My Talk in the Anaplan Hub16 in San Francisco

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Sometime Last Year 2016

When Anaplan invited me to San Francisco to share about the implementation of Anaplan in Del Monte. 

"...And Being Lied About, Don't Deal in Lies."

Most of the people who support the Binays continue to do so, despite all the allegations of corruption and abuse of power, not because our legal system demands due process and presumes innocence until there is proof of guilt. The ones I have talked to dismissed all the charges as political harassment predicating the coming elections, and with sweeping statements like “Lahat naman yan sila sa position corrupt. At least sila Binay nagbabalik ng konti sa taong bayan.”

Even at the regional and local levels, the same kind of thinking is manifest from the supporters of  whoever local official is being investigated. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos even are beneficiaries of this jaded outlook.

A sad commentary really to how desensitized some of us already are to something so fundamentally objectionable as stealing from the government’s coffers!

This fatalistic attitude is not without basis. I wager this is precisely how the saying about the kettle and the pot was coined. This process of accusations and counter-accusations has become exhaustingly repetitive in the eyes of most Filipinos. True, there have been convictions and prosecutions, but the wheels of justice grind too slow, and often, top notch lawyers that the accused’s money can afford delay the delivery of justice even more. Some even get pardoned, on purely political grounds. To be fair, the current administration’s campaign catchingly dubbed as Matuwid Na Daan (The Straight Path) has put the war against corruption at the top of the agenda of everyone’s mind. And having personalities like the sitting BIR Commissioner (Henares), the Secretary of Justice (De Lima) and the Ombudsman (Carpio-Morales) as the lead attack dogs (pardon the pun) in this drive - whether you agree with me or not - has really put some serious bite into the campaign. Still, we wait, as Westeros of the HBO hit based on JRR Martin’s series of the same title, Game of Thrones, for a Daenerys Targaryen, the show’s heroine with her three dragons, to declare the breaking of the wheel, of the vicious cycle of corruption. And many of us have given up hope.

There are some of us though who are not yet so resigned, who would like to think that corruption is still a deplorable crime. But this disease has really become an epidemic even those who would consider themselves repulsed when confronted with the idea of billion peso kickbacks may still be tainted. Consciously or not.

No pun intended. c2013

A friend recounted the story of how he recently had a conscience struggle in order to make a tough choice. Which for a middle class person like him meant the choice was going to hurt his wallet. To provide additional context: This friend, who we shall call Jake (of course not his real name!) is by no means a self-righteous nor a perfectly righteous man. But for all the years I have known him, I have seen how he strives to conduct himself with the highest levels of integrity and honesty. In fact, I have marched with him in some protest actions calling for the abolition of the Pork Barrel. Probably would not account for much, but suffice it to say, Jake is one of those people I know who really feels strongly about good and responsible governance.

To go back to the story, Jake recently came upon an opportunity to buy a piece of land in his home province. A first time buyer of anything property, he assumed the transaction was going to be straightforward. He had done the  research and pretty much he knew what the transactional costs for the purchase would be, e.g taxes and commissions. He was taken aback though when the sales agent approached him inquiring what amount he wanted reflected on the deed of sale. Apparently and allegedly, it is common practice to put in a much lower value on the said document to reduce the tax liabilities that will arise from the sale. Doing so brings down his liabilities by as much as 80% of the original amount. Instant personal gain! Criminal, if you really think about it.

In all my years of work as a Finance practitioner, I have consciously avoided the area of local tax and statutory compliance because I know how shady things can get. Yet, I was just as naive as Jake. I found it initially amusing how shrewd this behavior is. I did some checking, and true to what Jake said, such practice is known and common. The argument put forward in favor of evasion, for that is what it is, was that it would lessen the opportunities for corruption. The money is better left in our possession than be paid over to the authorities, only to be stolen.

Is this reasoning valid?  Is the logic sound?  Is it vigilante justice to pre-emptively cheat to prevent a presumed malfeasance? Did not the Bible say to give to Caesar what is due him? Or if you prefer the literary guidance to the Biblical one, I took a line from Rudyard Kipling's If for the banner of this article, imploring us not to reciprocate in kind when we have been just as wronged.

If we were to believe the myth of Robin Hood, the argument does seem to have some basis. But only if Jake decided to redistribute the money to the “poor” people around him.

