Having great mentors and a great team

(Following is the acceptance speech delivered by the author when he received recently the “MAP Management Man of the Year 2013” Award from the MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES.)

To the congratulatory messages I received, I replied that I was overwhelmed and humbled by the award and that I have been lucky and blessed to be part of a great company, with great mentors and a great team who make me look good.  More importantly, I have a family who has given me so much inspiration and support.

Let me expound on these points.  I was, and still am, overwhelmed receiving this award because I know the rigorous selection process, having participated in a search for the MMY in the past.  When I look at the list of past awardees, I recognize them as pillars of industry who have made significant contributions to nation building.   That is why I am also humbled and I ask myself who am I compared to all these past awardees and can I live up to the expectation of being an MMY.  To the Board of Judges of MAP, the award is a recognition of past performance and accomplishments.  But I believe that being conferred the award puts a significant responsibility on the future actions of the  awardee to do more not only for his/her organization but for the country as well.  The awardee, having been put in the spotlight,  becomes a role model with much higher expectations from the business community and the public in general.

On being lucky and blessed to be part of a great company, with great mentors and a great team who make me look good, let me explain one by one. When I joined Shell in 1979, I did not expect that I would be spending a long time with the company.  But I thoroughly enjoyed my job, the people I worked with, the challenges and recognition, the culture of the company, and the values that the company espouses, i.e. honesty, integrity and respect for people.  These are the same values that we all want to inculcate to our children.

This award comes at an auspicious time as Shell will celebrate 100 years of presence in the Philippines in 2014.  When I look at what has been achieved throughout its 99 years in the country, I am amazed and I truly admire the Shell employees who came before us who made Shell companies in the Philippines what it is today; from its humble beginnings importing, repacking and selling kerosene in 1914 to the significant presence of Shell today in energy, employment and social programs affecting the country.  In the course of its presence in the country, Shell has been very much a part of the country’s history; from the early years of the 1900s to the difficult years of World War II, to liberation and the ensuing reconstruction.  Growing and holding its ground against American oil companies who had the advantage of parity rights.  To the oppression during martial law and the rebirth of democracy following People Power in 1986, through various calamities, both natural and man-made, Shell has seen its fortunes closely tied to that of our countrymen.

Today, the Shell companies in the Philippines have grown to over 4,000 employees, spanning exploration and production, with Malampaya supplying clean natural gas that fuels 30 percent of the country’s electricity requirements.  To its refining, distribution and marketing of oil products and services supplying close to a third of the country’s demand with a 50 percent  brand share preference, to the largest shared service center of Shell in the world with more than 3,000 employees doing top class work for Shell companies worldwide.  But the area where I take great pride is in Shell’s social investment especially our Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc or PSFI.  Long before CSR became popular, Shell has been investing in social programs as part of doing business in the country.

In 1970, Shell’s Venezuelan country manager introduced the Venezuelan experience where business organizations formed themselves to help the community and from this, PBSP was born with Shell as one of 50 founding companies.  In 1982, Shell formed its own foundation PSFI to complement its involvement in PBSP.  But it is actually in partnering with other organizations that Shell is able to deliver more impact to its social investment to address the issues on education, environment, safety and health.  The focus being to  capacitate our less fortunate countrymen who only need to be given an opportunity to improve their lives.

For shelter and education, we have partnered with  GK for building over 400 homes, a number of schools and investing in their Centre for Social innovation.  We have also partnered with the PBEd for advocacy in improving education and sponsoring 100 scholars to take up the teaching profession, AGAPP for building classrooms, TESDA and our dealers for training, Mind Museum to promote science, among others.

For environment, we have worked with Gina Lopez to reforest and beautify La Mesa Dam, clean up Pasig River and estero de Paco.  And with the Tubbataha Foundation to preserve this most important heritage site.  Perhaps the most significant partnership we have is the one with Global Fund to help reduce if not eradicate malaria in the Philippines.  We were the first private foundation that Global Fund partnered with and this has now become the preferred route of Global Fund following the success with PSFI.  We have secured about $70 million support and I am very pleased to advise that working with WHO, DOH and LGUs, the incidence and fatality resulting from Malaria has been reduced by 90 percent  across the country.

For the next 100 years, I see Shell continuing to position itself as a major participant in the country’s growth and development.  The $1 billion Malampaya phase 2&3 project is well underway with most of the investment actually being spent in the country as we have instituted a local first policy.  We just broke ground on an import terminal in Mindanao and we are awaiting for the approval to upgrade our refinery.

We are also eyeing to build  the first LNG import facility and to expand our Shared Service center by another 1,000 bringing Shell’s staff complement to over 5,000.

As we grow our business investments in the country, so too does our social investments.  We have allocated close to P200 million for relief and rehab for typhoon Yolanda victims.  We have signed a P100 million donation for the national museum and allocated P100 million for Science and Technology university scholarships in partnership with PhilDev.

I now move to giving recognition to my great mentors, some of whom have honored me with their presence today.  They served as great role models for me to  listen, to observe and to learn practices and values which have brought me to where I am today.  They are Messrs. Benny Oben, Edgardo Veron Cruz, Rico Bersamin, Oscar Reyes, Eli Santiago and Cesar Buenventura, a past “MAP Management Man of the Year” awardee as well. To them, I will always be grateful.

As for the great staff in Shell who make me look good, I say it in all honesty when I give them credit.  Shell Philippines is a net exporter of talent to the Group as we have 100  Filipino expats working in various Shell operations worldwide, another 60 based in the Philippines but doing regional/global work and of course our 3,000 employees in our Shared Service Centre.

Back in 2003 as I was leaving a regional position to come back to the country, my regional staff gave me a picture of the solar system where they indicated that I was the sun and they were the planets with my light shining down on them.  I told them I was very flattered but that I had a different view of my role in their picture of the solar system.  I told them that they were the sun and I were the moon looking brilliant but simply reflecting their light.  As head of any organization, we rise and fall with the performance of our team.  If they do well, the leader looks good and that’s what has been happening to me.  My simple belief is that if we hire the best people, train and motivate them, then the results will follow.

Finally, I come to my family who has served as inspiration and has provided me with their unwavering support.  I am very happy that they are here today to witness this event.  My 85-year-old mother who I know went through a lot of hardship to raise me, my cousin who is like a sister to me, my wife and our children who have given us so much pride and happiness.  Earlier, I mentioned that this award comes at an auspicious time for Shell as we celebrate 100 years in 2014.

On a personal note, my wife and I are celebrating our silver wedding anniversary this year.  Wedded bliss for me but perhaps more like an endurance marathon for her.  To support me, she gave up her own career.  She has quietly focused her life to raising our 4 children, to caring for the whole family,  to encouraging me and yet keeping me grounded, to constantly reminding us all how to be better persons and good Christians.  She is literally the wind beneath my wings and the solid foundation in our family.  I would never have made it this far without her.  In my book, she is the management man of every year.

So my dear friends, I just gave you the long explanation behind my reply to the congratulatory messages I received.  I now accept this award on behalf of all my colleagues in Shell, my mentors, my teachers in school, and my beloved family.  Thank you once again to MAP for this great honor.   Mabuhay tayong lahat!

(The author is the recipient of “MAP Management Man of the Year 2013” Award of the Management Association of the Philippines, and the Country Chair of the Shell Companies in the Philippines. Feedback at <[email protected]>. For previous articles, please visit www.map.org.ph)