Published in the front page of Business Mirror,
December 10, 2007
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/12102007/headlines02.html
Filipino kids represent a potential powerhouse consumer segment. With an estimated P37 billion in spending money annually, they represent the modern consumer who is eager to assimilate new technologies and embrace change.
The New Generations Philippines 2007 survey, conducted by research firm Synovate for Cartoon Network, revealed that kids in the 7-14 age group have a combined spending power of P37 billion annually from pocket money and gift money alone. Total pocket money received by kids was placed at P30.6 billion yearly. Money received as gifts, on the other hand, was placed at P6.3 billion.
It also showed kids in greater numbers taking to the Internet, with Internet usage doubling between 2005 and 2007, following a compelling rise in computer use within the same time period.
Interestingly, the study revealed, more kids now have access to technology right in their own rooms, with the number of those having Internet access, computers, TV sets, handheld video games, video consoles, Ipods and DVDs growing markedly between 2005 and 2007. Not surprisingly, kids are relying on these gadgets not just for entertainment, but also to complement their social lives.
Released late last month, New Generations 2007 is a quantitative study that provides insights into the minds and habits of Filipino children. It was conducted through face-to-face, in-home interviews in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao with 1,000 kids aged 7-14 and one of their parents. For the 2007 study, a booster sample of 200 moms of younger kids aged 4-6 was added.
The study showed that 94% of parents with kids in the age 7-14 group give pocket money to their children. This incidence is similar across age, gender, location and socio-economic class. Further, 92% of parents give pocket money on a daily basis.
Among the age 4-6 group, 46% of kids receive pocket money.
Average weekly pocket monthly was placed at P169. Girls (P172) got more pocket money than boys (P165). Older kids got more pocket money than younger ones, with those aged 13-14 receiving an average of P245 weekly. Kids in the 11-12 age bracket got P165, those aged 9-10 had P139 while kids aged 7-8 got an average weekly pocket money of P125.
Quite expectedly, kids in the AB socioeconomic bracket got more pocket money than their counterparts in the CD segment. Average weekly pocket money in the AB class stood at P348, compared with P186 in the C and P142 in the D segments. Kids in Manila also had more pocket money than their counterparts in the Cebu and Davao, with the Manila-based kids averaging P175 as opposed to Davao’s P151 and Cebu’s P125 weekly.
Besides pocket money from their parents, kids also receive money for gifts during birthdays and holidays. The study estimates that kids get an average of P1,800 annually in gift money. From pocket money and gift money combined, kids have an average annual income of P10,588. Combining pocket money and gift money and scaling it up to the 3.7 million kids that the study represents, kids thus have a staggering P37 billion to spend annually.
Kids could be a good market to target, given their consumption patterns. The study showed that kids frequent malls, with 99% of parents saying they visit malls with their children. Over 54% of parents of kids from the AB segments visited malls weekly, while 36% from the C and 18% from the D segments do so weekly.
Technology pretty much dictated the tempo of these kids’ daily lives, made possible by their improved access to technology. The study showed a phenomenal growth in access to digital technologies in kids’ homes between 2005 and 2007. The increase was most significant for handheld video games, which jumped 90% to 38% in 2007 from 20% in 2005, and MP3’s and Ipods, which soared 164% during the same period. Home internet access likewise rose by 53% to cover 23% of the surveyed homes, as were access to computers (up 40%), digital cameras (62%) and DVDs (56%). Ownership of mobile phones among kids also grew 62% in the last two years, with 67% of kids in the AB group claiming mobile phone ownership. In Metro Manila, 26% of kids own a mobile phone.
Internet usage among kids has nearly doubled in the last two years, with 46% having used the internet in the past 30 days this year, compared with just 27% in 2005. Among computer users, 65% of kids are Internet users, with usage increasing with age (84% of 13-14 age group; 75% of 11-12 age group; 50% of 9-10 age group; 39% of 7-8 age group; and 29% of 4-6 age group) and income class (71% of AB segment, 66% of C and 64% of D segments). Interestingly, more kids are online in Davao (74%) than Metro Manila (65%) and Cebu (60%). Favorite online activities were online gaming (91%), making or updating a homepage (76%), visiting video websites (72%) and playing multi-player games (68%).
Increased internet usage came about with greater computer use. Seventy percent reported using a computer in the past 30 days, a 45% rise from 2005. In the AB segment, computer use was placed at 91%.
Television, however, continued to eclipse everything else as the kids’ most favored leisure activity, with 96% of kids saying they watched TV yesterday as opposed to 54% who read books (excluding text books), 46% who played with toys, 20% who played sports, 18% who used the internet and 18% who played games online. //
Monday, December 10, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
People I Admire Series: Deck Go
(Ten years ago, I interviewed and wrote about Deck Go. He had just joined Robinson's then. It was amazing to see how much he has changed. He was no longer tentative, but decisive and so much more knowledgeable, yet he was still humble. He proudly showed me an article written about him ten years ago in Men's Zone magazine. It carried the byline of Athena Mitra. That was me. Athena Mitra was my Labrador Retriever. I used that pseudonym for the longest time.)
Published in Personal Fortune Magazine, 2007
Philippine real estate is on an upswing. Drawing strength from the swelling ranks of overseas workers, backstopped by falling interest rates, the real estate sector is sprinting at a pace not seen in the past decade.
Its renewed vigor has spawned a new set of winners, and among these, Robinsons Land (RLC) is undeniably the biggest. With a market capitalization of P55 billion, it is hard to believe that fourteen years ago, RLC was just a one-mall operation, the fledgling in JG Summit’s nest of companies. A decade or so down the road, it has become the indubitable crown jewel of the JG Group in the Philippines.
Those who have witnessed RLC’s remarkable growth in this short span attribute much of this to the efforts of Frederick Go, who recently assumed the twin posts of president and chief operating officer of the company. Under the mentorship of his uncle James Go, Deck has bloomed from doer to leader, his vision and understanding of the market made stronger and deeper by the sheer experience of steering the company towards growth in the face of numerous challenges, including the Asian crisis. Today, under the able direction of his cousin Lance Gokongwei, Deck has definitely hit his stride. Whereas fourteen years ago, Deck, fresh from a stint at the Manila Times, was obsessing over the details of its mall’s theme parks or combing the countryside for a new business opportunity, today, he presides over the collective goals of a group that is poised to leap forward from a springboard of great ideas and a commitment to growth.
“It’s definitely more challenging going forward,” Deck reckons, more so because RLC has crossed the great divide from near-obscurity to veritable market leader. Today, RLC is the second largest diversified real estate conglomerate in the Philippines, with 18 malls, 17 residential subdivisions, 15 residential condominiums, 6 office buildings and four hotel properties to its name. It is the largest office landlord, the second largest shopping center operator, the third largest residential condominium developer and the fourth largest hotel operator in the country.
With total assets of P37 billion, annual revenues of over P9 billion and an EBITDA of P4 billion, plus the highest return on equity among its peers, RLC is not surprisingly the darling of stock market investors. Its high dividend payout policy is another welcome bonus. In fact, the company recently raised P11 billion from foreign investors for a public offering, with the book fully covered even before Deck, along with other RLC officers, had finished with their overseas road show presentation.
Presiding over a dynamic organization comes naturally to Deck, who nowadays finds himself also managing investor relations, as well as helping out in business development and marketing, as the situation commands. Naturally charismatic and brimming with enthusiasm, Deck admits he enjoys his work. “I like the challenge of starting a business, especially when you start with just a concept or idea. There is always the excitement of starting a project and seeing it become a successful reality.”
Buoyed by the dynamism of the real estate sector, Deck is nevertheless not allowing investor euphoria to taint his reading of the market. Instead, he chooses to view things from a safe distance. “This may be part of a cyclical boom; some say it’s just the beginning, some say it’s the middle of an uptrend, and some think it has only a couple of years left” he notes.
