The power of AND: A PLDT executive’s take on success

And the winner is... "AND"! (Photo by Svilen Milev, taken from www.sxc.hu).

By Anthony O. Alcantara

We all face hard decisions.

Would you choose to be a high-flying executive capable of leaping mountains of profits in a single bound? Or would you rather be a nurturing parent who is always there for the kids on important school events?

Would you want to be a successful singer? Or would you want to be an impassioned and influential activist?

You can’t have your cake and eat it too, right?

But that’s what author Jim Collins says is the “tyranny of the OR”. You either eat like a pig, be happy, and be very fat, or eat like an ascetic monk, be svelte like Angelina Jolie, and be miserably hungry.

Butch Jimenez, Retail Business Group Head and HR Group Head, wonders why not too many people have the mindset of “and”.

Eat like a pig and be svelte like Angelina Jolie.

Be a rock star executive and be a supportive parent.

Be a popular singing Youtube sensation and an activist willing to pick fights for the sake of justice.

Credentials

Jimenez was one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award (TOYP) for Cultural Achievement by the Junior Chamber International 1999 in Cannes, France. He also received the prestigious Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for Multi-Media Achievement in 1998.

He produced award-winning films such as Jose Rizal and Muro Ami. Monster Radio RX-93.1, Trumpets Theater Company, and GMA Films became huge successes under his watch.

And as one of the speakers during the recent “Winning Disciplines for Success” seminar of Francis Kong at SMX, he certainly demonstrated how the use of the word “and” forces us to think and to be more creative. He said it “allows us to be extraordinary”. It allows us to achieve “the impossible.”

I think it’s like John F. Kennedy’s decision to have someone land on the moon. It shows how being “unrealistic” can move mountains. “What? Land on the moon? Are you crazy? We don’t have the technology. We don’t have the money. We don’t have support.” In the end, the dream became a monumental and historic success.

Jobs’s legacy

Jimenez also cited the late Steve Jobs as someone who appreciated the use of “and”. Jobs told his team he wanted a device for storing music, iPod, and an online store for selling music, iTunes. His team said they can make an iPod, but since downloading music was generally free at that time, you couldn’t make money from the music. Still, Jobs insisted, “Let’s sell iPod and sell the music for the device through iTunes.” Now Apple is reaping billions from iPod sales and music downloads from iTunes.

For Jobs, it is form and function, not form or function.

So, in a nutshell, Jimenez tells us that “and” brings us to the top. He believes the word “but” is for below-average people, and “or” sets us up for mediocrity.

During the seminar, he also shared three principles for building leadership success:

1. authority
2. accountability
3. humility

Right timing

You don’t just have to earn your authority. You have to be patient, too. He told the story of David in the Bible. David had two chances to kill Saul so he could become king. Yet he said his promotion should come at the right time.

As for accountability, Jimenez said we should strive to become the go-to guy.

“You have to have a ‘yes’ face, the ‘yes’ attitude,” he said. Unfortunately, many have a “no” face — people who say “no” with their faces even before they have the chance to hear what you have to say.

On humility, Jimenez recommended reading the book Good to Great, that wonderful book by Jim Collins, who, I think, is a freak. Collins monitors the exact amount of time he spends on sleeping, writing, reading, etc., and records them meticulously on a spreadsheet. Talk about discipline. But then Collins is an admirable freak.

Iconoclastic

Anyway, Jimenez said the book, which is based on years of research, teaches us that “you build greatness by applying a blend of humility and professional will.” He also recommends the book iCon Steve Jobs.

Jobs, who is known for being overbearing, has mellowed over the years and, in an act of great humility, has acknowledged the contributions of his people.

And, finally, Jimenez recommends three experiences that people have to try.

1. Own your own business.
2. Become an employee.
3. Lead a volunteer organization.

Valuable lessons

He has accomplished all these and has learned and profited from his experiences. For him, owning your own business will teach you how to lead and manage an enterprise. Becoming an employee will teach you what it feels like to be an employee and how you can contribute to the organization. And leading a volunteer organization will teach you how to lead people without paying them.

Of course there are a lot of other lessons to be learned. Everyone can certainly benefit from these.

