Icons for professional management and leadership

What the country needs today are leaders who can also be good managers. Leading requires competencies in defining goals and purposes and inspiring people to rally behind them. Leadership requires the ability to choose people well, develop them and motivate them, nurture them and reward them well. Managing needs the set of knowledge, skills attitudes and habits to plan well in pursuing the goals, organize people well, and set parameters of engagement in pursuit of well-defined objectives.  Managing needs one to set clear regulations, control excesses and punish deviations from rules. There are people who can just be leaders but do not have the competence nor the interest in management. But there are more who can just be managers all their life but will never become leaders.

In the Philippines, there are a few gifted men and women who can be both. For lack of space, I shall only mention some. The late Secretary Jesse Robredo earned laurels as manager of Magnolia under the San Miguel conglomerate until the political situation in Naga City snatched him from the corporate world. And then, he was transformed into a model leader who was recognized not just by the Ramon Magsaysay Awards but by the United Nations and other international bodies as a true icon of leadership and management. He led with excellence because he gave hopes to people. He managed exceedingly well because he transformed a sleepy city into a model of urban development and people empowerment. After his death, the whole nation saw a spontaneous outpouring of praises and admiration even when he was largely ignored or even sneered at in his lifetime.

Senator Richard Gordon manages the Red Cross in style, but more than managing he leads the people to a noble cause. He transformed a small town, Subic into a world class kind of city, where people are disciplined and productive. Mayor Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa is a symbol of environmental protection. He leads people to a worthy cause and manages a far-away city that is already well-known in the whole world. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, no matter what people say about his style, nobody speaks ill of him in Davao. He transformed the largest city in the whole world (in area) into a model of peace and order. Drug lords and gambling lords fear him. He proves to all that anything can be done with political will and muscle. Vice President Binay made Makati like small Singapore without the help of the national government. That is leadership.

Here in Cebu, the best icon that we can all be proud of is Congressman Eddiegul, a politician who was never defeated in all political battles. He manages well the University of the Visayas, my alma mater, by the way. He chooses people well. He empowers his executives. He trusts and respects them. He is very polite to them. He never shouts at people. He praises people publicly and criticizes their mistakes privately. That is leadership. That is why anyone he anoints is bound to win because the people trust him without any condition nor qualification. He never lost his credibility. He might be the last among that rare breed of leaders whose shoes can never be filled by any one. His great father, the late Don Vicente Gullas and her wonderful mother, Dona Josefina R. Gullas brought him up well. But nowadays, they do not make leaders of his caliber anymore.

But again, I take a singular exception in the case of Mayor Michael L Rama. He is a rare breed too. He proved himself as an outstanding Personnel Director of the Cebu Oxygen and Acetelyn Company or COACO. He chose and hired people well, trained them and motivated them well. He dealt with the union with great success and he earned the respect and admiration of both the management and the workers. His entry into politics was both a choice and a destiny. He is the grandson of the illustrious Don Vicente Rama, the Father of the Cebu City Charter. Don Vicente Rama was a contemporary of Don Vicente Gullas and Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. They were all lawyers, journalists and leaders. They were all the founding fathers of our province and city of Cebu.

Some people can just be politicians all their life. They are never leaders because they don’t even have a vision. They don’t have a plan. They just want the position. But Jesse Robredo had a dream. And he worked hard to make them come true. Vice President Binay, Dick Gordon, Hagedorn, Duterte and to some extent, even BF Fernando in Marikina, they all have plans and they made a mark for themselves because they made things happen. They create meaningful changes. Congressman Gullas is the man who transformed Talisay into a very progressive city even though he was not born there. Mayor Mike is the guy who gives people an option, who proves that there is a time to stand up for a cause. He represents the new politics, combining leadership with management.

In our childen’s search for contemporary behavior models and icons for outstanding management and leadership, we don’t have to look for a Mahatma Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela or a John F Kennedy. Perhaps in smaller ways, but in more reachable and understandable milieu, we have our own icons to look up to, people who are living testaments that things can still be done, changes can still happen and there is still hope for our country and people, for our province and city. This is not politicking. This is just looking around for some rays of inspiration amidst the noises and hastes of many lies and deceptions.