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In 2003, Butch Jimenez set online groups and chat
rooms abuzz with his speech to the UP graduating
class. It inspired readers with its sense of
nationalism and human values.
Last year, Jimenez delivered the commencement
address at Silliman University. No less compelling,
the speech has made the e-mail rounds.
It has been carried by newspapers and magazines,
and cited in marketing conferences. It is reprinted
here, with the author’s permission, and excerpted
in the interest of space.
One of the questions running in your mind today as
you graduate and move forward is, “How do I reach
the top?” A fair question and one that needs to be
answered. And since I now presently handle
marketing for both PLDT and Smart, let me share
with you some marketing principles that I have
learned, that may guide you on your quest to the top.
Success in marketing is a battle to be the first in the
mind of the consumer. What does this all mean to
you, as you go out into the workplace?
If you guys want to start rising to the top, you have to
be the first or the top of mind amongst the people
that you work for specially your boss. When the
boss needs something done, you have to be the
first in his mind. If you’re just the third, or the fourth,
or the fifth, or the tenth in his mind, you’re just like a
company that is in third, fourth or fifth position – far,
far away from rising to the top. But being top of
mind is not enough. You also have to burn an
attribute in his mind.
Now, a slight word of caution. Burning an attribute
in your boss’s or co-worker’s mind is a double-
edged sword. You have to make sure that you burn
a positive attribute and not a negative one. There
are many attributes that I would have wanted to
share with you, but in the interest of time, I will
focus on two. The first one is the attribute of
discipline.
A year and a half ago, I went to a leadership
conference in Singapore. I wanted to listen to Lee
Kuan Yew and what he had to say. Lee Kuan Yew
shared how he built Singapore from nothing to
where it is today. A generation ago, Singapore was
far worse off than many of its peers. But today, it is
an economic superpower.
He narrated that when he first started to lead
Singapore, he asked his think-tank to visit
neighboring countries like the Philippines,
Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and figure
out what they don’t have. He said they all came
back with one conclusion: These countries lacked
discipline.
So to differentiate Singapore from its neighbors, he
decided to build his country on discipline. This
meant that if Singapore promised something to its
people, to its foreign investors, and to other
countries, it will be fulfilled.
One of my good friends is the president of Alaska
Milk, Fred Uytengsu. I used to see him on the
baseball field when he used to coach his son’s
team and I was an assistant for my son’s team.
One day, I saw him wearing a shirt that said, “If you
don’t have discipline, you don’t deserve to dream.”
No matter how harsh it may seem, the point is true.
Don’t even bother dreaming, if you don’t have the
discipline to make it a reality.
In the world of business, discipline is defined as
work ethic. I’d like to share with you an anecdote
about a great man who epitomised what work ethic
is all about: Thomas Alva Edison.
At the age of 82, Edison, deserved to be honored
for his lifetime work, declared the president of the
United States. So they put together a huge event in
his honor. Being 82, he felt a bit sick that night and
fainted. Good thing they were able to revive him and
he was still able to go up on stage. Edison, upon
accepting the award, simply said, “I am tired of all
this glory. I want to get back to work.”
The second attribute we should burn is execution.
We need to be able to drive in the minds of the
people that we work with that we are the “go-to” guy.
That if they want to make something happen, you
are the guy to go to, because you are the person
who can execute.
One of the greatest mentors of all time said to his
pupil: Luke, there is no try. There is either do or not
do.” You know who that is? That is Yoda teaching
Luke Skywalker of Star Wars one of the most
important lessons in life: execution or making it
happen.
An icon of execution, of course, is Michael Jordan.
He is arguably one of the greatest basketball
players that ever lived, but not without getting the
ball, taking that shot, and executing the play.
But part of execution is learning how to fail yet rising
again. Michael Jordan says this: “I missed more
than 9,000 shots in my career and lost almost 300
games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to
take the game-winning shot and missed. I have
failed over and over and over again in my life, and
that’s precisely why I succeed.”
