Hotdog Leadership


A political gimmick or an expression of basic personal orientation? Pnoy feasting on street hotdog with his entourage during his trip to the US certainly made headlines – a stark contrast to the much talked about extravagant $20,000 feasts his predecessor used to host during her term. Genuine or not, it still, to me, a good symbolic gesture much like his much talked about ban on ,Wang-Wang in the streets of Manila.

My own reflection on this news item brougt me to the issue of ‘borrowed power’ — something that all of us (government servants and ordinary citizens) should be able to relate with.

Pnoy, like all politically elected or appointed officials are put in their offices on ‘borrowed power’ — serving on account of a mandate based on trust. Unfortunately, many of such leaders easily forget and instead of being conscious of the tentativeness of their term of office they would rather immediately convert their position as one of privilege. Few are those who would maintain their commitment to be transparent, accountable and prudent.

We are all guilty of the same weakness — most of the time oblivious to the real purpose for which we have been given the office.

The best antidote is perhaps what Jim Collins calls Level 5 Leadership: a twin of Professional Will and Humility — something still lacking in many leaders.

It happens everywhere…but

The hostage taking even in Manila on Aug 23 is the first test of what the newly elected President Aquino is made of. Why and how it happens is open to many angles and will likely be dependent on where one sits. We will probably only know what really happened (to the case of the hostage-taker, to how it was really handled, to what went on in the minds of everyone involved and watching, etc.) in the next life. One thing is going well though. The President has assumed responsibility and apologized for it.

A similar incident also happened in China 5 years ago to our close friend and colleague Bong Madrigal. One of my friends sent me this little analysis:

“On August 19, 2005, Emmanuel Madrigal, a Manila-based Filipino executive of  the multinational Shell, was visiting Beijing on vacation with his wife  Vivian, his daugher Regina Mia, and two younger daughters. That day, they  rode a tourist bus to Tiananmen Square, the heart of the capitol.

Upon arriving at the square, Emmanuel Madrigal was the first to descend  from the bus, followed by Vivian and Regina Mia. A Chinese man wielding a  scythe–in some reports it was described as a sword–suddenly appeared out  of nowhere and hacked Emmanuel across his torso. He died on the spot. The  man also attacked and seriously wounded Vivian. He then slashed at and  killed Regina Mia. By this time, bystanders were trying to subdue the man,  and Vivian shouted to her two other daughters to get away and save  themselves. Somehow the girls made their way back to the hotel. Vivian was  brought to a Beijing hospital, where she died several days later of her  injuries.

An Associated Press report still circulating on the internet states that  the killer was Wang Gongzuo, 25, a farmer from eastern China’s Jiangsu  province. He was sentenced to death for the murder of the Madrigals and  executed a few weeks later, in September. The AP report states: ‘Wang’s  motive for killing the two is unclear. After the incident occurred the  Beijing Morning Post reported that he had wanted to ‘affect society using  extreme actions,’ but didn’t elaborate.”

Reflect on the parallels. A family of vacationers on a tourist bus: the  Leungs and the Madrigals. A killer out to “affect society using  extreme actions”: Mendoza and Wang. A massacre in a  public place  of symbolic significance: The Quirino grandstand, where the presidential  inauguration had been held just weeks before, and site of the civil society  protests against the Marcos regime; and Tiananmen Square, since ancient  times the symbol of the centralized power of the Chinese state, and site of  the 1991 civil protests against the government.

In both incidents, the state failed miserably in protecting innocent  tourists.”

An Emerging Charismatic Leader?

He seems to have the makings of one — starting with reluctance to actually be in a position of power and allowing the energy of the people to just work with him — the newly elected Noynoy Aquino of the Philippines.

President-Elect Benigno Aquino III

I don’t know much about him but if the accounts of this news report: Part I & Part II and this email are true then we might still see the country re-emerging! I say re-emerging not in the sense that it has actually sunk (because I believe it has not — the people have remained resilient and many have grown to contribute tremendously in many fields) but more in the sense of the Presidency joining the populace and supporting it.

Tun Dr. Mahathir in my books

We had the most distinguished speaker in CIVP yesterday. He was none other than the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammed.

In the past sessions, as Faculty, Mdm Ivy and I have always sat up in the front row. Yesterday, knowing that there will be many people who would be wanting to tail Tun Mahathir around, we purposed positioned ourselves in the second row. It is also our own current disposition about life, i.e., to learn how to be without privilege, position or power. If we can, we would rather be at the background and be quietly nurturing people to take the limelight.

Must read!

Yesterday, it turned out be a little different though. After the talk, the usual photo session was convened. Mdm Ivy and I had to join the CIVP group. At once, Prof. Emeritus Azman Awang beckoned us and introduced us to Tun Mahathir and subsequently placing me in a chair right next to this eminent global leader. That experience gave me a very powerful insight, i.e., here is a man who first wrote about his thoughts about Malaysians (in the Malay Dilemma) and then implemented them into what the country is today! Many leaders experience their leadership roles first and then they write their memoirs, talking about their theories, on hind-sight. In my books, he is a truly admirable leader — one who walks his talk and is true to his word.

Value-adding & Value-driven

It can only be one who has achieved wisdom who can talk the way Dr. Arif Nun talks about the need for Leaders to know how to add-value every time, yet to have such contribution emanating from and directed by strong values.

Indeed, it is so easy for Leaders to be carried by the tide and just go where everyone is going, e.g., to target as much economic development without regard to its sustainability or impact on the poorer sector of the society. Or to amass so much personal wealth without even noticing how others in the society may be left behind and at times marginalized by such actions.