Structural changes have helped the Philippine economy recover and expand. Steady consumption growth, rising purchasing power, and enhanced aspirational or lifestyle spending have underpinned the expansion of the real estate sector in the past years, aided largely by developers’ access to cheap capital. Sudden upticks in land prices, however, have also conjured fears of a real estate bubble, dreaded by every developer and investor.
Fortunately, RLC is in a “unique position to manage both opportunity and risk.”
Nimble and quick to the draw, RLC can swiftly spring into action to take advantage of emergent opportunities, without taking its eye off lurking dangers inherent to the real estate sector. Deck recognizes that agility and resilience are hallmarks of RLC. “What matters is that as a company, we are not just ready to take advantage of opportunities that may arise, but have the ability to mitigate risks along the way,” he says.
Recurring income from RLC’s office, mall and hotel operations evens out the erratic income stream from the development business. Ideally, Deck points out, “development income and recurring income should be balanced.” RLC’s clean balance sheet, with zero net debt, gives the company a host of alternatives. “We are open for more gearing,” Deck discloses, pointing out how RLC “manages for the allocation of resources, to make sure the portfolio is balanced.”
Given the current trend, RLC will, in all likelihood, take a more aggressive stance going forward. “The economy looks good and the global investing world is looking positively at the Philippines, something that has not happened for a long time. The outlook appears bright. It’s our job to capitalize on these opportunities.” He identifies the leisure and retirement business as a field replete with opportunities.
The blueprint of growth entails a keen eye for detail – something that Deck has harnessed in all the years he has been in the industry, meeting with those who make the business move -- draftsmen and architects, investment bankers and stock analysts, salesmen and brokers. This is doubly important because he also manages the Gokongwei family’s private property business in China, consisting of large-ticket projects in Shanghai, Xiamen and Chengdu.
Building the company in this increasingly turbulent global environment requires much from any corporation, and RLC is rising up to the challenge. Deck realizes that past corporate successes are not indicative of future performance. On the contrary, they simply spawn copycats who can easily duplicate a company’s success. RLC’s innovative spirit, though, ensures that it will always stay ahead.
But even innovation has its limits. In a world where change is the only permanent challenge, few things can be more important than a company’s name and track record – something that the company has painstakingly built through the years, from the choice of tiles that go into its buildings to the prudence with which it conducts its financial dealings. “Competition is always there, and the only way to really differentiate ourselves is through our name. We emphasize our brand, our reputation in the market. Brand is the one thing that will make us stand out from the rest.”
The RLC brand is something that Deck wants to continuously develop and never tarnish. He explains: “We want to build a brand that is globally recognized and respected; a brand that commands a significant value premium over other products and services offered by competitors. We want our customers, suppliers and business associates to cherish their relationship with RLC and make us their preferred business partner.”
Similarly, it expects no less recognition for its brand in the capital markets. “We want to be recognized as a blue-chip property counter, with strong management, a sound business model, and good corporate governance.”
Brand-building, of course, never happens by accident. Behind every sterling brand is the collective energy and commitment of the people behind it. For RLC, this is no less true. Deck is always profuse in extending his gratitude to the people who have helped him take RLC to where it presently stands. “There is no way we could have achieved this without the RLC team. With the team working together, we were able to build up a real estate conglomerate, and we are very proud of what we have accomplished.”
He adds, with obvious pride, that RLC has the “resources, particularly the management bench, to compete with the larger and more established players.” RLC continues to harness its human capital for maximum results. “To be successful, we have to bring in the right talent, the right management team.” The cycle of motivating them and pushing them towards more triumphs is a never-ending affair.
Deck, of course, is optimistic that RLC will carry on with its great track record. “We had the vision to build the business. We were ahead of the curve. We always see the trend before others see it, and we have been innovating to make sure we are always a step ahead.” Riding high on momentum but anchored by commitment, RLC is all set to outdo itself in its never-ending quest for growth and excellence. //
Published in Personal Fortune Magazine, 2007
Philippine real estate is on an upswing. Drawing strength from the swelling ranks of overseas workers, backstopped by falling interest rates, the real estate sector is sprinting at a pace not seen in the past decade.
Its renewed vigor has spawned a new set of winners, and among these, Robinsons Land (RLC) is undeniably the biggest. With a market capitalization of P55 billion, it is hard to believe that fourteen years ago, RLC was just a one-mall operation, the fledgling in JG Summit’s nest of companies. A decade or so down the road, it has become the indubitable crown jewel of the JG Group in the Philippines.
Those who have witnessed RLC’s remarkable growth in this short span attribute much of this to the efforts of Frederick Go, who recently assumed the twin posts of president and chief operating officer of the company. Under the mentorship of his uncle James Go, Deck has bloomed from doer to leader, his vision and understanding of the market made stronger and deeper by the sheer experience of steering the company towards growth in the face of numerous challenges, including the Asian crisis. Today, under the able direction of his cousin Lance Gokongwei, Deck has definitely hit his stride. Whereas fourteen years ago, Deck, fresh from a stint at the Manila Times, was obsessing over the details of its mall’s theme parks or combing the countryside for a new business opportunity, today, he presides over the collective goals of a group that is poised to leap forward from a springboard of great ideas and a commitment to growth.
“It’s definitely more challenging going forward,” Deck reckons, more so because RLC has crossed the great divide from near-obscurity to veritable market leader. Today, RLC is the second largest diversified real estate conglomerate in the Philippines, with 18 malls, 17 residential subdivisions, 15 residential condominiums, 6 office buildings and four hotel properties to its name. It is the largest office landlord, the second largest shopping center operator, the third largest residential condominium developer and the fourth largest hotel operator in the country.
With total assets of P37 billion, annual revenues of over P9 billion and an EBITDA of P4 billion, plus the highest return on equity among its peers, RLC is not surprisingly the darling of stock market investors. Its high dividend payout policy is another welcome bonus. In fact, the company recently raised P11 billion from foreign investors for a public offering, with the book fully covered even before Deck, along with other RLC officers, had finished with their overseas road show presentation.
Presiding over a dynamic organization comes naturally to Deck, who nowadays finds himself also managing investor relations, as well as helping out in business development and marketing, as the situation commands. Naturally charismatic and brimming with enthusiasm, Deck admits he enjoys his work. “I like the challenge of starting a business, especially when you start with just a concept or idea. There is always the excitement of starting a project and seeing it become a successful reality.”
Buoyed by the dynamism of the real estate sector, Deck is nevertheless not allowing investor euphoria to taint his reading of the market. Instead, he chooses to view things from a safe distance. “This may be part of a cyclical boom; some say it’s just the beginning, some say it’s the middle of an uptrend, and some think it has only a couple of years left” he notes.
Structural changes have helped the Philippine economy recover and expand. Steady consumption growth, rising purchasing power, and enhanced aspirational or lifestyle spending have underpinned the expansion of the real estate sector in the past years, aided largely by developers’ access to cheap capital. Sudden upticks in land prices, however, have also conjured fears of a real estate bubble, dreaded by every developer and investor.
Fortunately, RLC is in a “unique position to manage both opportunity and risk.”
Nimble and quick to the draw, RLC can swiftly spring into action to take advantage of emergent opportunities, without taking its eye off lurking dangers inherent to the real estate sector. Deck recognizes that agility and resilience are hallmarks of RLC. “What matters is that as a company, we are not just ready to take advantage of opportunities that may arise, but have the ability to mitigate risks along the way,” he says.
Recurring income from RLC’s office, mall and hotel operations evens out the erratic income stream from the development business. Ideally, Deck points out, “development income and recurring income should be balanced.” RLC’s clean balance sheet, with zero net debt, gives the company a host of alternatives. “We are open for more gearing,” Deck discloses, pointing out how RLC “manages for the allocation of resources, to make sure the portfolio is balanced.”
