In Memoriam: Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Why has Steve Jobs' demise taken on the dimension of a personal loss to many?

The reason for it may be because through his technological vision - from the Apple I to the iMac, the Ipod, the Iphone and the Ipad - he became a part of our lives. Through all these products..:

1. He allowed us a tactile appreciation of breakthrough design, not just a feast for the eyes, but a memorable encounter of a product, from selection in meticulously planned Apple stores, to the opening of that boxed product ~ the packaging of which was within Jobs' purview to ensure as every bit an experience as the product itself.
2. He gave us a richer experience of music through his Ipods. The quality of the music was clear, we can select all the songs we want, and through it construct the soundtrack for our lives as we go about living it.
3. He made us celebrate life with photos and videos, and he knew we only want our memory of those events captured in photo and video in the best quality possible, and he gave us the tools so we can play with them, from iPhoto, to the iMovies.

In a way, his obsessive preoccupation to detail, to merging 'technology with the liberal arts', to coming up with a masterpiece always -- in a way, it reflects the great reverence Steve Jobs had for man. He believed with an abundance of passion that mankind deserves nothing less than excellence and nothing short of perfection. This philosophy he very much showed in his business, and very well echoed in his own life. Many find precious comfort and clarity in the words he left us, his life's lessons that we will all ponder upon as his instructions for living:

Death as Life's best Invention
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true."

Love What You Do, Do What You Love
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Connecting the Dots
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Follow Your Heart
“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Through his results and his example, we have been inspired and showed a way to the top.
Thank you, Steve Jobs.

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

Friendships and Business Partnerships: Making it Work

It seems like an ideal situation: Your friend of many years - the one who's always been there for you in important moments, the one with whom you have the most fun with or with whom you'd had so many memorable times - it seems almost a perfect idea to choose to have that friend for a business partner. Indeed - why look elsewhere for a business partner when your buddy/chum/gal-friend is right there? Now, if you are actually contemplating of doing a business with your friend, wait a moment and read this one first.

Let it be said outright: No, it's NOT entirely a bad idea to do business with your friend/s. That is NOT to say that it is necessarily easy or not fraught with risks.

The reason most would warn against doing business with friends, esp. those who've had a bad experience with such a set-up, is not that businesses with friends have a greater chance of failure. (Regardless of who you do business with, the odds of a business failing is 9 in 10.) The reason, perhaps, is that when a business with a friend fails, there is a risk that you lose more than just the business.

A business with a friend entails greater risk because apart from the money you invest in the business, you also actually invest your relationship in the business. More than risking the money, you also risk the friendship. And while money can be recouped - well, friendship, when lost, can be harder to get back. Think Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin - best buddies in Harvard - who lost their friendship over Facebook.

And so here is the advice:
If you'd like to do business with your friends, take stock of your biggest asset together (your friendship), and take steps to ensure it does not get lost in the highs and lows (or busts!) of business. Here are some tips to making it work:

1. Communication
At the heart of all the next tips is Communication. Be prepared to be always in communication with your business partner-slash-friend. Everything - from expectations, roles and responsibilities, profit sharing arrangements - should be discussed from the very beginning; and whatever else that is yet undiscussed must be brought out in the open and settled. Communication is key to ensuring potential problems are addressed before they even happen. A good and effective communication will only be possible if the element of trust is present. In the book Five Dysfunctions of a Team, the 'Absence of Trust' is listed as the foremost reason for failures in teams and businesses as it stifles communication crucial to achieving the goals of the business.

2. Agreement
Set up your rules. Agree to them, and then they become your agreements. These become the parameters of your business relationship. When misunderstandings come up, always look to your agreements to resolve it. As much as possible, agreements should be designed so that every manner or possible scenarios/problems/misunderstandings are covered. These agreements are the mechanisms that will take effect once conflicts/misunderstandings on your business arise. This way, the resolutions do not become arbitrary, and there is an "impartial" agreement that will tell you how to go about it.

3. Commitment
The 'Lack of Commitment' is identified as one among the Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Your business goals will not happen unless you treat your endeavor as a real commitment. What is a commitment? Here is how Abraham Lincoln defined it:

"Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism."

What you invest in your business in money and time and effort is a sign of commitment. You have to honor your commitment. If you can't honor your commitment with your business partners, what hope is there that you will honor your commitment of delivering on your promises (in your product or services) to your customers?

4. Priorities
Part and parcel of honoring commitments is giving your business priority. You could have many priorities, but even if there are greater priorities, it should not sacrifice the commitments you have made. If you have partnered with anyone, esp. with a friend, giving your business priority is not just about the business; it is about keeping your word, honoring your commitments, and giving your partners and friends a fair amount of respect. Before your customers can give you priority as a preferred supplier or service provider, they'll first have to see through your results that you do in fact give your business the priority it deserves.

5. Exit Strategy
Things will not always work; and even as your enthusiasm in the beginning were off the charts, sometimes that could wane. Some better opportunity might come along; situations at work or in your personal life may change that will necessitate you to want to opt out of the business. Or maybe you're just not into it anymore.

