Personal Leadership and Collective Responsibility

The leaders one elect, be it in a nation or any organization, are a reflection of the people that elected them - what they know, what they value, how they make choices, or how empowered they are to make the choices that are best for them.

The downside to electing leaders is the common tendency to imbue in these leaders all the capabilities one wishes they had which, more often than not, fall short of what they truly possess. Moreover, we tend to think that our responsibility in the process ends with the selection, rather than following that through with supporting the leader throughout the process of governance. Indeed, after an election, a leader becomes fair game to criticism and blame, as if all that is wrong in the system is his/her doing. To be fair, criticism is one way of supporting a leader, because through it the leader gains feedback and is able to adjust his leadership as he/she sees fit. But it's different when the griping is made irresponsibly, or is made only for its own sake.

The tendency to suddenly heap all blame and responsibility to a leader is a demonstration of our seeming belief that with the election of the leader, our own part has been accomplished. It is like saying: That's it, you're now in position, now make things happen for us. 

As a member of a society or organization, that makes us passive participants to governance. In that sense, election becomes a way for us to wash our hands off from further responsibility or burden. It's a cop out!

However, to make any organization work requires the dynamic interaction and cooperation of both the leader and the led. There is a school of thought that says when we elect others to positions of leadership, we also elect ourselves to our own positions -- we just simply call our own place citizenship (as to a nation) or membership (as to an organization). And as in the leadership position, citizenship or membership also carries an equal set of great responsibility.

A leader's worth is measured on his/her every action or inaction. As regular citizens or members of an organization, what we tend to forget is that while we are not visibly measured on the same standard as those in positions with titles, our own action and inaction has as much if not greater effect on the results that a leader will or will not achieve.

Leadership is a futile exercise where the majority has no intent to follow or themselves take initiative. But indeed, it is a great leader one who is able to galvanize his/her people into action.

When we think of ourselves in this way - as ordinary citizens/members of a nation/organization but whose actions actually and ultimately define what becomes of the nation/organization one belongs to - then that will have been true power - People Power - as we once called it, as in the Philippine experience in 1986.

Such power does not have to be displayed only on monumental challenges like of 1986. Such power must be practiced in everyday life, in ones tiniest duties as member or citizen, and in fact even in ones own personal goals. No great nation or organization did zoom to the top that did not have members who recognized the power of their little efforts and turned that into collective strength from which to make its ascent to the heights of success.

Taking responsibility for what you create in your life ultimately includes taking responsibility of what you can contribute in your nation/organization. Your own journey to the top cannot be incompatible with seeing your nation/organization through to the top. That is personal leadership.

See you at the top!



Book Recommendations:
The Tao of Personal Leadership
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
The 360 Degree Leader Workbook: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization
The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know

Pilipinas Muna: Putting the Philippines and the Filipinos First

As a people, we are known for such things as the proverbial 'Bahala na' attitude and the procrastinator's malaise called the 'Mamaya na', also known as the 'Mañana Habit', as in putting something off for later what can be done now. The 'Bahala na' attitude derives from the term 'Bathala' - the Filipino word for god or deity. It refers to our fatalistic attitude, leaving our fate to the whims of the Fates, the Bathala or the gods. In the 'Mañana habit', we leave our fate for later, hoping later will take care of itself.

Maybe there is value in leaving some things up to the gods and, apparently, there is some value too to procrastination; but more often than not, these beliefs/habits work to our disadvantage. We end up not facing up to what we need to confront, not getting done what we need accomplished. And in those, we do ourselves and our country a great disservice.

My friends, it's time for a Filipino reinvention.

Instead of the 'Bahala na' and 'Mañana Habit' the kind of attitudes that define us, let us be known instead for something else, something that serves us, that works for us, and more importantly, something that works for our country.

Let us be known for 'Pilipinas Muna'. (Philippines First.)

One of our greatest tragedies as a nation is that we are first to put our country and our people down. We are first to doubt our fellowmen, quick to judge and condemn, and vigorous in claiming negative traits as unique to our country.

Like we are the worst.
Like we are one-of-a-kind.
Like we are beyond help.

