Curriculum Francisco Conde
Probably many people have experienced what happened to me.
I thought my life was a response to circumstances of the moment, imposed by reality, but after many years I realized that everything accomplished was a search of negotiated solutions.
My education is bi-national, in Mexico and in the U.S.A.
My formal education was and is in social sciences, such as Law, Ethics, Mediation, Negotiation, Creativity and Motivational Techniques.
In the last years I have mainly been involved in delivering conferences to self improvement groups as well as teaching alternative dispute techniques.
There are some experiences directly related to negotiated solutions which I would like to share.
In commercial affairs, I was involved in the purchase/sale of international goods.
In the labyrinth of importation and commercialization of diverse products (shoes and cod fish among others) my position impacted almost all the cycle, localization and purchase of products abroad, establishing letters of credit, selecting transportation means and determining the necessary insurance and finally to importing and delivering the merchandise to the customer.
As an investor I was involved in the lighting business I had to deal with foreign investors and local government employees as well as with real estate developers who built commercial malls and hotels.
My function was regarding the negotiations of the contracts and solving the conflicts that the contracts arose. For the companies operation, there was an engineer in charge of the supervision and execution of the jobs.
One of the challenges was the management of the inconveniences inflicted to the neighbors (access to their apartments, car exits and entry’s, acceptable labor hours, etc.)
Other conflicts were generated by the providers of goods, regarding matters as to define purchasing prices, choosing the adequate provider, guarantee the provision of the goods on time, and verify the quality demanded and to carry out the legal requirements to the workers satisfaction regarding insurance, labor accidents, demands out of contract, to agree on economic retributions for extra work.
In real estate I had an integrating responsibility.
Due to the 1985 earthquake, I had the responsibility to attend the political precincts of Mexico City, in the purchase of real estate for the development of several of their programs as well as participating in the creation of the Fase 1 housing program as well as Mexico City Historical Center Rehabilitation program
In this occasion i had the opportunity to see problems of the City but no longer from the point of view of the citizen but as that of the authority, which allowed me to broaden my focus when analyzing possible preventive measures in a given situation and evaluate the different solutions to solve a conflict, taking into consideration the different factors that influenced in each one of the problems that arose.
Due to the diversity of the job and the persons and institutions I had to attend and help them solve their conflicts, this was a great experience.
In the amusement and tourism sector I had as a challenge to integrate a series of dissimilar factors for a business in this area.
Here once again my contact with people and there conflicts was very enlightening because i had to see the conflicts with the personnel, the syndicate, the companies partners, associates, different inspectors from the governmental offices as well as the daily interaction with the clientele that frequented us, each one believing that they were the most important and only person in the place.
Here may activities took place in different parts of Mexico like Mexico City, Acapulco and Cuernavaca.
In the environment sector, for a few years I was advisor to a corporation that worked for the government drilling water wells for Tlaxcala, Puebla as well as of Mexico City local governments.
To solve disputes between near by towns, Regarding payment of related jobs, the agreement of water utilization, as well as the shared administration of the wells.
In the agriculture sector i managed a barley production farm. It was a true challenge.
I learned to anticipate problems and solution not only those referred to the operation of the farm as a productive operational unite, but also to the human relationships established with our workers and our neighbors.
Most of them peasants of an agrarian unit or small proprietors.
I recall that a recurring pattern was that the peasants invaded the farm every three years manipulated by agrarian leader in time of elections with the personal, emotional and economic conflicts that this arose.
During a certain occasion, after the peasants were cleared out from the land they had invaded, I commented with them that instead of making cyclical money contributions to the leaders and candidates to public office why didn’t they use that money to buy the land they wanted.
To my surprise, they took my advice and after reaching a deal with us they were able to buy the land, everybody earned from this.
Still very young in the legal area, as a law student, I worked in a large law firm, thanks to my knowledge of English, I was in charge of helping our foreign clients solve the problems they faced.
It was my responsibility to facilitate their and their families and companies establishment.
I specialized in administrative issues and matters regarding schools and housing.
Due to this several foreigners could establish themselves and/or their companies in Mexico, with the least number of problems regarding this matter
To end I would like to say that my experience renders a simple and effective way to find negotiated solutions when the parties perceive obstacles and headaches to manage their conflicts.
Francisco Conde
Associates
