When reading news, we cannot not notice companies, big ones, in scandal. It can be about stock manipulation, bribery, and other unethical practices. On a more positive note, technology made it easier for anyone to start a business creating a lot of competition in the marketplace. We know of big businesses which have been greatly affected by smaller new ones and new businesses rapidly growing overnight. This proves that the business environment today is even more challenging and complex. With such a competitive environment and shifting social values, leaders are pushed to make hard decisions, choosing between the ethical and unethical. Sometimes or most of the time, for the sake of staying afloat, leaders choose profit over what is good.
If we are to accept and make profiteering over what is ethical our social norm, then I am sure that there will be greater social injustice and society will collapse. What then do I propose?
We need to cultivate and inculcate the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude which leads to good behavior and right success in business. The cardinal virtues provide a framework for living a virtuous and happy life. They can be traced back from the works of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and believed to be essential for human flourishing.
The virtue of prudence is about making wise decisions. Prudence involves the ability to identify what is sound, relevant, and reliable information, and to make ethical decisions based on that information. In other words, prudence is the ability to make informed decisions that can help a company achieve its goals. By being prudent or thinking through the possible paths to final decision, leaders and entrepreneurs can ensure that they are considering many perspectives, and avoiding expensive mistakes. If this fast-food chain was a little more prudent in their action of not suddenly shifting to a new tech system, they would have avoided a problem in their supply chain which led them to having no inventory of their most famous item in their stores.
The virtue of justice is another virtue that is important in the business world. Justice involves treating others fairly and equitably, and giving each person what he or she is due. In a business context, this can mean ensuring that employees are paid a fair wage, that customers are treated with respect and honesty, and that vendors and suppliers are paid promptly and fairly. Practicing justice in business creates a culture of trust and respect, which can lead to long-term success. I personally have been treated unfairly by a company who hired our services. After the company was bought out, we were never paid even by the new owner. Some employees did not even receive their salary as of this writing. The company may be doing okay financially but that is not just the measure of success.
The virtue of fortitude is also essential in business. Fortitude involves the ability to persevere in the face of difficulty and to overcome obstacles. Fortitude in other words is grit and resilience. In the competitive world of business, fortitude in leaders is key to achieving success. Whether it’s coming back from a failed project or persisting through a challenging business environment, those who practice fortitude are better able to weather the highs and lows of business and come out on top. Ask successful business owners and they will tell you that along the way, they have experienced multiple failures before achieving success, this demonstrates fortitude.
Lastly, the virtue of temperance. Temperance involves the ability to exercise self-control and moderation in action, even in the face of temptation or pressure. In business, this can mean avoiding the lure of excessive profit or making shortcuts to achieve profitability. By exercising temperance, business leaders can ensure that their decisions and actions are aligned with their personal values and the values of the company. One example of temperance in practice is this real estate company that leaves ample green space rather than putting more buildings for the sake of profit.
By cultivating cardinal virtues, business leaders can have a guide that will point them in the right direction in this complex and competitive environment that will eventually lead them to long term success while keeping their values in place.
Subsidiarity is one of the principles of Catholic Social Teachings. The principle emphasizes the importance of decision making and action at the local level.
In business, this means empowering employees and including immediate communities in decision making and problem solving. The decision though must be aligned with the values and goals of the enterprise.
In modern business parlance, subsidiarity is stakeholder empowerment.
How can businesses practice subsidiarity?
Delegate decision-making Engaging and support local communities Supporting employee initiatives Clear communication channels
I know of 2 organizations, one advocates American values and the other European. One of them, I will not name it, does not allow supervisors to make decisions. All decisions have to go through the board. The other, allows for more elbow room. In terms of success, the less controlling company is more successful. Just for clearer perspective, they are direct competitors
Subsidiarity allows people to become more responsible, empowered, creative and cooperative, which leads to better performance
Much of the education of an aspiring entrepreneur involves acquiring processes and methods. Most of them are a product of someone’s success captured in a formula or framework. An example is that of the business model canvas, a template for understanding the logic of a business; how a business runs and makes money. One can say that this is the condensed form of a business plan. Another example is that of a vision statement, where the formula goes like this: tell us where your business is in 5 or 10 years, use words such as to be number 1, leading or best, and state the area or location where this will happen. Do not get me wrong, these are all good and useful, however, more is needed in running a serious business. What else, aside from processes and formula are needed?