The truth is that those negative beliefs we have of ourselves, our fellowmen and our country are false. The truth is we do not know other nations well enough to even be qualified to say what is or isn't unique about us, or what is worse about us compared to others. The truth is when we condemn our country and put down our fellowmen, we only curse ourselves. You don't deserve that! We don't deserve that!

There is one thing we can do for ourselves that only we can do for ourselves. We cannot expect to hear it from others first; we cannot expect others to do it for us first. It must come from among us.

We are a country, a proud nation that puts its country, its fellowmen first.

Pilipinas Muna: Philippines First.

In all we do/say/think/act, let us consider:

• Does this bring honor to my country?
• Does it serve the good of my fellowmen?
• Does this put the Philippines first?
• Does it reflect my pride for my country and my countrymen?
• Does it honor my country not for what it is now but for the greatness it aspires to be?

Pilipinas Muna. Because no one else can do it for us but us.

Pilipinas Muna. Because other nations will treat us first-rate 
when we consider ourselves first-rate, 
when we ourselves act first-rate, 
and esp. when we ourselves speak first-rate of our country.

Pilipinas Muna. Because a nation that aspires to be number 1 

must first be number 1 among its own citizens.

Book Recommendations:
History of the Filipino people
The First Filipino, a Biography of José Rizal
History and Culture, Language and Literature (Selected Essays of Teodoro A. Agoncillo)
In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines

What makes a Dagupeño/ Dagupeña?

If you remember, in a previous post, I wrote about Leonor Rivera and Jose Rizal in the piece 'Rizal and the City of Leonor Rivera'. There, I romanticized the fact that in Dagupan City, Rivera St. intersects with that of Rizal St., reminding us of the time in history when Jose and Leonor's lives crossed paths in our very city.

While Leonor Rivera was known to have been born and died in Tarlac, we know also that between that time, she had lived in Dagupan City for about 2 years. From the title of the feature, one can surmise that I was claiming Leonor Rivera to be a Dagupeña. Was she really? Some would argue that she is not and, in my blog where the feature first appeared, I had taken pains to say otherwise. Some of the thoughts that follow had appeared in the comments of that post.

Some recognizable images: Article title image adapted from Dagupeña restaurant logo; 'Have fun in Dagupan' image from Dagupan City Tourism website; statue is of the MacArthur shrine in Bonuan Blue Beach; white building is the Dagupan City Museum; delicious shrimps from Matutina's restaurant in Bonuan Tondaligan. 

In my opinion, Leonor Rivera could be as much a Dagupeña (where she lived for a while) as she is a Tarlaceña (where she was born). While we're at it, she could also even be a Manileña (where she studied). They are not mutually exclusive - although it is possible one may be more Dagupeña than say, a Manileña, depending on where one associates oneself most. To me, Leonor is a Dagupeña precisely because it is in Dagupan where she lived for 2 years, it is where her parents did business, it is where she had many friends, and it is also where she met and married her British husband (They were married in the old church behind St. John's Cathedral).

But, having Dagupeño relatives does not necessarily make one a Dagupeño ~ like Jose Rizal who is said to have had an uncle in the city. At present day, there is a legal definition of residency: 6 months is enough and you can call yourself a local, you can vote, and you can run for public office.

There, too, is association by affection: If I say I am a Dagupeño because I love Dagupan/Dagupeños/Bonuan Bangus/Pigar-pigar/Tondaligan beach/Matutina's, etc. -- then I must be; who can dare contradict?

I think it would not be much a stretch of the imagination to say that perhaps Leonor Rivera had grown to love Dagupan so much during her stay in the city that she would be happy to call herself, or would not mind being called, a Dagupeña.

The city after all does not confer such titles. It is something that one appropriates for oneself. And the city would not dare dissuade anyone who proudly wears Dagupan in his/her heart. (Except, perhaps, if that person is running for public office without the necessary residency requirement; in which case, his/her opponents will raise hell.)

One cannot satisfactorily answer what makes a Dagupeño/Dagupeña without also asking the other bigger question: What makes a Filipino? (OK, let's throw 'What makes a Pangasinense?' in the lot, too!) While the matter of being Filipino has legal (naturalized) and familial (natural-born) aspects, there is also, like being a Dagupeño/Dagupeña that matter of affection - in which case, the Filipino name is either (a) earned from other Filipinos who think you have proven yourself worthy of being called one (because you had the nerve to eat balut), or (b) claimed it for oneself (because you actually loved the balut!).

