Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 108
wisdom of his time, is greatly valid in retrospect and sums up one of the causes of his
disillusionment. In referring to the instability wrought by frequent changes of rules
imposed by changing presidents, which by itself was bad enough, of one of these
changes he writes:
“The new Bolivian constitution promulgated under President German
Busch recognized the need for private property as long as it fulfilled a
social function. But it left in the hands of the government the right to
interpret what an acceptable social function was. Herein, was the seed for
the demise of wealth creation in the country.”
Although his book had not yet been written at the time I established my business, I was
aware of these circumstances just by being around him. These reflections early on
reinforced the sense that my inclination to return to the U.S. after some years in Bolivia
was correct.
I began to craft a value creating strategy that would be good for the country, good for
my employees, good for the company and good for me. First I decided that I would
minimize investments in hard assets that could be “nationalized” by a future despot.
This ruled out trying to re-start my father’s construction company. It meant our activity
would be limited to intellectual services only. The challenge of solving significant
engineering problems allowed us to repatriate bright Bolivian students who returned
home to work at CGL, among them several engineering graduates of Texas A&M, and
many from other countries, thus benefiting Bolivia.
I also believed that every person should be entitled to an opportunity of owning his/her
means of production. Consequently, I started a system of paying bonuses and allowing
the vested employees to use this windfall to buy some of my shares in the company at
market value. I included in this plan not only engineers but mid-level technicians as well.
A couple of them, Luis Villegas and Jaime Verastegui, changed the condition of their
lives totally as a result, and became my lifetime loyal friends. In the 1970s the former
came to Texas for a few months a couple of times as part of the engineering work I
commissioned CGL to do for my new Texas land development company.
This policy was great for employee morale and loyalty and institutionalized the
company’s business life by placing its ownership among a larger leadership group. Also,
importantly, it would give me an exit path when I decided it was time to return to the
States. This strategy worked very well. It accomplished all my purposes. Today, 37
years later, CGL still operates under the principal leadership of two Texas A&M former
students. It is the oldest, most reliable and now venerable consulting company in the
nation. Juan Fossati and Eduardo Valdivia are also powerful leaders in the community.
CGL has become an important depository of Bolivia’s technical information.
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