THAT is okay.

Just make sure you do not become vague about your disinterest, or you just disappear. You still have business partners/friends counting on you. Inform your partners of your change of plans. Be unequivocal about it. And then let your exit strategy mechanisms come into play. Your exit strategy should be something that you have already spelled out and agreed upon in the beginning. The exit strategy must indicate the procedures for getting out of the business or dissolving the business entirely.

The same due diligence you exert in evaluating your business should be the same (if not greater) amount of due diligence that you apply into ensuring that getting into business with your friend will not result to a loss of the friendship.


In the end, a friendship that flourishes with a business and a friendship that stands the demise of businesses is the better return on investment.

See you at the top!

"A friendship founded on business is a good deal 

better than a business founded on friendship.” 

(John D. Rockefeller)

Book Recommendations:

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (J-B Lencioni Series)
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
Business Communication (Harvard Business Essentials)

Your Job Description is not your Life Prescription

Among the staple questions we tend to ask when wanting to know more about someone we are meeting for the first time is (after getting their name, of course): 'What do you do?' or, a variation, 'Where do you work (and by implication: what do you do there)?'

It's a fair question, and innocuous enough. You might be surprised though that, in certain cultures, being asked that question is frowned upon, thought weird, and a tad bit invasive.

Anyway, in the Philippines, that is rarely a problem. Except perhaps if you are asked that question and you have nothing to answer for it. Why would that be? Here are 7 reasons why one would find oneself grasping for answers to that simple question:

(1) You are unemployed.
Basically, you are a bum. You may just have come off from school and still looking for employment (which you discover is hard to find). Or you just got fired (the company was downsizing; or is outsourcing your job to a third world country) or you had just resigned (the boss was a $@#%; or office politics just ain't your thang; or the free iced tea was making you gain weight). Or you simply can't find a job that you feel you can connect to on a very deep level, you know? :)

(2) You are a stay-at-home mom/dad
You're married (or whatever) and you think that the best use of your time is to be right there with your kids to watch them grow and see to their needs. Of course, this is not a 'job' (you are happy to do it, right?), but as you would say though, It IS a full-time job! But it does seem a little weird to make this your answer when asked what you do because, obviously, the question seems to expect some sort of an employment as a reply. Nevertheless, those who have mustered courage and find no shame in their chosen role, are able to express it with no issue. And that's a good thing! We have come a quarter of a way from 'Oh, I'm just a plain housewife/houseband!' Still many others find themselves queasy saying that.

(3) Your job is confidential/secret.
You don't want the person making small-talk with you suddenly scampering away if you were honest enough to say that you are a gun-for-hire, right? Other than that, your job might just happen to be the classified variety, like a secret agent or a private investigator, or a James Bond-type. So then, what do you say? You'll probably change the topic, make something up, or at least give the other person a warning: "If I tell you, I'm gonna have to kill you."

So go make something up instead!

(4) It's complicated.
That is, your job title does not belong among these professions that need little-to-no elaboration: teacher, salesman, lawyer, doctor, etc. So you're a 'Senior Software Engineer' and, while that easily makes sense to you, apparently it begs a little more expounding, so to avoid that laborious process, just say, "It's kinda like a programmer." And then the question marks in the person's face disappear. (Or so you think.) This is different from having a really simple job whose title is merely embellished, like 'Chief Landscape Engineer' - a fancy name for 'gardener'. Although, yeah, it does complicate it still.

The late Randy Pausch - the Carnegie Mellon professor who before succumbing to pancreatic cancer a few years ago, got famous through his 'The Last Lecture' video which went viral on Youtube - shared in his book 'The Last Lecture' (an offshoot of the viral video) that while he is addressed professionally as Doctor (owing to his Ph.D., not an M.D.), when his mom introduces him to people, she says: "He's a doctor, but NOT the kind that helps people."

That's what happens when job titles are not self-explanatory!

(5) You're a C.O.O.
You know, Child Of Owner; as in, heir to your parent's vast business holdings. All you need to do is turn 21, or wait for them to hand the reins on to you once they think you're ready. If they die, it's still falling on your lap. So, in the meantime, you're sitting on your bum, and... whistling a happy tune.

(6) You're living off of your parent's trust fund.
And therefore, why bother working? Still, when asked what you do, you're at a loss for words. You don't actually want to reveal how wealthy you are; or just how idle (read: lazy) you've become just because your infinite well of riches (a.k.a. your trust fund) is financing all that you'd ever aspire to do or buy.

So in this instance, what do you say? Ah yes, that business you've been thinking about for a long time now.

But of course!

(7) You're into a LOT of things.
You could simply introduce yourself a serial entrepreneur, but you think it's limiting, because your interests are really vast and your endeavors are many. You want to be able to share them all, but the curt question 'What do you do?' does not seem to invite a kilometric and animated monologue. And because they're just so numerous, you don't know where to begin - like all your interests are racing to be uttered first! At the same time, to say that you are doing countless things might invite judgement: Ah, she's a spaghetti-brain! He does not know what he wants! She has ADD!

