Pedro Ramos (President of PAPS 2004/05) | May 2008
What brought you to the USA? Name the three most valuable lessons you have learned in this country (at work or not). 1. Work Ethic – If you work hard here, there is nothing you can’t achieve 2. Entrepreneurship / Optimism – Our best days are still ahead 3. Diversity – surround yourself with people with different perspective than yours so you learn what your hidden assumptions are Are you planning to go back to Portugal? Why/Why not? No. The opportunities in my field for me in the US cannot be matched in Portugal. It is a privilege to be working with some of the best investors in the world. Additionally, social mobility is much higher here. Finally, the best for Portugal is to have its people working with the best in the world. I look forward to helping more Portuguese (and Portuguese companies) come realise their dreams in the US.
What conditions (other than salary) do you have here that you do not have in Portugal? 1 – constant flow of companies from around the world in Road Show. 2 – having lunch and drinks almost everyday with some of the best investors in the world. 3 – opportunity to seriously advance your career if you do great work. 4 – work with firms with large amounts of capital to deploy 5 – the sense that no matter how good you are, there is always someone better – keeps you focused on always improving your game What do you think Portugal is still better at? What would you like to see changed in the Portuguese educational system? Funding and Governance/incentives. Funding American Universities have several additional funding sources that are not being used in Portugal, most importantly alumni donations and endowments. I would love to give donations to Porto University and here promise to do so if an endowment is created. Governance/Incentives There is really no compelling incentives for Portuguese schools and Portuguese professors to improve. With most schools publicly funded the money will come regardless of the school performance (up to a limit). Therefore it is hard to implement change if the outcome will be the same for the administration and Professors. Resistance to change is a big human trait all around the world. I have had truly inspiring professors in Portugal that have changed my life. I am grateful to them but sad that they probably made the same amount of money and got similar recognition than the average and mediocre professors I had. This is very unfair in my opinion. To the extent we can improve the current system to one which differentiates and reward excellence in teaching we will have better teachers in Portugal with natural impact on the education experience.
The daily life in the US
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