Syrtes (Parte correspondiente a Túnez)

Hi there from Sfax!!

As you can see we have already been for a few days in Sfax. We are in the comercial port of Sfax where large boats load and unload goods. In the video we will see the boat and just besides the towing boat that will be recalled later in the blog.

http:// youtu.be/ 9m_FNETyjUc

In this blog we will depart slightly from the normal content, but not much. The Archduke used to talk from time to time about nautical adventure or about his thoughts about society and its values.

The Archduke tells us in his books, for instance, that in the coast of Egipt he had once problems with the anchor, and he spent a night without sleeping. He explains akso how in Tripoli he had a broken engine part, and they were obliged to get it from Malta. We also passed a night without sleeping in one of the islands of the Kolocep channel last year, in Croatia. And also we had to wait for a spare part of the engine for ten days in Lípari, until it was found in Genoa.

Now we are in Sfax, more time tan expected, because in the first place we have had a systemic problema in our engine for the last two years. Nobody has been able to do a good diagnosis. Neither in Spain, nor in Italy or in Croatia. Si that’s the reason why we are in Sfax. The second reason why we stay here is that there is a wind storn in the area of Cap Bon, hopefully tomorrow morning we can leave.

   

It is known that bad circumstances can lead you to good outcomes. In Sfax we have known Moncef Ayoub, chief engineer of the towing boat of the Sfax port. During two days he has been devoted to analyze step by step, component by component, our engine until he has reached a diagnosis. Result: 1- we had air entering the fuel filter, 2- the engine has several blocked injectors, 3- as a result of running this way the exhaust valves seem to have suffered a bit. A whole exercice of patiente and generosity. All complex problems need such a dedication. We must say too that Amador, our captain, had been struggling during ten days with all these matters, and he was aldo closet o the diagnosis.

http:// youtu.be/ bKeL9ZrOC-Q

Moncef not only did not want to get any money for the service but also gave us some home made biscuits and sesame spread, which is of turkish origin. In any place you can find excelent people, in all senses, but perhaps those are progressively more scarce.

My experience as a profesor of business administration shows that the ways people climb in our organizations, private or public, are not good. With high likelyhood the organizational lift is putting people with few values up. Plus excelent people are constantly pushed away, actually those people seem to annoy. But the problem is that management, those leaders are mediocre, and mediocre management converts into medirocre work. The love for the job and the artisan way of working are dissapearing from our societies. The main objective is just increase the number of transactions, and thus increase the “bonus”.

There are not many ways to change the way things are. One of them is ethics. But unfortunately, it has often leaks. Another way is to change the actual system of incentives that run the world. The only way we have to change thinks is to touch the pockets of the people who rule our world; that is tos ay, we need to make them responsible and accountable for their action. It is the only language that everyone understands, especially for those up there. We will all be better off this way. Unfortunately those who could change things have little incentive because they profit from the present situation.

Best wishes!!

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