Innovative leadership for sustained growth

(First of two parts)

LET ME start out by saying that I am 68 years old, and I’m sure, many of you will empathize with me because the average age of a MAP member is actually 61 years old.

I am semi-retired, enjoying my golf games, having fun with my grandson and relishing my weekly trips with my wife to our small farm in Tagaytay.

I seem to have an easy and relaxing life now, and you may wonder why I have accepted the position of president of MAP.

Throughout my career, I have always believed that trying different jobs—whether private or government—would satisfy me and allow me to retire gracefully and be at peace with myself. So, for 42 years, I was involved in various fields, such as investment and commercial banking, corporate finance, food and beverage, real estate, military, arts, education and entrepreneurship.

However, I found myself still seeking and wanting, but on a different dimension. Seeking a higher goal outside of myself led me to accept the MAP presidency. I felt a need to give back, despite the many years I have worked in government, and I still have the desire to do acts of service for others. As noted British leader and statesman Sir Winston Churchill once said, and I quote: “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life with what you give.”

How can we give back and be a man for others by being officers and members of MAP? Doing an environmental scan of the Philippines, the Map board actually identified 5 major issues confronting all of us:

Foreign direct investments. We all know that energy costs and labor costs are increasing, making us not competitive. We also know there are certain limitations in our existing Constitution. So we have to work on these.

Justice system. We have so many cases pending but we need closure. We need prosecution, and we need a little less of corruption.

Infrastructure. On the average, we should be spending at least 5 percent of our GNP on infrastructure. But the Philippines right now is only spending 2.2 percent of total GNP, so we have to increase our infrastructure spending.

Mindanao peace and development. I’m sure you have read the news recently. There were members of the SAF, the police force, who were killed—a lot of them, in fact.  Therefore, we really see the need for peace in Mindanao to happen. And, of course, more development efforts.

Inclusive growth/job creation. Number 5 is a favorite of Cardinal Tagle and myself: Inclusive growth. We would like to focus on job creation.

These issues will be addressed in the forthcoming MAP Summit, which I will explain later on.

We will also coordinate with the other business groups and foreign chambers in addressing these issues. We acknowledge that President Aquino has achieved substantial economic gains and corporate governance initiatives for our country, but there is still definitely a lot more to do.

The MAP Theme for 2015 is “Innovative Leadership for Sustained Growth.” Translated into action we have come up with 3 major programs:

First, in preparation for the presidential elections in 2016, we have a leadership series on innovative and authentic leadership, which should be honest, transparent, collaborative, integrative and action-oriented. At the end of this series, we will formulate leadership qualities required for our new President to possess—which we will use for our new advocacy on Voter’s Education.

Second, we will organize a summit, together with other business groups and foreign chambers, to address the major issues and come up with an action plan which will be presented to the next president of our country. This action plan comes with a commitment on our part to assist in its implementation.

The third and most important is an inclusive growth program focused on job creation. Let us make our current economic growth as a nation trickle down to the poor.

(To be continued)

(This article is lifted from an address delivered by the author during the 66th Inaugural Meeting and Induction of the 2015 Board of Governors of Management Association of the Philippines. The author is MAP president for 2015 and an independent director of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company. Feedback at <[email protected]> and <[email protected]>. For previous articles, please visit www.map.org.ph)