The Reality of a Bad Political Climate

I came across several tweets yesterday from BPO employees sharing the thoughts of their foreign bosses. They said they would consider moving their contracts to India if the dictator's son wins. It's a good discussion point because it's important to understand how the economy is affected by politics. 

I went through three Philippine Presidents while working for a foreign company. It didn't have a local office in the Philippines when I was hired as the country representative. My main job was to prove the need to have a local office. I had counterparts in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Pakistan who had the same task. 

I did everything I could to "prepare the market". I wore many hats, business development, marketing, community management, sales and I also did work for engineering and product. I was laser focused though on getting an office opened because I knew it would potentially bring a lot of jobs and get budget to run programs. For many years I did not have any budget to run programs. 

I watched enviously as Thailand and Malaysia opened their offices (Singapore was organized by my manager). No matter how much good work I did, the political climate just negated all my arguments. The president at that time was GMA and she didn't have a good reputation internationally. I also had to be very careful working with government. 

PNoy's win opened the floodgates for me. A year after he took power my goal to open the Philippine office was granted. The Philippines was also included in product launches. The Philippines was also the only emerging market included in the Chrome launch. We were the only market to launch YouTube with a program with the president (YouTube World View with PNoy and RTVMalacanang). I got a lot of support also for crisis response and other projects. 

My job as country rep ended when the office was opened. I didn't want to do sales so I had to look for another job and fate brought me to Singapore. I continued to work on projects for the Philippines. The ones I started slowly dwindled when DU30 took over. I tried to work on it, but the political climate was once again bad. My programs for the Philippines once again did not get budgets. I had to be creative and pushy to get support for the programs I was running for the Philippines. 

That's the reality of working for a foreign company. I really had a hard time getting funding for my projects for the Philippines when the political climate wasn't good. No matter how you prepare your market to be viable, decisions are influenced by the political situation. So yes, BPOs can easily move their business to other countries if the next president isn't politically respected internationally. 

#BeKind #StaySafe #VoteWisely

Set the Bar High

I taught for a term in 2008. I was friendly to my students, but I was strict. I was tasked to teach the last class before thesis. Knowing that my students would soon join the workforce, I thought the best thing I could teach them was to always set the bar high. I pushed them to the limit by having them experience work life. I was also tasked by the university to integrate the use of GSuite (called Google Apps back then) in class. This meant I had to be unconventional in the way I taught. 

I probably shocked the students, but they told me later on that they appreciated the way I taught. Most of them ended up in digital marketing. Some came to me begging to increase their grades, but I said no. I explained to them that grades are meant to recognize the efforts you gave as a student to learn and if you got a lower grade than expected, then that meant there are things you need to improve on. 

Set the bar high with anything you do. Don't settle for less because you'll just end up disappointed. Through the years I learned to be more selective and discriminating. When making decisions, it's important to set a clear goal and determine your targets. Don't rush into things. Stick to your values and make sure your decisions would reach or exceed your goal. 

I thought about this point after watching the Jessica Soho interview. I've also started going through the interviews of Boy Abunda. I think one thing we also need to do as we choose leaders is to set the bar high. If we had better leaders the response to the pandemic would've been better, we wouldn't have been deep in debt, the budget would have been put to better use and not just go to corruption etc. We're all disappointed and that's happened because the bar was set so low. 

For myself, I'll make sure to keep the bar high and I hope you do the same. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Don't Be a Lame Duck

Election period started yesterday. That means more checkpoints around the country (aren't they permanently there already?). This means the official campaign period is just around the corner. I've been seeing a lot of posters around already for those running locally. A lot of them took advantage of the Christmas season with greetings from their families. If you really do well, people will recognize your work and you don't really need to do posters. 

I made a list of how I assessed candidates back in 2016 (read here). I based it on the job description as written in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. My candidate lost and sadly the current administration did not do a good job based on the basic JD from the constitution. I will follow that list and thought I'd add a values list. 

1. I will not vote for a lame duck. A lame duck is someone who gives a gazillion excuses just to get out of a tight spot. Quack, quack, quack. Usually they just make a lot of noise noh. 

2. I will only vote for someone who has a clean record. Our leaders should have integrity and credibility. Palabra de honor.

3. I will only vote for someone who has really made contributions to improve the lives of the people. 

4. Definitely not voting for someone who is self-centered and selfish. I want someone who works hard.

5. Definite no-no to those who are pakitang tao. 

6. Someone who can enable change and get those who can help to support programs. Bayanihan.

7. Respectful and courteous. I've had enough of vile talk. 

8. Someone we can be proud of when representing us internationally. Let's find someone who can be a good role model.

9. Peace loving. 

10. Someone who prays. 

Halfway while making the list I looked up the list of basic Filipino values. Most of what I was thinking about covered it. Other people have the opinion that we need a strong leader. Someone who has an iron fist. I heard that from a lot of taxi drivers in SG. I disagree. I believe that we can progress better with cooperation and working as a community.