Thoughts on Efficiency

Thoughts on Efficiency

One is efficient when one is able to do what is required of him.  To consistently do what is required calls for dedication.  To be dedicated, motivation is required, but where does one get the motivation.  From the Latin word “movere” where the loose translation is “to move”- an individual must find his own internal reasons to do things and make it happen.

People could be efficient for a factor of reasons.  It could be based on intrinsic motivations or extrinsic motivations.  Like clockwork, these motivations propel an individual to do better, to be efficient and exceed expectations.

An efficient system produces an output with the least amount of input.  Businessmen have corrupted this concept by always insisting on cost-cutting.  Instead of focusing on activities that increases the revenues, they focus on cost-cutting, hence the agonizing resistance of people chance, especially if the aim is to drive down the cost of producing a service or a good.  

In the academe, the nature of the business is delivery of instruction which is better characterized by a production of service.  Simply put, one is efficient (or the university) when there is a large volume of graduated students every semester.  The more students who graduated, the more efficient is the university.

Quality here is still not factored into the equation.  There are many working definitions of quality 1) conformance to requirements 2)fitness for use and/or 3)that which exceeds expectations.  For an organization/university to claim quality, such must at least meet all the enumerated working definitions.

The fusion of quality and efficiency is inevitable – one cannot have one without the other.  One cannot claim efficiency without exceeding expectations.

Thoughts on Human Resource Management

Thoughts on Human Resource Management

People really do not want to be managed.  Unconsciously, they resent management because you cannot really manage people, what you can do is to lead people.  You can manage time, property, a system, a procedure and even a culture or a behavior – but people?  An attempt to manage people is difficult task, but leading people is as easy as a snap.

Leading and managing people are diametrically opposed concepts, I for one, subscribes to leading people.  Now, there are many types of leadership – one could adopt the autocratic type of leadership, a democratic type of leadership or even a laissez-faire type of leadership.  Some would even ask about a principle type of leadership, a servant type of leadership, a transactional type of leadership or even a visionary type of leadership.

Personally, I subscribe to all of the enumerated type of leadership.  The usage depends on the situation and the type of people one is currently dealing with and if there is one thing that I learned about leadership, nothing and no one is permanent, in fact, permanence or the appearance of permanence is an illusion that could easily be challenge by a single person, event or even a place.

Problems in Human Resource Management could easily be solved by simple execution of whatever solution formulated and decided.  My philosophy here is simple, execution and making things happen.

In my experience, whatever the problem is, there is already an easy solution.  The difficulty lies in the execution of the solution.  Most people delay executing solutions in the hope that things might change.  Guess what?  Problems not acted do not change, in fact, if there is a change on the horizon; it is usually for the worse.

Making things happen means acting of the plans and scheme formulated.  Plans are useless without actions.  Men are defined by their actions and not by their plans.  Actions are far more important than plans.  Plans are inputs while actions are outputs.  In Human Resource Management, actions are more important than inputs.

Academicians sometimes have a way of complicating things, I for one subscribes to keeping it short and simple.  Besides, that which you comprehend, you could simplify.  If you cannot simplify a concept or an idea means that you really haven’t understood the essence of such.

Thoughts on Leadership

Thoughts on Leadership

1.  Influence

2.  Connections

3.  Adjustment

4.  Position

5.  Delivery of service

6.  The person who does more – responsibility

In a country where so many wants to be president, leadership is always a non-issue.  Majority of the candidates have not even displayed a single iota of leadership in their fabricated career.  Come to think of it, some do not even have a career to speak of.  Most of them just ride on the name recall of their surname, literally acquiring votes on the accomplishment of their famous relative.

Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest boxers of all time and by some stretch the fellow was elected as a representative in Mindanao.  It was a stretch because other than good will and good intention, the fellow has no academic qualification to speak of, no governance or legislative experience, and in his illustrious career – no preparation for the taxing work of a legislator.  Up to this day, I question the wisdom of his election.  His legislative district would have been better served by someone else more qualified for the work.

The twist now (in the coming 2013 midterm elections), even his wife is running for an elective position.  Just what is the qualification of his wife?  Other than giving Mr. Pacquiao his biological children, she is a virtual nobody.  She must be beautiful once, but beauty is fleeting, just what are her qualifications?  Whatever it is, it is nowhere near the qualifications of other candidates who are really qualified for the position.

Leadership is not about popularity.  Mr. Pacquiao and his wife might be popular, they might be able to buy their elective position but they will never get the esteem and respect that they are after in the first place.  Sooner or later, leadership in its essence will be called to fore and nemo dat quod habet (you cannot give what you don’t have).  They will have no tangible positions, and all of their opinions are just a byproduct of regurgitated ideas planted by their own limited circle of friends and advisers.  A puppet would be the appropriate notion here.

Leadership is influence.  In the long run, leadership is measured by the amount of influence expended to shape a person, a group of people or an event.  Was the position taken in consonance with the policy and philosophy of the leader?  There are no absolute in leadership, in the realm of the ideal, one could extol the virtue of no compromise but in the realm of reality, leadership is about making compromises, of consensus making and of building allegiances.

Leadership is about connections.  A good or a working leadership is based on the relationship that a person has accumulated over the years.  Just as it takes years to produce a general, a leader takes years of incubation before one could claim such a title.  More than anything else, there is no leadership if there is no relationship or connections with people.  In the end, leadership is about people and how one relates with these galaxies of people.

Leadership is about adjustment.  Just as there are no absolutes in leadership, adjustment or the ability to adjust is the name of the game for a potential leader.  John Maxwell encapsulates my thoughts on adjustment when he said that “the pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the leader adjusts the sail”.  A leader must always be able to adjust and adapt.  Thousands of years ago, the dinosaurs ruled planet earth, but now dinosaurs (and their remains) are found in the museum, and why are they extinct?  Because of their inability to adapt and adjust to the changing earth and its environment.

Leadership is position.  I am a little bit ambivalent about position, but there is no leadership if there is no position.  No change is ever possible if there is no position in a particular issue or a case.  Leadership must take a solid position in an issue and defend such a position even at the expense of losing hierarchical position and followers.  When the declaration of emancipation was signed by Abraham Lincoln, he lost a lot of followers and supporters, but signing the writ was the right thing to do.  And now, historically, President Lincoln was validated by the tide of history and universally considered as one of the greatest American president.