BUT...Why this shouldn't bother you:
Whatever it is, whatever the reasons may be, for your inability to come up with a respectable response to the plain question of 'What do you do?', it's alright. As they say: No biggie. Answer it anyway, either in the most honest way you can, or in the most creative way you can devise. Leave people to their judgements, and just be who you are.

The truth is, and you'll notice this, the answers to the question evolves as time goes by.

As you move from one job/profession/project to another, from nothing (unemployed/COO) to something (a real job maybe), from something (a stressful, unfulfilling 9-to-5, 6-day-a-week job) to nothing (a life, FINALLY!); as you strive to make something else of your life - maybe something more meaningful to you (a vocation, like priesthood, or NGO work), something legal (gun-for-hire doesn't pay, you'll find out), something healthier (that allows you to get some sleep for a change!), something you actually like (not what your parents like for you - sorry parents!); as you make conscious choices to get your life under control, living life on your own terms and living life to the FULLEST -- you.. will realize that the answer to 'What do you do?' should not be something you allow yourself to define who you are (like a job description) or be restricted by (like a four-cornered cubicle).

After all, what you do, is just one of the innumerable other things that comprise your identity. You don't have to be just one or the other. You can be ALL of it. You can be anything you want to be - now, or later, or all at the same time. No matter, it's all up to you. The moment you begin to believe that is the moment you begin to discover all your possibilities.

See you at the top!

"The simplest questions are the most profound:

Where were you born?

Where is your home?

Where are you going?

What are you doing?

Think about these once in awhile, and watch your answers change."

~ Richard Bach, Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)

Book Recommendations:

The Last Lecture

The Seed: Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

In the Pirates Den: My Life as a Secret Agent

Painfully Rich: J. Paul Getty and His Heirs

Jobs That Matter: Find a Stable, Fulfilling Career in Public Service

Born Rich Documentary

The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed and Overworked

Stay-at-Home Handbook: Advice for Parenting, Finances, Career, Surviving Each Day & Much More

Journey to the top, with Ten Minutes Tops!

This "Ten Minutes, Tops!" (TMT) blog didn't start out with lofty ambitions.

It was merely an exercise in self-expression. But now that half a year has passed and I look back at what I have been able to learn and accomplish through the blog, I am inclined to think about what is next for this blog.

In trying to figure that out, I came to asking 2 questions:
1.Why should anyone continue reading this blog?
2. Why should I continue blogging on this?

In attempting to answer those questions, and in trying to give my blog posts some coherence, I came to a decision: To re-brand the blog that will both answer and satisfy those blog-existentialist questions. (Why, Blog, Why?)

The initial branding I made for this blog had focus on the amount of time that I either churned out the blog post (I didn't want to overcommit, hehe), or how long you had to read it (I know you're busy too). Both should be just for "Ten Minutes, Tops!" It doesn't matter what the topic was. As long as it's under ten minutes, it will get written and will (hopefully) find a reader.

Now, I'd like to take that a step further.
Actually, I want to kick it up a notch.

There will still be that time element, but more than that, I'd like this blog to be a place where you find something that you can take away, maybe something that will be useful to your life, something that adds value to you. It's being conscious about truly making it worth your while to read, subscribe to or share the blog.

I want this blog to be a source of information, ideas, thoughts, wisdom, ramblings and musings that ultimately will result in your being a better person.

I want to join you (we're in this together) and support you (you can do it!) in your journey to success - to the top! Thus the new TMT slogan: "Ten-minute thoughts that take you to the top."

Notice that in the blog's updated banner, the word 'thoughts' was actually superscripted on the crossed-out word 'wisdom'. My words may not always be wise, even as I hope they are, and even as I only have the best intentions. Still, I am self-aware enough to acknowledge that what I may think as precious wisdom culled from experience or from distillations of my interactions with others or from my readings - may just be one of many thoughts on the same subject. Still it is hoped that they are worth pondering upon, and may yet help you - all of us - reach the heights of success we desire.

And as in any matter of theory, philosophy, "truths", facts, principle or piece of advice, the same adage applies: "Prove it right; prove it wrong." That is, if it works for you, well and good. If not, then on to the next, until you find what works. As Richard Bach would say, "Nothing has meaning until it changes what you think and who you are." 

These 'nuggets' of, at the very least, kind well-meaning advice, will still touch upon most of the subject matters I use to present my ideas: life, business, technology, history, travel and, if it can be forced, food. :)

I hope you'll like this new approach I am trying to do. I've been very preachy anyway in many of my posts (can't help it!). Just making it official. :)

See you at the top!



Book Recommendations:
The Success Journey: The Process of Living Your Dreams
Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
A Pace of Grace: The Virtues of a Sustainable Life
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Vintage)