What's better
than...?
By Butch Jimenez
-
an
excellent reading material..
This speech was delivered during
the commencement exercises of the UP
graduating
class of 2003 by Mr. Butch Jimenez, the youngest commencement
speaker in the university's history. He once dreamed of doing
so, and it
came true!!! :-) Students wished they had
a pencil or paper to jot down
notes during the
speech; some even wished they had a tape recorder. Some
members of the faculty found his speech practical,
refreshing, and
funny!
Butch Jimenez,
head of PLDT's media and strategic
communications
department, delivered this speech at
the UP Diliman Class 2003
commencement exercises.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What's better
than...? By Butch Jimenez -
Better than being
negative
As college students, you're just
about to set sail into the real world.
As you prepare for the battleground of
life, you'll hear many speeches,
read tons of books
and get miles of advice telling you to work hard,
dream big, go out and do something for yourself, and have a
vision.
Not bad advice, really. In fact,
following these nuggets of truth may
just bring you
to the top. But as I've lived my life over the years, I
have come to realize that it is great to dream big, have a
vision, make
a name, and work hard. But guess what:
There's something better than
that.
So my message today simply asks the
question, What's better than...?
Let's start off
with something really simple. What's better than a long
speech? No
doubt, a short one. So, you guys are in luck because I do
intend to keep this short.
Now, let me take
you through a very simple math exam. I'll rattle off a
couple of equations, and you tell me what you observe about
them. Be
mindful of the instructions. You are to
tell me what you observe about
the
equations.
Here goes: 3+4=7, 9+2=11, 8+4=13,
and 6+6=12. Tell me, what do you
observe?
Every time I conduct this test,
more than 90 percent of the participants
immediately
say, 8+4 is NOT 13, it's 12!
That's true and they are correct.
But they could have also observed that
the three
other equations were right. That 3+4 is 7, that 9+2 is 11, and
that 6+6 is 12.
What's my point? Many people
immediately focus on the negative instead
of the
positive. Most of us focus on what's wrong with other people more
than what's right about them. Examine those four equations.
Three were
right and only one was wrong. But what is
the knee-jerk observation? The
wrong
equation.
If 10 people you didn't know were
to walk through that door, most of you
would
describe those people by what's negative about them. He's fat.
He's balding.
Oh, the short one. Oh, the skinny girl. Ahhh, 'yung pango.
Etc.
Get the point?
It's always the negative we focus on and not the
positive. You'll definitely experience this in the corporate
world. You
do a hundred good things and one
mistake-guess what? Chances are, your
attention will
be called on that one mistake.
So what's better than focusing on
the negative? Believe me, its focusing
on the
positive. And if this world could learn to focus on the positive
more than the negative, it would be a much nicer place to
live in.
Better than
working hard
We have always been told to work
hard. Our parents say that, our
teachers say that,
and our principal says that. But there's something
better than merely working hard. It's working
SMART.
It's taking time to understand the
situation, and coming out with an
effective and
efficient solution to get more done with less time and
effort. As the Japanese say, "There's always a better
way."
One of the most memorable case
studies I came across with as I studied
Japanese management at
Sophia
University
in Tokyo
was the case of the
empty soap box, which happened
in one of Japan's
biggest cosmetics
companies. The company received a
complaint that a consumer had bought a
box of soap
that was empty. It immediately isolated the problem to the
assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of
soap to the
delivery department. For some reason,
one soap box went through the
assembly line empty.
Management tasked its engineers to solve the
problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an
X-ray
machine with high-resolution monitors manned
by two people to watch all
the soap boxes that
passed through the line to make sure they were not
empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked
fast.
But a rank-and-file employee that
was posed the same problem came out
with another
solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and
pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and
as each
soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the
empty boxes out of the line.
Clearly, the engineers worked hard,
but the rank-and-file employee
worked smart. So
what's better than merely working hard? It's
working
smart. Having said that,
it is still important to work hard. If you
could combine both working hard and working smart, you would
possess a
major factor toward
success.
Better than
dreaming big
I will bet my next month's salary
that many have encouraged you to dream
big. Maybe
even to reach for the stars and aim high. I sure heard that
about a million times right before I graduated from this
university. So
I did. I did dream big. I did aim high. I did reach for the
stars. No
doubt, it works. In fact, the saying is
true: "If you aim for nothing,
that's exactly what
you'll hit: nothing."
