Exploration has been part of my story for longer than I consciously chose it.
I was born in Germany to an Argentine family and remained stateless until I was fourteen. For those first years, nationality — something most people inherit without giving it much thought — was strangely absent from my identity.
Looking back, perhaps it was an early sign of what was to come.
What began as circumstance eventually became choice. I have since lived in four countries, worked across cultures and borders, and today call Cyprus home. I speak several languages and continue learning them, not simply for the words themselves, but because every language offers a different way into a culture — and, most importantly, into its people.
Moving, adapting and discovering different ways of seeing the world became something I actively sought out: a way to learn, to grow and occasionally to challenge who I thought I was.
Perhaps that is what attracts me most about exploring: it changes perspective.
Travelling slowly
Whenever possible, I like to travel slowly.
Cycling across a country changes the experience completely. Distances become real. Landscapes are no longer something outside a window. You stop in places you would otherwise pass by and meet people you were never planning to meet.
And things go wrong.
Weather changes. Routes disappear. Plans have to be rewritten. What seemed straightforward in the morning may look very different a few hours later.
There is something wonderfully practical about that kind of uncertainty: you adapt and keep moving.
There are also parts of the world where reaching the places I want to discover by bicycle would be difficult. That has led to another idea I am beginning to explore: travelling by motorcycle.
Different machine, longer distances, same philosophy — travelling close enough to the ground to experience a place rather than simply passing through it.
Becoming a beginner again
Exploration does not always involve going somewhere.
I am currently developing Gabo World, a new children’s publishing venture that brings together storytelling, travel, cultures and discovery.
It takes me into territory very different from the businesses in which I have spent most of my professional life. Publishing, content creation, illustration, multilingual products, digital distribution — there is a great deal I still don’t know.
And I like that.
After many years of professional experience, there is something healthy about deliberately putting yourself in a position where you don’t have all the answers.
Being a beginner forces you to listen more carefully, ask better questions and challenge assumptions you may not even realise you have.
People change the map
Having made a home in different countries, I have come to think of international experience less in terms of geography and more in terms of people.
Learning languages is part of that. Speaking someone’s language changes the conversation. It gives access not only to different words, but to humour, nuances, ways of thinking and ways of seeing the world.
Perhaps my unusual relationship with nationality also taught me early on not to define belonging exclusively through a passport or a place on a map. Over time, belonging has become much more about people, relationships and shared purpose.
The more cultures I encounter, the less interested I become in assuming that there is only one right way of doing things.
That matters in life. And it certainly matters in business.
Bringing curiosity back to the boardroom
I don’t see these experiences as separate from my professional life. They feed it.
Languages teach me to listen. Living abroad teaches me perspective. Travel teaches me adaptability. New ventures teach me humility. And people teach me almost everything else.
The same curiosity that makes me take an unfamiliar road is often what makes me interested in a company, an entrepreneur or an idea.
- What am I not seeing yet?
- Why has something always been done this way?
- Who else should be part of this conversation?
- What could this become?
Strategy and experience matter enormously. But experience can also become a constraint if it convinces us that we already know the answer.
That is why I intend to keep stepping deliberately into unfamiliar territory.
- To keep learning languages.
- To keep crossing borders.
- To keep building things I haven’t built before.
- To keep meeting people who see the world differently.
And, whenever possible, to keep moving.
Because sometimes the best way to see further is to leave behind what you already know.