Choose right leader to join big league, PH told

AS THE presidential race heats up, the global community is counting on Filipinos to elect leaders with integrity, spirit of innovation, compassion and ability to lead the country into the big league.

Josette Sheeran, president of New York-based Asia Society, said in a recent interview with Inquirer that the new Philippines had been “rising out of its challenges,” transforming for the better and now at the cusp of many opportunities.

Asked about the upcoming presidential elections, Sheeran said: “We need great leaders. We need leaders with integrity, with a spirit of innovation… compassion. We need leaders who are willing to tackle the challenges and transform and address issues such as poverty and opportunity … who can tackle big issues such as the threat of terrorism.”

“I think this is a time that demands good leaders and the Philippines, I feel, is at the cusp of opportunity and has done so much to position itself for the next decade,” she said.

Founded in 1956 by John Rockefeller, Asia Society is a leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the organization provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future.

Sheeran said an AT Kearney research had predicted Metro Manila as the next great city to rise on the global stage. “This a moment of opportunity for the Philippines, so the Philippines needs and deserves the kind of leader that can open those kinds of opportunities for the country,” she said, adding that the next leaders should be open to embrace new models and ideas.

She said the Philippines “should and could produce the next Jack Ma”—referring to the Chinese billionaire who founded e-commerce giant Alibaba, which had made a $21.8-billion stock debut in New York in 2014.

She said the Philippines “should and could help the world figure out the next solutions at a scale that works for the kind of development challenges that the Philippines has.”

For the Philippines, she said solutions, like how to get access to clean water or ensure access to services, were paramount.  A key challenge, she said, would be the use of technology to bring the country to the next level.  She said young people—who were increasingly finding ways to create solutions to everyday problems—could help “leapfrog over the decades of development needed to find faster solutions with technology.”

“What I like here is that young people are really embracing technologies in new ways. I think the Philippines can play a role and, historically, Philippines has great ties in the region. I think those friendships and bridges are really important,” she said.

“Aspirations of the new generation coming up is really the big challenge for global leaders. Because with the global slowdown, people need jobs and they need opportunities. With the Internet, people are now connected and they know what opportunity looks like and so world leaders are challenged with meeting the expectations of a new generation,” Sheeran said.

At present, she said the world was facing the proverbial “best of times and the worst of times.”

For Sheeran, there has never been greater opportunity in the world to transform and end poverty, hunger and some of the worst diseases that have caused so much sufferings to humanity.

“We have the tools, the know-how, the capacity to do it and new innovation models are making those accessible and affordable around the world,” she said.

“Yet, we are also facing some of the worst challenges that the world has ever faced—because of the spread of terrorism and hacking of financial institutions, all these kinds of challenges,” she said.

Sheeran said there were a lot of challenges in the world that requires good leadership—not just from heads of governments but also from citizens who would take leadership roles in different areas.

“This is an impatient generation and I love that! This generation should not have patience. They are not waiting for the government to fix the problems, not waiting for someone out there to solve the problems. They are taking matters in their own hands,” Sheeran said.