Monday, November 10, 2008

Giving an A


One of the things I learned in my years of experience as a business leader coach is to practice giving an A to an aspiring business leader.

Michaelangelo is often quoted as having said that inside every block of stone or marble dwells a beautiful statue; one need only remove the excess material to reveal the work of art within.

As human beings we have been in relationship of measurement for such a very long time. Giving an A transports our relationships from the world of measurement to the universe of possibility.

I have often encountered people that most of the time would fall below my standard of an aspiring business leader. I realized that not everyone was born immediately a leader. Yes, the standard would set the bar for the kind of business leaders I am looking for, however it does not deny the fact that I too started as a beginner. I too am below the standard of someone when I first started.

When you give an A, you find yourself speaking to people not from a place of measuring how they stack up against your standards, but from a place of respect that gives them room to realize themselves.

One of the things I have observed when mentoring a beginner in business is that, most of them at first appear to be disengaged. The first impression most people would have on them is that, they don’t have the looks and qualities of a would-be successful person. However, time is the greatest equalizer, I realized that sometimes the player who looks least engaged may be the most committed member of the community.

This is precisely why I always tell my mentees to allow themselves to go through a process while being aware of the existing standard of success of the community because I believe that even before they became part of the business community and came into my life, they are already an A person.

Some people might say that this is just merely an exercise being positive despite a negative opinion. Giving an A does not mean to deny the fact of their shortcomings, and no action is so bad that behind it I cannot recognize a human being to whom I can speak the truth.

Granting an A does not mean that my mentees will no longer be lazy. I can give a hard headed too independent mentee an A and she will still be doing his or own thing the next day. However, the conversation between me and the person will go differently because she will have come before me whose true nature is to participate-however blocked he/she may be.

In one of the supporters of learning according to Chalmers Brothers, you cannot learn from someone whom you do not respect. When we grant an A to a person, we can be open to a perspective different from our own, for after all according to Rosamund and Benjamin Zanders, it is only to a person to whom we have granted an A that we will really listen, admire and respect and it is in that rare instance when you have ears for another person that you can truly appreciate a fresh point of view.

In the measured context of our everyday life, the “grades” we hand out often rise and fall based on our moods and opinions. We may hate someone over an issue, be angry with someone over another issue and lower their “grade” and never quite hear what they have to say again. In the world of measurement things are fixed, however in the universe of possibility, people certainly can change. As Dr. Hmberto Matunara said, our structure is not fixed and permanent, instead it is highly plastic and continuously changing.

A lot of my mentees now are now business coaches themselves. I am definitely sure that granting an A is something they have to choose to grant to their mentees as well. It’s a space of willingness to see miracles happen right before your eyes by granting someone an A. I learned that the only grace you can have is the grace you can imagine. An A radiates possibility though family, community, granting love, strength, courage, bringing joy and an abundance of talents and productivity.

You just don’t know how far it will travel.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

"Walang Iwanan": The Journey Towards Abundance

Last night, I was able to watch a segment of ABS CBN called “Walang Iwanan”. I was grateful for turning on our Television because I am not really fond of watching T.V.

What’s great about the show was, “Walang Iwanan” featured 10 of the most successful businesspeople in the country. These people were, Nanay Socorro of National Bookstore, Henry Sy of SM, Gokongwei Senior and Jr. , Lucio Tan, Manny Pangilinan of PLDT and SMART, Cecilio Pedro of Lamoyan Industries, The Ayala’s, Ramon Del Rosario, Diokon of RFM and Oscar Lopez of Meralco and ABS CBN.

While learning about their stories of their successes, I was moved into tears of happiness. I even called my husband and told him about it. I told him about it (with a broken voice due to crying), sharing to him the story of those people.

As I said, I am a very emotional person. Anything about for this country really makes feel emotional and yet very happy. I guess what really moved me was when I saw the commitment of these successful people to make a difference in the lives of the Filipinos. The thing is majority of them were self-made millionaires who really started from zero.