Let’s also learn a lesson from Mickey Mouse. Well,
maybe not from Mickey, but from his originator, Walt
Disney. Walt had four mantras: dreaming,
believing, daring, and then doing. Of the four,
“doing” is what turns everything into a reality.
Walt said: “Dreaming, believing and daring without
doing is just like Dumbo, the elephant, without
ears. It just won’t fly. Abrakadabra will never work.”
Only execution does.
In my UP speech, I talked to them about “what’s
better than,” and I juxtaposed what’s better than this
versus what’s better than that. Now, all of us want
to ascend to the top. No doubt about it. And we
should. But what’s better than ascending to the
top? The answer is descending to the top.
The Bible tells us that he who wishes to be the
greatest must be the servant of all. What I want to
share with you is that as you rise to the top, the
more you have to be a servant. The keyword is
humility.
I want to share with you what happened to Steve
Jobs, the founder of Apple computers and inventor
of the Ipod. As he was ascending to the top, as he
was rising towards greatness, Jobs forgot humility.
While he was hitting his peak, all he thought about
was how great he was, how fantastic he was, and
how the world and his company revolved around
him.
What happened to Steve Jobs as he hit the peak?
He was driven out of his company both in failure
and in disgrace. Then after having failed in many
other endeavors, he started again and went on to
make an indelible mark in the entertainment
industry. But something was different about the
man this time. People started to feel Steve had
changed.
And so in a big conference at the Moscone Center
in San Francisco, there he was, listening to the
chants of the people, demanding him to come back
and run Apple again.
For the first time in his public life, there on stage,
Steve appeared genuinely touched. He wasn’t
brash or cocky anymore. He said:“You guys are
making me feel funny right now. I get to come to
work with the most talented people on the planet.
The best job in the world. But these jobs are team
sports. I cannot do it alone; I can only do it with a
team.”
If you’re able to get a copy of Time Magazine’s
issue where they declared who their Man of the
Year was for 2005, you’ll see their choice was Bill
Gates. But not because of what Bill Gates has done
for Microsoft. Not because he revolutionised the
computer industry. But because of what Bill Gates
has started to do for humanity.
Bill realises that this is probably the generation
where if health care were given enough resources,
he can actually make a big difference in millions of
people’s lives. And that has become the man’s
passion and advocacy, donating billions to uplift the
health of poverty-stricken nations.
Finally, as you rise to the top, you should never lose
your heart for our country. I always tell my team in
PLDT, that yes, we have a business to run, but let
us never forget we also have a country to serve. You
will have businesses to run, you will have your own
careers to take care of, and you will have your own
dreams to pursue, but never forget you have a
country to serve.
You may ask, “How? How do I serve the country?”
One way is actually quite simple. I’ll give it to you in
one word. If you are great, if you are smart, if you
are the best, if you have a Silliman education, then,
please stay. You would have actually done a great
service to our country just by staying. But if you can’t
stay, or you don’t want to stay, that’s fine.
But I want to ask two things of you. First, go out
there and show the whole world how great the
Filipino is. In whatever field you’re in, prove to the
world how special we Filipinos truly are.
Second, don’t just plan to come back. Plan to give
back to the country. If you do that, if every Filipino
who goes out there into the world – and there are
millions of us already – proves to everybody how
great the Filipino is, and not only plans to come
back, but actually plans to give back to this country,
in less than one generation, we will be an even
greater nation.
You must be asking yourselves, “How do I reach
my dreams?” or “How far can I go?” In the last 42
years of my life, I have realized one thing: “There is
no destination beyond the reach of those who walk
with God.” So when you go out there in the world,
take God’s hand and walk with Him. There will be
no destination beyond your reach.
rooms abuzz with his speech to the UP graduating
class. It inspired readers with its sense of
nationalism and human values.