 A citizen protester in a 2013 rally against the Philippine Pork Barrel demands an accounting of his monthly tax.

Our conversation did not get to the end of the story. I do not know how Jake finally decided, but his story prompted me to think about how solid personal principles come into play in such dilemmas. The temptation to do wrong will not always be through some grand evil act that presents itself to you, Not all of us will be given the opportunity to rob millions or billions of pesos, and get away with the murder. But there is no qualifier, quantifier, to the Commandment that says "Thou shalt not steal."

We demand so much from our government. We take this administration to task for the Daang Matuwid shortcomings - perceived or real. Do we really think the President, or Henares, or Carpio can singlehandedly clean up this broken system? What does it make us when we ourselves confront the problem of corruption by cheating as well?

Is addressing corruption a Clean-The-Ocean, or Save-the-World-of-Hunger type of problem? My Six Sigma Master Black Belt coach uses these terms to describe issues that would require a miracle to fix.

I used to think education would be the key to solving our society’s ills. That if we all knew better, it will naturally follow that our informed choices will be more superior,  and will be for the betterment of this country. I have adjusted my beliefs a bit. Smarts without heart and spirit is a more deadly threat to society. Look at the top crooks of the country!  And then tell me their pedigree. I can bet my full year tax a majority of them are well lettered.

People of my generation would remember that Milo jingle that goes something like “Great things come from small beginnings.” And so it is with crime. The most heinous crimes in life will always start from some small, often innocent-seeming acts, that then become habit, progressing more and more into the realm of the dark, until one's callused conscience stops to even be bothered by the consequences.

I have always believed that our behavior when we fall in line, waiting for the bus, when we shop and talk to the grocery attendants, and yes, even when we have to deal with those we deem lowly, to pay taxes, in the routine of our day to day lives - all are opportunities to build on a habit of integrity and honesty. Like most things, acquiring these virtues requires practice and discipline, demands being tested.

I know this societal renewal is an even longer process than most of the remedies we are doing now to solve our society's ills, possibly spanning even a few more generations. But this is the most sustainable.

In the meantime, the national elections is just around the corner. And for that reason, I cry. It seems this country does need a miracle. But for that reason also, I smile. I have seen enough of them  in my life to remain faithful and hopeful.


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This blog also appears on the July 20 edition of The Bohol Tribune.
 

Don't Settle To Settle Down

(Note: This artlcle appeared at the March 22 edition of the Bohol Tribune.)

In one of my more recent job interviews, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), a power-dressed European expatriate, seated comfortably across the table from me, had only one item he wanted clarified regarding my credentials. “It has to be said, Steve, that you have been around. Is there any particular reason to that?”

And like a cacophonous beauty pageant finalist, I wanted to answer, “Thank you for that wonderful question. I believe…”  Of course, that was just all in my mind! Wouldn't it be more fun though if all job interviews were conducted like the final Q&A portion of the Miss Universe pageant. But I digress. The subject of the question, of course, is his observation from my resume, that just in my mid 30’s, I have already worked for a total of five companies - with the engagements ranging from one to six years. What was not spoken out loud in the question, but one which my answer was going to confirm or rule out,  was whether such behavior indicated a lack on my part to commit, to be loyal, to the company that hires me. The soft paranoid voice in my head recoiled at the implied accusation - that I was of lesser character compared to those who possessed a more stable employment record. I cannot begrudge Mr. COO the question though. Interviewers are under tremendous pressure to make character assessments within that hour, or so, of conversation.

What dawned on me then was that not everyone subscribes to the greater Steve (Jobs), who is known as an American entrepreneur, marketer, inventor, co-founder, and former chairman and CEO of Apple Inc., when he said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.”

No two person’s career path is similar, though there may be generational idiosyncrasies to how we view job love and loyalty.

My mother, a retired teacher, is no doubt imbued with a far more superior character than I have, but for sure, this is not because she worked, and retired in just one institute in this province, the Bohol Island State University (BISU), erstwhile known as the Bohol School of Arts and Trades (BSAT) during my time. I believe many in her generation, and the generations before, ascribed to the one-employer-policy. At the very least, they did not have as many employment movements as I have had, when they were my age.

Then, there is the younger generation, those who just joined, or about to join the workforce, a generation that has baffled all the others. Allegedly, and I use this word here because I do not really believe in collective labeling, these new young adults have a high sense of entitlement, and are characterized by their seeming difficulty to commit to their responsibilities.

