The Risk Mindset

Intro

PALOMA: Here’s a question that might change how you see your choices: when did “playing it safe” become more dangerous than taking the leap? In other words, what if the scariest thing isn’t taking the risk — but realizing years later that you never tried?

Hey, my name is Paloma Chiara, a life coach based in Spain. On this podcast, I share coaching insights and practical tips designed to inspire your personal growth.

Today I will be speaking with Pablo Gallardo, a mechanical engineer from Málaga whose journey is anything but ordinary. In this conversation we’ll uncover the challenges of graduating during Spain’s economic crisis, the bold risks he took to carve out his own path, and how chasing opportunities abroad—with persistence, creativity, and a little bit of audacity—led him to build the life he wanted.

Let’s dive in.

Smart Risk Taking

PALOMA: Hello Pablo, would you like to introduce yourself?

PABLO: Hello, Paloma, for sure. I will. My name is Pablo Gallardo, and I am originally from Malaga. And right now I am running a business, AdD. We are a consultancy for internationalization, improvement of processes and so on. So that is basically it. My background is engineering, and I have been working abroad for most of my career. And yeah, that is basically it.

PALOMA: Awesome, what kind of engineering?

PABLO: Mechanical engineering.

PALOMA: So, Pablo has a great story to share with us today, one that is very motivational and inspiring. It has a strong message about taking risks to build the life that you want. Would you like to begin, Pablo?

PABLO: Sure, I can start right away. So as I commented, I am a Malagueño, originally from Malaga, Spain, and I studied mechanical engineering. The point is, when I finished my studies in mechanical engineering, it was 2012, so there were no jobs here in Spain and even fewer opportunities in my hometown Malaga. So I needed to make some decisions, and one of the decisions I decided to take was: okay, I can either complain about the situation and stay at home with my parents, maybe keep studying, maybe a master or something, or maybe look for an internship. It was complicated because there were no jobs, but for sure without any payment requirements I would find something sooner or later. But I would keep complaining here at my parents’ place and so on, and be the same as my colleagues in a few years when something happens again.

Or I could try to do something else and look for a job abroad. Even though I was not fluent in English and of course in any other language besides Spanish—it was really far away from my knowledge. With that in mind, I decided to look for a job abroad. And I started sending resumes everywhere. But “everywhere” was everywhere and about any position. It didn’t really matter to me at that moment. Of course, that didn’t work out so much. Not many interviews came up, not many possibilities. Most of the people were not interested.

I detected there was something wrong. And then I did something that at the moment I didn’t know what it was, but now I know I was kind of testing the market. I was applying some kind of entrepreneur tools that I didn’t know at the moment I was using, but now I know. So I decided, first of all, okay, I like working in the railway industry, in airplanes, and in the automotive industry. Airplanes is really complicated, railway is cool, but I like automotive better. So I will focus on automotive.

Okay, now I had, let’s say, my ideal customer persona, right? But I needed to identify where it was located—language and so on. Then I thought, okay, the best place in Europe to actually work in the automotive industry right now is Germany. Germany is the engine, the motor of Europe. Most of the automotive companies are based there. So I needed to focus on Germany and the automotive sector.

Now it was clear for me: the country, the market where I needed to direct my CVs. I started sending some CVs, but then soon enough I realized, look, in this country actually they don’t speak the language I am using, which is English, and they don’t speak even my mother tongue. So that is why it was not being a success—I needed to talk to them in the same language they were talking.

So I went to an official translator with my CV and my cover letter and I told him to translate everything into perfect German. So they did it. I got then my CV in perfect German and my cover letter in perfect German. I started then sending my application everywhere in Germany. And that got better results. I started getting calls, calls and more calls and interviews and so on.

PALOMA: Yeah, of people who thought that you were German, right?