The segment featured what they were currently doing to help the country. One thing I observed was that all of them focused on the value of one’s education. Lance Gokongwei said, “Education opens up one’s horizons”. Lucio Tan said he believes education is the best investment and added, “Always learn” while Manny Panglinan believes that “education is the key”.

Another thing that struck me was how they were able to move on despite challenges when they were building their businesses. Nanay Socorro, the owner of National Bookstore, went back to zero three times. First, when she started building her business, second, during the war when the Japanese stopped her from selling anything “American” and third was when her store got burned that time the branch was only in Escolta. She said, those things happen and it should not be a reason to stop. She moved on and started all over again. One thing that I liked was when she said that, “love what you do, when you love what you do, it is no longer hardwork”.

It was not only Nanay Socorro who went into challenges, in fact all of them. Lucio Tan went bankrupt a lot of times when he first started his business. The Lopez’s although came from a wealthy family, they also experienced crisis. They started from zero when their companies where closed down by former President Marcos. They said it was difficult at first to accept failure but they just kept moving on.

Gokongwei, was also born from a wealthy family in Cebu, however when the war happened, everything was taken away from them and the business of his dad went very slow and it was only his relatives who supported him to finish his education. According to him, “war was the greatest equalizer” everyone that time had the opportunity to start all over again. In fact all of them who inherited their wealth, or were born from a rich family like the Ayala's emphasized that coming from a wealthy family was never a reason not to work.

Ramon Del Rosario, owner of PHNMA cement, went to a lot of financial crisis but this did not let him stop moving forward. Their were years that he had lots of breakdowns in the business yet he just went to move on.

What I got from these successful was the courage to keep on moving forward. I realized that despite experiencing a lot of mistakes they were able to stand up again.

When our business went bankrupt and our company went downsized, I remember my mom telling me, “Its part of the business, it means that for this to happen something big is coming.” Indeed, At first, it was so difficult to accept failure especially when the impact was too huge for us to handle because it was the first time that everything was taken from us. I remember one of the greatest transformational leader, Werner Erhard, saying something about handling problems that, “for you to no longer encounter problems in life is for you to keep having them and allow it to occur. As you keep on experiencing more problems, it will no longer occur as a problem to you, but a concern”.

I realized that indeed it’s true for me. Being in business for almost 10 years and having experienced a lot of challenges and crisis as well, I realized that what was for us was nothing of a problem, was a huge problem for people. Years ago we had a transaction in which someone we trusted stole a huge transaction from us. It was a million dollar deal. It came to us that we were bad mouthed by that person we trusted, in fact my whole family trusted. We decided to let it be because there is no point of fighting for it because he was so determined to get us out of the way to the point of creating stories about us to our client. The relationship with him was gone however we have long forgiven him and moved forward.

Then something happened. The transaction he stole from us had a complicated problem. Almost the same problem we had experienced a long time ago, which has to do with land transactions. Last thing we heard, he died. Literally he did. We heard that heart attack was the cause. After learning about it, I really prayed for his peace. He even tried to call me a month before he passed away in which I chose not to pick up because that time we already cut off any relationship with him.

That was the only time I realized that our problems that we consider small may not be small for others. That time, T. Harv came into my mind, “it’s not the size of the problem, it’s the size of you in face of the problem”. I realized that if its too big for the person, it can take away their peace of mind and the ability to face life, to the point of even succumbing to death. I realized that much of business is really the willingness to pay the price.

After learning about how those successful business people were able to continue despite great challenges, I had so much respect for them. It was like really understanding what they went through. I saw their courage and determination. Indeed only few will become really wealthy because now it was shown that these people really paid the price. They “lost face” along the way, went to a financial, political and economic challenges yet they never ever quit. They have continued choosing wealth and success in their life.

One thing that really inspired me was their dedication to solve the problem of this country by contributing to the community. The've helped a lot of people, both parents and children, as Mr. Diokno said, “maraming magagawa kung ang hangarin ay nation building”. They all emphasized giving back to the country and paying it forward.