Leadership is about the delivery of service.  Before one could assume the exalted position of leadership, one must first assume the position or a role of a follower.  No leadership was ever considered great without first assuming the role of discipleship.  No one is born into a general position; it takes years of training, practice and seasoning before one could rightfully claim the position of generalship.  Before one could ever claim the position of a teacher, one must first assume the role of a student.  Seniority or seasoning must be considered into the equation especially if one is talking about leadership.  The delivery of service is one tangible measurement where one could accurately claim the mantle of leadership.  The value of a weapon is judged when such is already battle-tested, a vehicle is judged when such is road-tested, and an individual must have the experience first before he could assume the position of leadership. 

The person who does more, the person who bears more responsibility is the leader.  While one could delegate the work, the leader never delegates nor evades responsibility.  Great basketball coaches let their players get the credit for every game that they won but they always assume the responsibility for lost games.  Assuming responsibility means one still do something about the current situation and such means that one bears the burden of carrying the group to the next level of performance.  There are front liners and there are leaders.  Assuming responsibility, such is the hallmark of a true leader.

People are led, they are not managed.  In fact, people tend to get offended when they have inkling that they are being managed.  You manage time, properties, or even finances but never people.  People give their best when they are led.  When there is proper leadership and motivation, people would be willing to do anything and give everything.  Personally, I believe that there is no such thing as people management, such do not exist.  But what we do have is people leadership.

When there is a real people leadership, there is progress, there is creativity, there is innovation and there are tangible accomplishments.  Sadly, the Philippines is still denied this experience.  What we do have is a shameful establishment of political dynasty.  The 1987 Constitution prohibits this as such is expressly stated but the quality of politicians prevents such from ever becoming a reality.  It is not unheard of where in a certain province, almost all the elected officials are related to one another.  From a simple municipal mayor to the senate and to the palace, this shameful practice must stop.  The country deserves better, the people deserves better, we deserve better.

One of the curses of Philippines is that we were never blessed by nobility.  These inter related politicians just don’t know the meaning and essence of such a word.  What they have is political opportunism where “striking while the iron is hot” is the main dictum.

The story of President Noynoy Aquino endorsing his cousin for senator, Vice President Jojo Binay endorsing his own daughter for senator, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile endorsing his own son for senator, will just keep on happening again and again with the names just changing.

Thoughts on Management

Thoughts on Management

1.  Personal experience

2.  Observation on the practice of management on others

3.  Real management

4.  Ideal management

5.  Teaching philosophy

Management to me refers to the professional handling, caring and nurturing of a particular enterprise or endeavor.  Handling a department peopled with different and contrasting background is a difficult and a complex task.  To have such a privilege, one must be mature intellectually and psychologically.  Departmental politics will inevitably come to fore and one must be above such (ideally).  If one is pushed into such a position unprepared or not yet ready, failure for the organization and maladjustment for the individual is the inevitable outcome.

In the business world, in the sporting world as well as in the academic world, tales have been told where success was achieved because everything was in its proper place and proper time and everything and everyone was doing their assigned role and parts.  Everyone was exceeding expectations; hence excellence was the inevitable outcome.  With great management, great results are to be expected.  When people know their assigned role, when there is a clear definition of expectations, success is destined to happen.

More than anything else, the main task of management is to make its people happy, because from what I observed, the happiest people are the most productive people.  The trick and the challenge now is how to help find and define happiness according to varying expectations and contrasting definitions.  Because some people are content with under achievement.

Battling underachievement however is easy, just provide the exact motivation needed and underachievement is nipped in the bud.  Motivation could vary from sex, money, prestige, power or just a simple recognition and acknowledgement.  Interplay of usage of these motivational cards will pull and push the enterprise and endeavor to success at any given time.

Currently, Google pays the highest in terms of compensation for all employees.  People all over the world want to work for Google because of their generous compensation package where one is not just an employee but a stakeholder and a shareholder as well.  There is a low turnover of employees and why is that?  Because there is lesser restrictions and creativity and innovation is considered as a premium possession.  People are happy and eager to work for Google hence these fortunate are also inevitably the most productive employee.  A simple trick is easy to gauge the productivity of an enterprise.  If there is a tangible high morale, if the people around the enterprise are enjoying themselves, then success and productivity is just around the corner.

Poor management results in low morale for its employees.  When popularity becomes the defining factor instead of doing things right then failure of enterprise is bound to happen sooner or later.

I really do not believe in micro-management, my personal experience points me to the philosophy of finding the talent and letting it prove itself.  Delegation of work but never the delegation of responsibility, besides you really cannot delegate responsibility.

Since I am an academic, there really must be a bedrock of teaching style or teaching philosophy.  I subscribe to the Latin phrase of “monere et delectere”.  The literal translation is “to illuminate and to delight”.  For a decade now, illuminating and delighting students have been my main purpose and aim in instruction.  I believe that students must enjoy the instruction process itself, because excellence is never attained it they are unable to enjoy the process of acquiring knowledge.

Thoughts on Productivity

Thoughts on Productivity

Productivity is directly related on creativity.  More than anything else, man’s productivity is the nearest instance that he could approximate God and his creative powers.

In service department, productivity is measured by the services rendered.  In a manufacturing based company, productivity is measured by the number of items actually produced by the factory.  For a book writer, productivity is measured by the number of books written and for a sales representative, productivity is measured by the number of sales acquired.

In the academe, productivity is predicated on so many criterions that I already lose sight with what is important.  Before productivity was measured by marketing (getting students to enroll in your university), research made and written and community service.  By and large, this is a superficial way of looking at productivity because in the academe, the business is teaching and learning.  Teaching for the faculty and learning for the student.

But how does one measure teaching and learning?  Do we measure the teaching done by the faculty based on student evaluation and learning on the grades acquired by the student?

Productivity is so many things in so many people but going back on the initial concept of productivity as an approximation of god and his godlike powers, such I believe is nearer to the mark of actually defining productivity.