I have worked with these young adults, and without understanding fully what drives them, I have experienced first-hand how they do tend to jump from one company to another, at the first sign of a better opportunity. But is this a character defect? Is this not a function of several factors, one of which may be the technology that affords them transparency and mobility, to assess things much more quickly than their more senior predecessors?

For my part, and I have been vocal about this, in all the five companies I have worked for, there was never the intention at the start to make the relationship short-term. I do not think any rational person reports to work on the first day, and declares to himself  that this job is good for fun only. On the contrary, for those of you who can still remember their work’s first day high, it is almost unbridled optimism, and joy that describe the feeling. As the relationship progresses, like any other, re-calibration happens naturally. And unlike marriage that cannot be put asunder, work relationship is by nature, contractual.

Graduation season is again upon us, and with it, the influx of starry-eyed, beaming-with-idealism, optimistic fresh graduates eager to join the workforce, the real world, to make a difference. Consider at the end of the school year in 2014, last year, the Commission on Higher Education, as published in the Philippine Star on March 26, 2014, estimated  that 553,706 college students would have graduated then. "Of the more than half a million candidates, were graduates of Business Administration and related courses (142,061), followed by Medical and Allied disciplines (110,280), Information Technology (68,178), Education and Teacher Training (65,092), Engineering and Technology (61,786) and other disciplines (26,298)", the article goes on to declare.  

One has to wonder if these half a million graduates already really knew what they wanted to do with their lives, based on the career their chosen courses would have led them to.  At what point in our life do we get that light bulb Eureka! moment regarding our life’s calling? I consider myself fairly more self-aware than my contemporaries, and that is supposed to mean that I have things figured out already. My five-company stint over the last 15 years seem to belie that. Or does it?

Interestingly, I know Accounting graduates who became top-notch musicians, Medicine students who pursued and excelled in careers in Advertising, Economics majors who are now sought-after stylists.I also know of people who coasted through three degrees during College, and are still  in pursuit of their goal in life up to now. There are, of course, also those people, who failed, no, chose, not to graduate from college, but have very happy, and rewarding lives as entrepreneurs.

To be honest, I have nothing but  envy for people who find contentment in their first jobs. Whether they have found true bliss, or are just settling for stability though, is a matter for their own conscience to bear. I also know that in reality, the time for searching follows its own biological clock. Still, like matters of the heart, and if we put our faith in the musings of one of the greatest minds of our time, we can rest in the knowledge that we will know our calling when we find our calling.  Sadly, it has also been rumored that they who are superior in intellect, are idiots in the affairs of the heart.

So, how did I answer  Mr. COO’s question? With all the subdued acting and drama I can muster in such a circumstance, I faced him, and declared, that early in my career, my job decisions  were driven by economics. It was about maximizing my financial returns, and learning opportunities. However, as I moved up the corporate ladder, my decision to stay or go has become dependent on finding meaning and relevance in the experience. 

I have worked too hard to settle for anything less.

Thinking Out Loud: Episode 1

(This article also appears on the February 22, 2015 edition of the Bohol Tribune. This is the first of what is going to be my regular monthly column in the said newspaper.)

Writing for me has always been about taking a pause, and organizing the thoughts that run around my head. It Is a mental exercise that allows the flux of ideas, and then, reining them all in, coming up with my own perspective, stand, on specific issues. Over the years, this process has served me well, but as I sat facing my computer, trying to churn out a decent first entry to this column, I find my mind wildly whirring like a broken compass needle, unable to pinpoint with clarity the direction this first post, or this column, should be taking.

I have always enjoyed writing. I have kept blogs, microblogs and wrote journals, but more on a personal level. For friends, acquaintances, and stalkers. And the writing was almost always about the universal problem of emotional neediness. Very personal.

In more ways than one, accepting, and yes, presenting myself (in no particular order) to Ma’am Ardy*, to start contributing regularly to this newspaper, is uncharted waters for me. And of course there is pressure, because Ma’am Ardy is Ma’am Ardy, and this is a critical first step for me to re-establishing my ties with my home province, Bohol, twenty years after I symbolically left its shores in 1995, to pursue my University degree in Diliman.

Too many things have happened. And for sure, many more things will.