This becomes doubly relevant given the topic Dr. Nun covered, i.e., Emerging Technologies and How They Will Shape The Future.

The use of technology is always the faster way that any human endeavor can be made more efficient, more progressive, growing faster, etc. What is not usually taken into consideration is how technology eventually impacts on human activities or even what it means to be human.

To those who are at the frontier (e.g., Cirque du Soleil owner Guy Laliberte who, through technology, became the first clown in space at the cost of $35 million, while in Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called “absolute poverty“) it can always seem fair and a rightful reward for ones efforts to become “self-made.” But for those who are left behind, some times not necessarily of their own choice, the implications can have the long term consequences of simply being buried deeper into helplessness and hopelessness.

Balancing between the need for some people to be at the leading edge and the well being of those who may be less aggressive is something a Leader is called to do — something that can also be easier said than done.

Parents As Leaders; Leaders As Parents

The talk today by Dato’ Prof Dr Wan Halim Wan Othman onMyths & Realities About Family triggered quite a reaction from the CIVP group. I was so glad that the participants saw through generalisations that tinted what he painted as myths and realities towards certain directions. In any case, we had some good learning points.

One of them was a conclusion that one of the groups made about Parents being leaders in their own right — which is true. It takes a strong act of leadership to be an effective parent. Obviously, those who fail in that leadership role can end up in the offices of Clinical Sociologists or Psychologists such as Dato’ Wan Halim.

One good model that touches on this concept is Situational Leadership Theory (Situational Parenting)

Situational Leadership (Parenting) Model

Of course, the reciprocal is also true, i.e., sometimes Leaders can be considered as playing the role of Parents to their followers. Again, this is easily understood by following the situational leadership’s tenet that people have different levels of maturity and thus must be treated differently.

The goal is, of course, to nurture children and followers so the Leader or Parent can say with Lao Tzu (6th C BC):

‘A leader is best when people barely know thathe exists,Not so good when people obey andacclaim him,Worst when they despise him.“Fail to honor people,they fail to honor you; But of a good leader, who talks little,When his work is done,his aim fulfilled,They will say “We did this ourselves.”’

Roots & Wings

The presentation made by Dr. Asma Abdullah about the Malaysian Psyche this morning was of great interest to me for a number of reasons:

1. Her research data findings about Malaysians upholding the values of: Harmony, Relationship, Hierarchy, Shame, Polychronic, Group Oriented, and Religious is exactly how I would describe my own ethnic culture;

2. Her take off point for intercultural understanding is that of NOT asking “why are they different, what’s wrong with them?” but rather “why am I the way I am and limited to my view of the world that I hold?” I have always held the same position. Remember the story about the six blind men who went to see an elephant?

3. She talked about the importance of having a good understanding of one’s roots (akar). It is only with such strong groundedness that one can truly participate in globalisation without losing oneself. Unfortunately, today, even parents start out their children by equipping them with “wings” (sayap). As soon as children are able to move around they are quickly taught piano, ballet, martial arts, etc., all designed for the child to be competitive. Values, culture, traditions, etc., which comprise the roots are put aside. When that happens, the children fly as early as they can and most of the time would not want to come back anymore. So many of my own people have gone to live abroad only to totally give up their ethnic roots.

The Culture In Me

Traveling to Malacca, accompanying a group of Malaysian students, attending the CIVP workshop, to find connections with a part of their cultural heritage that somehow defines who and what a Malaysian is brought me to reconnect a a profound personal level. Here are the thoughts that came to mind:

1.    The Philippines, my country of birth, was discovered by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese, some 10 years after the same people landed in Malacca. The atmosphere in the settlement was very familiar and gave me a sense of “home.”
2.    When we were young, we would always write down Malay as our race any forms that we would be filling up. Indeed, the Philippines was part of what was known then as the Malay Archipelago. No wonder coming to Malaysia for the past 30 years always felt like being “home.”
3.    On a wider scale, Tan Sri Ilyas talked about how we all descended from one union – that of Adam and Eve, making us anything else but one.
4.    We are part of one boundless energy stream. Remember what Jill Bolte Taylor described as the connectedness we all have with one another at the energy level?

I  am one unique individual and yet I am part of everyone and everyone is somehow a part of me. My culture, our culture.

Digital Intelligence: The 10th in our List?

Today we revisited the theory of multiple intelligence with the talk by Dr. Peter Shepard. I am getting to be more and more convinced that the 10th intelligence in our list could be Digital Intelligence. The reason I say so is that I am having a déjà vu. I remember that way back in the 80s when I was conducting courses for Managers I had so much resistance from participants whenever I would talk of the need for them to learn how to use the computer. This week, I was amazed at how much “push” we had to do in order to encourage the participants of the CIV Programme (average age 25 years young) to use Social Media (Twitter, Wiki, & Ning) as additional tools for learning and extending the discussion of the workshop coverage beyond sessions hours. I don’t think many people realise how drastically different our way of working and doing things will be even 5 years from today.

Remember, The Machine Is Us!

The Path To No. 1

It was so refreshing to hear Tan Sri Datuk Seri General (B) Ilyas Hj Din talk about leadership with so much wisdom and candor. It was doubly good to hear him reinforce many of the skills (commitment) we have been working on in the CIV Programme such as the importance of: exercise, reading, documentation, networking, nurturing the spirit, having a sense of mission, setting goals, etc. Even better was hearing him talk about the main challenges in his life he had to go through and the need to do a “self-audit” during those times.

By the way, notice how he also spoke about the importance of golf?