PABLO: I don’t think that they thought I was German, but for sure they thought that I could speak it fluently. Because everything was written in perfect German. Later on, I have learned that my application was written in the best German that some Germans had ever read in their life. So you can imagine. They were expecting a lot from me, and they were calling me, and I couldn’t speak a word in German. So it was a kind of learning in progress. I started figuring out a few words that I could say so they wouldn’t realize so much and so on. But anyway, sooner or later they realized.

And it was like that until one morning. If I am not wrong, it was a Wednesday morning. The day before that, most probably I was partying, I don’t really remember but I can imagine it. Because anyway, I had just graduated and I didn’t have any job.

PALOMA: And how old were you?

PABLO: I was 24 back in the day. Yeah, 24 years old without any job, without any responsibility, living with my parents. Most probably I was partying the day before. And then they woke me up at 8 in the morning and I heard the mobile phone ringing. I took a look, I saw a really weird telephone number, and I decided to take it just in case. Only to find on the other side of the line a lady speaking full speed.

PALOMA: In German?

PABLO: Of course, in German. Okay, it was kind of like—seriously, now? They were talking, talking, talking, and at a given moment I told them, excuse me, I think I need some more time to prepare. And then they switched to English. And they told me, “Okay, 10 o’clock via Skype. Be ready.”

Of course, you need to think that back in the days, we are talking about 2012. We couldn’t call each other normally, we couldn’t have a video call with WhatsApp or something like that. We were using Skype actually for everything. So a couple of hours later, at 10 o’clock, I was already prepared for my interview.

And we had the interview. They were trying to speak to me in German most of the time. I was always trying to switch to English, because of course I couldn’t speak German. And also my English was not perfect. It was good enough to understand what was going on, but it was not perfect. So we were having the interview.

PALOMA: And so far they didn’t suspect that you didn’t speak German, right?

PABLO: I don’t know what they were suspecting or not suspecting. I don’t really know about that. I guess they realized back then that I couldn’t speak German. They were only playing along with me or something.

PALOMA: But at least they thought that you lived in Germany, right?

PABLO: No, they didn’t know where I was living. I don’t think they knew. The point is, for sure, they knew I was Spanish, I was from Spain. I am from Spain. They knew I was a mechanical engineer. They knew about my CV, everything that is in the CV. Where I was located, I’m not so sure. It was not written in the CV that I couldn’t speak German. Of course it was not written in the CV.

Most probably, out of our conversation, me the whole time trying to switch to English, maybe they realized, maybe they didn’t. I don’t really know. The thing is that we were talking for half an hour, 45 minutes, maybe one hour, and by the end of the interview one of them said:

“Okay, Pablo, maybe we can keep talking, but we are traveling to Spain, landing in Valencia on Monday, and we are gonna be busy for the whole week, so let us catch up after our travel and we will figure it out.”

And I said, okay, sounds like a plan. We finished the interview and I was quite happy about everything. And then I started thinking… They said they are coming to Spain. They said they are landing in Valencia on Monday. How far is Valencia from Malaga?

Okay, if I go by blablacar, it is going to take between six and seven hours. I think it is worth it. I can go to Valencia. And so, on Monday early morning, I took a blablacar and I went to Valencia.

And you would think, why, Pablo, why did you go to Valencia? Okay, because as soon as I arrived there, I called the telephone number that woke me up a few days earlier and I told them, hey, by the way, I am in Valencia right now. By any chance, do you have any… any availability in your calendar to have a coffee or something with me?

PALOMA: Yeah so they didn’t know, for them it was a coincidence.

PABLO: Yeah. But their reaction was really good. So they invited me for the whole trip. I got a really amazing experience there. I went with them, together with them, I went to visit their clients, their suppliers. I went into the Ford factory, into the Opel factory—basically these two and another suppliers from Opel and from Ford.

I could walk into the factory, I was there, I was sitting in every minute in every meeting. Of course, they needed to introduce me, so they were introducing me as a trainee or something. So I was there before every meeting, they were explaining to me who was who.

PALOMA: And you were still pretending to know German the whole time.