In Wikipedia, productivity is a measure of efficiency of production.  Productivity is equated with outputs as opposed to the inputs.  But this a myopic way at looking at things, because “making things happen” is also a form of productivity.  Yes, it is intangible but such is also a platform of productivity.

Looking at my professional portfolio, I now have authored eight (8) books (authored and co-authored) and a dozen or more of researches.  But more than this, I would like to think that my contribution to higher learning is more substantial than the number of books and researches written.  Conservatively, if there are (at least) 1000 students under me in a year, and if I have been teaching for a decade, that is already 10,000 students who were fortunate enough to have me as their professor.

Ten thousand students who by and large were influenced by my teaching and by my thinking.  And by natural expansion, these students in turn influence other people and by exponential projection, you now have considerable sum of people benefitting from my teaching.  By my estimation, at least around 100,000 students.

Now that is a considerable sum by any stretch of imagination.

Rocket Launch

A Failed North Korean Rocket Launch (April 13, 2012)

Let us first examine the facts first prior to the delivery of our commentaries.

1.       North Korea is a nuclear powered country.

2.       North Korea is under the rule of a dictator.

3.       North Korea is a poor country.

4.       North Korea is unstable politically.

North Korea with its nuclear technology is the guilty country why Iran is also a nuclear powered country.  It is an open secret that North Korea already is in possession of a weapons grade nuclear material.  With the attempted launch, North Korea is just trying to develop the necessary technology for the “delivery system” of its nuclear material.  Without a delivery technology, a nuclear weapon is only half effective.

There is no democracy in North Korea, in fact, North Korea is an enemy of democracy.  Nokor is already in the third generational rule of a dictator, with a new dictator at the helm, the ploy is just to flex its muscle and call the attention of the world that it if worse comes to worst, it has a weapon of mass destruction.  The open secret here is that it was Nokor that sold the nuclear technology to Iran.  Just imagine if North Korea gets to master rocket technology and sells the know-how to Iran?

People are dying of hunger in North Korea.  Almost 80% of its wealth is dedicated to the use of its armed forces.  The remaining 20% is spent on everything else.

North Korea is unstable politically because it is a victim of its own creation.  The armed forces is under the thumb of the dictator but fear is effective only up to a certain level, the moment fear is no longer effective, murder takes center stage and we hear nothing of this because of the veil of secrecy and suppression is not really advertised in that region.

Taken as a whole, the failure of North Korea this morning is also a success.  It is a certainty that they have learned a lot from such failure and we must take note of the maxim that “failure is just a rehearsal for success”.  Yes, Nokor failed today but it is only a matter of time before their current failure is inverted to a resounding success.

The scenario is like this, you have an unfriendly neighbor who is in possession of a gun, what are you going to do about it?  And now, your unfriendly neighbor is not just in possession of a gun, but is actually test firing his gun.  Are you going to call the authorities or are you going to do something about it?

Some people are just assholes and North Korea is just an unlucky country with its very own asshole administration and government.

Now such is the problem, what is now the solution?  Surprisingly, the solution is engagement and not isolation.  North Korean themselves should have an more exposure to democracy.  The moment that democracy takes root; all the other problems will be solved.  Through engagement and education, the very idea of majority rules (or democracy) will slay ignorance and poverty.  The rest as they say will be history. 

It is either the world engages North Korea or a simple surgical bombing of selected sites that could cripple Nokor is called into action and put into play.  There is no middle ground here, either we infect and destroy North Korea internally or externally, or the continuance of the status quo will only bring a widespread  of asshole actions from North Korea.

Business and Education

Business and Education (April 18, 2012)

From the nobility of teaching which gives birth to renaissance comes the evolution and birth of an entity known now as Academic Corporation where universities and colleges are being run like a business organization.  Now let me put it out right off the bat that there will always be a conflict with this equation because “education is about teaching and learning” while “business is about chasing the profit” where the main focus is increasing revenues and minimizing cost.

What is the first function of business?  It is to create a customer and in the academe, students are the customers.  Student seeks learning and the faculty/teacher imparts learning but a student is more than a customer, a faculty is more that a merchant because in the long run education transform lives.

Ideally, a university should be run by an educator not by a businessman because for when it comes to perspectives, an educator will sacrifice profit to do what it is supposed to while a businessman will always chase the profit, never mind the other considerations.

Mixing education and business is a brew that will produce neither a favorable bent for education or business, they just don’t mix.  A side must be chosen, this blurring of the line must stop, and it is only harming the students.  At the moment, educational institutions are being run like a common branch of Mc Donalds and for an educational institution, there is just no substance.  All form but no substance.

Circumcision

Circumcision (May 30, 2012)

My first male born son Diego Vito just had his circumcision today and personally, I see such as a rite of passage.  Culturally, I see it as his passage from being a child to an impending adulthood.  It was conducted by a dear colleague Dr. Celino and the operation was done at home.  I think that I owe that fellow a favor down the road.

I am glad that I am at home to facilitate such a passage, for better or for worse, Diego is my first born son and I owe it to him, and for us to make the journey together.  A couple of years from now, and sooner than I expect – he would be physically considered as an adult.  Doing this together serves as a male bonding ritual.  Considering that I still have another son (in the person of Francisco Light) to be circumcised later, it is but proper that I do this with Diego so that I could also do this with Francisco.

Similar to the guilty verdict of the thief justice, this experience is entirely new to me and methinks that I would require a couple of more days to process and ponder about this male ritual.  My only difficulty now is how to comfortably survive and stretch my finances up to the end of June, where I get proper payment from the university.

Suffice it to say that circumcision is a practice brought about by the Muslims in this country and for better or for worse, to be uncircumcised is one of the worst situations to be in.  People would joke about you and more than that, from the perspective of the personal hygiene, it is easier to clean as oppose to an untouched penis.

Symbolically, my son is turning into a man (but not yet really) and along with these transformations comes more problems and adjustments to be made to ease such a change in a person. 

Time really do fly and well before you know it, the twilight of life is upon you.

