Maxwell's Laws

If I pursued my dream of becoming an astrophysicist, I would now be writing about James Maxwell and his equations. But life really is, as Forrest Gump said, like a box of chocolates, and I never thought I would end up a leader in a technology services company, rather than a theorist in a university. That is why I read the works of John, not James, Maxwell, and his 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

I never saw myself as a leader. I wanted to be, as I told other people, a sexy, public intellectual. I dreamed of becoming a scholar writing papers, teaching classes, and expressing views on the issues of the day. But when the opportunity for a promotion presented itself, I simply grabbed it because my gut told me it was my moment. That was when I decided I would learn about leadership because I was going to get paid to be one.

Having been a leader for more than two years and of one hundred people, I now realize that leading is part of my life mission. Maxwell's Law of Process tells me that, even so, I am still a beginner, and there is a lifetime of learning ahead of me. I used to think only natural science had universal laws, but Covey and Maxwell have convinced me that life and leadership, too, have irrefutable laws.

Principle Centered Leadership or How Self-Help Helped Me

I first learned about the Seven Habits when I won a book of daily reflections by Sean Covey, Stephen's son, as a prize for one of the sessions of the Dale Carnegie course I was attending.

Back in high school, my close friend Hans invited me to go to Cebu for free. We went to SM Cebu and I browsed books at the National Bookstore. I had been looking at Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People on prior visits to bookstores because I was painfully aware of how shy I was, and that I needed to improve in the area of interpersonal relations. I only had a thousand pesos as pocket money for the trip, but I felt particularly rich that day because we were staying at Shangri-la Mactan so I decided to buy the book.

It was a real eye-opener. It was one of the few books that really got me excited because it addressed a pain point with specific action steps rather than vague exhortations to think positively or to pray for divine intervention. I did not become an extrovert overnight, and I remain introspective by nature, but it put me on the path of continuously challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone.

The summer before college, I convinced my dad to shell out six thousand pesos so I can enroll in a Dale Carnegie course. I went all the way to Makati twice a week for five days to attend a course that forced me to speak, think on my feet, and even make a complete fool out of myself. It made me realize there was a lot more I could do if only I had the confidence to express myself and reach out to people. I felt a sense of possibility and power. It helped me conquer myself.

I have not really discussed Principle Center Leadership, but there will be more opportunities to write about the Seven Habits and how Covey profoundly affected me as a person, and as a leader.

Philippine Independence Missions

I received a copy of Bernardita Reyes Churchill's book Philippine Independence Missions as a prize for winning the National History Quiz in 1998 as a high school junior. I won one hundred thousand pesos as prize money, the first time I ever held a six digit sum in my hands. Not only was I proud of winning a national competition, I was also happy to help my parents financially as we were in danger of losing our home. That still remains one of my proudest moments.

I finally got to read the book eleven years after. It was a surprisingly interesting read. The key personalities of the independence struggle became living and breathing human beings in my mind, not just names to memorize and recite for quiz shows. There was Quezon the master politician, cunning, passionate, and impulsive; Osmena, ambitious, but ultimately a loyal gentleman; Roxas, nationalistic, demagogic, and impatient to reach the top; and Aguinaldo, perennial critic and pain in the ass, struggling to reclaim his former glory.

I have renewed admiration for these leaders. They were flawed as all humans are, but by demonstrating brilliant leadership, they belied claims that Filipinos were unfit for independence. They won for us our freedom.

Ultimate Investor

Two weeks ago, while I was on vacation, I read Kiyosaki’s Guide to Investing, which is the third book in his Rich Dad, Poor Dad series. While it focused more on the mental preparation rather than the specifics of starting a business and investing in real estate or financial instruments, it spurred me even further to work on my financial plan. I am now convinced, more than ever, that I need to educate myself about business, finance, and accounting. Also, I would like to start a business sooner, rather than later. Starting small by buying a food franchise or purchasing rental property would allow us to learn about aspects of business we cannot read from books.

I will continue studying about fundamental and technical analysis, and begin trading within the year so I can become a qualified investor. I need to study more about finance, accounting, corporate and tax law in order to become what Kiyosaki calls a sophisticated investor. The final goal, according to Kiyosaki, would be to be an ultimate investor, that is, one of the investors who invest even before an IPO.

I have come a long way since I first read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. At that time, I was working for a call center and I was barely able to make ends meet with my salary. Things became worse after that as I unexpectedly became a young husband and father and began accumulating credit card debt. It took me nearly half a year to pay down that debt. My wife and I had the good sense to realize we were falling into the middle class trap so we were able pull back from the precipice. Now we are more than halfway on our road to becoming millionaires. One million pesos does not count much these days, but it will definitely give us the confidence to aim for financial freedom.

Since we have a long time horizon, I am using dollar cost averaging as a strategy, and I am investing about 60% of our monthly income in a mutual fund composed mainly of equities. It has been a scary ride because of the global financial crisis, with my portfolio losing as much as 25% of its value, but now I am almost breaking even.I feel confident, however, that I will be making a lot of gains in the medium to long term.