Given the current trend, RLC will, in all likelihood, take a more aggressive stance going forward. “The economy looks good and the global investing world is looking positively at the Philippines, something that has not happened for a long time. The outlook appears bright. It’s our job to capitalize on these opportunities.” He identifies the leisure and retirement business as a field replete with opportunities.
The blueprint of growth entails a keen eye for detail – something that Deck has harnessed in all the years he has been in the industry, meeting with those who make the business move -- draftsmen and architects, investment bankers and stock analysts, salesmen and brokers. This is doubly important because he also manages the Gokongwei family’s private property business in China, consisting of large-ticket projects in Shanghai, Xiamen and Chengdu.
Building the company in this increasingly turbulent global environment requires much from any corporation, and RLC is rising up to the challenge. Deck realizes that past corporate successes are not indicative of future performance. On the contrary, they simply spawn copycats who can easily duplicate a company’s success. RLC’s innovative spirit, though, ensures that it will always stay ahead.
But even innovation has its limits. In a world where change is the only permanent challenge, few things can be more important than a company’s name and track record – something that the company has painstakingly built through the years, from the choice of tiles that go into its buildings to the prudence with which it conducts its financial dealings. “Competition is always there, and the only way to really differentiate ourselves is through our name. We emphasize our brand, our reputation in the market. Brand is the one thing that will make us stand out from the rest.”
The RLC brand is something that Deck wants to continuously develop and never tarnish. He explains: “We want to build a brand that is globally recognized and respected; a brand that commands a significant value premium over other products and services offered by competitors. We want our customers, suppliers and business associates to cherish their relationship with RLC and make us their preferred business partner.”
Similarly, it expects no less recognition for its brand in the capital markets. “We want to be recognized as a blue-chip property counter, with strong management, a sound business model, and good corporate governance.”
Brand-building, of course, never happens by accident. Behind every sterling brand is the collective energy and commitment of the people behind it. For RLC, this is no less true. Deck is always profuse in extending his gratitude to the people who have helped him take RLC to where it presently stands. “There is no way we could have achieved this without the RLC team. With the team working together, we were able to build up a real estate conglomerate, and we are very proud of what we have accomplished.”
He adds, with obvious pride, that RLC has the “resources, particularly the management bench, to compete with the larger and more established players.” RLC continues to harness its human capital for maximum results. “To be successful, we have to bring in the right talent, the right management team.” The cycle of motivating them and pushing them towards more triumphs is a never-ending affair.
Deck, of course, is optimistic that RLC will carry on with its great track record. “We had the vision to build the business. We were ahead of the curve. We always see the trend before others see it, and we have been innovating to make sure we are always a step ahead.” Riding high on momentum but anchored by commitment, RLC is all set to outdo itself in its never-ending quest for growth and excellence. //
Monday, September 17, 2007
The War for Talent
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/09132007/perspective01.html
Published in BusinessMirror, September 13, 2007
Today’s companies face five critical business challenges: globalization, technology, the quest for profitability through growth, intellectual capital constraints and the exigencies of continuous change. Regardless of their industry, size or location, these challenges require these organizations to continuously build new capabilities—a responsibility which, University of Michigan School of Business professor Dave Ulrich writes, human resources (HR) should embrace for these organizations to last.
For Philippine companies, these challenges are no less important. The growth of the global economy, particularly of the Asia-Pacific region, has vastly changed the business landscape. As tariffs crumble and technology blurs geographic lines, the Filipino enterprise now finds itself as part of the global supply chain, competing with businesses from all over the world. Slightly disadvantaged in terms of capital and infrastructural support, Filipino firms at least have that precious resource few other countries have: human capital.
This resource, though, is slowly being depleted by the global war for talent, intensified by the growth of economies around the world and the growing recognition of the Filipino worker’s skill and attitude. As a result, human capital has become a perilously rare commodity in a growing number of sectors, such as in engineering, IT, education and the health sciences. And yet, in a sad irony, unemployment remains at a constant high.
In the global village, where knowledge has become the most important currency, the truism about people being a company’s source of competitive advantage rings truer than ever. In the new economy, Ulrich writes, “Winning will spring from organizational capabilities such as speed, responsiveness, agility, learning capacity and employee competence. Successful companies are those that are able to quickly turn strategy into action; to manage processes intelligently and efficiently; to maximize employee contribution and commitment; and to create the conditions for seamless change.”
All these, of course, can only be done by having the right people in place.
HR evolves
AT no other time has the war for talent been as fierce. The search for the right talent has become such an essential function that it has forced the evolution of the HR function.
“Whereas HR used to be very traditional, generating systems and procedures and focusing on administrative functions, today, it is more strategic in nature,” notes Rey Silvestre Canilao, vice chairman and managing director of Global Executive Solutions Group, a human consulting company servicing multinationals and global firms. It is now oriented toward organizational development, straddling such matters as succession planning, talent acquisition, training and, recently, company culture, following the flurry of mergers and acquisitions worldwide.
Indeed, the HR function “has evolved. It is not just service-related, but is more a partner of the CEO,” Canilao adds.
For today’s HR firms, it is thus imperative to understand their clients’ businesses. “This is critical for us to find the right talents for them,” explains Canilao. “We ask: Are they strong in customer development, distribution? Do they have inventory, IT problems? We have to understand all that.”
In fact, firms engaging in executive searches have ceased to see themselves as HR practitioners, but rather, as human capital-resource consultancies. “We are nontraditional; we are businessmen, industry people who can offer a hands-on business perspective,” Chico Chuaquico, director of ZMG Signium Ward Howell Global Executive Solutions, says. “We are in constant touch with industry leaders so we know where the industry is going. We are more of analysts and strategists and we understand the business of our clients.”
The business and its people are, after all, inseparable. Companies are, of course, ever hungry for information and insight that will help them arrive at the correct business decisions that would inevitably influence who they should get for their companies.
Complex process
Research underpins much of the consulting process. Executive search, which Signium managing director Gigi Zulueta likes to call “the highest form of management consultancy,” is a human-capital solution that needs a good research framework as its foundation.
Needless to say, executive search is never a simple process. “It’s really consulting and not an order-taking type of business. You become a stakeholder somehow, especially when you get the C-level executives. It’s an activity that will give that firm competitive advantage, an answer to a specific problem of the business,” Chuaquico says.
In fact, a growing number of US private-equity, asset-management and direct-investment firms are having head-hunters sit on their boards. For a number of global companies, partnerships are sealed by the promise of being able to get the right leaders.
Jose Balderama, Asia Select managing director and Signium director, recalls how Signium India helped effect vulture fund 3I’s acquisition of a transformer-manufacturing firm. The buy-in proceeded when 3I was able to present the company’s skeptical chairman with the right candidate to head the company.
Access to information has become a critical component of the human-capital challenge. By providing important information to large companies in search of a home for their outsourced operations, Signium was able to bring Chevron, Watson Wyatt and GSM (Baker & Mackenzie) into the Philippines and helped build up their businesses from the ground.
For Balderama, this meant “telling them what to expect” in very specific terms. Time and again, he has found himself advising clients on their wish list of competencies to include what is most critical and dispense with what may be whimsical. “You can really just focus on a number of competencies since the search strategy is dependent on what the talent market can bear,” he explains.
A shared services firm, for instance, wanted candidates with at least five years of experience even when they were the first in the Philippine market. Another wanted SAP-literate professionals with 10 years of experience in the software even when SAP has not been around that long in the country. A third wanted statisticians with psychology backgrounds. “This is when the value of the firm comes in,” he says. “We tell them what to look for, help them temper their expectations to what’s available in the market and tell them when the people they want don’t exist. We don’t sugar-coat.”
Search the world
This is not to say that Signium does not exhaust its resources in scouring the world for the best possible talent.
Just as the world’s poachers get their talents from the Philippines, so does Signium consider the globe as its hunting ground. It scours the world to keep tabs on Filipino professionals and diligently conducts “road shows” in Singapore and the United States to know who these people are. Chuaquico recalls how the realization that telecommunications will evolve from a utility to a consumer product sparked the search for the next head of a large telecommunications company, a search that Signium ended in Singapore.