PABLO: Of course, I was pretending I could speak German, of course. Every time I could switch into English, because of course I couldn’t speak German for real. And yeah, every meeting they were explaining to me who is whom and then when we were walking around the factory they were explaining to me the process and asking me how I propose to improve it or how I see it and so on. After every meeting they were asking me what I think about the meeting, about each of the systems and so on.

And it was like that for three complete days, so Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. On Wednesday evening, we were in the car and they said, “Pablo, we like what you are doing with us. What do you think about coming to Germany with us?”

And I thought, okay, great, this is exactly what I was looking for.

“Great, Pablo, then take—these are your contract, your papers. You can go back, your luggage and everything. And on Friday, we meet up in Valencia Airport and we fly together to Germany.”

And I was a kind of… this Friday?

“Yeah, yeah, in two days. You have enough time, right?”

PALOMA: Yeah, because they thought that you lived there or did they know that you didn’t…

PABLO: I don’t think that they… I mean, they… they knew I was living in Spain, where exactly? I don’t know… I don’t think they knew where exactly I was living. So I looked for another blablacar, went back to Malaga, packed my luggage and said to mama and papa, mama, papa, I’m leaving to Germany, I’m off to Germany.

PALOMA: And what did they say?

PABLO: A kind of… what? For how long? Where in Germany? And how long are you gonna stay there? And all these questions as they, parents, so everybody except for me, everybody asked. I didn’t ask. And I had, of course, I had some paperwork with me, but I couldn’t understand it because it was in German, of course.

And that was a kind of… that was quite stressful, especially for my parents. I didn’t know where I was going, for how long and what I was going to do and so on. That was a kind of a peak. But I wanted to go there, I seriously wanted to go there, I thought it was my chance. I was already for a few months looking for a job, and I knew there was no future for me—not in the short term—staying with my parents.

So I told them at a given moment while we were discussing, I told them, Look, Papa, Mama, what is the worst thing that can happen? That I arrive there in Germany and then there is nothing for me, everything is fake, or I don’t like it, and anyway I need to stay in a hotel room for a few days or one night or a few nights, I don’t know, and I need to come back to Malaga.

So that is the worst-case scenario. Can you afford one, two, three nights of a hotel room for me in Germany and then a flight ticket back to Malaga from Germany? Can you afford that? And they said, sure, we can afford it.

If you can afford that—because of course I didn’t have money, I didn’t work back then, I was depending on them—if you can afford that, then the worst thing that can happen is that you need to pay a few hundred euros for me to come back home. And the best thing that can happen is actually what? That I have a proper job, that I have a new life, and I build the experience I want to build. So is it worthy to take the risk?

Somehow the environment relaxed itself quite a bit and they allowed me to keep packing and go to Valencia Airport.

PALOMA: I mean, in reality, I think the risk could have been much worse, like it could have been bad people. You really never know.

PABLO: Yeah, but in that case if they were bad people, it is the same. I only need to find a hotel room and stay there. I mean, I am clever enough to know if they are bad people, I need to run away, you know?

PALOMA: Yeah, well, I mean, it’s true that you already spent like a whole week with them and you actually saw, you know, the business functioning and everything. So at least you knew it was legit, right?

PABLO: Yes. And the same, if it is not legit, then I only need to find a hotel room there. I mean, it is something, it is okay, they could be bad people, but if they were bad people, I can run away. They wouldn’t have taken me with them a few days in Spain, I don’t know. It didn’t make sense.

PALOMA: Yeah, you’re right, okay.

PABLO: And so, I was there in Valencia Airport already on Friday morning, because of course I didn’t know the time—because of course everything was in German. So I was there on Friday morning.

PALOMA: And you still hadn’t… like the contract was in German, right? So you still didn’t know how much you were getting paid and all that, right?

PABLO: No, nothing, nothing, nothing. I didn’t even know where I was going. I only knew I needed to be there on Friday morning.

PALOMA: Oh my god, it really is crazy.

