The Washington SyCip Graduate School of Business

(First of two parts)

Washington SyCip is indeed the embodiment of what the great poet William Butler Yeats said that "one’s goal in life should not just be the perfection of work alone but the perfection of a life." Last Friday, March 8, within the halls of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), a great man was honored with the legacy of a school in his name. The Washington SyCip Graduate School of Business of AIM, indubitably the best school of management in the region. In his invocation at the beginning of the evening’s program, Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ, president of the Ateneo de Manila University, one of three vice chairmen of the 2002 Board of Trustees of AIM, told his audience the reasons AIM’s Graduate School of Business should bear Wash’s name: "Through more than five decades he has built great institutions and been a bulwark of integrity and wisdom and a grace to so many people. Through the years this school under his guidance has brought forth leaders in enterprises in every part of our nation and in many countries in our region." Underscoring the inspiration the Washington SyCip name has evoked, Fr. Nebres stressed, "Now that it bears his name, may the graduates of the W. SyCip Graduate School of Business be ever more true heirs of Mr. SyCip’s legacy, sound in their judgment, wise in their decisions, trustworthy in their persons and institutions, committed to the greater good of all, especially of those in greatest need."

I sitll remember so well having been told some time ago by a wise man, that life is absurd and meaningless unless you bring meaning to it, unless you make something of it, for it is up to us to create our own existence. The soup of civilized life is after all nourishing stew but it doesn’t keep bubbling on its own. One must put something back in the pot as you leave, for the people in line behind you. Indeed, this is what Wash SyCip has been able to do... Founder at age 25 of SyCip, Gorres, Velayo & Co. (SGV & Co.), one of the first multinationals, and an outstanding leader in the field of auditing and management, when one goes through the list of SGV alumni through the 56 years it’s been in operation, one cannot help but be completely and absolutely in agreement that what Wash has put back in the stew has kept it bubbling to overflowing.

In the case of the Asian Institute of Management, where Wash SyCip has been chairman since its inception in 1968, Joey Cuisia, president and CEO of the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co., currently co-chairman of the AIM Board of Trustees, in tracing the genesis of the W. SyCip Graduate School of Business explained that it was only in June 2000 when a group of close friends and associates of Wash got together to form the nucleus or steering committee for the naming of the AIM graduate school of business in his name. This was intended very definitely to be a tribute to Wash SyCip’s vision and leadership, and his being the "chairman for life" of AIM. Joey narrated how the Steering Committee began a fund-raising project as an integral part of the program for the graduate school of business intended to advance the role of AIM in developing professional, entrepreneurial and socially responsible leaders and managers with a global perspective. The fund was indeed needed for the further enhancement and development of an international world-class faculty, for the provision of research projects and the excellent curricula required, support infrastructure and technology. Joey Cuisia waxed eloquent when he said that the response to the appeal for financial support was overwhelming.

One cannot but be convinced that indeed Washington SyCip has taken the meaning of "social responsibility" to heart and reveled in it. It hasn’t been a burden for him, to be reluctantly shouldered. It has served as an invitation to enjoy life. And Wash has been able to put something priceless in the pot that has been bubbling all this time, for, in the words of Joey Cuisia: "To follow his path therefore is to be inspired by Wash; to emulate him is to accept his challenge; and to participate in socio-economic development is to help fulfill his vision."

At the dinner, I found myself seated at a table with three members of the 2002 board of governors: Dr. Lin See-Yan, chairman of LIN Associations of Malaysia with his wife, Emily, who is also regional director for Asia of the Harvard Alumni Association, Dr. Brian W. Scott of Australia, chairman of Management Frontiers Pty. Ltd., and Dr. Vo-Tong Xuan, Rector of Angiang University of Vietnam. Paz SyCip Yuchengco, one of the nicest ladies I have ever known, Wash’s sister was on my right, and we all marveled over the spectacular strides AIM has been able to undertake, and, in the words of the president of AIM, Bobby de Ocampo, former Secretary of Finance, the "mark it has made in the world marketplace where graduates honed with a global perspective are to further develop their careers." Bobby, in his great speaking voice, said, "All this time, the man we are paying tribute to, has been a major guiding force." He went on to say that Wash’s lifelong commitment is to: "breed the best and brightest, socially responsible managers, entrepreneurs and leaders to develop our region and expand the activities of Asian enterprises to other parts of the world." It was Bobby who said, quoting from Fortune magazine that Washington SyCip is the "Man to know in Asia, one who is big in philanthropy but is modest about it."

It was Roy Navarro, chairman of Rizal Commercial and Banking Corporation, member of AIM’s Board of Governors, who revealed and told Wash from the rostrum that night, "Just like when you were elected chairman of AIM during a board meeting in 1968 (33 years ago) where you were not present, the renaming of the W. SyCip Graduate School of Business has also been unanimously approved by the AIM boards of governors and trustees, and the AIM faculty without you being invited to the meeting. Accordingly, the gifting of this school was launched and conducted without your knowledge."

I think it was the awareness by the AIM boards of the Wash SyCip brand of humility and modesty that made them decide on this, with the chairman in absencia. Roy went on to stress the fact that Wash has always been a "staunch believer that the educated youth of today are the change agents of tomorrow." For indeed his lifelong career emphasized entrepreneurship and management foremost at SGV and the various organizations he has been associated with. This dedication to education is strongly reflected through his membership in the Harvard University Asia Center Advisory Committee, in the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of International Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and of the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University, while also being the honorary chairman of the Insead Euro-Asia Center.

William S. Anderson, retired chairman of the Board of NCR Corp. in the United States, spoke on behalf of the international friends and donors, having known Wash for a 50 good years... "you have always been a global thinker... your vision has always been bigger and extended beyond your country... you have indeed helped the Asian countries... and you are the supreme optimist, for during the bad times you have always made us see the silver lining behind every cloud... the school is lucky to have it named after you." On behalf of the Asian donors, Dr. Reijiro Hattori, chairman of Seiko Corp. of Japan, who has known Wash since their Jaycee days in the ‘60s, highlighted the fact that he has always known Wash as extremely generous and cooperative in the "pursuit of any project which will enhance the value of life." (to be continued)