But there's something better than
dreaming big. Believe me, I got
shocked myself. And
I learned it from the biggest dreamer of all time,
Walt Disney. When it comes
to dreaming big, Walt is the man. No bigger
dreams
were fulfilled than his. Every leadership book describes him as
the ultimate dreamer. In fact, the principle of dreaming and
achieving
is the core message of the Disney hit
song, "When You Wish Upon a Star".
"When you wish upon a star, makes
no difference who you are; anything
your heart
desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no
request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as
dreamers do," as
Jiminy Cricket sang.
But is that what
he preached in the Disney company? Dream?
Imagineering.
Well, not exactly. Kinda, but not
quite. The problem with dreaming is if
that's
all you do, you'll really get nowhere. In fact, you may just fall
asleep and never wake up.
The secret to Disney's success is
not just dreaming, it's IMAGINEERING.
You won't
find this word in a dictionary. It's purely a Disney word.
Those who engage
in imagineering are called imagineers. The word
combines
the words "imagination" and "engineering."
In the book
"Imagineers," Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, claims
that
"imagineers turn
impossible dreams into real magic."
Walt Disney explained there is
really no secret to their approach. They
just keep
moving forward-opening new doors and doing new things, because
they are curious. And it is this curiosity that leads them
down new
paths. They always dream, explore and
experiment. In short, imagineering
is the blending of creative imagination and technical
know-how.
Eisner expounds on this thought by
saying that "Not only are imaginers
curious, they
are courageous, outrageous, and their creativity is
contagious."
The big difference with imagineers is that they dream and then they DO!
So don't just be a dreamer, be an imagineer.
What's better
than vision
You must have all been given a
lecture at one time or another about the
importance
of having a vision. Even leadership expert John Maxwell says
that an indispensable quality of a leader is to have a
vision. The Bible
also makes it very clear that
"Without vision, people perish." So no
doubt about
it, having a vision is important to success.
But surprise!
There's something more potent than a vision. It's a CAUSE.
If all you're
doing is trying to reach your vision and you're pitted
against someone fighting for a cause, chances are you'll
lose.
The Vietnam War is a classic
example. Literally with sticks and stones,
the Viet
Cong beat the heavily armed US Army to surrender, primarily
because the
US
had a vision to in the war, but the Vietnamese were
fighting for a cause.
In the realm of
business, many leaders have visions of making their
company No.1, or grabbing market share, or forever increasing
profits.
Nothing really wrong with that
vision, but take the example of Sony
founder Akio
Morita. He did not just have a vision to build the biggest
electronics company in the world. In his biography, "Made in
Japan,"
he
reveals that the real reason he set up Sony was
to help rebuild his
country, which had just been
battered by war. He had a cause he was
fighting for.
His vision to be an electronics giant was secondary.
What's the
difference between a vision and a cause? Here's what sets
them apart... No one is willing to die for a vision. People
will die for
a cause. You possess a vision. A cause
possesses you. A vision lies in
your hands. A cause
lies in your heart. A vision involves sacrifice. A
cause involves the ultimate sacrifice.
Just a word of
caution. You must have the right vision,
and you must be
fighting for the right cause. In the
end, right will always win out.
It may take time, and it may take
long. But if you have the right vision
and are
fighting for the right cause, you will prevail. If not, no
matter how sincere you are, if you are not fighting for what
is right,
you will ultimately
fail.
The Bible, which says, "To whom
much is given, much is required."
Having been given the opportunity
to study in UP, no doubt, much has
been given to you
in terms of an excellent education. Don't forget that
in return, much is now required of you to use that education
not just
for yourself, but for
others.
And as you move up and start
reaching the pinnacle of success, even more
will be
required of you to look at the welfare of others, of society and
of the country.
A final
review:
* What's better than focusing on
the negative? Focus on the positive.
* What's better than working hard?
It's working smart.
* What's better than dreaming?
Imagineering.
* What's better
than doing something for yourself? Doing something
for
your country.
* What's better
than a vision? A cause.
* What's better
than a long speech? Definitely, a short
one.
Thank you and
congratulations, UP Diliman graduating class of
2003!
"Excellence is
not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never
ends."
===========================
Ma.
Johanna R. Reario
Corporate
Information Solutions, Inc.
6331321
local 2216
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