Since the last time I guest-wrote for the Bohol Tribune, a month ago, this country has swung from the spiritual high brought about by the religious fervor of the multi-day papal visit in mid January. Thereafter, in just a span of a few weeks, and following the tragic death of 44 PNP SAF personnel (by this time, everyone knows what this acronym means so I am not going to even spell this out anymore), the national mood has changed to murderous intent: many have started calling for an all-out war, and for abandoning the peace process, in Mindanao, altogether.

Internationally, we continue to be confronted with the ghastly images of the atrocities of hate and war. Just a few weeks back, I was transfixed, horrified, watching an edited video of the burning of the ISiS-captured Jordanian pilot. Ukraine remains to be a powder keg for Russia and the rest of the West, and China continues to flex its economic and military might in our backyard. This list can go on and on.

And don’t get me started on the natural calamities and extreme weather disturbances happening around the world, wreaking untold misery on the displaced! Nor the global pandemic risks that are made even more possible by the ease of travel across countries. Or the volatility of financial markets and economies around the world. Which economic sector is a bubble waiting to burst?

Layered atop all these events are the colorful personalities (including nationalities) that aggravate, or not, all the drama. One has to wonder, if PNoy behaved “more appropriately” in the handling of the PNP-SAF massacre, would the media narrative now be more focused on the real issue at hand, which is, should peace be pursued in Mindanao with the parties involved in the negotiations at this point? Instead, because we are a country and a culture that value appearances, and even more parties have an interest in Mr. Aquino’s ouster, calls are already being made for his resignation and impeachment. To be fair, the matter of accountability has to be established, first and foremost, but it is possible that had PNoy gone through the motions of appearances, the almost unanimous hatred he is getting now will not be as much. This is not to downplay the seriousness of the matter of Mindanao peace, or to reduce the equation to being just a PR mishandling! On the other hand, on the matter of the Jordanian military response to the burning of their own, and believe me, I personally think they are in the right with those air raids against ISIS military assets, I am still waiting for all the supposed human rights activists, who are usually up in arms over the civilian collateral damage that a similar retaliatory operation, say that of Israel’s IDF against Hamas or Hezbollah, usually causes.

I ask myself, has the World gone mad? To borrow a term from Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, there seems to be no end to the World’s Breaking. Has it always been like this? Are we just blessed now, or cursed, to be getting updates, seconds after each disaster has happened, because of the technology that the likes of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg has given us?

All these combine to give us an age when everyone is a writer, everyone is a photographer and everyone has an opinion on everything. Unless you live inside a cave or a hermit deprived of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tinder, Grinder. and all those mobile applications that any three-year-old can operate, we all want to share to the world a piece of our minds.

There are many voices out there, all clamoring to be heard, all at risk of not being heard. And because the boy who cried wolf can now be an entire tribe, or even nation, effective and relevant communication has become even more difficult to attain.

And here lies the boon, and the burden, of being part of this newspaper. Because the people who go out of their way to  pick up the Bohol Tribune at the news stands, by this very deliberate and conscious act, are signalling that they want something different from what is out there.

It is a comforting thought, and scary, for one such as myself. It is a mandate that in the Bohol Tribune - and perhaps a general truth all paid publications should live by - I must not speak up just to add to the cacophony of ideas and mindless discourse. One should always strive to contribute value, to provide an alternative perspective, not for the sake of doing so, but because there is an alternative perspective. And also to accept, that in some instances, the alternative is the status quo.

Only after undergoing such intellectual and critical rigor should voice be given to thoughts and shared to all. Only then, should anyone, myself most of all, have the license to really start Thinking Out Loud.

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*Ma'am Ardy Batoy, the managing editor of the Bohol Tribune.

P.S. Keep In Touch

What we are usually told is that Time heals all wounds. Time is an ally that resolves everything, sorts all things out, ties all loose ends. TIme, though, can also lead hitherto very close friends to drift away from each other. And reuniting after a long period of no contact, almost always things will never be the same for any two or more people, those quotes about friendship enduring eternity, notwithstanding.

The majestic Hong Kong skyline at night c2010.