My journey to financial freedom has just started. I am sad to see how many more people can benefit from the concepts explained by Kiyosaki. People my age think nothing of buying doodads such as new cars, cellphones, and even condominium units. Many run out of cash the week before payday. I fear they will wake up at 50 with a home mortgage restructured several times and a lot of debt on several credit cards with no provision for their retirement, which is what happened to people I love dearly. Money is a sensitive and emotional topic and it won't be easy to convince people to change the way they spend, but I think it would be irresponsible for me not to try and influence the people that are close to me. I will escape the rat race and I will bring along as many people as I can.

What Is To Be Done

The communists I have met at the university were often dogmatic and narrow-minded. I read a book on the bloody purges committed by the NPA against its own cadres suspected of being military agents and they blithely dismiss it as propaganda. They rally against what they label as commercialization of the university even if the sale or rental of idle assets would help fund salary increases for professors, and improvement of facilities. They would rather ask for more money from government, probably to be funded by more taxes from the poor people they claim to defend.

Reading Lenin's What Is To Be Done, which is a polemic against party members who seek reform rather than revolution, I begin to understand where the dogmatism is coming from. Lenin values ideological purity and sees it as critical to the formation of a vanguard party that will raise the level of consciousness of the masses. History momentarily validated his strategy when he took power in 1917, but finally consigned communism to its proverbial dustbin when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

It is no accident that an exclusive approach to politics ultimately failed. Radicals, by exalting a particular set of revealed truths, alienate the majority that are more receptive to reason and debate. They are thus left at the margins, watching history unfold rather than making it.

The Wedding

Nicholas Spark's The Wedding is the first romance novel I have read and I would not have read it had I not been forced by my wife. I have to admit, however, that the romantic in me actually relished reading it.

It was warm, sweet, exciting, and joyful, as love should be. It is the story of how an old couple fell out of love, and then fell in love again after the workaholic husband courted his much neglected housewife. It ended with a typical, but still endearing, romantic gesture. I would like to do the same for my wife, but I would rather not let our marriage reach the breaking point.

Indeed, I began seriously thinking about our own wedding after reading this book. We are yet to have a church wedding although we now have two kids. No matter how my wife claims that it would be impractical, I know that one of the best ways to honor her as a woman would be to let her walk down the aisle.

Our civil marriage was a farce. We had to rush it because she was already pregnant with our first child, and we feared the event might be disrupted since news of our sudden decision to marry was not well-received. It was held at the Manila City Hall because my uncle works there and he had a few connections. My parents and a few relatives were there, but there was none on her side except a close friend. An old, nearly infirm, pastor led the ceremony. We then had a lunch at Max's Restaurant at SM City Manila. In the afternoon, we watched a documentary about penguins with the narration done by Sharon Cuneta.

And so that is how we became husband and wife. I hope I can make it up with a real, romantic, and, hopefully regal, church wedding.

Traditions and Encounters

I love history. If I were not a manager, working as a historian is something I would like to do. In fact, I still think it would be a great second career. One of my pipe dreams is to write a definitive history of the Philippines or a period that has not been studied much by historians.

I read Bentley and Ziegler's Traditions and Encounters not only because I remain obsessive compulsive about reading even my wife's books just because we already have them at home, but also because I wanted to rekindle my love for history. This textbook was not exceptional, but it still reminded me of the epic scale of human achievement and folly since written records were made. When one reads of the first encounters between conquistadors and the Aztecs, of the noble and bloody French Revolution, of the rise and fall of Napoleon, of the millions who died in the two world wars, one realizes that a client escalation or a people management issue are really insignificant in the grand scheme of human history.

A sense of perspective is the best antidote to excessive worrying about issues. That is why I love history. It fuels my ambition to be great because I want to be part of history, but it also teaches me to be humble when I realize that my life is but one link in the long chain of the human story.

Fairy Tales

Hillary Rollins' The Empress' New Lingerie was a gift from Patricia, and is the only piece of erotica in our library. It is a book of fairy tales that have a sexual twist. As a guy more likely to be excited by something more visual or explicit, I found the book as arousing as watching paint dry on a wall.

I really don't have much to say about this book or this subject so let me talk about fairy tales. I remember that I really liked them as a child. I used to collect the fairy tale booklets that came with Nido milk cans as a promotion. I also watched a television series that showed a different fairy tale every week, but I no longer remember the show's title. While I know a few Filipino folk tales, it's a shame I probably know more about those written by Andersen and the Grimm brothers. Now that I have two little boys, I need to remember how excited I was by fairy tales and how they were real to me as a child. I want them to experience the same sense of magic and wonderment. At the same time, I would like them to learn more about their own culture and heritage.

Rollins' erotic work sits a few inches away from my son's children's books.

My Debate Philosophy

Instead of reviewing Africa's Art of Argumentation and Debate, an old book that did not teach anything new, let me post excerpts of an email I wrote to the my college debate society.