To embrace a nation's food is one thing (and a big thing, make no mistake), but to also embrace a people and its causes, its aspirations, its struggles and its triumphs is another (and of much bigger merit, I must say.) 

I have met Filipinos who in every circumstance of their birth, nature and nurture are Filipino yet act and speak like they come from some other high-minded nation (or planet!). Also, I have met non-Filipinos who in their race, language or tastes are so far from being mistaken Filipino and yet they in every other respect ~ in their manners, thoughts, sensitivity, and social concern ~ are very much Filipino.

In the case of citizenship, that is inherited or earned.

In the case of affinity, all that matters is what is in the heart.

So if your heart beats for Dagupan, you are every bit a Dagupeño/Dagupeña; and if your heart beats for the Philippines, you, my friend, are as Filipino as the next Juan/Maria.



Book Recommendations:
The First Filipino, a Biography of José Rizal
Rizal Without The Overcoat

Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Your Passion Project and the World

First off, what is a Passion Project?

Simply put, it is an undertaking, venture or endeavor that is very personal to you in the sense that it springs from, or honors your passion. It is a personal project, meaning that you yourself jump-started it, but it could also be a task, work, or responsibility given to you or which you volunteered for or maybe just landed on your lap, but which so happens to be aligned with your passion.

A 'passion' is, of course, something that fires your belly, something that inspires you, moves you, excites you - like a cause, or a hobby, or an inclination. And you may get into it for no other reason than to 'scratch an itch', or because 'it is who you are', because 'it comes naturally' like a talent, and also maybe because, like Mt. Everest, 'it is there.'

Here are some examples of people admired for having pursued their passion projects, and for that reason, became very successful. Steve Wozniak who, along with Steve Jobs, founded Apple Computers, was a passionate engineer. He was a creator. He built the first Apple computer by himself, while it took his buddy Steve Jobs' marketing instincts to turn it into something people will want to buy. Both of them, the two Steves, combined their strengths and passions to build what Apple Computers is today. It was their Passion Project.

Read The Pixar Touch, and you'll be awed at, and have a tremendous sense of respect for the brains behind Pixar. They were Ed Catmull, John Lasseter, and yes, Steve Jobs too. But Steve Jobs came later; he was part of the Pixar triumvirate because he believed in the project enough to have funded it in the beginning. But Pixar was truly and originally the passion projects of Ed Carmull (a brilliant computer scientist) and John Lasseter (a prolific animator and master story-teller). Both had a passion for animation and a grand vision for computer generated (CG) animation. Together, they brought traditional hand-drawn animation into the 21st century by developing the hardware and software necessary to make CG animation possible. The result: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Cars, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and boy-can't-we-wait-what-they-next-have-instore!

Clockwise (from top left): The Passion Project; Mt. Everest; Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II;
John Lasseter; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

There are so many people in our history who are so closely associated with their passion projects that it defines who they are and the life they have lived. You know it is their passion project without them saying it (or knowing it) with the hours and years they have devoted to it, with the amazing success and reknown they've had with it.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta we know had devoted a good length of her life to the service of the poorest of the poor. Pope John Paul II had been a tireless and an inspiring head of the Catholic Church. We honor them with veneration, and by putting them on the road to sainthood. There are artists (Lea Salonga, Ryan Cayabyab, Michael Jackson), world leaders (Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Aung-san Suu-kyi), thinkers (Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin) and many more - names we will always remember for what they have done for us, for the world.

Their greatest gift is showing us the way: that when you make your passions your mission in life - your 'passion project' - you may get famous, you may get rich, you may become ultra-successful. That is a great benefit to you. But what of your benefit to the world?

The world is enriched, blessed, and changed for the better.