Last year, Jimenez delivered the commencement
address at Silliman University. No less compelling,
the speech has made the e-mail rounds.
It has been carried by newspapers and magazines,
and cited in marketing conferences. It is reprinted
here, with the author’s permission, and excerpted
in the interest of space.
One of the questions running in your mind today as
you graduate and move forward is, “How do I reach
the top?” A fair question and one that needs to be
answered. And since I now presently handle
marketing for both PLDT and Smart, let me share
with you some marketing principles that I have
learned, that may guide you on your quest to the top.
Success in marketing is a battle to be the first in the
mind of the consumer. What does this all mean to
you, as you go out into the workplace?
If you guys want to start rising to the top, you have to
be the first or the top of mind amongst the people
that you work for specially your boss. When the
boss needs something done, you have to be the
first in his mind. If you’re just the third, or the fourth,
or the fifth, or the tenth in his mind, you’re just like a
company that is in third, fourth or fifth position – far,
far away from rising to the top. But being top of
mind is not enough. You also have to burn an
attribute in his mind.
Now, a slight word of caution. Burning an attribute
in your boss’s or co-worker’s mind is a double-
edged sword. You have to make sure that you burn
a positive attribute and not a negative one. There
are many attributes that I would have wanted to
share with you, but in the interest of time, I will
focus on two. The first one is the attribute of
discipline.
A year and a half ago, I went to a leadership
conference in Singapore. I wanted to listen to Lee
Kuan Yew and what he had to say. Lee Kuan Yew
shared how he built Singapore from nothing to
where it is today. A generation ago, Singapore was
far worse off than many of its peers. But today, it is
an economic superpower.
He narrated that when he first started to lead
Singapore, he asked his think-tank to visit
neighboring countries like the Philippines,
Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and figure
out what they don’t have. He said they all came
back with one conclusion: These countries lacked
discipline.
So to differentiate Singapore from its neighbors, he
decided to build his country on discipline. This
meant that if Singapore promised something to its
people, to its foreign investors, and to other
countries, it will be fulfilled.
One of my good friends is the president of Alaska
Milk, Fred Uytengsu. I used to see him on the
baseball field when he used to coach his son’s
team and I was an assistant for my son’s team.
One day, I saw him wearing a shirt that said, “If you
don’t have discipline, you don’t deserve to dream.”
No matter how harsh it may seem, the point is true.
Don’t even bother dreaming, if you don’t have the
discipline to make it a reality.
In the world of business, discipline is defined as
work ethic. I’d like to share with you an anecdote
about a great man who epitomised what work ethic
is all about: Thomas Alva Edison.
At the age of 82, Edison, deserved to be honored
for his lifetime work, declared the president of the
United States. So they put together a huge event in
his honor. Being 82, he felt a bit sick that night and
fainted. Good thing they were able to revive him and
he was still able to go up on stage. Edison, upon
accepting the award, simply said, “I am tired of all
this glory. I want to get back to work.”
The second attribute we should burn is execution.
We need to be able to drive in the minds of the
people that we work with that we are the “go-to” guy.
That if they want to make something happen, you
are the guy to go to, because you are the person
who can execute.
One of the greatest mentors of all time said to his
pupil: Luke, there is no try. There is either do or not
do.” You know who that is? That is Yoda teaching
Luke Skywalker of Star Wars one of the most
important lessons in life: execution or making it
happen.
An icon of execution, of course, is Michael Jordan.
He is arguably one of the greatest basketball
players that ever lived, but not without getting the
ball, taking that shot, and executing the play.
But part of execution is learning how to fail yet rising
again. Michael Jordan says this: “I missed more
than 9,000 shots in my career and lost almost 300
games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to
take the game-winning shot and missed. I have
failed over and over and over again in my life, and
that’s precisely why I succeed.”
Let’s also learn a lesson from Mickey Mouse. Well,
maybe not from Mickey, but from his originator, Walt
Disney. Walt had four mantras: dreaming,
believing, daring, and then doing. Of the four,
“doing” is what turns everything into a reality.