Is there anyone to blame when friends drift apart? As my favorite mantra for acceptance and resignation goes, “It is what it is.” Of course, it takes a certain maturity to get to this level of acceptance. Often, we berate ourselves and we feel guilty for letting go of relationships that felt so right and perfect and endless, eternal, when we started them.  Unless you are a sociopath, we all want our relationships to work. And next to family, there is no stronger tie that binds two people more than friendship. For are not friends family that we ourselves hand picked and chose?

I am all for friendships that stand the test of time. They do exist. I have those friends, so far. However, constrained by time, and space, and everything else in between, the fact is, some of these friends can become distant. Relationships are complex, unfortunately, and there are times that all we can do is look to the heavens and wonder what went wrong.

I was In Hong Kong last month for a quick weekend vacation, just to get away from the stress of living in Metro Manila. Since I used to work there between the years 2006 and 2010, I have more than a handful of Hong Kong- based people whom I consider as really dear friends.

When you get your life uprooted from the familiar to an alien environment - and that was how I felt when I first moved to Hong Kong - and absent your usual social and family support, you do not really have a choice but to seek out like-minded individuals and forge new ties.

I do not warm up easily to people.  Sure, I can walk into a bar, order a few drinks, socialize with whoever is there - the bartender, the cute guy, the flashy tourist -  but these are very superficial interactions. And while this interface may be enough for me to accept your Facebook invite, it will take more for you to be able to call me for drinks any random evening. My schedule permitting, of course.

Some of my closest friends in the  Kylie M concert in HK.

To cut a four-year-story short, at the end of 2009, the time I decided to come back to Manila,  the only pang of sadness I felt for moving out of Hong Kong came from the knowledge that I will be leaving a number of people who have shown me and taught me so many things about who I am, what I can do, and what my limitations are. More importantly, these are the people who helped me accept who I really am. at my core. I mean, if people who help you achieve this kind of personal enlightenment cannot be called friends, then who can be?

And yet, I felt rightfully rebuked when during my last visit to Hong Kong, some time end of November 2014, I found out, among other things, that the month prior, one of my closest friends got seriously sick and was hospitalized on the day of his birthday. In parallel manner, I also discovered that this friend of mine didn’t know that our mutual friend back in Manila met an accident on the most recent week that passed.

A brief awkward silence followed our individual realizations that perhaps despite our previous declarations about how we should stay as close a friend as we could, being apart running four years now, things have changed. Consider that at the height of our time together in Hong Kong, we felt like we knew every instance the other so much as take a deep sigh, while in the train, commuting across the Hong Kong harbor. We were that attuned to what was happening to each other’s lives.

It came to me then, that in the first place, friendships, relationships, arise out of a mutual need for one another’s presence, and all that that presence entails - a shoulder to lean on, a brain to pick for advice, a drinking buddy, or even a shopping pal. When I was in Hong Kong, the need was there. And the means to satisfy such were also available. These people and I were around to do what was required for the relationship to grow.

Since I moved back to Manila, I have been visiting Hong Kong at least once a year. This last trip, like the previous ones, was spent catching up on the lives of friends still there. Each visit though, as year after year passes, the gap seems to be wider. Personal problems that before could be easily shared with each other got swept under. In part, I am sure this was because my visits usually were short and we all did not want to ruin the moment with problems - mine or theirs - problems that we cannot impact in a meaningful way anymore. The relationship it seems has been downgraded to the superficial meet-ups of tourists I alluded to earlier.

I love my friends. Everyone does. And in my heart of hearts, I wish things can go back to how it was when we were all together. And here is where the conundrum lies, because as Life pushes us to move forward, we cannot forever cling to some sentimental past, even if it means that in the process, some of our dearest friends may have to find someone else to fill the role we used to play in their lives. 

My and another friend's farewell party. HK c 2010.

Am I giving up? That will be an oversimplification of why I am writing this. We can really do only so much to make relationships work. I believe though that once paths start to diverge and points of interest - essentially our lives - no longer intersect, the best thing to do is to get on with Life and wait for the next cycle when paths will cross again.

In the meantime, I have gone back to stalking my friends’ Facebook pages, unable to virtually interact as often as I would like to do, praying that while our lives have not yet converged again, we, individually, will grow to be better persons, ready to take on a new chapter of the relationship, when fate and providence bring us back together. 

And if that does not happen still, let me paraphrase a famous quote, “Don’t be sad that it’s over. Be happy and grateful that it happened.”

Note: This blog also appears on the January 18, 2015 edition of the Bohol Tribune.