Let me introduce you to Bruno Munari an artist, designer, and inventor. He is best known for his “Useless Machine” artwork. Pablo Picasso considers him as the modern da Vinci. One can understand Munari’s design philosophy from this statement: “Today it has become necessary to demolish the myth of the ‘star’ artist who only produces masterpieces for a small group of ultra-intelligent people. It must be understood that as long as art stands aside from the problems of life it will only interest a very few people. Culture today is becoming a mass affair, and the artist must step down from his pedestal and be prepared to make a sign for a butcher’s shop (if he knows how to do it). The artist must cast off the last rags of romanticism and become active as a man among men, well up in present-day techniques, materials and working methods. Without losing his innate aesthetic sense he must be able to respond with humility and competence to the demands his neighbors may make of him.
The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing. … There should be no such thing as art divorced from life, with beautiful things to look at and hideous things to use. If what we use every day is made with art, and not thrown together by chance or caprice, then we shall have nothing to hide.”
It was that statement that made me interested more in him because this statement can also be said about entrepreneurs today, and I thought that maybe we can learn a thing or two from him which we can relate to business. This is what I found from one of his essays: “The secrets of any trade that is pursued with serious intentions are more than a series of rules and working methods based on logic and experience and applied so as to obtain the greatest possible effect with the least amount of effort. They also include a continuous process of observations, thoughts and ideas that are pushed ahead even if at the beginning they seem to have no logical basis.”
Munari’s statement tells us that aside from set of rules, or formula, one must also include observation, thoughts, ideas and action even if it seems illogical. The important element in his statement is observation and illogical action. First, observation. Based on his essay, he said that observation can stimulate deeper research. So, it is the ability to observe that gives rise to thoughts and ideas.
One day, Munari was driving, and he saw a bush and quickly observed. This observation triggered different images in his mind. The form of the bush reminded him of an exploding grenade. Then explosion triggered the image of fireworks which he then related to the growth of a tree.
Observation begins by watching something carefully and understanding the characteristics and behavior or something. The purpose of observation is to gather information and turn that information into something useful. In the case of Munari, the ideas became an essay, or it may have inspired his future artworks.
In business, one use of observation is understanding customers’ behavior; how they eat, what they do before they eat, what they do after they eat. In the famous case of Jollibee, it was observed through research that Filipinos smell their food before they eat and that gave birth to the famous “Langhap Sarap” tag line. The point is, by deliberately not relying on set of rules, adding observation and thoughts, it can bring about new ideas and insights.
Observation is so powerful that it is part of the famous Toyota Production system. One of their principles is called Genchi Genbutsu, which means go see for yourself. The idea is that the people do have to be in the place where things are happening to be able to see, observe and gather information.
One of the products of observation is Toyota Sienna. A Japanese engineer went to the US to study how families use their vans. To do this, he brought his family and went coast to coast by road. After weeks on the road, he reported his information and ideas. The result was a bigger leg room on the second row so that children will have space for their toys and other essential items. This simple change made Sienna an award-winning van.
The previous examples I gave have a logical basis since those doing the study were directly observing and having firsthand experience. What could be a business that was pushed even if the ideas born out of observation seemed illogical? Netflix mailed VHS to people at a time when people were used to going to Blockbuster Video to borrow and return movies. Another example is Pet Rock. It literally is a pet rock. An example or a stupid and illogical idea that sold millions of units in its first few months. These 2 examples were illogical, yet they became successful and I am sure that there are many others out there.
Business methods and formulas are there to serve as a guide, but those who are seriously committed to the business, must include continuous observation, thoughts, ideas and of course action even if there seem to be no logical basis. Who knows? That illogical idea may be the next Netflix or Pet Rock.
Lately I have been playing a lot of chess, even learning from a coach. It was supposed to be my children who I wanted to put in the program, but they said they would rather not. Since I bugged the coach so much with questions, I decided to enroll myself rather than tell him he won’t be coaching my kids. No regrets! I am learning a new skill that I can play until all my hair is gone.
In those few sessions and from reading chess books, I learned some chess principles that can be applied in business. No, that would not be lessons like the typical plan and be a few steps ahead of your opponents. Here they are:
We see pawns as dispensable pieces since there are 8 of them and they can only move in one direction. Once you push forward, you are already committed to it. That is why we only see them as tradable pieces early in the game. I was wrong in seeing pawns from that perspective. They are more important than I thought.
Pawns are the only pieces that can be promoted in exchange for captured pieces towards the end of the game. That gives them their value and they are the player’s last hope in the end game.
Business application: Train your juniors for future promotion
Pawns are the office juniors and new hires in the company. They may be replaceable since there are numerous of them in the market but they are clean slates. This means that they can be trained, developed and molded to become heads who will replace leaders in the future. This assumes that these new hires have the right attitude.