When a semiconductors company realized it was losing out to manufacturers in cheaper Asian locations, it knew it needed a new leader to bring it out of the woods. The company wanted a man who knew three languages, had managed a million-dollar organization, had a business development orientation, and was a Filipino. Signium found their man in the US Midwest, and though negotiations stretched for half a year, the leader has since taken the company public in Singapore and has dramatically increased shareholder value. “The easiest searches,” notes Balderama, “have a few qualified people.”
Beyond competencies, leadership counts for a lot. “We believe in identifying leaders,” says Canilao. “A company may have the products, the business processes and everything else, but most important are its people. The real competitive advantage will come from leadership—the capability to manage people, to rally people.”
The right attitude, a willingness to learn and the capacity to adjust are qualities of leaders who can bring successful companies to the next level.
For Global Executive, thus, it is especially important to not just have the best talent but the “fit” as well. “The chemistry and the culture is a big factor,” Canilao points out. Personality, too, counts for a lot. Moving talents from multinationals to local conglomerates, for instance, may present problems for both the company and the talent due to cultural differences. He notes, though, that local conglomerates are professionalizing their ranks and are adopting global processes such that large Filipino companies such as Unilab, Jollibee and Smart are hiring from multinationals with success.
“At the end of the day,” he says, “you will need to understand the culture of the client: their vision and mission, their business landscape, their leadership style, their management style.”
Tech helps
Understandably, the war for talent is an expensive one. “We don’t have a fixed mindset on costs,” says Signium’s Chuaquico, adding that the company doesn’t mind paying for calls made all over the world.
“We’re building our research. These calls will generate a lot more,” he reasons. “We’re the only one with the enterprise approach. We spend time, which is very expensive. We don’t think of the short term, it’s always the long term for us.”
Fortunately, information technology has brought about the “death of distance.” With information technology, “we’re on real time, so we move faster,” says Chuaquico.
Videoconferencing facilities, 3G broadband and Blackberries have speeded up the search process. “We realize that clients are always on a timeline. We’ve always believed project managers will rule the world, and we keep up with the pace of managers,” he says. This, adds Canilao, is particularly important when one is serving clients overseas.
As the war to attract and retain talent rages, companies are coming up with innovative ways to stand up to the human-capital challenge. Signium, for instance, is organizing trade missions to Vietnam, knowing that any partnerships forged or businesses consummated would trigger a need for human-capital solutions. It is also working in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education, the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Asia and the Pacific so that the academe may produce the competencies that the job market so urgently needs. On his own, Chuaquico finds time to help La Salle high-school juniors and seniors plot their future careers.
Beyond salaries
Across all levels, talent searches have become more creative. Many companies are working closely with third parties to help shore up their manpower needs. ICTSI, for instance, has partnered with equipment operator Monark to train high-school students for a year and eventually hires those who successfully complete the training program. There, too, are the usual school job fairs held all over the country in malls, plazas and government halls.
Call centers are known to hold concerts and host open houses everywhere, from parks to coffee shops, to hunt for the people they need. One call center, People Support, even put up recruitment kiosks in malls. Others pay referral fees ranging from P5,000 per applicant plus an additional P2,000 when the applicant hurdles the training program. Accenture talent acquisition specialist Christa Perez says such promotions are necessary to fill up shortfalls in demand. Sometimes, they would have to fill up as many as 1,000 slots in one day.
Of course, compensation packages are also being enhanced. “You have to be innovative,” said Stella Garcia, office practice leader of the Human Capital Group of Watson Wyatt. Cash and benefits, for instance, are not the only carrots to dangle to talents. Rather, there is a greater emphasis toward a more “holistic” employment deal that gives weight to work/life balance, career breaks and training opportunities. Being able to work from home or being mobile appeals to workers who want to be free from the encumbrances of work.
More important, people need to have a personal stake in the enterprises they work for. Willy Arcilla, regional director of ZMG Signium Ward Howell and president of Market Mentor, believes in the merits of power sharing. “The worker who is a part-owner is more productive. He will take the initiative to drive revenues and reduce costs—even without being told by his superior,” said Arcilla.
Need is indeed the mother of innovation. As the global war for talent intensifies, so will organizations find new ways to meet the human-capital challenge. “If people are a company’s greatest asset, then providing human-capital solutions is the best industry with the highest ROI—both financially and personally—especially if the supply of the best talent is in constant shortage globally,” Arcilla said.
Through all this, the challenge for HR, as enunciated by Dr. Ulrich, is not just to become a “partner in strategy execution, helping to move planning from the conference room to the marketplace,” but also “to become an agent of continuous transformation, shaping processes and a culture that together improve an organization’s capacity for change.”
Published in BusinessMirror, September 13, 2007
Today’s companies face five critical business challenges: globalization, technology, the quest for profitability through growth, intellectual capital constraints and the exigencies of continuous change. Regardless of their industry, size or location, these challenges require these organizations to continuously build new capabilities—a responsibility which, University of Michigan School of Business professor Dave Ulrich writes, human resources (HR) should embrace for these organizations to last.
For Philippine companies, these challenges are no less important. The growth of the global economy, particularly of the Asia-Pacific region, has vastly changed the business landscape. As tariffs crumble and technology blurs geographic lines, the Filipino enterprise now finds itself as part of the global supply chain, competing with businesses from all over the world. Slightly disadvantaged in terms of capital and infrastructural support, Filipino firms at least have that precious resource few other countries have: human capital.
This resource, though, is slowly being depleted by the global war for talent, intensified by the growth of economies around the world and the growing recognition of the Filipino worker’s skill and attitude. As a result, human capital has become a perilously rare commodity in a growing number of sectors, such as in engineering, IT, education and the health sciences. And yet, in a sad irony, unemployment remains at a constant high.
In the global village, where knowledge has become the most important currency, the truism about people being a company’s source of competitive advantage rings truer than ever. In the new economy, Ulrich writes, “Winning will spring from organizational capabilities such as speed, responsiveness, agility, learning capacity and employee competence. Successful companies are those that are able to quickly turn strategy into action; to manage processes intelligently and efficiently; to maximize employee contribution and commitment; and to create the conditions for seamless change.”
All these, of course, can only be done by having the right people in place.
HR evolves
AT no other time has the war for talent been as fierce. The search for the right talent has become such an essential function that it has forced the evolution of the HR function.
“Whereas HR used to be very traditional, generating systems and procedures and focusing on administrative functions, today, it is more strategic in nature,” notes Rey Silvestre Canilao, vice chairman and managing director of Global Executive Solutions Group, a human consulting company servicing multinationals and global firms. It is now oriented toward organizational development, straddling such matters as succession planning, talent acquisition, training and, recently, company culture, following the flurry of mergers and acquisitions worldwide.
Indeed, the HR function “has evolved. It is not just service-related, but is more a partner of the CEO,” Canilao adds.
For today’s HR firms, it is thus imperative to understand their clients’ businesses. “This is critical for us to find the right talents for them,” explains Canilao. “We ask: Are they strong in customer development, distribution? Do they have inventory, IT problems? We have to understand all that.”
In fact, firms engaging in executive searches have ceased to see themselves as HR practitioners, but rather, as human capital-resource consultancies. “We are nontraditional; we are businessmen, industry people who can offer a hands-on business perspective,” Chico Chuaquico, director of ZMG Signium Ward Howell Global Executive Solutions, says. “We are in constant touch with industry leaders so we know where the industry is going. We are more of analysts and strategists and we understand the business of our clients.”
The business and its people are, after all, inseparable. Companies are, of course, ever hungry for information and insight that will help them arrive at the correct business decisions that would inevitably influence who they should get for their companies.
Complex process
Research underpins much of the consulting process. Executive search, which Signium managing director Gigi Zulueta likes to call “the highest form of management consultancy,” is a human-capital solution that needs a good research framework as its foundation.