Book Recommendations:
The Pixar Touch (Vintage)
Mother Teresa's Secret Fire: The Encounter That Changed Her Life
The Wisdom of John Paul II: The Pope on Life's Most Vital Questions
The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

Of Love, Life and Meaning: Frankl and Vujicic

Viktor Frankl: Man’s Search for Meaning
Frankl experienced harrowing years in a Nazi Death Camp. From that experience, he developed his Theory of Logotherapy, a psychological theory that focuses on man’s search for a higher meaning in life as his primary motivational force. This is as opposed to Freud’s motivations based on pleasure, and Adler’s on power.

Stripped of everything in the Nazi camps - from clothes, to possessions, to pride and identity - Frankl noticed that man still differed in the way they responded to these harsh situations. He says that the last of freedoms to remain and that may not be stripped away was the freedom to choose one’s attitudes from any given set of circumstances. The environment was not the all-determining factor to man’s reactions – man had free use of his will to meaning, his attitude, to assign meaning and an appropriate reaction to these situations based on this meaning.

From Frankl’s experiences, it can be gleaned that there are no circumstances too terrible to say that we could not help but act the way we did, esp. negatively or harmfully. We always have a choice, he is saying. He supports this in stating that even among prisoners who had experienced similar atrocities, their reactions were different – some managed to remain benevolent, others antagonistic. And that even among the prison guards, there were good ones and bad ones.

“In the concentration camps, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions.”
(Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning)

Life without Limbs: Nick Vujicic
Victor Frankl's story brings to mind Nick Vujicic - that Aussie guy who is pretty much like an ordinary guy - EXCEPT he had no arms and legs, and yet had a bright disposition and has even used his situation to help others; whereas others with similar circumstances would have chosen to give up, withdraw from life, or ask life for pity. He did not let his circumstances dictate the outcome of his life. He travels around the world as an inspirational speaker and his story truly tugs at the heart.

Love, Chemicals and Choice
This also reminds me of that scientific finding about the chemical basis of love, where love is the function of certain chemicals or hormones that act on our physiology. That these hormones last for an average of 4 years. It almost renders us at the mercy of our hormones. But while the studies also show that proof of this is that most divorces happen on the 4th year (when the hormones start to wane), it also suggests that on the 4th year at least, those who remain together have used the power of their will, and no longer just the force of their hormones, to choose to stay with their partners. They have found meaning in the relationship and have chosen to preserve it.

“Man is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining.”
(Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning)

Book Recommendations:
Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life
Man's Search for Meaning
The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy (Meridian)
Recollections: An Autobiography
Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living

Language and Identity: The Young Rizal and the Filipino-Americans

At age 8, the young Jose Rizal made his first poem, that of "Sa Aking Mga Kabata" (To the Youth), a poem in which he exhorted his fellow youth to love one's own language. He likened to "an animal and putrid fish" someone who does not know and love one's own.

Sa aking mga Kabata

Kapagka ang baya'y sadyáng umiibig

Sa kanyáng salitáng kaloob ng langit,

Sanglang kalayaan nasa ring masapit

Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.

Pagka't ang salita'y isang kahatulan

Sa bayan, sa nayo't mga kaharián,

At ang isáng tao'y katulad, kabagay

Ng alin mang likha noong kalayaán.

Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salitâ

Mahigit sa hayop at malansáng isdâ,

Kayâ ang marapat pagyamaning kusà

Na tulad sa ináng tunay na nagpalà.

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin

Sa Inglés, Kastilà at salitang anghel,

Sapagka't ang Poong maalam tumingín

Ang siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin.

Ang salita nati'y huwad din sa iba

Na may alfabeto at sariling letra,

Na kaya nawalá'y dinatnan ng sigwâ

Ang lunday sa lawà noóng dakong una.

English Translation here.

Rizal was a known polyglot - someone who is fluent in several languages. But he also knew that while there are many languages in the world, one must not allow one's own language to be drowned out by them; one must have a voice, one must be heard; and there is no better language to speak with than one's mother tongue.

Language is a distillation of one's culture; it is it's very essence. To not know the language of one's society is to lose out on that essence - like a body with no soul, like a face without an identity. Young Filipino-Americans are experiencing that difficulty. They were born and raised in America, have acquired American citizenship, and for all intents and purposes they are American.

But to these young Fil-Ams, finding out who they really are is not a matter of birthplace nor citizenship.