Convicted Corona

Convicted Corona (May 29, 2012)

A couple of hours ago, the Senate Impeachment trial finally convicted the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of culpable violation of the constitution.  With 23 senators present and with the final tally of 20 conviction votes against 3 acquittal votes, the historic vote signals the start of the new day for the republic where the new bar of transparency is raised to a new high.

Anyone caught lying or some form of misleading entries in the statement of assets and liabilities will now be considered a grave offense which could cost someone his government post or job.

As expected, Senators Bongbong Marcos, Mirriam Santiago and Joker Arroyo voted to acquit while the rest of the senators voted to convict.

What is now the implication of this conviction?  This is an open declaration to all that there is a new standard of transparency and if there is any deviation or violation to such a standard, such is interpreted as being evasive.

The defense lawyers are now contending that it will take at least 10 to 15 days before the Chief Justice finally steps down, but this is personally absurd since the senate specifically ordered an immediate removal from office.  Again, the defense lawyers are starting to muddy the issue and prolong the unbearable reign of the convicted chief justice.  And I wonder, suppose the reverse is true, where the chief justice is acquitted and somebody tells them that it would still take 10 to 15 days before the acquittal takes effect?  Stupid reasoning really…

Today is a historical day.  Today we open a new page in governance where transparency is the new element and accountability is the new and renewed battlecry for government service.  This is really a new opportunity for the country to change gear and take reforms seriously, the status quo is no longer tolerated and for once, excellence is called into production in terms of public service.

The challenge is being called; I hope that we are all brave enough to answer the challenge.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday (April 8, 2012)

There is a Catholic tradition where every Easter Sunday at 4 o clock in the morning, the statue of Jesus Christ meets the statue of the Mother Mary, literally a re-enactment of the said meeting in the bible.  After which a dawn mass follows.  I had attended such a dawn mass in my youth and it is quite a treat to expose my three children to such a tradition.  This morning is the first time that we as a family attended the “salubong”.

Philosophically, the premise of the Christian belief is based on resurrection.  If there is no resurrection, everything is bogus.  The entire Christian tenet revolves around the resurrection of Jesus Christ because without it, everything is a lie.

The question now is “how do we know that Jesus Christ really did arise from death?”  Do we take it on blind faith or do we reason out the likelihood of resurrection actually happening?  For the ignorant, blind faith is sufficient but for the rational mind, a little more than blind faith is needed to sustain a questioning psyche.

Psychologically, while a person could live a life based on a lie – a person will never die for a lie.  The entire original disciple of Jesus Christ died violent deaths; in fact, most of them were tortured just so they would renounce the resurrection of Christ.  Surprisingly, all of them willingly died for their testament that there was such a thing as a Jesus Christ resurrection.

From the history of violent deaths (the disciples and early Christians), it is safe to assume that the testament of resurrection was more than blind faith but rather an actuality.

Now, how do we make this story of resurrection relevant today?  Tradition will only take you up to a certain distance.  Psychology and History is the purview of an inquiring mind which to my assessment does not appeal to the masses.

Maybe the collective thrust of tradition, psychology and history will carry the day.  Because this current fixation on tradition produces a bigot which is no different from the bigot raised by the terrorists.  A sound psychology with a solid history will carry and sustain the day for the modern day rational mind.

It is just too bad, that the Roman Catholic Church is fumbling this opportunity of raising and producing rational minds.  I suspect that they want drones that blindly follow whatever dictates they issue, they seem to be allergic to a mind that independently thinks. A person who thinks is a person who asks questions.  An entity with a question is the biggest threat to tradition and religion hence the non-encouragement of a questioning mind.

The collective unconscious is lazy; it doesn’t like the actual exercise of thinking.  It would even prefer a mass hysteria as opposed to a single thinking mind.  And that is the sin that the current Roman Catholic Church will have to answer for.  Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is a heavyweight theologian/philosopher ought to do something about this sin of omission.

Corona

Guilty Corona (May 26, 2012)

Come next week, the senate impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato C. Corona will come to an end.  If my memory serves me right, there were at least 7 articles of impeachment filed against him but the amateurish bungling of the House Prosecutors reduced the case to a simple non-declaration of assets in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

The stupidity of the House Prosecutors was such that from all initial indications, CJ Corona might get acquitted.  It is not that the Chief Justice has an excellent defense lawyers, it’s just that the prosecution and its stupidity was of legendary proportion.  But when the defense had the ball, they too, bungled and called the Ombudsman (in the person of Conchita Carpio Morales) to testify for the defense who ironically nailed CJ Corona with her telling testimony about millions of dollar in several dollar accounts via the Anti-Money Laundering Council Report.

Long story short, CJ Corona was compelled to testify to save his own skin, unfortunately for him, hubris and his sense of entitlement was revealed in the latter part of his opening statement (which lasted for three long hours) and to compound the play, he walked out of the senate procedure without the expressed permission of the Senate Presiding Officer thus incurring the anger of the impeachment court because of discourtesy.

CJ Corona was compelled by the Senate to return to the floor, and this time around, he is hiding in cloak of his diabetes, playing the sick man – but the damage have been done.  Senators were offended by the apparent discourtesy and hubris of the Chief Justice.  Later on, this discourtesy will hang the Chief Justice and hand him a conviction.

When CJ Corona returned two days later after a forced stay at the hospital, the mood and the texture of the trial have shifted against the Chief Justice and even with the apology and the unconditional waiver (to open all of his peso and dollar accounts), the shadow of acquittal is just not there anymore.

Come next week, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will be convicted because of the discourtesy walk out, but more than that, he will be convicted because moral fitness.  He claims that he is exempted from complying fully of the Statement of Assets and Liabilities Law because there is a contrasting Foreign Currency Law.  That claim is where the issue of moral fitness comes in; he is no longer fit to wield the office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  Tragically, he was examined by the country and was found wanting.

I really cannot wait for May 29, 2012 to come.  On that day, our first trip towards moral recovery takes its first giant step.  Interesting times indeed.

