Manny Pangilinan is one of the most respected CEO in the Philippines. He has a knack for running profitable companies.
This interview first appeared on Philippine Daily Inquirer dated July 29th, 2012
Here is an excerpt of the interview.
Did you expect to be this successful?
I guess I did. But not in a way that was
very fervent, I would say … It was not an absorbing goal to be rich at
that time. I guess if you come from a humble background, it’s difficult
to see how long the horizon could be for you.
I certainly wanted to
improve (my) economic lot.
My father was a messenger at the
Philippine National Bank and he rose through the ranks. Most of my
academic life, I was on a scholarship … my ambition was limited. I
never expected to be where I am today. The driving force must have been
deprivation.
When I was in school (San Beda), a number
of my classmates were rich and … were able to buy chocolate drinks.
Then they would buy sandwiches, either a chicken sandwich, a hamburger
or whatever. I’d be limited to Coke and crackers.
That was throughout
my elementary and high school years. My allowance was 25 centavos—10
centavos for the Coke, 5 centavos for the crackers and 10 centavos for
bus fare … I guess that was a very strong impetus for me to tell
myself: “I can’t live like this. I have to do something better than
this.”
Then, as well, my relatives, a number of
my cousins, were rich. They owned department stores and such. When you
went to their homes they had all sorts of food that I never saw in my
home. For birthdays they had cakes and ice cream, which I never had.
Sometimes my mom would send the help to the corner store to buy a cake
that was small and hard like a large hopia.
It was the sense of deprivation that sort
of gave me the impetus. In a way, that is not so good because it is a
negative kind of impetus or motivation.
Was there a time that you would consider as a first step into becoming what you are now? Or that completely changed your life?
I guess, if you look at the spectrum of
my life, there are events that have happened that have changed the
course of my life, for better or for worse … Certain of those events are
negative and certain of those events are positive.
It’s like the hand
of God just moving us, placing the direction but you are given the
options …
You are here to choose what you want to do. There are events
that will happen in your life that will sometimes force you to make a
decision, and sometimes you have no choice.
So considering where you are now, do you think you made the right choices?
I would say on the whole, yes, but I’ve
made some mistakes … In our particular world, the business world, you’re
only as good as your last deed. You’re only as good as your last
results. You’re only as good as your last year’s performance….
In a way, success is fleeting. You
succeed this time; then people say, “Well, when is the next success?”
What you want is possibly to be a bigger success. So, you have every
right to relish the moment of your victory, but bear in mind that after a
few days the world is waiting for you to do more.
And now, if you flip it, failure is the
same thing. People will hate you for it, but you have no choice. You’re
still alive, right? You can’t give up. I know some people do, but you
have a responsibility to continue, so you should treat failure as
fleeting as well.
Your successes help you build an arsenal
of confidence that you can succeed in the future. Your failures tell you
that it’s not the end of the world. Keep on trying. And you should
learn from your failures. In the end, it is your moral courage that
counts … Don’t get caught up in the ego that success can give to you nor
the desperation that failure can get into you. You have to stay above
it and, I think, if you do, you will stay humble.
In the end, your
talents are God-given. It’s not you. It’s you but it’s not really you.
What are the core values of your companies?
There are only three things that are
important to us.
No. 1 is integrity … financial integrity and mental
integrity. Nobody steals money from the company. You should be paid
well. (We should pay) you more than the competition. That’s our
philosophy. Mental integrity means if there is a problem, tell us. We
like to know. We’re here to help. We encourage you or force you to make
decisions … we allow you to make mistakes.
No. 2 is competence. We have to hire the
right people for the right jobs. After all, quality decisions are made
by quality people. If people are good, they will make the right
decisions, more or less. So competence is very important to us.
No. 3, and I think the most important to
us, is passion. People have got to have the drive and determination to
succeed. The problem with this country is apathy … People have no drive.
It’s so much harder pulling somebody at work and so much easier if you
don’t have to push a guy. If a guy is self-driven and self-motivated,
he’s more fun to be with. And if you have good people in your team,
people with the same objectives, it’s so much fun to work with them and
the burden of pulling or pushing people is diminished.
Who do you see following in your footsteps or continuing your business?
The issue of succession has been raised.
It is time to develop the younger managers. It is a process of
identifying the talents who can become the future CEO of the group …
exposing them, training them and sharing experiences with them….
I don’t want my successor to be—I would
encourage him not to be—like me. Same basic attributes or principles,
but a different way of managing people…
I don’t want (him) to be a clone of
myself. Times change and my style will not apply in the future. I want
(the new person) to have his/her own style, his/her own way of managing
that conforms to the times. (But the) values are eternal to us. As I
said, integrity, competence and passion.
Also I’d like to make our decision-making
process a collegial consultation. We’d like our people to talk. The job
of the leader is not to be upset when someone speaks up and either
criticizes or disagrees with a decision. So the decision-making process
should be as collegial and consensual as possible.
But I want to emphasize personal
responsibility and accountability. At the end of the day, you should be
able to ask who made the decision … If it’s wrong, then be prepared to
lose your job. If you know that you may lose your job because of this
decision, you will certainly think about it very carefully. It builds
character.
What do you expect from the youth today?
More … I expect you to be greater risk
takers, more entrepreneurial, to do more things that will improve the
lives of people, especially the poor … You’re young enough to fail, so
go ahead and venture out and fail. You can afford it. That’s what I did
… You have to keep on reaching beyond what you can grasp … You will
find out that you are more than what you are and what you think you are.
Don’t be afraid.
The public sees you as a powerful and influential man, but how would you like to be remembered?
More for the deeds, the legacy in terms
of work, the improvement that our companies have brought to the lives of
people.
That’s how I like to be remembered. Not as someone powerful. If
somebody asks you what you have done with your life and you answer, “I
was the most powerful and influential person,” and then they ask, “Did
you help the poor?” how would you reply? “No, but I’m still the most
powerful and influential person?” That’s such a hollow thing.
To read the whole interview you can check it out here.