With this, I saw the future of CreateAbundance2020. I realized that what CreateAbundance2020 has is selfless love. Teaching our fellowmen about financial education for free and giving time to educate people is something most people could not freely and wholeheartedly give. I saw that in the little own way of CreateAbundance2020, the work has already contributed a lot to our country. The small steps being done by CreateAbundance2020 community would definitely create a breakthrough in this country. I truly admire the people in the community for their generosity and commitment towards making a world that works for everyone.

Everyone featured in “Walang Iwanan” emphasized education. It was the formula they believed would make anyone competent in the world today. Indeed it’s true in which I truly agree. Education as what Lucio Tan said, is the greatest investment. What I don’t agree on, is to educate people for them to be in jobs and prepare themselves for employement. I guess, what was probably in their minds was to at least provide people with a source of living and teach them so that later on they will work for their companies. It's then a sure job for these individuals.

However, the rules have changed in the Information Age. Yes, people will have a source of living to survive and but would not be able to experience what it is to be financially free.

One of the intentions why CreateAbundance2020 was created was to teach people to be be financially educated and be in business. Just imagine if people would be in business, the problems of this country would lessen because of the contribution they would make in society just like the work of those successful people featured in “Walang Iwanan”. They have continued solving problems in education and work.

CreateAbundance2020 allows it members to be TEMPORARILY be on a job while building their own business on the side. The stand and commitment was for people to achieve freedom from financial constraints and contribute to the world. To thrive, not to survive. The end is business, not being employed and working for someone else’s dream.

Only 10 successful people were featured. I realized that the commitment of CreateAbundance2020 to create 1,000 multi-millionaires by the year 2020 would truly make a huge difference. What’s great about the work was, it teaches people to be in business while really adding value to their lives.

CreateAbundance2020 comes from the space that everyone can be truly wealthy and make a huge difference by being in business starting from zero. As in, literally zero, as long as the person is willing to learn and is coachable.

I realized that CreateAbundance2020 cannot recommmend traditional businesses because that would not align to their mission. However, that could be a start for people to experience what it is to be in a traditionl business and learn to face challenges. This is what makes the work of the CA2020 unique because it teaches everyone else to be in business and go into a partnership and work with a team and be paid based on performance not be paid based on being present in the office, with or without result. A lot can be achieved with a team.

I could not forget what Oscar Lopez said, that it is important to get good people and making them work as a team. I think this is one of the unique charactersitics of CreateAbundance2020 and that is the emphasis on teamwork, as Manny Pangilinan said, his business will not be like this today if not partnering with other people. He said, “I cannot do it alone.” The chance of a person succeeding is to learn to work in team, which is primarily taught by CA2020.

There’s so much more to do and accomplish for this country. They have done their part and what I got was, the torch has been passed on to each and every one of us, the current generation. They have made use of the opportunity given by the Industrial Age. This is our time to make use of the opportunity in the Information age.

Indeed, during their time, war was the greatest equalizer. I believe that what is happening in the financial world today, which is being predicted to be a global depression; I believe will be the greatest equalizer in the Information Age. Everyone has the opportunity to become wealthy, start his or her own businesses globally and make a difference in the world at a very young age.

The fundamentals will always be present, determination, courage, teamwork and faith in God. Without these and the right financial education, people will continue to survive and not thrive. The key now is, be in business and thrive because in business, each and every one will learn to “fish”, share it to others and contribute to creating abundance in this country and in the world.

I acknowledge ABS-CBN for featuring these important and successful people. I guess, what they featured, only means that not everyone prefers watching what is the current "bad news". I, for one was able to sit and watch “Walang Iwanan” because it did not only inform me about people making a difference. More importantly, it has touched, moved and inspired me and I guess a lot of people who wants to see what is great about this country, to take action. Now.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Learning To Hit Bottom Without Giving Up

One of the people I really admire was Dr. Buckminster Fuller. I do believe the current generation may not be familiar with him, however he invented much of the greatest inventions in the world. He was popularly known in the early 1960’s for his Geodesic Domes.

