Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to observe high-pressure environments up close — sport, performance, leadership, and decision-making.
But some of the clearest and most lasting lessons I’ve learned come from observing the thinking of Julio Velasco.
Velasco doesn’t define leadership through charisma or authority.
He talks about systems. And above all, about error.
In his approach, error is never the end of the story. It’s an inevitable part of the process. Something not to hide or punish, but to read, understand, and integrate.
Because a team — in sport as in business — doesn’t grow by eliminating error, but by learning how to stay composed within it.
This taught me something essential:
Real Leadership doesn’t show when everything works perfectly, but in how one responds when something doesn’t.
Velasco insists on a principle I consider crucial beyond the playing field:
Don’t look for someone to blame — look for the reason.
Don’t simplify — contextualize.
Don’t react impulsively — build understanding.
And in my opinion I also add : Never Judge Anyone
I learned that managing error doesn’t mean lowering standards. Quite the opposite.
It means being solid enough not to need defensiveness, justification, or blame-shifting.
Over time, this perspective has reshaped the way I work and face complex situations.
It taught me to distinguish between:
- responsibility and blame
- clarity and rigidity
- firmness and aggression
A leader — or anyone aspiring to be one — isn’t someone who never makes mistakes.
It’s someone who can hold the tension of error without breaking the system.
And perhaps this is the hardest — and most powerful — lesson of all:
Leadership is NOT control.
It’s the ability to hold complexity, pressure, and humanity together — without oversimplifying what is complex.
Silvia
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