People could not be further from the truth when they accuse
me of not caring enough. My debate philosophy is not an
argument for irresponsibility or a carefree hakunah matatah
attitude. It might be surprising to some, but I
passionately care about debate. I consider debate a craft,
an art form. I am in genuine awe of the raw and spontaneous
intellectual clash, of the eloquent power of the spoken
word. I consider myself the unworthy but aspiring
descendant of the likes of Socrates, Lincoln and Churchill.
Debate is so much bigger than an individual debater, the
organization or the debate community. In debate, I hear the
echo of conflicting ideas ringing through the ages. I
debate because I consider it my art, my creative outlet. I
am not a writer, a musician, nor a painter, but I am a
proud debater.

It is true that some people perceive me as carefree because
I debate the least before tryouts; I do not bring matter at
all during tournaments; I do not react strongly to either
victory or defeat. But I will throw modesty out of the
window for it is nothing but the refuge of the fool. I top
the tryouts, I win championships and I get best speaker
citations. I have achieved as much or even more than those
who accuse my team of not caring about winning.

I do care about winning. It feels good to win. I care about
winning but it is always tempered by the realization that
winning is not everything. I will always do my best in a
debate. For seven minutes, I will exhaust all my
argumentative skills, all stored up knowledge, and all
flair and humor to deliver the best speech I can. But after
the debate, I will forget about it. I will forge
friendships with my opponents who, I never forget, are
thinking and feeling humans too. I will look at the sunset,
I will take a dip in the pool, I will have a drink or two.
I will watch the fireworks instead of ruminate on a bad
speech. I will listen to the crashing waves instead of
planning how to get back at a stupid adjudicator.

I address this especially to the new members because they
say that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. What is the
use of measuring your life on the basis of debate
achievements as some of the old people do? What is the use
of attaching so much importance to the subjective decisions
of fallible adjudicators who will always have biases and
prejudices despite their best efforts at objectivity?

The desire to win must always be tempered by the
realization that a decision is nothing but a consensus by
flawed humans that a team was the one that adhered the most
to the dominant but fleeting and changing standards of what
it means to be a good debater. That is putting it at its
best. At worst, a decision can be reduced to a question of
who offended the adjudicators’ sense of taste the least.
This is why I do not despair when I lose, because I know
that I am still smarter than someone who adheres to
the dominant paradigm better. This is why I do not praise
the high heavens when I win, because it says less about my
worth as a debater than it does about my ability to please
the adjudicators.

Some assume that there is one true road to debate success, as though the
only way to win is to debate in a particular way, to keep
on repeating the same thing over and over again, and to
have the decorum of one attending a funeral. I am not
against hard work. I respect people who achieve things
because of hard work. But that is no reason to discount
people who achieve things out of brilliance and know how to
have fun at the same time. Dogma is anathema to debate and it is
dogmatic to pontificate about the one true road to debate
glory.

Training is indispensable to the new debater who has to get
used to doing something he does not normally do. But
mindless and repetitive debating leads to diminishing
returns. It may even lead to calcified patterns of thought
and formulaic speaking styles. Assuming basic competence,
the key is no longer how many times you debate, but how
hard you think about how you debate. Based on my
experience, there is no direct relation between the number
of times you debate and your chances of winning a
tournament. Hearing trite adjudication (lacks
substantiation, lacks dynamism, weak responsiveness) helped
me less than reading and analyzing the thought of
provocative philosophers.

We always say that we want to have class. Acting like sore
losers out to avenge the past several years’ losses will
not breed class. Wanting that piece of shiny metal so badly
that we start debating like noisy fish vendors will not
breed class. Thinking that winning is everything will not
breed class. Behaving according to some presumptuous
standard of behavior will not breed class. One has class
not because of how one acts but by how one is treated. To
have class is to be treated with respect because of the
apparent lack of effort, the perception that there is
nothing more natural in the world than to debate. We will
never have class if we are too uptight and serious; if we
don’t have a sense of humor; if treat winning as all there
is to life. I sincerely believe that if we debated because
we genuinely enjoyed doing it, then we will have class and
start winning those trophies.

I have talked about how I view debate at length because I
disagree that the way to keep the new members debating is
by filling them with angst or issues. Younger debaters do
not need to be told they ought to be ashamed of their
performance after they lose. They already feel shame. They
do not need put-downs masquerading as pep talks. They need
to be inspired. They need to realize a new debate is a new
battle even as lessons ought to be learned from a prior
defeat. They need to be shown that they can enjoy debate.
The seven-minute rush can come from the fear of not
winning; but it can also come from the sheer pleasure of
arguing.

They cannot stop us from debating for we debate
out of passion. We shall debate with our future students,
with the taxi driver, with our friends or against each
other. Debate is our life, not in the petty sense of not
being able to let go of a lost championship, but in the
grand sense of devoting oneself to the life of the mind.
The same can be said of the true writer who writes because
it is his passion. It runs through his veins and suffuses
his spirit. To stop writing is to stop living. A writer
writes not because he wants the Nobel Prize, but because he
cannot do otherwise. A writer is not any less of a writer
if he fails to win the nod of the establishment critics. In
fact, I would dare say that a writer ceases to be a writer
if writes to get accolades. For then, he ceases to be an
artist and becomes no different from the beauty pageant or
pera o bayong contestant.

I will always think that debating is its own reward. I will
always think that debating is fun. I will always think of
myself as a debater, first and foremost, and only secondly
as a champion.