Needless to say, executive search is never a simple process. “It’s really consulting and not an order-taking type of business. You become a stakeholder somehow, especially when you get the C-level executives. It’s an activity that will give that firm competitive advantage, an answer to a specific problem of the business,” Chuaquico says.
In fact, a growing number of US private-equity, asset-management and direct-investment firms are having head-hunters sit on their boards. For a number of global companies, partnerships are sealed by the promise of being able to get the right leaders.
Jose Balderama, Asia Select managing director and Signium director, recalls how Signium India helped effect vulture fund 3I’s acquisition of a transformer-manufacturing firm. The buy-in proceeded when 3I was able to present the company’s skeptical chairman with the right candidate to head the company.
Access to information has become a critical component of the human-capital challenge. By providing important information to large companies in search of a home for their outsourced operations, Signium was able to bring Chevron, Watson Wyatt and GSM (Baker & Mackenzie) into the Philippines and helped build up their businesses from the ground.
For Balderama, this meant “telling them what to expect” in very specific terms. Time and again, he has found himself advising clients on their wish list of competencies to include what is most critical and dispense with what may be whimsical. “You can really just focus on a number of competencies since the search strategy is dependent on what the talent market can bear,” he explains.
A shared services firm, for instance, wanted candidates with at least five years of experience even when they were the first in the Philippine market. Another wanted SAP-literate professionals with 10 years of experience in the software even when SAP has not been around that long in the country. A third wanted statisticians with psychology backgrounds. “This is when the value of the firm comes in,” he says. “We tell them what to look for, help them temper their expectations to what’s available in the market and tell them when the people they want don’t exist. We don’t sugar-coat.”
Search the world
This is not to say that Signium does not exhaust its resources in scouring the world for the best possible talent.
Just as the world’s poachers get their talents from the Philippines, so does Signium consider the globe as its hunting ground. It scours the world to keep tabs on Filipino professionals and diligently conducts “road shows” in Singapore and the United States to know who these people are. Chuaquico recalls how the realization that telecommunications will evolve from a utility to a consumer product sparked the search for the next head of a large telecommunications company, a search that Signium ended in Singapore.
When a semiconductors company realized it was losing out to manufacturers in cheaper Asian locations, it knew it needed a new leader to bring it out of the woods. The company wanted a man who knew three languages, had managed a million-dollar organization, had a business development orientation, and was a Filipino. Signium found their man in the US Midwest, and though negotiations stretched for half a year, the leader has since taken the company public in Singapore and has dramatically increased shareholder value. “The easiest searches,” notes Balderama, “have a few qualified people.”
Beyond competencies, leadership counts for a lot. “We believe in identifying leaders,” says Canilao. “A company may have the products, the business processes and everything else, but most important are its people. The real competitive advantage will come from leadership—the capability to manage people, to rally people.”
The right attitude, a willingness to learn and the capacity to adjust are qualities of leaders who can bring successful companies to the next level.
For Global Executive, thus, it is especially important to not just have the best talent but the “fit” as well. “The chemistry and the culture is a big factor,” Canilao points out. Personality, too, counts for a lot. Moving talents from multinationals to local conglomerates, for instance, may present problems for both the company and the talent due to cultural differences. He notes, though, that local conglomerates are professionalizing their ranks and are adopting global processes such that large Filipino companies such as Unilab, Jollibee and Smart are hiring from multinationals with success.
“At the end of the day,” he says, “you will need to understand the culture of the client: their vision and mission, their business landscape, their leadership style, their management style.”
Tech helps
Understandably, the war for talent is an expensive one. “We don’t have a fixed mindset on costs,” says Signium’s Chuaquico, adding that the company doesn’t mind paying for calls made all over the world.
“We’re building our research. These calls will generate a lot more,” he reasons. “We’re the only one with the enterprise approach. We spend time, which is very expensive. We don’t think of the short term, it’s always the long term for us.”
Fortunately, information technology has brought about the “death of distance.” With information technology, “we’re on real time, so we move faster,” says Chuaquico.
Videoconferencing facilities, 3G broadband and Blackberries have speeded up the search process. “We realize that clients are always on a timeline. We’ve always believed project managers will rule the world, and we keep up with the pace of managers,” he says. This, adds Canilao, is particularly important when one is serving clients overseas.
As the war to attract and retain talent rages, companies are coming up with innovative ways to stand up to the human-capital challenge. Signium, for instance, is organizing trade missions to Vietnam, knowing that any partnerships forged or businesses consummated would trigger a need for human-capital solutions. It is also working in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education, the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Asia and the Pacific so that the academe may produce the competencies that the job market so urgently needs. On his own, Chuaquico finds time to help La Salle high-school juniors and seniors plot their future careers.
Beyond salaries
Across all levels, talent searches have become more creative. Many companies are working closely with third parties to help shore up their manpower needs. ICTSI, for instance, has partnered with equipment operator Monark to train high-school students for a year and eventually hires those who successfully complete the training program. There, too, are the usual school job fairs held all over the country in malls, plazas and government halls.
Call centers are known to hold concerts and host open houses everywhere, from parks to coffee shops, to hunt for the people they need. One call center, People Support, even put up recruitment kiosks in malls. Others pay referral fees ranging from P5,000 per applicant plus an additional P2,000 when the applicant hurdles the training program. Accenture talent acquisition specialist Christa Perez says such promotions are necessary to fill up shortfalls in demand. Sometimes, they would have to fill up as many as 1,000 slots in one day.
Of course, compensation packages are also being enhanced. “You have to be innovative,” said Stella Garcia, office practice leader of the Human Capital Group of Watson Wyatt. Cash and benefits, for instance, are not the only carrots to dangle to talents. Rather, there is a greater emphasis toward a more “holistic” employment deal that gives weight to work/life balance, career breaks and training opportunities. Being able to work from home or being mobile appeals to workers who want to be free from the encumbrances of work.
More important, people need to have a personal stake in the enterprises they work for. Willy Arcilla, regional director of ZMG Signium Ward Howell and president of Market Mentor, believes in the merits of power sharing. “The worker who is a part-owner is more productive. He will take the initiative to drive revenues and reduce costs—even without being told by his superior,” said Arcilla.
Need is indeed the mother of innovation. As the global war for talent intensifies, so will organizations find new ways to meet the human-capital challenge. “If people are a company’s greatest asset, then providing human-capital solutions is the best industry with the highest ROI—both financially and personally—especially if the supply of the best talent is in constant shortage globally,” Arcilla said.
Through all this, the challenge for HR, as enunciated by Dr. Ulrich, is not just to become a “partner in strategy execution, helping to move planning from the conference room to the marketplace,” but also “to become an agent of continuous transformation, shaping processes and a culture that together improve an organization’s capacity for change.”
Friday, June 8, 2007
Persons I Admire Series: Patricio Lim
(Published in the Philippine Business Magazine, January 2006. I interviewed these five men in between my stints at BusinessWorld and BusinessMirror)
Experience is a great teacher. There is no exchanging what one gains through the years with what one learns from books. As time passes, even as technology and new learnings bring about change, one discovers that some themes remain constant-the importance of succession planning, the value of education, the strength of partnerships, the rewards of entrepreneurship, the meaning of integrity.
Patricio L. Lim, 90, was constant in his perseverance and dedication to duty in all his endeavors Simply "P.L." to his friends, he belongs to a generation known as much for their hard work as their valor, a generation that built the country and refused to put up with inanities that would otherwise destroy it.
For Lim, who peddled clothes along San Vicente Street in turn-of-the-century Manila and lived above a goldsmith's shop, time is relative. His perception and view of time is very Chinese, extending beyond his grandchildren's lifetimes.