PABLO: Yeah. And so I met them again and, as I commented, my mom—so my parents but especially my mom—was a bit nervous about the situation. So when I met them I asked, look, my mom is a little bit nervous about the situation. Can you please tell me in which… so to which city are we going?

And they said, “yeah, sure, don’t worry, we are going to Frankfurt.”

Oh, okay.

PABLO: And then I took my mobile phone and I texted her an SMS, because you need to think there was no WhatsApp back then. SMS: “Hey, mom, I am going to Frankfurt. Don’t worry.”

And for me, that was clear already. Okay, now, now. That’s good enough. Good enough.

So we did the whole control security for the airplane. We did everything. And then I sat down in my seat in the airplane. One of the Germans was sitting down next to me. And when we were taking off, I started getting kind of nervous, because then the questions—actually the questions that my parents were asking me—they were actually coming to my head the whole time.

Only there, only then, not earlier.

PALOMA: That tends to happen.

PABLO: Yeah. And only then I started getting a bit nervous, and it was one question that actually was the explosion, because at a given moment it came to my mind: Pablo, where are you sleeping tonight?

And then I thought, okay, that is a catastrophe. Where am I sleeping tonight? And then I looked at the guy, the man sitting down next to me, and I kind of screamed to him, “But where am I sleeping tonight?”

PALOMA: Wait, so who was he? Was he the business owner or like the HR?

PABLO: Business owner. He was a big boss.

PALOMA: Okay, okay. So you just freaked out on him for a second.

PABLO: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

PALOMA: And what did he say?

PABLO: Lucky enough, lucky enough, he started laughing. But, so really, really loud. Everybody was looking at us, a German man looking at me and laughing while I was having a white face, kind of confused about where I was going to sleep that night.

And after the laugh, he answered, “Look Pablo, it is very clear for us that you cannot speak any German at all. So don’t worry about that anymore, okay?”

PALOMA: Aw. That’s so nice of him.

PABLO: “We are not getting you because you know German. We are taking you with us because we like your attitude. We like the fact that you came even without an invitation. We like the fact that you also came to Germany without knowing the details, that you were a few days with us, and during these three days, we were actually interviewing you in a technical way, in an environmental, behavioral way and so on. You are what we are looking for. German is something you can learn—we can teach you German. The other skills that you are showing us, those are things that are not so easy to find. So don’t worry about the German.”

PALOMA: Honestly, awesome, awesome boss. He’s great.

PABLO: Yeah, he’s awesome.

And then he said, “okay, and now regarding where you are sleeping tonight—also don’t worry about that. We have thought about it. You are gonna sleep in my guest house next to me and my family. You are gonna have your own apartment, we are gonna give you a company car, and we are giving you some money as a kind of internship payment for the first six months. And after this period, if you like what you are doing with us and we like what you are doing, then we will discuss about longer term.”

PALOMA: So you slept in his house and you met his family? You weren’t nervous about being with strangers?

PABLO: I mean, I was not in his house, I was in the house next to his house, which is the guest apartment. But yeah, the garden was common. I was having breakfast every Saturday morning with the family. But it was a very nice experience.

And actually, it was the beginning of a really nice and good relationship. I mean, he became a kind of mentor and a good friend of mine. Now I call him my German dad, you know.

PALOMA: Oh, I love that. And now you know German, right?

PABLO: Now I can speak German. I am fluent in German. I was living there for six years. And after that experience he kind of took me under his wing and he was training me quite a lot during the whole time and actually betting quite a lot on me.

So actually, I was working as an engineer itself just for one and a half years. After that, an open position for project manager was available, and he called me to his office and told me, “Pablo, you are an okay technician, but you have skills that most people don’t have. Skills that are complicated to find, and those skills are good for management. So you have now two options. You can keep working as a technician, as an engineer, and maybe you will have a career. Or switch it a little bit, go more in the direction of management, apply to this open position for project management, I will help you get it, and for sure in that trajectory you will have a better future. I can see that.”