Licensure Examinations and Avengers

Licensure Examinations and the Avengers (April 26, 2012)

My daughter recently informed me that she passed the licensure examinations for teachers (LET).  She was supposed to take the examinations right before her graduation but since there was some trouble with her surname (which is another topic for discussion), she fore go the first opportunity prior to the clearance issue from the National Statistics Office (NSO).  Long story short, she took it last March and now, we just heard that she passed the said licensure examinations.

I really couldn’t be happier and prouder for Ayn.  She is my first born and she has given me immense joy, and a ton of happy memories.

Speaking of memories, yesterday, April 25 was the first day of showing of “The Avengers” and like any typical father; I watched the said film with my two sons – Diego and Francisco.  And let me put up front that the film was first rate; it was entertaining and was even inspiring.

The main characters were drawn properly in their own respective movies and with the assembly of this particular film, the end result was superb in terms of perspective and in so many levels, the brewing and pacing of the story was just right.

In this era of computer generated images, the story must first be given priority and such was the case in this film.  Yes, the CGI’s were impressive but the tapestry of the story was just right for the consumption of the viewers.

The children were basically impressed with the CGI’s while the adults were struck by the simplicity and complexity of the plot.  The linear and continuous story line was palpable and if you haven’t followed the other stories, then you could enjoy the film individually by its own right.

There is no moral lesson to chew, just pure enjoyment to savor….

Life, Character and Enclothed Cognition

Life, Character and Enclothed Cognition (April 18, 2012)

Most of the time, people are in trouble because they tend to look at life as an event.  Even our culture is guilty of reinforcing this perspective.  Just look at the annual celebration of birthdays, anniversaries and other important occasions.

People tend to look at life as marked and defined by these events that are supposed to measure the quality of life.  This in turn leads to a lot of unmet expectations thus creating a lot of psychological baggage’s and problems later on. 

The key to lessen one’s stress is changing one’s perspective.  How about looking at “life as a process” instead of a “life as an event”.  If life is a process, everything that is happening to us right now is just a platform towards something else.  There will be happy times and occasions defined by sadness but all in all, it is a journey, never static, life moving forward to something bigger, happier and a better evolution.

A person’s character is defined by the conditioning he acquired from his parents.  More often than not, because our parents love us so much, there is the tendency of spoiling children but recent researches have confirmed that spoiling children weakens character.  So if we want our children to become successful in life, let us not spoil them by giving in to their irrational whims and fancy.  A little denial every now and then makes them appreciative of their lot and points them to the reality of “not everything they want in life is quickly achieved”.  Denial teaches them the lesson of limitations, patience and the virtue of waiting.

Enclothed cognition is the phenomenon where there is a tangible effect of clothing on the cognitive process of an individual.  This validates the assumption that clothing affects how  other people perceives us as well as how we think about ourselves – simply put, our outfit affects our mood and our interaction with the outside world.

The reverse of this is that if we dress shabbily, we feel shabby internally and we will treat the others shabbily as well.

Living Within Your Means

Living within your means (May 3, 2012)

There is an old economic adage that “you cannot spend more than you earn”, this really doesn’t require any further elucidation because common sense dictates that to continue on this path of spending more that you earn leads to economic ruin and penury.

Now if this is true for a normal household, why can’t this be true for the entire country?  Of course with the current administration of Noynoy Aquino such is no longer the case, in fact, the country is even aiming at being a creditor country instead of just being a borrower country.

Comparatively, during the presidency of GMA, the reverse was true – we were borrowing left and right putting the country in economic difficulty just to sustain the her corrupt administration.  Fortunately, the administration of PNOY is bent on reversing the trend.  And from all indications, the student did pick-up something from the teacher “you cannot spend more than you earn”.

Nation building is such a simple matter when you stick to this basic rule.

Motherhood and the Wicked Tortoise

Motherhood and the Wicked Tortoise (May 2, 2012)

Last week, I came across a unique news from the local television channel.  A tortoise was caught in the dirty water of Baseco Compound in Tondo, Manila.  Surprisingly, the tortoise was not eaten and was surrendered to the local barangay who in turn surrendered it to the local government.  Long story short, after two days, the tortoise died and when they did an autopsy on the cause of death, it was discovered that it died because of poisoning for its inability to lay 98 eggs in its womb.

Genetically, tortoise, turtles or its specie returns to the place where they were hatched to lay eggs.  Looking back now, with the benefit of hindsight, the poor tortoise was just trying to find a suitable spot on the beach to lay its eggs.  Historically, Manila bay was a nesting place where eggs are buried and unfortunately for the tortoise – the dirty beach and the dirty bay spelled its doom.

The average life span of a tortoise is around 150 years and during its lifespan, an occasional return to the beach where it was initially hatched deserves a visit or two for the burying of its eggs.  With the rate of the destruction of its hatching place, it is safe to assume that within the next 50 years, this specie of tortoise would be wiped out and driven to extinction.  And all of these because we couldn’t maintain and preserve a beach as a turtle/tortoise sanctuary.

My mother arrived last Saturday for her annual summer visit in Metro Manila.  With her 75 summers behind her, the value of her presence and simple advice on parenthood is beyond price.  It is just too bad that my father died five years ago but that is another topic altogether.

My mother is still healthy.  She is capable of walking the entire mall of SM Fairview and more importantly, we could now get along with each other.  In my younger years, there was a constant strain in our relationship, but now – the strain is gone, all strains are gone except love and respect.  A salute to my mother and may she live a hundred years or more….

On Blogging

On blogging (April 9, 2012)

Truth be said, I am really at a lost about the etymology of “blog” but from what I initially gathered, such was derived from the word “web log” or literally, on-line diary.  From a simple blog to the much loved social media (i.e. friendster, facebook, twitter etc.) the blog have come a long way and is continuously evolving in usage and utility.

Some people look down on blogging.  One movie that I recently saw said that it is nothing but a graffiti with punctuation marks.  Historically, everything that is big currently started somewhere small.  All generals came from a lowly private rank.

Rock and roll was initially tagged as devils music, but if one were to talk about the music known as rock and roll now, the initial label is the farthest thing in one’s mind.

When the first Harry Potter book became a movie hit (followed by 7 more films), some religious nut forbade it from the children saying that such a book encourages witchcraft and then indirectly devil worship but really, when will people stop labeling and just remove the veil from their eyes.  They are no different from the current bunch of loony cults that advocates mass suicide to prepare for the next coming or reckoning.