Harvard University claims he was one of their noted graduates, although he never graduated from Harvard. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), hailed Dr. Fuller or “Bucky” as one of America’s greatest architects. He was not an architect. John Denver called Dr. Fuller, “Grandfather of the Future.”

Dr. Fuller was known as a “Futurist.” He was also known as “The Planet’s Friendly Genius” because he dedicated his life to a world that worked for all things and all people. “Bucky” (as he was usually called by friends) was an environmentalist of the universe before the world knew what an environmentalist was, much less the universe. In other words, he was a very big thinker.

I believe nothing happens for a reason. In my search for finding meaning in my life, I was able to find him. I guess, although he was gone already, his work became an inspiration to me. He came into my life like a mentor and has continuously inspired me to never give up.

One thing that I will never forget about him was during the early years of his life before he became the “Bucky” he was known today. In 1927 when he started a family and built a construction business and became successful, his four years old daughter died. He began drinking heavily until his business went bankrupt. He blamed his bankruptcy by his business partners. His bankruptcy made him lose confidence with himself, his associates and his ability to provide. One day he stood at the edge of Lake Michigan and asked himself, “Am I an utter failure?” He said that if that was true, he’d better get himself out of the way so that his wife and his baby can be taken cared of by his family. He again asked himself, “ Am I going to be a drag on them, or is there any possible reason I can see why I ought to go on?” Then realized that since he had nothing left to lose, it’s the best time then to start thinking for the first time in his life.

He realized that he doesn’t have the right to eliminate himself. He does not belong to himself. He belongs to the universe.

He set up his life as an experiment. He would see what kind of difference a person like him, a failure, who never excelled in school, failed at business could make a difference in the lives of his fellow human beings.

The story of Bucky is one of the best stories of “hitting bottom”. What makes his story unique is not the circumstances that happened to him but the unusual turn he took when he bounced back.

As one of my favorite authors, Tracy Gross said in her book, The Last Word On Power, “ If you indeed have nothing to lose, then who are you to be? What choices do you have between now and the time you go to the ground?"

Although what happened to Bucky was more profound, I had my own experience of what it was to “hit bottom”. As everyone had known, our business had its experience of bankruptcy as well. It was during the year 2005 when our real estate business went to a downfall. It was something I will never forget because I remember thinking that time, how were we going to start all over again?

It was a very frightening experience because for the first time in my life, I really didn't knew what was going to happen to my family and me. We could not pay our bills. I remember not having electricity for months and eating sardines day in and day out. I remember credit card companies running after us, calling us, threatening us. All our cars were gone; we sold it to pay for the liabilities of our business. I remember being called by our landlord in the middle of the night collecting our apartment rent. I remember that during that worst time, we found our true friends.

Everyday, as I looked at my oldest son, I couldn't help but felt ashamed. I felt for the first time in my life I failed as a mother. I really cried in my room everyday because of not knowing what’s going to happen to us. I looked at my husband and I truly felt very sorry because I know how much our business meant to him. The shock of being left by his so-called “friends” was unbearable for him and it took awhile before he finally accepted that the friends he considered as his friends, were never really friends when he was the one who was already in need.

For the first time in my life, I experienced true courage. There were a lot of moments that I was already playing with the thought of going back and work in a company. I remember arguing with my husband and telling him that no matter what I will never ever go back being employed and going back to the same life I had before. I told him that we would work it out together, and start all over again because what happened to us is just temporary. I told him that there’s something huge coming for this to happen. In my heart, I truly see and believe that.

I never felt so sure in my life. For the first time, I worked like there was no tomorrow. I started doing things that I did not usually do like borrowing money. Is started building everything from scratch, working day in and day out emailing clients, making write ups, handling collectors and banks. I taught myself to learn about finances and not rely interpretations of our bank statement from an accountant.

I started REALLY speaking out. I learned to collect money whereas before I just wait for people to pay us, sometimes accepting the fact that they really did not intend to pay from the very beginning they borrowed. I gave up looking good and did not care a damn hell what other people think of me. I gave up being nice. For the first time in my life, nothing matters more than making every moment counts. I felt so free.

