas science is the discovering of things that have long existed.” This distinction between creating and identifying becomes particularly relevant when analyzing the performance of the current Colombian government, led by Gustavo Petro.

Brands must be distinguished by deeds, not just stories

21/08/202520/08/2025 Andres Tellez Vallejo

Whether a brand operates locally or internationally—and whether it’s large or small—it increases affinity with customers, prospects, shareholders, and beneficiaries when it has a well-defined, consistent character. A brand is an emotional bond grounded in evidence: it’s built through what the organization says and does at every stage of the funnel—values and beliefs, product and service, price and logistics, store and app, support and communication.

The True Value of Your Brand Lies in the Customer’s Heart

19/08/202518/08/2025 Andres Tellez Vallejo

Lao Tzu, a philosopher of the 6th century B.C., once said that depending on rigid ideologies deprives you of meaning and incapacitates you to lead. If we bring this wisdom into today’s business environment, the advice is pure gold: don’t get tied to prefabricated schemes or what “market trends” dictate. Make your brand a living expression of what you believe in and what your customers truly value.

Walking the Authenticity Tightrope

19/06/202518/06/2025 Andres Tellez Vallejo

When every click leaves a footprint and every notification battles for our attention, authenticity has become the most uttered—and paradoxically least understood—word in the business vocabulary. Being authentic is not about showcasing every corner of one’s life or laying oneself emotionally bare before the camera; it is about anchoring both public and private decisions to a core set of values that refuses to shift with the algorithms. In an environment where vanity metrics can inflate egos in a single 24-hour cycle and deflate them the next, authenticity serves as an inner compass, pointing north even when outward visibility dims.

Montealegre, the “Decretazo” and the True Character of Leadership

12/06/202512/06/2025 Andres Tellez Vallejo

For those who have not been closely following Colombia’s political pulse, it is worth situating the debate before diving in. “Decretazo” is the name the public has given to the emergency decree by which President Gustavo Petro chose to fast-track, through executive action, a package of social and economic reforms that had until then been inching forward in Congress. The decision has triggered an intense debate because, although the Colombian Constitution empowers the Executive to issue decrees with the force of law in exceptional circumstances, the opposition and numerous jurists argue that the material requirements —severity, urgency, and temporariness— are not met in this case. In other words, the controversy is not merely about the scope of a specific rule but about the tension between popular mandate and the checks and balances that underpin the rule of law.