When they look in the mirror, they look Asian; and they know that in their predominantly Caucasian environment, they are the odd one out. Their fellow Asian-Americans - the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Koreans - well, they seem to be having an easier time. For one, they are more in touch with their native homeland's culture. AND, they tend to have a better grasp of their native language.

Clockwise from Left: The Rizal @ 150 poster; author with friends (none of them are Fil-Ams, hehe) beside the Young Rizal sculpture at the Rizal Shrine in Calamba; Rizal's home and birthplace; author with Rizal at backdrop; the young Rizal's room which he shared with his brother Paciano. 

The reason many put forth for the Fil-Am's failure to know more about their native culture and esp. of their language is the Filipinos 'adaptability'. Even in the Philippines, English is a considered a second language and is in many institutions a medium of communication, and in many schools a medium of instruction. It's a product of our American colonial experience and the residual colonial mentality. That is why Filipino parents who raise a family in the U.S. tend to adapt easily to the American culture and find ease in the language. Their children naturally follow the same. There is little effort to try to teach the Filipino language to their children, except only by way of absorption which is inefficient in an environment where everything's American. Compare this with our Asian neighbors who find it imperative that their children know their mother tongue, even sending them to language schools both in the U.S. and in their native countries.

With the 150th birthday of the Filipino national hero Jose Rizal - a man of science, letters and the arts - we must heed to his call for our loving our own language. Part of that affection would be to share that language to our children. After all, Rizal was speaking to them when he wrote "Sa Aking Mga Kabata" at age 8. Rizal then, like the Fil-Ams now, know that something within them is lost if they cannot be made to know the language that runs in their blood.



Book Recommendations:
THE FIRST FILIPINO: A Biography of Jose Rizal
Lineage, Life and Labors of Jose Rizal, Philippine Patriot
Lolo Jose: An Intimate and Illustrated Portrait of Jose Rizal
Looking for Jose Rizal in Madrid : journeys, latitudes, perspectives, destinations

From Conquerors and Conquered: To Buddies and Amigos

I took my history classes very seriously; therefore I went through the whole indignation over the dramatic transpirations in our country during the Spanish, American and Japanese colonial times. I mean, I can understand why Bonifacio and Rizal were pissed! :)

Before we could stand each other in elevators,
we were smashing each other's fleets.

But long after those textbooks of history classes, I thought it surreal when, working briefly in the U.S. for a multinational, I suddenly found myself in an elevator with my Spanish and American co-workers. I really had that moment, where I had to pause and - talking to myself - I thought it amazing that more than a century hence we should find ourselves - the colonizers and the colonized, the conquerors and the conquered - as happy co-workers, friends and equals. Here we are, I thought, in an elevator together and about to have lunch, whereas before we were fighting over sovereignty, spices and self-determination!

History is full of tragedies, and it can also be funny; it truly presents so many lessons that are there for the picking to those who care to look or remember. But the world has come a long long way from those imperialistic times. This experience of friendship between former colonies and their colonial masters, of countries that used to be at war but now bosom buddies, is also true for say, Korea and Japan. Korea was once a part Japanese imperialistic ambitions, having occupied it for 35 years in the 1900s. At the height of the nuclear crisis in Japan due to the earthquake in Fukushima, South Korea lent a hand by sending an emergency shipment of reactor coolant. Even their KPop stars chipped in.

In the Philippines, the Japanese have extended a lot of goodwill via their Official Development Assistance, among the visible benefits of which are infrastructure projects, such as the Quezon Boulevard flyover, the Guadalupe Bridge, that pretty bridge in Mabalacat - among several other financial and technical assistance that they have provided. Personally, I have been a recipient of a scholarship from a Japanese corporation back in college, and I have been much grateful and have done my part in giving back.

That moment when I found myself in an elevator with former colonial masters was to me a coming full circle of me, my history education and present realities. The wheels of time have turned and the world has grown up.

There are important lessons that must never be forgotten, and there are definitely good times ahead for new-found buddies, amigos and tomodachis. Cheers!



Book Recommendations:
The Spanish War: An American Epic 1898
The Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection: 1898-1902 (Men-at-Arms)
150 Days of Hell (Japanese Invasion of the Philippines 8 Dec 1941 - 6 May 1942)