In the end, kings turn into warriors
The idea of chess is to win by capturing the opponent’s king while protecting your king. This is why there is such a move as putting the king inside the castle protected by pawns and a rook. But the case is different In the end game, when what is mostly left are a few pieces, maybe a pawn, knight or bishop and the king. During this part, the king is activated to support whatever piece is left. He goes behind, side or front, depending on who they are against.
Business application: Give support to your team
In business the goal is profit and not to capture the competitor’s CEO. This means that the CEO is safe to be out there to give their support to the team without fear of being eaten by the rival company. Being out there means not sitting in the room and waiting for reports for analysis but seeing the action. By seeing the action, he will have a better perspective of the whole environment which then translates in better decision making.
In Japan they have what they call genchi genbutsu or go and and see in english. This requires the manager to be out there in the field to go and observe. It is only when they see that they can judge better and act accordingly.
Protect your turf
The 4 middle squares in the chessboard are crucial in controlling the whole board. Putting the bishop there allows them to move along the long diagonals. Putting the knight there allows them to jump in different locations. If you don’t get to post any of your pieces there, your chances of winning drops. This is why at the start of the game, players try to dominate them.
Business application: Get the best location for your business (retail)
Plenty of businesses do not want to spend on good locations, that means a place with high volume of traffic, primarily because of expense. However, a good location is less of a liability but more of an asset. Survey tells us that most people still buy in-store while walking in malls.
So, how do you know which location is good for your business? One that offers the most traffic and less competition, unless you know your competitive advantage. Same goes with online platforms. Be in the most visited sites.
Be excellent in every stage
There are 3 stages in chess, opening game, middle game and end game. Each stage requires different sets of skills. Opening requires that you develop pieces to give those at the back maximum freedom to move. Middle game requires decision making in terms of when and which to attack. End game requires excellence in cornering the king for a checkmate. The challenge however is that the opponent is doing the same thing and is on a quest to control the middle board creating congestion.
Business application:
In business there are different stages as well: startup, growth and decline and each stage requires a certain management skill and style. The startup requires the team to understand the logic of their business and this means identifying how the business makes money and where money comes from. There is a plan before the business starts but the plan does not always happen. In the growth stage, the phase when money comes in, the business must be able to understand and prepare for the decline stage. Here, the business is required to find innovation opportunities. The decline stage is when the business takes a different business model and applies the innovation it learned from the previous business stage.
Chess is not just a beautiful game that uses logic and creativity, it is also a wellspring of lessons that can be used in business.
Sharing with you the transcript of my talk e given to the graduating EM students of UA&P. The first paragraph is something that will be appreciated by those who experienced the school.
Before we start, I want to give everyone a quick tour down memory lane. Back in 1995 when I was a freshman, UA&P was known as CRC or Center for Research and Communication. The CAS garden was still a driveway, and ACB was non-existent. When ACB was erected, we called it CAB, short for kabila ng CAS. The big parking building was an open parking space that turns into a mud pond during rainy season. The school was still a smoking campus. You just go out you room if you want a smoke. You can even buy cigarettes from the head guard. The ledge beside the entrance of CAS was only for the all-male EM student. But there was a time when the whole ledge was reserved for the EM students.
A lot changed but the core message of the school, blaze a trail, has not, just like my message today. It is not something new but a reminder which I think is much needed in our culture and society today.
If you watch movies or sitcoms made in today’s world, even the messages promoted on media, there are 2 prevailing ideas: you need to do things on a big scale and the need to be in control of things. My talk today is not about how to be successful or even about taking control, in fact, it is counterculture. It is about the other way around. This is what I propose: Do the little things and allow the unexpected, then you will experience magic in real life.
Magic has been my hobby for a long time now. It is a hobby I picked up from my dad. There are different types of magic: close up, parlor and stage. I do close up magic, I manipulate little objects like cards and coins.
What fascinates me about magic are 2 reasons: the wonder I get every time I see a good routine. Think about the last magic you saw that astonished you, that feeling is unlike any other feeling in this world and that same feeling is also the reason why I do magic, to bring and share magical moments. The other reason why magic fascinates me, is its philosophy and how it relates to life, which is where I draw my inspiration for today’s talk.
We all know that magic is not real, that behind every effect is a clever trick created to astonish or fool you. No, I do not fool people, I want to use magic to make them wonder. Now, why is it that every time we see magic, we feel astonished or amazed and even believe that some supernatural powers are behind the trick? That is because magic makes us experience the impossible and the unexpected, to see in front of us events that defy logic, a miracle: a coin disappears, a man walks through the great wall of China, or a thought of card, lost int the deck, appears in the most impossible location.
