Family & Friends

Family & Friends

17 November 2025

In the past, we still said "Friends & Family" when patronage was the norm and nepotism was concealed. In my training, we were focused entirely on patronage; nepotism and cronyism were not even mentioned. At the time, there was still a certain sense of shame that kept us in check. That restraint has now completely disappeared.

A few days ago, the Curaçao national coach left the squad just three or four days before the decisive match against Jamaica, citing a personal matter as the official reason. I read: a family matter. By doing this, he shows—and teaches us—how priorities and loyalties are and should be set: family comes first.

This is precisely why organizations around the world have recognized that Family & Friends can be problematic in environments where objectivity and openness are crucial. Anthony Guillermo referred to the time when his father worked at Shell, when the same occurred. He explains that when mistakes were made, Family & Friends could look the other way and try to cover everything under the mantle of love.

In Curaçao, Family & Friends has now become the norm and is justified with the argument that it is ‘normal,’ or that it frequently occurs in small communities where everyone knows each other. What happens here is that a description is turned into a prescription: because something happens often, it must be acceptable. But the fact that it occurs more easily does not make it right. The consequences are certainly not smaller—if anything, they are greater.

It has always bothered me that the Council of Advice in 2018 stated that we must take into account that small-scale conflicts of interest are complex to prevent, words to a similar effect:Council of Advice, Annual Report 2018

It is time to see things clearly again: the more meritocratic an organization and society are, the better the results.

Miguel Goede