I chose not to survive. I chose a game worth playing and that is to create abundance. I created that possibility because I have nothing that time. Abundance did not exist that time in my life. I chose to create it after realizing that everyone has always been given a chance to start all over again, to start from nothing. And as my favorite Life Coach Jerry said, “from nothing comes everything.”

There were a lot of moments that I almost succumbed to giving up and accepting fate. As God was tempted, I was also tempted by the devil to go back to surviving. I am just human. So every time the thought of being comfortable enters my mind, I go back to my commitment; I go back to abundance. There is no abundance in choosing to work for someone else. Everyday I kept on reminding myself the choice I made and that was to serve and be a possibility for abundance to occur in the world.

Creating abundance became a game worth playing for me. It is a game I have committed myself to play even if things wouldn’t turn out the way it SHOULD, regardless of the outcome or the way I expect it to happen.

Bucky made me realize to let go. Let go of the past. Let go of looking good. Let go of my perception of who I am. He taught me to embrace every breakdowns and never give up. Bucky inspired me to see what kind of difference an average woman like me could make in the lives of my fellow human beings.

The moment I saw that I have nothing to lose after all, was the beginning of the transformation of my life. I learned to love myself and really forgive myself and made every moment of the day that I work for as an answer to the question, “what do I choose to use my life for?

Abundance. That is what I stand for.


Marsel Fuertes Tomambo

Why Play Games?

According to Erik Arneson, former vice-president and president of
International BoardGame Association, board games have been an
integral part of human life for thousands of years. From ancient
board games like Chess and Go, which is so popular in Japan even
until now and is considered as the grand daddy of all board games,
to recent classics like Scrabble and Monopoly, modern games like
Tigres and Euphrates, Settlers of Catan and countless more, have
entertained and educated us in numerous ways (About.com).

Here are just some of the reasons why we should consider playing
board games:

1. For the obvious reason; they're fun, they're social, they're
convenient and they're intellectual exercise (Jeff Tidball,
About.com). And because games come with it certain set of rules,everyone playing the game is on a "common ground" regardless of the skill required for a game. In short, games put all the players in an even playing field.

2. According to Greg J. Schloesser of West Bank Gamers, board
games are an excellent forum to gather friends and families. It is
a great tool for interaction. Playing board games is extremely
rewarding one, intellectually, socially and developmentally.

3. It's a perfect vehicle to share a stimulating, challenging
and fun moments with our family and friends. In fact, according to an article by Julie Tiss M.Ed. (Washington Parent Magazine) family
board games has been found out to improve math skills and problem
solving skills of students. As a learning tool, games enable people
to `learn by doing". (Richdad.com).

Many would probably ask, why learn through games when we can learn
by reading a book and learn through our teachers and parents? Yes,there's no denying that learning by the book and learning in class are ways for us to learn but why do you think in school, we are encouraged to join extra-curricular activities and even encouraged by our parents to learn a sport? Why do you think our teachers create games to make teachings more fun and exciting?
Our parents and teachers know for a fact that playing games is part of our
growth as individuals. There are things we cannot just learn by
reading and by listening in class and there are things or skills that
are best learned by DOING. This makes games as a perfect arena that allows us to learn those skills.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, self-made millionaire, New York Times Bestselling Author and Inventor of the board game Cashflow 101, "games are powerful mechanism because they reflect our true behaviour. The way we make decisions and choices, the way we interact and a lot more, shows while we play."

How do we apply this in life? Rosamund and Benjamin
Zanders (Art of Possibility, 2000), points to us the fact that
any accepted model for doing things comes with it an implicit set
of rules and that behaviours are governed by these rules just as
basketball governs the movements of the players in the court. When
we play a game, we agree to certain set of limitations to create a
challenge. Games challenge us to adapt and hone our skills in a
distinctive environment. It is the nature of games to provide
alternative frameworks of engagement, expression and growth. In
fact, just like any other game inventors, we can name our
activities as games, doing this, it breaks its hold on us and puts us in
charge.