(Demo and analysis) Let me show you what I mean. I will not be doing magic but one of you will.
Wouldn’t it be great if we make magic real? So here are the 2 ways on how to make magic (to experience the impossible happen).
The magical moment that happened in the demonstration is because of the magic of little things and the magic of the unexpected. Let me start with the little things.
Magic happens because of the little things and moves magicians do that go unnoticed: The flicking of hands, the turning of head, and the waving of the fingers that manage the attention, or the subtleties that magicians do to convince you of a certain reality. All these little things put together leads to magical moments. The same principle applies to life.
The people who have made a dent in the universe believe in the magic of little things: one is the great painter Van Gogh who said, “great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” And then you have the great poet Maya Angelou who said, “courage-you develop courage by doing small things like just as if you wouldn’t want to pick up a 100-pound weight without preparing yourself.” Here you see, how greatness comes from the magic of little things.
Yes, little things, small work, lead to magic, to greatness. Just like in real life. However, this is counter to our culture which teaches us that we need to do big things, we need to have big vision, we need to be the most, we need to create a big impact, we need to influence, we need to change the world. Yes, it is good to go big, it’s good to have a big dream. I did not say be lazy. But this culture of big has undermined the power and magic of little daily tasks that build discipline, that build your effort muscle. This culture has put focus only on the big and the most. It led people to justify illegal means, to satisfy what they think is an end. It has disappointed people who judge themselves by the scale of their action because they think they are not enough.
This leads me to say we should not judge the little tasks and the necessary little things we need to do daily. As St. Escriva puts it, “Do not judge by the smallness of the beginnings. My attention was once drawn to the fact that there is no difference in size between seeds that give annual plants and those that will grow into ageless trees.”
In real life the little things that lead to magical moments are the little work we do for others like cooking for the family, bringing the children to school, treating a friend to lunch. Sometimes it is also about changing our little faults before changing the big social problems. Sometimes it is about fixing your bed before fixing the community. All these little things lead to moments that let others, and you, experience magical moments.
If we want to experience magic in real life, we need to give importance to the little things, those that go unnoticed, the things we do not want to do, the things we want others to do for us. In other words, we need to do the little things, the little tasks that are required of us because those little tasks create miracles in our lives. As Saint Francis of Assisi puts it, “Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
The magic of the unexpected.
The magician’s code tells us not to share the secret and not to repeat the magic, the reason is to maintain the mystery. If you already know what the effect of the magic will be from the start, if you know a coin is to disappear, the moment will no longer be magical. This is the magic of the unexpected. The prolific writer, Paulo Coelho, puts it this way, “We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.
When watching a magic show and unexpectedly, the coin transforms into silk, the audience will be in disbelief, then astonished. Unexpected transformation is magic. This is true in real life; we experience magic when we are transformed. Now, this pandemic is an unexpected event, something we did not welcome, and something we were forced to accept. It has transformed lives of many people. It has transformed businesses. It transformed schools. Some have gained, some have lost. Is it magical? Yes, to those who see meaning in the transformation. No to those who are still grieving and to those who still find it impossible to see something meaningful behind the painful event. However, I am hopeful that one day they look back and see that the painful journey was part of the magical transformation.
The unexpected is something we do not want in our culture today because we want everything in our control. That is what we were taught and made to believe. We don’t want to be disappointed, and we cannot bear the anxiety brought about by the unknown. We want to have explanation for everything, and we disregard those that we cannot logically explain as superstition. We want to satisfy ourselves the power to be in control. This gave rise to scientism, the belief that everything can be turned into an equation; that science can explain everything or the answer to all. I have nothing against science, in fact, I am thankful to science for what we have today but to believe that science is the answer to everything is not the way to go. If we go down this route, and try to control everything, we shut down the door that lets magic happen in our lives.
Making magic real means giving up what we cannot control and allowing God to work his magic in our lives, or at least accepting that we are not in control. To let go means letting God take care of the rest after doing everything humanly possible. It is not doing nothing at all.
Whatever that transformation or magic is, will happen in the most unusual time, when we least expect it. Nobody knows when and where. The beauty of magic lies in its unpredictability. The more mysterious, the more unexpected, the more magical it will be. You will know it when it happens, but you must first change the way you see, then what you see changes. As Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the chocolate factory said, “watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
Today’s talk brings you to the place where the road forks. You can go back to common wisdom and pretend nothing happened and follow the old template, or take the other road, and make real magic happen with the little things and the unexpected.
I leave you with these words from Albert Einstein, “there are only 2 ways to live your life, as though nothing is a miracle or as though everything is a miracle.”
Panorama 