Not Just Doing Business
Indeed, when the 30-year-old Lim decided to quit being a medicine salesman for Zuellig to open a textile mill with equity from a friend, he was not looking at building a mere business. When he established a garments business to serve the retailers of the world, opened a carpet factory to serve the global markets, and built a world-class hotel (The Peninsula Manila, which forever changed the Makati cityscape), he did so with the knowledge that he was helping build the Philippines. He was fulfilling his generation's dream of building a nation, and carving his own legacy.
Universal Textile Mills began operating in 1953. It was the first and, at its prime, the largest integrated woven textile mill in the country, providing thousands of jobs to Filipino workers.
The Philippine Carpet Manufacturing Corporation was established in 1965 with 60 skilled employees trained by Chinese weavers in the traditional art of making fine handcrafted carpets. Today, the company has 444 craftsmen in its employ and is affiliated with the biggest and most prestigious suppliers of handmade carpets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the U.S.
The Peninsula Manila opened in 1976 in time for the big annual meeting of the board of governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held in Manila that year.
Astute and Generous
Lim is a totally self-made man whose success can be attributed not only to incredible luck and hard work but also to an astute business sense and keen understanding of the business environment and the men and women who run it. He had his ears to the ground, such that he was able to adequately prepare his companies for the ravages of the Asian financial crisis in the late '90s. Because he preferred to finance most everything from manufacturing operations, the firms (with the one exception of The Peninsula) were free from debt when the peso plummeted. His strong adherence to that simple belief-one that financial managers would have earlier scoffed at-saved his companies from collapsing, as was the fate of debt-saddled business during that period.
P.L. Lim has always taken pride in helping countless families by doing the noble thing-providing employment. In fact, even as he complains of a failing memory, he is quick to come up with the current headcount of employees of the PLLIM Group of Companies: 3,000. His ability to create goodwill is tremendous, and yes, he loves the country dearly. "The Philippines gave me what China did not," he states.
Passing the Baton
Today, at 90, P.L. Lim is proud to have bequeathed the enterprises he built to his children. "I worked very hard before. I was involved until I was 80, so now, it is time for me to rest," he says. He always believed in hiring professional managers to oversee the business, but it is a big source of pride that the most accomplished of these managers include his own children. Although he remains chairman and president of the holding company PLLIM Investments Inc., his son, David, is now at the helm of their various business interests and sits as president of the enterprises in their group of companies. His daughter, Evelyn Lim-Forbes, is in charge of the companies' day-to-day operations as general manager. He is pleased that his children have built up what he started. "My children are running the companies very well. They understand what the business needs. I leave everything to them now, and they are doing better than me!" declares Lim, who now chooses to spend precious time in the company of his wife, Madeleine, and playing a round of golf twice a week ("with a cart," he qualifies).
Yet he remains strong and hardy, save for a bad back, and his appetite is still hearty. "I'm already 90, I was only good until I was 80," he laughs. He then motions one to look at his face and declares, "Look, no wrinkles!"
P.L. Lim still laughs a lot. He prays often and is still full of hope. He remembers friends, taking time to visit their homes or cheer them up in the hospital when they are sick, and cherishes mementos received from dear ones. He has lived a full life, and is proud to have made himself a part of others'.
Experience is a great teacher. There is no exchanging what one gains through the years with what one learns from books. As time passes, even as technology and new learnings bring about change, one discovers that some themes remain constant-the importance of succession planning, the value of education, the strength of partnerships, the rewards of entrepreneurship, the meaning of integrity.
Patricio L. Lim, 90, was constant in his perseverance and dedication to duty in all his endeavors Simply "P.L." to his friends, he belongs to a generation known as much for their hard work as their valor, a generation that built the country and refused to put up with inanities that would otherwise destroy it.
For Lim, who peddled clothes along San Vicente Street in turn-of-the-century Manila and lived above a goldsmith's shop, time is relative. His perception and view of time is very Chinese, extending beyond his grandchildren's lifetimes.
Not Just Doing Business
Indeed, when the 30-year-old Lim decided to quit being a medicine salesman for Zuellig to open a textile mill with equity from a friend, he was not looking at building a mere business. When he established a garments business to serve the retailers of the world, opened a carpet factory to serve the global markets, and built a world-class hotel (The Peninsula Manila, which forever changed the Makati cityscape), he did so with the knowledge that he was helping build the Philippines. He was fulfilling his generation's dream of building a nation, and carving his own legacy.
Universal Textile Mills began operating in 1953. It was the first and, at its prime, the largest integrated woven textile mill in the country, providing thousands of jobs to Filipino workers.
The Philippine Carpet Manufacturing Corporation was established in 1965 with 60 skilled employees trained by Chinese weavers in the traditional art of making fine handcrafted carpets. Today, the company has 444 craftsmen in its employ and is affiliated with the biggest and most prestigious suppliers of handmade carpets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the U.S.
The Peninsula Manila opened in 1976 in time for the big annual meeting of the board of governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank held in Manila that year.
Astute and Generous
Lim is a totally self-made man whose success can be attributed not only to incredible luck and hard work but also to an astute business sense and keen understanding of the business environment and the men and women who run it. He had his ears to the ground, such that he was able to adequately prepare his companies for the ravages of the Asian financial crisis in the late '90s. Because he preferred to finance most everything from manufacturing operations, the firms (with the one exception of The Peninsula) were free from debt when the peso plummeted. His strong adherence to that simple belief-one that financial managers would have earlier scoffed at-saved his companies from collapsing, as was the fate of debt-saddled business during that period.
P.L. Lim has always taken pride in helping countless families by doing the noble thing-providing employment. In fact, even as he complains of a failing memory, he is quick to come up with the current headcount of employees of the PLLIM Group of Companies: 3,000. His ability to create goodwill is tremendous, and yes, he loves the country dearly. "The Philippines gave me what China did not," he states.
Passing the Baton
Today, at 90, P.L. Lim is proud to have bequeathed the enterprises he built to his children. "I worked very hard before. I was involved until I was 80, so now, it is time for me to rest," he says. He always believed in hiring professional managers to oversee the business, but it is a big source of pride that the most accomplished of these managers include his own children. Although he remains chairman and president of the holding company PLLIM Investments Inc., his son, David, is now at the helm of their various business interests and sits as president of the enterprises in their group of companies. His daughter, Evelyn Lim-Forbes, is in charge of the companies' day-to-day operations as general manager. He is pleased that his children have built up what he started. "My children are running the companies very well. They understand what the business needs. I leave everything to them now, and they are doing better than me!" declares Lim, who now chooses to spend precious time in the company of his wife, Madeleine, and playing a round of golf twice a week ("with a cart," he qualifies).
Yet he remains strong and hardy, save for a bad back, and his appetite is still hearty. "I'm already 90, I was only good until I was 80," he laughs. He then motions one to look at his face and declares, "Look, no wrinkles!"
P.L. Lim still laughs a lot. He prays often and is still full of hope. He remembers friends, taking time to visit their homes or cheer them up in the hospital when they are sick, and cherishes mementos received from dear ones. He has lived a full life, and is proud to have made himself a part of others'.
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Big Move to New Era
This week, we made the big move. When I say "we", I refer not just to my family but to my friends -- all special mommies as well -- who also made a major d
ecision that would profoundly impact the lives of our special children.
Leaving MI School, where Ragu has worked with the most wonderful teachers (Teacher Sharon and Teacher Jovi are precious not only to Ragu but also to me), was not an easy decision. Change is always hard to embrace. For someone like Ragu who can be quite rigid, this can be quite an earthshaking move, just as it is for me, too. MI was a comfort zone. But the fact that I cannot
ecision that would profoundly impact the lives of our special children.Leaving MI School, where Ragu has worked with the most wonderful teachers (Teacher Sharon and Teacher Jovi are precious not only to Ragu but also to me), was not an easy decision. Change is always hard to embrace. For someone like Ragu who can be quite rigid, this can be quite an earthshaking move, just as it is for me, too. MI was a comfort zone. But the fact that I cannot
change is that Ragu is quickly growing up (he is almost as tall as me now) and sometime, somehow, I would have to let him confront the real world. Real meaning the world that neurotypicals know, the world controlled by DepEd that the rest put up with. MI was a protective shell, which was good for his growing soul. But now his growing soul has to grow some more, and that will have to happen in a totally different place -- New Era. Moving to New Era is a great shift for me as well. I had to overcome all my religious biases, for one, and find peace in the knowledge that the Almighty, in His Wisdom, understands my every move.