But before you quit your job and appoint yourself CEO of I and Me, Inc., think of Jimenez’s advice on the power of “and”. Maybe then you can say, “I am a business owner and an employee and a leader of a volunteer organization.”

It may work.

###

(Note: You may wonder why Butch Jimenez has a separate story. Three reasons: 1) I am more into business and self-improvement, especially since I’m an avid reader of business books and I’m always looking for ways to improve myself, 2) I have no background in making movies as the other seminar speakers Jeric and Paul Soriano, though I can relate to their messages in the seminar and I like watching well-made movies, 3) I am not really a fitness buff like the speaker Dyan Castillejo, though I try to keep myself fit and I have a black belt in Aikido. Mr. Jimenez is also one of the sponsors in my wedding. He did not ask me to write this, though. I just hope he likes it. Ok, I think I’m over-explaining already. That’s it.)

What’s wrong with get-rich-quick schemes?

It's what you do and not what you have that makes you happy. (Photo courtesy of www.sxc.hu.)

By Anthony O. Alcantara

We’ve long been told that get-rich-quick schemes are evil. They lead to financial ruin. Those who offer these schemes in the guise of legitimate business ventures are armed with vacuums for sucking people’s money.

But these charlatans give get-rich-quick schemes a bad name. It’s not bad to get rich quick. If some people get rich quicker than some of our politicians, why deny them the accolade for the feat?

It’s a great challenge: How can you get rich quickly in a legitimate manner and without losing your soul?

I’ve heard of studies that prove money is not directly proportional to happiness. To a certain point, money does not result to more happiness. It’s actually the things you do that make you happy. It’s the time when you finished a gallon of yummy ube ice cream in 10 minutes, or the movie you watched with friends, or the pillow fights you had with your siblings, or the birth of your child that you reminisce. Not the wads of cash you withdrew from the ATM.

In that case, we get rich by investing in experiences and doing the things that we love to do.

Billionaires Carlos Slim, who is now the richest person in the world, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and even Henry Sy of the SM Group all had their get-rich-quick schemes. They did things they loved to do, somehow got better at it, and in the end amassed obscene amounts of money that only mathematicians can fathom. There’s no need for “Pennies Envy” as I wrote earlier.

It’s another creativity exercise: How to get rich quickly, legitimately, and without losing one’s soul?

It calls for unconventional and somewhat unreasonable thinking.

For now, I’ll just enjoy my ice cream, and wait for my Eureka moment, if it ever comes. I hope you find your get-rich-quick scheme too.

#

Book Reviews for Fully Booked Zine: Building Social Business and Gunn’s Golden Rules

By Anthony O. Alcantara

I’m so glad my book reviews for the Fully Booked zine were published. And I’m ecstatic that the bespectacled likeness of my image, courtesy of photographer Wig Tysmans, was included on the contributors’ page. You can get a copy of the zine at Fully Booked stores. No, you don’t have to read my reviews, or even look at my picture. There’s a lot of other good stuff in the zine.

Special thanks to editor-in-chief Gabriella de la Rama-Talan, who gave me permission to post my reviews here.

Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs by Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus’s mission is to end poverty. Is he insane?

I’m not sure. But he’s succeeding so far. In his book, Building Social Business, he outlines his successes in Bangladesh and a few poverty spots in the United States. He has even enlisted the help of some big companies and universities in Germany, France, Japan, Singapore and the United States, among others.

Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for developing the concept of microcredit and microfinance to help impoverished people, believes that his concept of a social business will someday put poverty in a museum, just like a relic of a dinosaur.

Yunus defines a social business as a business that seeks to solve a social problem–poverty, hunger, infant mortality, illiteracy, etc.–by using traditional concepts of business but with one crucial difference: no personal financial gain for its investors.

The social business has to be sustainable. Investors can only get back the amount they invested.

But why would anyone invest in a social business?

Well, Yunus says there’s a big flaw in capitalism as we know it today because of a “misrepresentation of human nature.” Humans, he argues, are not only born to engage in businesses to make money. They are also born to pursue noble and selfless interests.

Ending poverty may be a tad quixotic, but Yunus’s social business is such a powerful and compelling idea that some influential companies, universities and even governments have already embraced. Yunus may be on to something here.