Religion itself is not guilt free.  Millions of lives were destroyed in the name of one god that is superior over other gods.

Blogging is writing.  The medium is in the internet.  Some people look down on the internet but very recently, internet connectivity is now considered a human right.  In fact, the next demarcation line that will differentiate the haves from the have-nots would be those who have ready and available internet access as opposed to those who have no access to the internet.

William Shakespeare was initially thought to be mentally unstable with no talent whatsoever in writing and I would imagine who is now laughing in his grave.  If it weren’t for the latter, the English language wouldn’t be the dominant language that it is today.  It is the lingua franca of business because of Shakespeare.

Blogging is here to stay and it will continue to grow in stature and utility.  Yes, it needs a lot of improvement but it will evolve into a better medium for understanding and communication.  There is a push to be a paperless office in practice and not just in theory and we are really headed in that direction.  Amazon.com for the past two years have always advertised that their sales of e-books have already exceeded the number of paper books transaction on-line hence the mad rush to capture and dominate the e-book readers’ category.  Somewhere, there is a profit to be made thus the great tablet computer wars.

Right now, the tablet computers have already outsold its nearest cousin the net-book and allow me to conclude that such is such because of the encoded word in the internet principally propelled  in web logs or blogs.  The reading habit is changing and it will never go back to what it was before.

Hail to the blog and long live the bloggers!

On Education

On Education (April 10, 2012)

The roots of education is bitter, the fruit however, is sweet.  This remark was attributed to Aristotle and being the carrier of torch after Socrates and Plato – the thought couldn’t be truer and plainer for every Filipino.

The classic scenario of sacrificing everything just to be able to send one’s children to school, to finish and acquire a decent education is nothing but a reflection of a desire to better oneself and familial standing in breaking the cycle of tradition.  Because like it or not, at least 93% to 96% of the current Filipino family came from peasantry.  Historically, Filipinos were tillers of the land (farmers/fishers to be exact) and because of the changes brought about by globalization, Filipinos collectively, tried to better their lot by acquiring education. 

Never mind the additional burden of toil, just to be able to send their children to school.  In my family alone, my grandparents worked hard night and day just to be able to send majority of their children to school.  My father even had to alternate with his sister every other year just to finish tertiary education and all of my brothers right now are college graduates.  In my family there are lawyers, engineers, nurses, and teachers but I have the distinction of being the first to earn a doctorate degree and looking back, that is one of the major evolution of my family in terms of education.

Personally, I have been responsible to the graduation of more than a thousand students who bettered themselves and their family in terms of economics and distinction.  I take my hats off to my students, they may not be my biological students but they are my academic children.  Some will be successes and some will failures but in the greater scheme of things, all of them are better individuals because of their education.

They say that education came from the Italian word “educare” which literally means bringing someone closer to god.  And though I just recently learned of such a word and while in almost a decade of teaching, god was the farthest thing in my mind when I was teaching, I am glad that in this noblest profession, god is at the end of the crossroad.

There is no wealth to be found in teaching, I have yet to meet an educator who could boast that he became wealthy because of teaching - the wealth is measured by the success of one’s students and following the equation of Socrates who produced Plato, who in turned produced Aristotle who in turn produced Alexander the Great – I find myself in a better company of teachers who produced shapers of history down the line.

Because looking back, and with the benefit of hindsight, the world is a better place because there are teachers and educators who paved the way for their students to succeed and make this world a better place for everyone who follows after them.  In our recent PICC graduation, I recently graduated three (3) cum laude’s, (which from what I hear is a once in a decade accomplishment for any department), and I say to myself, isn’t that a great accomplishment/contribution from a peasant stock two generations ago?

On Winning and Losing

On Winning and Losing (April 8, 2012)

Nobody wants to lose. People would go to great lengths just to win, they would cheat, they would lie and they would even steal just so to have an entry on the winning column.  But losing is part and parcel of life.  You cannot really win all the time.  Victory is sweeter when such is a product of a loss.

The trick here is to learn and extract much from losing.  What is the cause of defeat and what can we do avoid such from happening again.  Though victory gives a sweet feeling, such is only temporary and fleeting.  The lessons that losing/failure gives is far more valuable than an accidental success.

Of course, nobody loves a loser and everybody loves a winner.  But from a different perspective, a failure gives so many valuable lessons; I think that I’ve heard it from the character of Ethan Hunt of Mission Impossible that “failure is a rehearsal for success”.  Show me a winner and I will show you a hard working individual who never gave up until success crosses his path.

Sports will never cure cancer.  In the game of basketball, I see no sense in running back and forth, trying to outscore the opposing team.  The drama and inspiration derived from the effort is another story altogether that is made of stuff that produces legends.  Yes, it will never cure cancer, but it sure can provide inspiration that once properly harnessed could lead to a possible cure.  Because sports inspire greatness and in this era of manufactured and over hyped and over rated players, we still crave greatness in whatever form, shape and size.

That is why we will always celebrate the likes of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Manny Pacquiao.  They are a success story waiting to be told and waiting to be copied and replicated.

Because whether we get it or not, losing is the flip side of winning and failure is the brother of success.  It is all a part of life.  You cannot win all the time and you cannot lose all the time.  The longer the losing streak, the sweeter the victory.  The key is to never give up.  The world is full of people who gave up and they are lamented.  The world is also full of people who never gave up and they are celebrated.

My son is entering the world of sports.  If there is one thing that he should pick up is the invaluable lesson of character, of never giving up and of resilience in the face of adversity.  I should know, though never a professional athlete, I have learned and valued these lessons which were a derivative from sports.

A month ago, I played basketball with my two sons, and let me tell you the sweetness of that feeling.  It was an experience beyond compare.  As if everything is right and though there will be some hardship, the compass or roadmap is already there.  I just need the common sense to follow it.

If we are to fail, let us fail forward (Maxwell, 2008).  Let us learn from our failures and pledge never to repeat the folly that brought us failure in the first place. Let us be calm with the thought that from losing we learn how to succeed later on in life.