Walt said: “Dreaming, believing and daring without
doing is just like Dumbo, the elephant, without
ears. It just won’t fly. Abrakadabra will never work.”
Only execution does.
In my UP speech, I talked to them about “what’s
better than,” and I juxtaposed what’s better than this
versus what’s better than that. Now, all of us want
to ascend to the top. No doubt about it. And we
should. But what’s better than ascending to the
top? The answer is descending to the top.
The Bible tells us that he who wishes to be the
greatest must be the servant of all. What I want to
share with you is that as you rise to the top, the
more you have to be a servant. The keyword is
humility.
I want to share with you what happened to Steve
Jobs, the founder of Apple computers and inventor
of the Ipod. As he was ascending to the top, as he
was rising towards greatness, Jobs forgot humility.
While he was hitting his peak, all he thought about
was how great he was, how fantastic he was, and
how the world and his company revolved around
him.
What happened to Steve Jobs as he hit the peak?
He was driven out of his company both in failure
and in disgrace. Then after having failed in many
other endeavors, he started again and went on to
make an indelible mark in the entertainment
industry. But something was different about the
man this time. People started to feel Steve had
changed.
And so in a big conference at the Moscone Center
in San Francisco, there he was, listening to the
chants of the people, demanding him to come back
and run Apple again.
For the first time in his public life, there on stage,
Steve appeared genuinely touched. He wasn’t
brash or cocky anymore. He said:“You guys are
making me feel funny right now. I get to come to
work with the most talented people on the planet.
The best job in the world. But these jobs are team
sports. I cannot do it alone; I can only do it with a
team.”
If you’re able to get a copy of Time Magazine’s
issue where they declared who their Man of the
Year was for 2005, you’ll see their choice was Bill
Gates. But not because of what Bill Gates has done
for Microsoft. Not because he revolutionised the
computer industry. But because of what Bill Gates
has started to do for humanity.
Bill realises that this is probably the generation
where if health care were given enough resources,
he can actually make a big difference in millions of
people’s lives. And that has become the man’s
passion and advocacy, donating billions to uplift the
health of poverty-stricken nations.
Finally, as you rise to the top, you should never lose
your heart for our country. I always tell my team in
PLDT, that yes, we have a business to run, but let
us never forget we also have a country to serve. You
will have businesses to run, you will have your own
careers to take care of, and you will have your own
dreams to pursue, but never forget you have a
country to serve.
You may ask, “How? How do I serve the country?”
One way is actually quite simple. I’ll give it to you in
one word. If you are great, if you are smart, if you
are the best, if you have a Silliman education, then,
please stay. You would have actually done a great
service to our country just by staying. But if you can’t
stay, or you don’t want to stay, that’s fine.
But I want to ask two things of you. First, go out
there and show the whole world how great the
Filipino is. In whatever field you’re in, prove to the
world how special we Filipinos truly are.
Second, don’t just plan to come back. Plan to give
back to the country. If you do that, if every Filipino
who goes out there into the world – and there are
millions of us already – proves to everybody how
great the Filipino is, and not only plans to come
back, but actually plans to give back to this country,
in less than one generation, we will be an even
greater nation.
You must be asking yourselves, “How do I reach
my dreams?” or “How far can I go?” In the last 42
years of my life, I have realized one thing: “There is
no destination beyond the reach of those who walk
with God.” So when you go out there in the world,
take God’s hand and walk with Him. There will be
no destination beyond your reach.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
if you can’t stay, or
you don’t want to
stay, that’s fine.
But I want to ask
two things of you.
First, go out there
and show the whole
world how great the
Filipino is
you don’t want to
stay, that’s fine.
But I want to ask
two things of you.
First, go out there
and show the whole
world how great the
Filipino is
Butch Jimenez on descending to the top
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
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