Everyday we play different games and if the rules of the game you
play do not light up our life, put it away, and take another one
that you like best and play the new game wholeheartedly.

Marsel Fuertes-Tomambo

It's Time To Be Brave

The age of turbulence is now coming.

Few weeks ago, financial giants Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and AIG was bailed out by the US Federal Reserve to save it from following the path of Lehman Brothers. While Bank of America already acquired Merrill Lynch and one of the largest mortgage banks in America is about to be sold, the rest of the world is asking, who will be next?

The US government is trying to save all the financial institutions but the question is: for how long?

What is currently happening has been predicted already. The US is now experiencing economic recession and the rest of the world is not far from being affected.

What happened to the Lehman Brothers has greatly affected Asian Countries. Even if the US Federal Reserve has bailed out AIG, investors lost confidence and a lot of plan holders are already canceling their policies. People are already pulling out their investments for fear that it might evaporate soon.

Before the news of the fall, we learned about the "chaos" that is already shaking the financial market. Our investor/CEO friend from the US already expressed worries a week before the news broke out. He said that what is about to happen will be ten times bigger than the Asian Market Crash that happened in 1997 and now, his company has been greatly affected.

With what is currently happening, I cannot help but think, how many Filipinos are really aware of the impact of the current financial crisis in their lives?

I got a call from my mom worrying from what she heard from the news about AIG. She said that she couldn’t imagine that a top Fortune 500 Company is now in the brink of bankruptcy. She also told me that the relatives of all my childhood friends who have worked and lived in the US for almost 20 years are now coming back in the Philippines and start their businesses here.

There is eight straight months of job losses this year in the US and just this August, around 84, 000 job losses happened in one month alone. Merrill Lynch has 60,000 employees while Lehman’s has 25,000 employees, and all of their jobs are in jeopardy. Learning that thousands of employees has been laid off in the US, I now see a lot of Filipino Workers abroad coming back here in the Philippines.

The financial integrity of the world is now being challenged. According to Allan Greenspan who was the former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve for the past 20 years, “this is the worst economy I have ever seen”. He said that this is just the beginning and a lot more top financial institutions will collapse in the near future.

The reason for the fall of the Lehman Brothers was because of heavy investments on real estate, which lead to becoming "toxic assets" or rotten mortgages. People can no longer pay. Now, the US is calling on to the world to save the banking system.

What I got from this is a great lesson and that is, preparation.

Banks will continue to merge. If the US Federal will continue to save all this falling financial institutions, it is the employees who will suffer. The money that was used to bail out AIG came from the taxpayers. If this will continue, employees should no longer wish for their retirement funds. A lot of Filipinos working abroad will come back in the Philippines without available jobs for them. US companies operating in the Philippines will pull out. I just went to Subic few months ago and one of the employees working at the airport said that this December, Fed Ex is already scheduled to pull out its Asian Hub from Subic to China. UPS has already scheduled its transfer as well while news of the pull out of the world’s largest chip maker Intel, is already sensed.

This only means that more people will be downsized. In fact, one of my engineer friends who is working in one of the top leading supplier of semiconductor interconnect services in Laguna said, that 700 employees was laid off from their jobs this year.

Robert Kiyosaki predicted this already, only this is happening earlier than expected. Learning this, I am very grateful to have learned about trends and found the perfect Information Age business taught in the books of Robert Kiyosaki.

What is happening now in the financial world is actually happening in Cashflow 202 game and the funny thing is, whatever happens in the market, my business is not affected.

The Industrial Age is about to end. This is the reason why the world is experiencing turbulence that never happened before. Until people open up their eyes to the truth, to what is happening, it will be too late to get their acts together. The information age is taking control and the one important thing people must start doing, is to arm themselves with the right information and the right financial education.

The key now is preparation. Having the right information and the being in the right trend prepares everyone in this country for the best that is about to come. This is now the time to be brave and get smart because it is going to get exciting. It is a great time to be wealthier and become financially smarter.

This is the time to prepare for the ride of the lifetime and be brave.

Marsel Fuertes-Tomambo