This could have been a lonely decision, except that, to my great surprise, my friends from MI chose to make the same move for their children also at the same time. I am heartened to hear that Joaquin Angliongto, who Ragu was particularly protective of during their Primary B days, is joining him in New Era. Kiko Tan, Luther Ong, Jovi Joson, Hans, Lenlen Romantico and Benito Macapagal are moving too. (They will miss Miko Manzano and Joshua Aquino who are staying at MI. ) This gives me strength, for Ragu and I will make the big leap at the same time that kindred souls are making the same big leap, saying the same prayers to the same God and the same Blessed Mother who will, no doubt, send their angels to see our children through.
In the meantime, I am trying very hard to help Ragu through his adjustment period. He has been sad about leaving MI, and fusses that there is no aircon in New Era ( I tell him that he is supposed to enjoy the fresh air) and that no one speaks English (I tell him he has to learn Filipino because he is, after all, a Filipino). Jacob, who is going to Grade One at PAREF-Northfield, is similarly sad that there is no aircon in Northfield, and worries that he will won't learn Filipino as well as others. (Miguel, Jacob and Ragu all thought "saging" was an animal and argued that "kuneho" meant tiger) I let them fuss and worry together. What won't break them will only make them stronger.
This could have been a lonely decision, except that, to my great surprise, my friends from MI chose to make the same move for their children also at the same time. I am heartened to hear that Joaquin Angliongto, who Ragu was particularly protective of during their Primary B days, is joining him in New Era. Kiko Tan, Luther Ong, Jovi Joson, Hans, Lenlen Romantico and Benito Macapagal are moving too. (They will miss Miko Manzano and Joshua Aquino who are staying at MI. ) This gives me strength, for Ragu and I will make the big leap at the same time that kindred souls are making the same big leap, saying the same prayers to the same God and the same Blessed Mother who will, no doubt, send their angels to see our children through.
In the meantime, I am trying very hard to help Ragu through his adjustment period. He has been sad about leaving MI, and fusses that there is no aircon in New Era ( I tell him that he is supposed to enjoy the fresh air) and that no one speaks English (I tell him he has to learn Filipino because he is, after all, a Filipino). Jacob, who is going to Grade One at PAREF-Northfield, is similarly sad that there is no aircon in Northfield, and worries that he will won't learn Filipino as well as others. (Miguel, Jacob and Ragu all thought "saging" was an animal and argued that "kuneho" meant tiger) I let them fuss and worry together. What won't break them will only make them stronger.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
"Outgrowing" autism
Every mother with a child who is autistic hopes that one day, he will eventually outgrow some of the traits that make him "different." Doctors and teachers will, of course, laugh that off as just another mother's wish, but hey, don't mothers know their own children the best? Truth to tell, I don't really think that my son, Isaac, will ever "outgrow" his autism, except that his eldest brother, Ragu, thinks he will.
At eleven, we can dismiss Ragu as just another kid wishing the best for his brother. Except that Ragu himself has "outgrown" some of his autistic traits -- at least, to him. "Don't worry, mom, Isaac will stop being crazy, just like me," he assured me last night. Then he went on a monologue that surprised me with the astonishing richness of its detail. He went on to relate the things he used to do that drove me to near tears. "I liked to hit the TV because I thought I could stop it from moving," he said. "I liked to jump in a circle because it was good!" And the clincher: "I didn't know how to talk when I was a toddler and you didn't understand me," said with a hearty laugh that seemed to say "poor, lost mommy."
Of course, I had to ask. "So how did you stop being crazy?" to which he replied "I learned." How, I prodded him. "School, i went to school and I had computer games!" "So what helped more, "I asked, to which he emphatically declared: "computer games!" What else helped? Daddy. Mommy. Yaya Virgie.
So will Isaac ever stop "being crazy," I asked Ragu. To which he said "yes."
Only a mom will ever pin her hopes on an eleven year old's prediction, but as far as I am concerned, Ragu's words, coupled with the healing that can only come from Jesus and Mary, will see Isaac through.
At eleven, we can dismiss Ragu as just another kid wishing the best for his brother. Except that Ragu himself has "outgrown" some of his autistic traits -- at least, to him. "Don't worry, mom, Isaac will stop being crazy, just like me," he assured me last night. Then he went on a monologue that surprised me with the astonishing richness of its detail. He went on to relate the things he used to do that drove me to near tears. "I liked to hit the TV because I thought I could stop it from moving," he said. "I liked to jump in a circle because it was good!" And the clincher: "I didn't know how to talk when I was a toddler and you didn't understand me," said with a hearty laugh that seemed to say "poor, lost mommy."
Of course, I had to ask. "So how did you stop being crazy?" to which he replied "I learned." How, I prodded him. "School, i went to school and I had computer games!" "So what helped more, "I asked, to which he emphatically declared: "computer games!" What else helped? Daddy. Mommy. Yaya Virgie.
So will Isaac ever stop "being crazy," I asked Ragu. To which he said "yes."
Only a mom will ever pin her hopes on an eleven year old's prediction, but as far as I am concerned, Ragu's words, coupled with the healing that can only come from Jesus and Mary, will see Isaac through.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
People I Admire Series: Washington SyCip
Washington SyCip, 84, was instrumental in the decision of Accenture, Texas Instruments, and Timex to come to the Philippines He has spent much of the last 30 years of his life observing the economies of Asia, watching agricultural fiefdoms grow into industrial empires, and seeing them integrate seamlessly into knowledge-based economies. Twenty years after he retired from SGV & Co., the country's top accounting firm that he founded in 1946, he continues to keep a full schedule, starting work before 7:00 a.m. Only this time, it is not the affairs of the firm that keep him busy, but the concerns of the country.
Insight of the years
Having watched the country's decline from the sidelines all these years, SyCip, now 84, has been actively doing his bit for the country through various organizations, contributing what someone of his stature can best dispense-the insight of the years. It is not without bitterness when he notes how the Philippines has somehow found itself stuck in its present development path, its people losing their head start and never really benefiting from their multicultural past.
SyCip, "Wash" to his friends, knows exactly how and when the country's slide to mediocrity started: when the educational system began to deteriorate. "If the public school system is bad, then you further widen the gap between the rich and the poor," contends SyCip, a proud product of the Philippine public school system. It was not too long ago when the country's public schools produced many of the country's best minds. A poor scholar, thus, had as much opportunity for employment after graduation as his wealthier classmate. Education was the great opportunity-builder, everyman's springboard to a decent life.
But the exigencies of poverty somehow forced a change in the country's priorities and the focus on education gave way to the more pressing needs of the fast-growing population. Per capita spending on education went down, resulting in a deterioration of the educational system. "Today, nobody dreams of sending his children to public schools," he notes.
Moreover, meager resources for basic education are going into spending for state colleges and universities. While acknowledging the importance of tertiary education, SyCip points out what every parent with a school-age child knows. "You must have children finishing sixth grade before high school and college. However, if there is no money to send the children through grade school, then how are they to move on to high school?"
From his meetings with various groups across the country, SyCip is still able to quote statistics straight out of his memory. In Mindanao, he says, where he met with at least three Muslim groups, only 3 of 10 children who enter grade one finish the elementary grades. Apparently, the predicament is the same in other parts of the country. SyCip, who himself has made the trek to the trash heaps of Payatas, has seen this situation firsthand. Another statistic that disturbs him is that at least 75% of students flunk government-administered examinations. "What a waste of resources!" he laments.