———

Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making it Work by Tim Gunn

Impeccably dressed, well-mannered and punctilious about etiquette and decency. That’s how many people would describe Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame. And that’s the image he projects in his book, Gunn’s Golden Rules.

He intended his book to be like a lecture to students in a classroom. Indeed he dishes out some sensible advice to would-be fashion designers.

For instance, Rule 1: Make It Work! That’s the advice he often gives to contestants at Project Runway. It’s a call to be creative and flexible.

Some rules appear to be a rehash of advice from other motivational speakers and popular management gurus, like Rule 16: Take Risks! Playing It Safe Is Never Really Safe. Others appear mysterious until you see that it’s just a practical tenet of life, such as Rule 12: Don’t Lose Your Sense of Smell. It simply means “Never lose your sense of good taste or good judgment.”

One thing I admire about Tim is his keen sense of decency and proper behavior. He’d open doors for anyone. He epitomizes the true gentleman, even though he is gay. With diplomatic grace, he exposes the rottenness of some of the rich and famous who have this bloated sense of entitlement. Indeed the stories that accompany his rules reflect the richness and insanity of people in the fashion industry.

His writing though is a bit too breezy and at times unintentionally condescending, which is understandable since he writes as if he’s teaching a class. But then if I meet Tim, I’d definitely open the door wide for him.

#

Why invest in the stock market?

For long-term investing, the stock market is better than having money in the bank or investing in risky businesses. (photo courtesy of www.sxc.hu.)

by Mary Louise M. Alcantara and Anthony O. Alcantara

If you ask people for a list of what they would invest in if they had a million pesos, the stock market would probably not make the cut.

A PSP or Gameboy console would probably get a better ranking. But that’s because, for most people, the stock market is as inscrutable as the Hammurabi Code.

The stock market pretty much runs like your regular neighborhood public market. Let’s say you want to buy a plump tilapia that you can stuff with tomatoes and onions and grill using your brand new electric griller.

You go to the fish section and see a promising candidate on top of the pile. You check out her skin. You look at her eyes to see if they’re clear and not cloudy. You check if the flesh is firm. You sniff her for the right fishy aroma. This is it, you say to yourself… your perfect candidate for dinner.

In the stock market, you deal with companies instead of fish, though they could smell fishy sometimes, especially if they’re run by unscrupulous businessmen. You buy company stocks, which entitle you to profits, dividends, and partial ownership of the company.

Simply put, it’s just like buying and selling anything. We believe most people, like those who buy and sell cellular phones, have transferable skills that could be applied in investing in the stock market.

But there’s a learning curve. If you could muster some interest and genuine curiosity, you can definitely learn enough to be confident to invest in the stock market.

Ways to earn from the stock market

There are two ways you can earn from investing in stocks: dividends and capital appreciation.

When you invest in the stocks of a certain company, you become part owner of that company. For instance, if you own shares equivalent to 10 percent of a company, then you have the rights to 10 percent of the profits of that company.

When a company earns a profit, and the board decides to retain only a certain amount for expansion, dividends, which are expressed in pesos per share, may be given out to stockholders.

Capital appreciation is the increase in the value of the stocks or shares that you own. For example, if you invested P100 in a company, after five years, the value of that investment can become P150. That’s an increase of 50 percent in five years.

And why would the value increase? Well, just like in the neighborhood public market, where the price of tilapia fluctuates with changes in demand and supply, the value of your shares fluctuates, too.

Fortunately for really well-run companies with a good track record, they increase their value significantly over the years. The stock’s real value, or the actual cost, and perceived value, or the value that people assign to the stock, determines the price of the stock.

Invest online

The easiest way to invest in the stock market is by having an online stock broker. So far, the best and biggest online stock broker in the Philippines is Citiseconline. We have to admit that one of us knows one of the VPs of the company, but we’ve done our research. Please let us know if there is a better online stock broker.

Citisec’s website (www.citiseconline.com) lists everything you need to know to get started. It answers all your questions about stock market investing. All forms are downloadable. You just visit their office to submit the forms and other requirements, and deposit an opening fund. You can do this through BDO, BPI, Security Bank or HSBC.

One such product that we recommend is Citiseconline’s EIP or Easy Investment Program. With at least Php5,000, you can start investing.