Article Writing

One Article a Day (April 7, 2012)

From this day forward, unless there is something wrong, I pledge to write at least one article a day.  I have been delinquent in my writing output for far too long.  This will be an easy thing to do unless laziness in my back.  There are just too many things to write about and I am far too lazy by letting things go by unrecorded.

Today is Black Saturday.  Such is called such because Christ is supposed to be dead (according to Christian legends), but just like any phenomenon, it just took a life of its own.  For lazy people, the holy week became an excuse not to do things or to put things off up to next week. For some, it became an excuse to party, to celebrate and to bum around.  For some, it became an excuse to create a new tradition of their own thus a platform to a new variety of mutation of bizarre practices.  And believe you me, a decade from now, such a celebration would turn into another thing which is far from its intended rationale altogether.

For me, it is a reason to take a rest, for my employer, it is a reason not to pay its employees.  Yes, you have some free time but no money to finance other pursuits.  Now that is irony.

You have time to spend with your family but too much time with them and the nerve under your skin gets irritated.  You want to do some other things but you realized that there is not enough money to go around to finance whatever catches your fancy.

Yes, it is a once in a year time to bond with your family but you come to realize that even your own family  have their own pursuits that doesn’t include you and the twist now is that you have become the intruder in their world.

Black Saturday is supposed to be a holy celebration, the irony here it that we Filipinos have taken it into our own and transform it to something altogether.  From the religious to the mundane and trivial - from something holy to petty.  I started writing this article with some half hearted effort and now that my wife and family are up and about, I have totally lost the motivation to go on because of some unavoidable distraction.  There are just too many things to do and just a limited time.

The computer has a term for this, multi-tasking, unfortunately – I have not mastered such.  So many things to do and so little time.

Can I have some creativity to say something significant or just like anybody else; I am just occupying space waiting for something significant to happen.  From something holy to something that is called inspiration.

Or maybe, what I need to do is to combine ideas, holy and inspiration thus the word holy inspiration.  And now we are back where we started, from something holy coming from Black Saturday and Holy Week.  Now that is the ultimate paradox, the more you want to change things, the more identical they become.  From persons, events and places, such rings true.  Maybe the phenomenon “organized chaos” is not really organized after all; maybe we just don’t have the complete picture.  Maybe it is really organized; it is just our myopic perspective that is in the way.

Mourning and the Ericson Study

Stages of Mourning and the 10,000 Ericson Study (April 19, 2012)

There is an unofficial process of mourning.  Though this is not psychologically validated, the acceptance seems universal.  Personally, I subscribe to this formula and I even use these stages to predict the next manifestation of behavior of an individual.  This is even useful is mourning but in facing failure as well.

The acronym to remember here is DABDA, this stands for denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  Accordingly, denial is the failure of the individual to accept the truth even though such is already staring the individual in the face.  Anger here is the lashing out of the individual towards the object of his ire.  Bargaining connotes the attempt of the individual negotiate himself out of the cause of the problem.  Depression here comes after bargaining because, once the attempt at negotiation fails, and this is extreme sadness and lack of energy.  And lastly, acceptance comes to fore where the subject simply accepts the situation and tries to move on with life.

The DABDA formula is not recently validated but in the 1980’s, such was universally accepted and only because of the lack of recent and researches validating the said equation that tarnished its popularity.  But in the evolution of human knowledge, the DABDA equation needs its space and who knows, maybe someone out there is doing a research to further validate and cement the equation.

The Ericson study is really is quite simple, it states that for an accepted expertise in any endeavor or enterprise, the mind needs to invest 10,000 hours with it.  It means that if you want to become an expert guitar player, you need to invest 10,000 hours of guitar playing.  If you want to become an expert basketball player, you need to invest 10,000 hours of playing basketball.  If you want to become an expert driver, a10, 000 hours is needed to acquire the expertise.

If you really want to measure the expertise of an individual, look at the years invested by the individual in that particular endeavor or enterprise.

Summer Enrollment

Summer Enrollment (April 16, 2012)

Enrollment in the summer is always viewed from the perspective of the students but what about the teachers?  For the faculty members, a summer class means a continuous pay during the duration of summer.  Bills that need payment do not stop during this period.  A faculty member needs their summer load because it is equivalent to the continuance of life.  Nobody gets rich teaching.  You could acquire wealth in sports, in politics and in business but I have yet to meet a teacher who could claim that he made his wealth through teaching.

The economic success of a country is best measured by the means of how their teachers are paid.  In the Philippines, teachers (in public schools) are paid during these summer months but the in the private sector, a teacher’s load is the passport for continuous pay, without such, expect no payment whatsoever.

When I jumped into the academe, I didn’t realized that I would be blessed by position of department chairmanship hence of continuous pay even during the lean summer months.  But for my colleagues, a summer vacation is also equivalent to a literal vacation of emoluments and my heart really goes out and bleeds for them – they endure almost two whole months of no work and no pay.

Can the school do something about it?  The answer is a big fat “yes” but why would they do something about it?  It is well within their discretion to do something about it but somehow discretion is lost in the word and world of politics.  Those who are liked gets their summer load and those that are not so liked will have to endure penury and poverty.

Considering that we already raised the bar of college teaching where only those with a masterate degree could sustain a career in teaching this scenario of “no work and no pay” during summer time needs assessment, consideration and creativity to eradicate.

With the creeping of business in the world of education, everything is viewed with the bottom line as the main consideration.  Maximizing profit and minimizing cost have become the official mantra and to a fullest extent, employees have become labor and indirectly a cost, instead of a resource that needs nurture, care and husbandry.

I realize now that I will never get to publish this article for I might get the ire of my higher ups and I do have a family of my own to nurture, care and provide for.  But really?

If a college teacher handles 500 students (at least) in a semester, that is around 1000 students a year and if you multiply that with the number of years of your professional teaching, the figure is really quite considerable.  Personally, since I started teaching in the year 2003 that is around 9000 students so far.

Sooner or later, the issue of faculty retention would come to fore, and the ugly fact is that faculty seeks better treatment elsewhere if they couldn’t find it from their present employment.  And personally, I don’t blame them.