For SyCip, one can never overemphasize the value of developing a country's human resources. "Whether it's a country or a firm, the key to success is through human resources. I see this throughout the world," he says, marveling at how former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad managed to extricate his country from poverty and push it into the growth path using education as an enabler.
It is not surprising, then, that Mahathir belongs to the elite group of men that SyCip admires. "For Mahathir, education is key, so he poured money into education despite the country's low income. To my mind, the measurement of success is how to bring the bottom group up," declares SyCip. He further points out that Malaysia has done wonders to its economy through its fairly authoritarian system. There is, for instance, no bidding for infrastructure projects in Malaysia, in direct contrast to the Philippines, where the private sector bids for projects. Despite the supposed transparency that bidding promotes, the Philippines obviously lags behind Malaysia where infrastructural development is concerned. "Infrastructure, if properly done, benefits the bottom group," says SyCip. But, he qualifies, "you will need an honest government."
It is Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew, however, who he admires the most. "To say that democracy works in a poor country is a farce," SyCip remarks. The success of countries in East Asia, he points out, owes to the fact that they were politically authoritative yet enjoyed economic freedom. That the Philippines embraced Western-style democracy is one of SyCip's regrets. In fact, he says, if he has one regret in life, it is that "I should have earlier convinced people that Western democracy doesn't work in a poor country. It must come naturally." He believes that a stable political environment is key to the stability of any company. "For any firm to do well, the country must also do well," he points out. Unfortunately, "everything here is not conducive to a growing economy."
A Growing Legacy
Despite these letdowns, however, there are a whole lot of other things that SyCip is proud of. He is proud that in the last 40 years he has established partnerships in various countries to make SGV grow. He is proud that SGV has produced "very good technocrats" from among its managing partners and that many of them have gone on to help build corporate Philippines. He also takes pride in having been part of many organizations-among them, the Asian Institute of Management, the Makati Business Club, the Management Association of the Philippines, and the Philippine Business for Social Progress-and helping build these organizations to be what they are today.
Most importantly, he is proud of how he has helped the Philippines develop its manpower through the companies he encouraged to set up shop in the country. In 1985, for instance, he insisted that Accenture-an international management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company-expand to the Philippines, against the advice of others. Today, Accenture's success here is one that many others try to emulate. SyCip was also instrumental in the entry into the country of Texas Instruments-today the largest exporter of computer chips in the Philippines-and watch company Timex. "I could have done more if the environment was better," he rues.
The country's setbacks notwithstanding, there is no stopping SyCip from finding ways to help out. In his office, a prominently displayed collection of owl and turtle figurines catches one's attention. He laughs when asked about the turtle collection, pointing to a Chinese painting showing a man talking to a turtle. The man, he explains, is asking the turtle his secret to having a long life, and the turtle's reply is that all the man has to do is take it easy.
Obviously, SyCip has not taken the turtle's counsel to heart. His calendar is full and he is rarely in his office. But by doing just the opposite, he has reaped the same rewards. He has been blessed with a long life, long enough to see the fruits of his hard work, and certainly, he continues to enjoy what he is doing.
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Insight of the years
Having watched the country's decline from the sidelines all these years, SyCip, now 84, has been actively doing his bit for the country through various organizations, contributing what someone of his stature can best dispense-the insight of the years. It is not without bitterness when he notes how the Philippines has somehow found itself stuck in its present development path, its people losing their head start and never really benefiting from their multicultural past.
SyCip, "Wash" to his friends, knows exactly how and when the country's slide to mediocrity started: when the educational system began to deteriorate. "If the public school system is bad, then you further widen the gap between the rich and the poor," contends SyCip, a proud product of the Philippine public school system. It was not too long ago when the country's public schools produced many of the country's best minds. A poor scholar, thus, had as much opportunity for employment after graduation as his wealthier classmate. Education was the great opportunity-builder, everyman's springboard to a decent life.
But the exigencies of poverty somehow forced a change in the country's priorities and the focus on education gave way to the more pressing needs of the fast-growing population. Per capita spending on education went down, resulting in a deterioration of the educational system. "Today, nobody dreams of sending his children to public schools," he notes.
Moreover, meager resources for basic education are going into spending for state colleges and universities. While acknowledging the importance of tertiary education, SyCip points out what every parent with a school-age child knows. "You must have children finishing sixth grade before high school and college. However, if there is no money to send the children through grade school, then how are they to move on to high school?"
From his meetings with various groups across the country, SyCip is still able to quote statistics straight out of his memory. In Mindanao, he says, where he met with at least three Muslim groups, only 3 of 10 children who enter grade one finish the elementary grades. Apparently, the predicament is the same in other parts of the country. SyCip, who himself has made the trek to the trash heaps of Payatas, has seen this situation firsthand. Another statistic that disturbs him is that at least 75% of students flunk government-administered examinations. "What a waste of resources!" he laments.
For SyCip, one can never overemphasize the value of developing a country's human resources. "Whether it's a country or a firm, the key to success is through human resources. I see this throughout the world," he says, marveling at how former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad managed to extricate his country from poverty and push it into the growth path using education as an enabler.
It is not surprising, then, that Mahathir belongs to the elite group of men that SyCip admires. "For Mahathir, education is key, so he poured money into education despite the country's low income. To my mind, the measurement of success is how to bring the bottom group up," declares SyCip. He further points out that Malaysia has done wonders to its economy through its fairly authoritarian system. There is, for instance, no bidding for infrastructure projects in Malaysia, in direct contrast to the Philippines, where the private sector bids for projects. Despite the supposed transparency that bidding promotes, the Philippines obviously lags behind Malaysia where infrastructural development is concerned. "Infrastructure, if properly done, benefits the bottom group," says SyCip. But, he qualifies, "you will need an honest government."
It is Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew, however, who he admires the most. "To say that democracy works in a poor country is a farce," SyCip remarks. The success of countries in East Asia, he points out, owes to the fact that they were politically authoritative yet enjoyed economic freedom. That the Philippines embraced Western-style democracy is one of SyCip's regrets. In fact, he says, if he has one regret in life, it is that "I should have earlier convinced people that Western democracy doesn't work in a poor country. It must come naturally." He believes that a stable political environment is key to the stability of any company. "For any firm to do well, the country must also do well," he points out. Unfortunately, "everything here is not conducive to a growing economy."
A Growing Legacy
Despite these letdowns, however, there are a whole lot of other things that SyCip is proud of. He is proud that in the last 40 years he has established partnerships in various countries to make SGV grow. He is proud that SGV has produced "very good technocrats" from among its managing partners and that many of them have gone on to help build corporate Philippines. He also takes pride in having been part of many organizations-among them, the Asian Institute of Management, the Makati Business Club, the Management Association of the Philippines, and the Philippine Business for Social Progress-and helping build these organizations to be what they are today.
Most importantly, he is proud of how he has helped the Philippines develop its manpower through the companies he encouraged to set up shop in the country. In 1985, for instance, he insisted that Accenture-an international management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company-expand to the Philippines, against the advice of others. Today, Accenture's success here is one that many others try to emulate. SyCip was also instrumental in the entry into the country of Texas Instruments-today the largest exporter of computer chips in the Philippines-and watch company Timex. "I could have done more if the environment was better," he rues.
The country's setbacks notwithstanding, there is no stopping SyCip from finding ways to help out. In his office, a prominently displayed collection of owl and turtle figurines catches one's attention. He laughs when asked about the turtle collection, pointing to a Chinese painting showing a man talking to a turtle. The man, he explains, is asking the turtle his secret to having a long life, and the turtle's reply is that all the man has to do is take it easy.
Obviously, SyCip has not taken the turtle's counsel to heart. His calendar is full and he is rarely in his office. But by doing just the opposite, he has reaped the same rewards. He has been blessed with a long life, long enough to see the fruits of his hard work, and certainly, he continues to enjoy what he is doing.
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