So I applied to that open position inside the company, and I became the youngest—project manager in the company, and the first one in Europe who was not a native German speaker.

PALOMA: The first one in Europe, you mean in Germany?

PABLO: No, because the company was worldwide.

PALOMA: Oh, got it, got it. So for the company.

PABLO: Yeah, the company was worldwide, so it was global. But in the whole project management department, it was actually in Germany. So the first one in Europe who was not a native German speaker.

And not only that—a few years after that, he called me again into his office and he said, “Pablo, you are doing an amazing job as a project manager even though you are the youngest. If you would like to continue in this career path, I suggest that you apply now for this new open position as head of project management here in Europe and I will help you get it.”

And indeed, he helped me get it, and I was not only the youngest project manager in Europe, I was also the boss of all of them.

PALOMA: That’s so cool.

PABLO: Yeah, so it was a very, very nice experience, even now after several years, because I am not working at that company anymore—after so many years we call each other to check in about how our lives are, about advice on our jobs. I mean, about his company because he switched companies, now he has another one. And every now and then we call each other.

“Okay Pablo, what are you doing?”

“I am doing this, what do you think about what we are doing?”

And the other way around for me.

“Hey Markus, I am planning to do this. What do you think? Do you think it is going to work out? Would you suggest going in another direction?”

And we help each other a lot. That is why—on top of the fact that I was living next to his family for six months—that is why I call him my German dad, and he calls me his Spanish son.

Even at my farewell party, his kids came to me—because of course I know them—they came to me and they said, “Pablo, our dad loves you almost as one of us.”

PALOMA: Oh, that’s so cute. So how many years did you stay in that company and why did you leave to Spain?

PABLO: Six years. I was there for six years, traveling a lot, but mainly living in Germany. And I left only because I couldn’t see my whole life living in Germany. I didn’t want to see my future life, my life as an older man, let’s say. I didn’t imagine it living in Germany. I wanted to live in another country where I could imagine my life in another way, and the opportunity to come back here to Spain — actually to Andalusia, the state where Malaga is located — I got the opportunity to come back here not so far away from home, with a good salary and a good opportunity.

So it took me like three months to decide it, but after that I decided, okay, maybe it is indeed time to make a change, and maybe it is also time to go back to Spain if the situation has changed.

PALOMA: Awesome. Okay. Yeah, honestly, it’s such a great story. It really, like the first time I heard it, it really stuck with me for a few days.

PABLO: Seriously?

PALOMA: Yeah! I even told it to my mom, and she loved it too.

PABLO: Okay, nice. Yeah. I really appreciate that.

PALOMA: So I also prepared a few questions, because this story is very inspirational, but also I would like to help anyone who is listening see how they can apply this concept of taking risks into their own lives if they also see themselves in a similar situation.

So yeah, so let’s get started. Do you have any advice on how to handle the fear of rejection when taking risks?

PABLO: When you have the fear of rejection, it’s actually because what you imagine that can happen is really bad, but you don’t really picture what it could be. So in my experience, normally you don’t picture what it could be. You only imagine, okay, this, what I am living right now, is my status quo, that is comfortable for me. If I change that, something is going to happen. But if you ask yourself — or the people who are bringing you this fear — what is the worst thing that can happen, then the mentality totally changes. Because then you are not picturing something horrible will happen. No, no. You are actually thinking, okay, this here is the worst thing that can happen. If that thing happens, and it is not something that endangers you or any living being, I would say you can do it.

PALOMA: Yeah, no, I agree. But I also think it’s important to note that you did know them for a week, which is very important. And also, there’s also a bit of privilege as a man as well.

PABLO: Yeah, of course. That is for sure. That is for sure. But I must also say that this question I ask myself whenever it is an opportunity or a risk — “what is the worst thing that can happen?” — it is something that I do most of the time. So it is something that I have implemented in my life. It was not the first time that I did it. Maybe it was the first time that I asked it to my parents, but it was not the first time that I did it to myself. I have had it implemented in my life for quite long. I would say that I am quite a risk taker.