Sun Tzu, Peter Drucker and Steve Jobs

Sun Tzu , Peter Drucker and Steve Jobs (April 22, 2012)

If one were to google Sun Tzu, one would find that his writing is older than Christianity and though his work is principally predicated on the art and science of war, the practical applications of his writings is also applicable in business.  And after going through his works again, what strike me most are pre-conditions before one sets off and declare war on an opponent.  Accordingly, one only goes to war if the following conditions are met:

1.       You only go to war when there is no other alternative.

2.       You only go to war when there is an advantage to be gained.

3.       You only go to war when victory is assured.

4.       You only go to war when your defense is in play.

Personally, the acronym is AVAD, so that I wouldn’t forget these important elements of war.  And being an element, if one or two criterions are missing, then common sense dictates that the act of war would have to take the backseat.  As Sun Tzu was saying, the conduct of war is an art and science as well.

Peter Drucker is considered the father of modern management and among his many quotable quotations; I always recall this particular piece, “the first purpose of business is the creation of a customer”.  No business, whether in the selling of goods or services will ever thrive or survive without a customer.  So at the risk of sounding redundant, any business is best served by the function of customer creation.  He is also credited for the first writer ever to coin the word “knowledge worker”.  If there is no need for a particular goods or services than by god, you create a need and find a customer.

The application of this mantra in psychology is far-reaching.  This mindset of customer creation is palpable in the realm of business psychology, industrial psychology and consumer psychology.  Just think of a particular science dedicated to the prediction of consumer behavior, interpretation of customer, description of a particular consumer, understanding of the many needs of the customer and the manipulation of their behavior.  Now that wouldn’t be so bad for business and psychology as well.

The talent here is how to connect Sun Tzu with Peter Drucker and if we could connect this two immortal dots then the world is ours for the taking.

Prior to the untimely demise of Apple’s Steve Jobs, it was reported that Apple as a company has more cash on hand than the US government; the figure is estimated to be around 76 Billion dollars (for Apple) as opposed to the 73 Billion dollars of the US government.  Now why is this possible?  This was possible because Apple has consistently innovated and created customers from the production and selling of I-pod, to I-phone and recently, to I-pad.

Psychology as a science and as a discipline should innovate and create new customers and consumers of its outputs.

The world is full of naysayers and it is our job to prove them wrong…

Future of the Sun

The Future of the Sun (April 23, 2012)

Typically, the life span of an ordinary sun is around 12 billion years.  Our sun is estimated to be around 4.6 billion years old.  Earth is the third rock (or planet) revolving around the sun and in terms of distance, it usually takes eight minutes before the sun rays reaches our planet and that is in terms of light speed.

Currently, our sun is burning hydrogen, hence the yellow rays but 1.1 billion years from now, our sun will burn 10% more and as a consequence, it would destroy the Earth’s atmosphere.

3.5 billion years from now, the sun will be 40% brighter and hotter and in this scenario, all of the Earth’s ocean will boil and Earth will be like Venus – a scorched planet.

In 6 billion years, the hydrogen in the sun will run out and instead of burning hydrogen, the sun will shift to burning helium and typically will become a red giant.  The sun will grow in size, swallowing Mercury and Venus.  Earth will be the nearest planet next to the burning Sun. 

Helium will run out and instead, the sun will now burn carbon and oxygen.  The sun will be a white dwarf and will eventually cool down and all of these will happen in the short span of 12 billion years.

This common fact was sourced from universertoday.com but what caught my fancy in researching sun’s future was when I was cable surfing and caught a short documentary about our sun.

Now, what does these facts tells us?  Humans are meant to colonize space.  If we want to survive as a specie and avoid extinction, we need to jump into space so as to escape this certain destiny.  Space travel needs to become a reality.  Similar to the early travel of sea explorers (e.g. Columbus and Magellan) a radical and dramatic jump into the business of space travelling needs to become a reality and not just a purview of science fiction.

And these radical shifts will entail a change in the way man perceives himself and his environment.  Everything that we are doing today is wrong and requires a change in the prediction of human behavior, interpretation of human behavior, description of human behavior, understanding of human behavior and manipulation of human behavior.

Our behavior must change intrinsically and extrinsically.  There will be a new mode for everything, from a simple worship, to the continuance of relationship of man with other man and with the environment at large.

Considering that we are talking of billions of years, a minuscule of a couple of decades seems impertinent and irrelevant but we must make our mark and relevance, the option is extinction of the human race and though this is still in the future, the baby steps must be taken now…

Transgender 1

Transgender Contestants (April 11, 2012)

The biggest folly just occurred yesterday.  The very prestigious Miss Universe contest just recently changed its most important rule – starting next year, they are going to accept transgender contestants.  I might sound narrow minded but there is a reason why the contest is called a “Miss Universe”.  It is strictly for women only (and beautiful women at that).  Opening the door for transgender changes the very nature of “Miss Universe”.  It is no longer a “Miss Universe” contest; it is now an open transgender universe contest.

But since the die is already cast, it is really very possible that in the next decade or two, we might have our first transgender “Miss Universe”.

Now if such a thing does occurs, then the very fabric of reality as we know it will finally be changed for something that we are not totally ready.

Truth be said, if the transgender contestant just want a psychological validation, he or she could just simply join a transgender beauty contest.  Why destroy the “Miss Universe” contest?  I am a tolerant individual but there must be a delimitation for tolerance.  And allowing a sexually changed individual in an operation join a contest just ruin the cake and the set-up altogether.

A woman is not a man, regardless of its desire or sex-change operation.  Pitting a man in a contest exclusively for women is just not right.  It is like pitting a women’s basketball team against men’s basketball team.  It is just not right and besides, if the organizer did it for media mileage, nobody in his right mind would watch it.

Before, any or all beauty contest was a travesty, with this current scenario, it has mutated into the level of pornography.

No to this brand of pornography and no to this brand of stupidity.  If they are seeking validation for their mutation then let them find it somewhere else other than the “Miss Universe” contest.

Somewhere, somehow, someone will have to pay for this kind of stupidity.  And I am glad that it is not me…