Wangdao, a unique business philosophy

Stan Shih, Acer’s founding chair and CEO, recently delivered a presentation of “Wangdao,” his unique business philosophy, before members of the media in a small gathering at Fairmont Hotel recently. The novel approach, he claims, is unique in the sense that it eschews most traditional Western practices which, according to him, prioritize values different from the ones which Eastern businessmen should.

To fully explain how Wangdao is to be applied to one’s business goals and practices, Shih discussed an unusual six-aspect model of value, differentiating between visible-present-direct value and the future-invisible-indirect value. These different forms of value mutually influence each other, introduce effective transformation mechanism and will result in long-term success, if managed properly. However, he says that Western approaches, in their aggressiveness, tend to compromise the latter for a quicker burst of the former. This, in effect, makes businesses much more profitable in the short term, but at the expense of sustainability and stakeholder relationships.

According to Shih, this idea of balanced management runs contrary to traditional Western Capitalist approaches, with their “winner take all” mindset attempting to take advantage of fluctuating economies, but at the expense of long-term survival.

For the last five years, Shih has been cultivating the practice of Wangdao, encouraging Asian-managed companies in different fields to be more cooperative and less competitive. The Wangdao culture, after all, is to “build a consensus via constant top-down communication within the organization, and have it translated into words and deeds of most people in their daily life and work.”

Shih also pointed out that in most businesses, and even in apprenticeship and leadership practices, “the leader or master always keeps secrets to himself, working only for his own personal interests.” Shih believes that this practice is destructive to a business. Sharing, according to him, does not have to be destructive; on the contrary, it is a very sustainable way of self-development for people working in the same business.

In the industry, there is no such thing as a secret, winning formula, one which you just apply for automatic success, Shih said. It only takes simple, un-complicated strategies, a culture of consensus and common commitment, and the ability to adapt.

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Jason Day, winner of the Professional Golf Association Championship in a record-shattering breakthrough, is half-Filipino, half-Australian. His father, Alvin Day, an Irish Australian, and his mother, who was born in the Philippines, moved to Australia in the early 1980s. Their son Jason, was born in Beaudesert, Queensland 26 years ago.

Jason’s father, Alvin, enrolled him at Kooralbyn International School, a 30-minute drive south of Beaudesert. The school had a golf course attached. Later Jason went to Hills International College where they have a golf academy upon advice of his coach, Col Swatton, who had moved there when Kooralbyn school closed down.

He first made news locally when it was known that his relatives had perished during the Haiyan typhoon in Tacloban. He lost his grandmother, six cousins and an uncle, and still has relatives missing.

He lost his father when he was 12. He began drinking alcohol and getting into fights in school. His mother, fearful of what her son would end up in, sold their home and borrowed money from relatives to send him to a boarding school, where he came under the tutelage of Colin Swatton.

Today, 15 years later, Swatton is Jason’s swing coach, caddie, mentor and confidant. “To have him (Swatton) walk up the 18th hole with me was just a special, special thing that I could never forget,” Jason said. At his winning of the 97th PGA championship, he hugged Swatton, then his wife and child.

Another proof of the Fil-Aussie’s determination to make it big in golf was his borrowing a book about Tiger Woods from his roommate; this inspired him to improve his golf by practicing early in the morning, at lunch time and in the evening. He used the book’s reports of Woods’ scores as his benchmark for improvement as a reachable standard. His first big win was at the age of 13 in a 2000 Australian Masters junior event on the Gold Coast.

His winning at the Whistling Straits Golf Course in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, puts him in the golfing world’s fifth ranking. His prize money is S$1.8-million, not counting the endorsements he will be making.

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Congratulations to another Fil-American, 11-year-old Carlos Ong Daof, of New York City, for having been inducted into the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the son of Jojo and Jericha Ong Daof, and the grandson of my husband, Saeed A. Daof.

Carlos, a participant in the Cooperstown Dreams Park National Invitational Tournament, has been inducted into the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. Much like the National Baseball Hall of Fame for major league baseball players, each participant upon induction in the Cooperstown tournament receives the coveted American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame ring and officially becomes one of the Cooperstown Dreams Park Little Majors. The studio photo of each player with his teammates is affixed to the Commemorative Induction Plaque for future enshrinement on the walls of the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame.

The inaugural inductees made history in 1996, becoming the first 10-11 year olds to play ball in the mythical setting of Cooperstown, New York. Each player and coach had the privilege to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to observe the great relics of the Americans’ national game and in the not too distant future will be able to see their own memorabilia from their week at Cooperstown Dream Park in the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame.

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I’ve always enjoyed eating and creating recipes of the seaweed strips made and sold by local entrepreneurs of Surigao, who also had outlets in Butuan City. The buko-seaweed strips tasted like real buko strips. On my last trip to Butuan, I bought four packs of the strips at Robinson’s, and brought them all the way to Manila. The other night, I made a “buko salad” from the strips made by Juner Enterprises and found, to my dismay, the supposed buko strips tasting like plastic strips. The description of the product on the plastic bags says: “Juner’s Seaweed Strips is a proprietary fermented product using a synergic mix of seaweed extract, to come up with a naturally carbonated, light sweet — ciderry and delicious — tasting healthful for the entire family.” It also says, “ Made From Natural Ingredients: Seaweed, Sugarcane-extract, Purified water, Buko macapuno flavor and Natural flavoring extract.”

I prefer the simply made seaweed strips of Surigao.

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