PALOMA: Yeah, I can see that.

PABLO: One of the things that had helped me so far to navigate those risks is thinking always, okay, if something wrong happens, what it could be and it is something that they can manage it, or it is something that somebody will get hurt. Then no. Then no. But if it is something that they manage, then normally I try to take the risk, if I believe the outcome may be a better future for Pablo, for me.

PALOMA: So if someone close to you is more risk-averse, do you respect their caution or do you believe they’re limiting themselves?

PABLO: It is up to the context. What I believe it is important is that you know the limitations, that you know, okay, until here it is what I am willing to give up. Until here it is what I am willing to do. The worst thing that can happen is this, it is in my level of I am willing to accept it or not. Actually nobody but yourself knows what it is, that limit. So I don’t judge anybody by taking more or less risk. That is something that only yourself know, because also, the more responsibilities you have, the more complicated it is to take the risk, because the worst thing that it can happen is something that not only apply to you, it applies to other things and other people around you.

Actually, that is a question that it is totally up to the context or totally up to the person, and I believe the important thing is to make a limit, to, let’s say, put yourself limitations. And when you ask yourself about the worst thing, you are conscious about the real risk, not a potential fear that you imagine that you will not do. No, no. What it is actually the risk.

PALOMA: Yeah, yeah, I fully agree with you on that. I think people can define for themselves what is risky for them and how much they’re willing to take. And what would you say to someone who tells themselves they’ll take the risk later once they’re ready?

PABLO: I would say that I know for that is the most of the human beings, we normally try to postpone things that we are not certain about. But from my point of view and from my experience, the risk, the later you take it, the more risky it is. It means, it means, because normally, I mean, many people say, no, I want to open my, so I want to become entrepreneur, but I am not ready. Okay, maybe you are not ready for real, then it is a big risk, but if you are somehow ready, then now it is better than in a few years, because in a few years you may have a family, you may have a mortgage, you may have an apartment, you may have other standard of living, you may have other kind of stuff different that you have now. And the worst thing that it may happen, it is worse back then.

So the sooner you take the risk, the more probability there is that the risk it is worth it. So you have less to lose and more to win.

PALOMA: Yeah, yeah, totally got that. Okay, and do you want to give some last words that you want to give to someone who’s wondering about they should take a risk or not?

PABLO: I can say a few words. Yeah. I would say, I mean, as commented already, I am quite a risk taker, but I want to encourage people to take risks because the life without taking risks is actually a kind of boring from my point of view. Do you want to live a boring life? Okay, that is also fine. I am not gonna judge that. But the more you take risks, the more you challenge yourself, and the better probabilities there are that your future life will be better.

If you only live what you are supposed to do, so supposed to live, if you only do what you are supposed to do, then the chances that you do something out of the standard are really low. And so the chances that you grow in a different way, that you become a different person, that you change something that you want to change about yourself, that you achieve something that you want to achieve. If you don’t do stuff, stuff doesn’t happen to you.

PALOMA: Yeah, exactly.

PABLO: So let’s say if I need to give a takeaway, it is: take a risk. If you have a risk, take it. As long as you can take it, you can manage the outcome—the worst case outcome—then there is not so much to lose.

Normally, the barrier is in our mind. It is not actually a physical barrier. It is not something really, really blocking to do it. It is only our mind. We only need to educate our mind not to think “this is bad,” but to think “okay, this may be good” or “this is good.” That would be my piece of advice.

PALOMA: Yeah, totally. Those are great last words. Well, thank you so much for coming to this episode. It was great. I had a great talk. I love hearing the story again.

PABLO: Thank you, Paloma, for inviting me for this podcast and for allowing me to share my story with everybody who wants to listen to it. Thank you also for your project, because I believe you are doing a really, really nice project. So thank you for everything.

LINKS:

• Pablo Gallardo’s LinkedIn
• Pablo Gallardo’s Instagram
• Pablo Gallardo’s consultancy AdD Global

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