Under EIP, you can invest in great companies that Citiseconline recommends. They are:

Ayala Land Inc.

Bank of the Philippine Islands

Jollibee Foods Corp.

Manila Water Co. Inc.

SM Prime Holdings, Inc.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

You can deposit Php5,000, or any amount you choose, every month to your Citiseconline account. Then you just pick which stocks you want to invest in among the six companies mentioned.

Citiseconline believes these companies are the best picks for long-term investing, which means 10 or more years. Through peso cost averaging, you will minimize the effects of fluctuations in the stock price.

Since we don’t intend this article to be exhaustive, and since the details are best explained by Citiseconline’s experts, we recommend that you check out Citiseconline’s website (www.citiseconline.com).

It would be best if you attend the company’s free seminars. They even offer free sandwiches and drinks, too.

Have an open mind and give the stock market a chance. It’s one of the largely-untapped investment tools in the country. And it may be your ticket to riches.

#

4 things I learned from a freelance writing workshop

Writing is a joy. But just like anything that involves thinking, it requires discipline, too. (photo courtesy of www.sxc.hu)

By Anthony O. Alcantara

Becoming a freelance writer has a certain appeal. Anyone can probably become one. But not everyone would want to, and not everyone can become good writers. At least, not at first.

Though I have some writing experience, going full time as a freelance writer is beyond my ken. So I sought the experts.

Recently I attended a workshop called “How to Jumpstart your Freelance Writing Career.” It was conducted by three young ladies named Ana Santos, Nikka Sarthou, and Niña Terol-Zialcita. They formed this group called the Writer’s Block Philippines.

They don’t teach you how to cure writer’s block, but they do teach you how to write well and how to market yourself.

Marketing myself as a writer is what interested me most. And finding more profitable writing jobs is another. I’ve long known that freelance writing for magazines and newspapers won’t likely give you that BMW. There must be more.

Here are the things that I learned, or relearned, during the workshop.

1. “It’s who you know.”

I knew this all along, but Wanggo Gallaga, who was a guest speaker during the workshop, delivered it as a profound truth. It’s different when you write for a company magazine, and I’ve only written two feature articles for a newspaper in the last eight years.

I never realized that it is a basic tenet of freelance writing. Sending your stories to an editor who does not know you is almost as futile as sending a letter to Santa Claus. I’ve tried both.

So what do you do? Use your network. I found the exercise “Circle of Friends” useful. It starts with your inner circle of close friends, then your not-so-close friends, and then your acquaintances. Now I could picture where to start tapping my contacts.

2. Opportunities abound in writing for corporations.

I’ve seen crap emanate from a certain PR company that charges P10,000 for a press release that will only be read by the editor’s wastebasket.

I’m not bragging, but at least I know I can write better than some PR agency writers out there. And there lies the opportunity. Advertising agencies, PR agencies, marketing outfits are all looking for freelance writers.

3. You have to develop the mindset of an entrepreneur.

The only successful business I had was my real estate venture in a Millionaires Game session a long time ago. It was successful for about 30 minutes before going bankrupt. Anyway, my background didn’t give me the chance to exercise any entrepreneurial skills.

What I learned in the workshop is that a freelance writer must also be a savvy entrepreneur. If you can’t sell your skills as a writer, you can never become a full-time writer.

That’s what I hope to develop. Aside from my circle of friends and the untapped opportunities around, nourishing this mindset will help lot.

4. You kindle your creativity by interacting with other people.

Being with people who are on the same quest as you are can help you gather information you may not get elsewhere. You also make connections with people, information and ideas.

I guess creativity expert Edward Glassman‘s findings in his recent survey can explain this. He found that the biggest factor in making people more creative is “other people.” Indeed, interaction with other people who have different views and ideas can help create an environment conducive to creative thought. And that’s what the workshop created: an environment for creativity.

Come to think of it, it’s the same with everything else in life. It’s who you know that gets you to your destination. Looking for untapped opportunities helps you get that promotion. Having the mindset of an entrepreneur makes you sensitive to these opportunities. Interacting with people helps you to think creatively about a thorny problem.

And sometimes, it takes a workshop for you to realize these things.

#