Translator: Miriam Giardina Reviewer: Michael Nystrom
It takes 20 seconds of bravery to change our lives,
to shake off fear and to put faith in our hearts.
In some way, this has been the story of my life.
Picture this,
after weeks and months of training at 5,000 feet altitude.
With the plane door ready, with your parachute packed.
The door opens.
And those are the 20 seconds that you have to decide
of whether to jump or not.
And that is kind of how life is.
In those 20 seconds, when I make the choice to jump,
this time I fall through the air with a parachute.
In those first few seconds, my first thought is, “Am I crazy?”
“What happened?” “What was I thinking?”
This is a freefall,
a complete abyss.
And suddenly I feel that pull,
and the parachute opens.
Can you imagine that feeling?
And soon enough, I see the world at my feet, literally.
Is it scary? Of course.
Are there doubts? Many.
Everything’s uncertain.
Imagine the whole world, the magnitude of that world at my feet,
all the possibilities.
Also I still need to land, and I still don’t know where I’ll fall.
And what if suddenly a wave of hot air comes and pushes me
or something else?
Because the chute has already opened, and I already know I’m going to be fine.
And imagine if I hadn’t jumped,
what would’ve happened?
I would be sitting in the chair of that plane.
Thinking of a thousand excuses for myself for why I didn’t do it.
Because of my kids.
Because it wasn’t the day for it.
Because today is Wednesday, and Wednesdays are not a good day.
And I’d be racking my brain until my head started to hurt
to reassure myself
that I wouldn’t regret it.
But in truth, from the bottom of my heart,
there is anger, there is frustration
that needs figuring out on how I will calm it.
I had two coaches in my life,
which are my two older brothers.
I’m the youngest of our family, the only woman,
and I always thought that they had bullied me my whole life.
But it turns out that they were coaching me.
And that’s the truth, that today I must publicly acknowledge them
for the wonders they have done for me.
So, this is how the story starts,
where life has formed from 20 seconds of bravery.
Those 20 seconds in which,
with a lot of fear and terror,
I have to make the decision to jump into the abyss or stay seated,
searching my head for a thousand excuses
to forgive myself for why I didn’t do it.
And today I want to tell you three acts, three key moments of this story.
The first act I’ve called “Create”.
And so at age 22,
I made the decision,
as a mother, to enrol at university.
Against all the odds, I graduated.
And against all odds, instead of searching for the comfort
of a company
that welcomes me.
And be judicious and disciplined.
No, I decided that we have to start a business
in something that in the ’90s they were doing
a thing called the internet,
that no one knew what it was about.
And I jump into the void.
And it is 20 seconds of courage where I have to decide my life.
Because also, there was not one, but two children.
And I created the third, my third child was born:
The first digital company in Colombia.
The first company where, like many,
I learned from 20 seconds of courage.
As crazy as we were, they accompanied us
to create, invent, and innovate
an industry that did not exist.
Because that’s what we did for 20 years.
Invent an industry that did not exist.
Thousands of wonderful people passed by,
people who believed in us.
Clients as crazy as us,
some of them.
People who accompanied us, all young people
with a strength, with a passion
that never let us regret having jumped into the void.
I’m going to call the second one: “connect and collaborate”.
After 20 years of entrepreneurship,
20 years of jumping into the void every day
because in this country, that is entrepreneurship.
I stepped into another new world.
Connecting and collaborating with the corporate world.
To show everyone who seems to be in a comfort zone.
how it takes 20 seconds of courage
to be able to move forward, to be able to transform,
to be able to continue dreaming within your companies,
and above all,
with what was happening, to be able to survive in this world.
The best answer was given to me by the president of a company,
after months of work and showing him the way.
I ask him: “Are you calm?”
And he answers: “No, I am not calm, but I am on board.”
And those are the true innovators.
Because we will never be able to remain calm.
I called my third path,
“It is time to give back.”
Imagine this story:
entrepreneurship,
corporate world,
boards of directors.
And they called me to become rector.
And I ... as rector.
Academia.
And I have to tell them.
My dad had died ...
just a few days ago.
And I thought ...
what will this man think, that I ...
am even thinking about becoming rector?
And I have to tell you that a force inside my heart told me,
“You will not think about it; instead, you will be a rector.”
And with all the conviction ...
one day, after a long process, they called me and told me ...
you are the rector.
I remained silent.
And after a “plop!“, like Condorito.
I thought ...
here comes another 20 seconds of bravery.
What will I do? Will I remain seated in the plane seat ...
looking for a thousand excuses ...
for my children ...
because now is not the time,
because I know nothing about academia ...
or will I jump back into the abyss with strength and embrace uncertainty.
And for the third time, perhaps without any fear,
beyond my heart’s strength and certainty that it was going to be okay,
I jumped into that abyss.
And today it is my responsibility, no more no less...
to move forward with one of the institutions that I love the most.
Because it is my home, because it is my alma mater,
because I am what I am partly because I came from there.
And I have the responsibility of accompanying the transformation process,
in one of the moments of greatest disruption.
I have the responsibility...
to train the leaders who will transform this country.
And today I’d like to invite you ...
to count to 20.
One ...
Two ...
Three ...
Four ...
Five ...
Six ...
Seven ...
Eight ...
Nine ...
Ten ...
Eleven ...
Twelve ...
Thirteen ...
Fourteen ...
Fifteen ...
Sixteen ...
Seventeen ...
Eighteen ...
Nineteen ...
Twenty.
And jump into the void ...
with the certainty that you are going to be fine.
Many thanks.