The second generation business taipans
Today's big business decisions are being made by highly successful sons and daughters of first generation business moguls, like Tessie Sy-Coson, Lance Gocongwei, and Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala or JAZA. These guys are creating wealth for their family, giving employment opportunities to millions and opening many opportunities to consumers, customers, suppliers, and business partners. They are passionate, hardworking, and bullish. They make vital decisions that involve billions of dollars, touch the lives of millions and radically change the socio-economic and cultural profile of the whole nation. Their respective fathers have retired and they are now in charge.
The eldest daughter of the country's richest man in the Philippines, Henry Sy, Tessie Sy Coson is a ''sui generis'', a class by herself. Her feat is unique in the Chinese culture because it is not the eldest son but herself, who gets the highest trust and confidence from his father, the venerable patriarch Henry. Among the six siblings, she is vice chair of the Holding company, the SM Investments. She is headstrong like her father, very focused and determined. He rarely takes no for an answer and is a very demanding and exacting boss. She is credited for the massive expansion of SM into more than 600 stores all over the country and in China, and of making BDO the biggest and most profitable bank. She is feared, envied, talked about, but highly respected even by her competitors.
Lance Gokongwei is the able son of the great father, John Gokongwei. He is in charge of all the companies under the umbrella of JG Summit., ranging from malls (Robinsons) to airlines (Cebu Pacific), the economy airline that sidelined PAL as a second stringer and forced the nation's flag carrier to redefine its business model. Due to Lance's brilliant leadership and sharp business acumen, CebuPac became the world's fastest growing airline, now capturing more than 65 per cent of the country's domestic air travel market, and flying to Kuwait, Dubai aside from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia and New Zealand. He is a very strict but reasonable boss. He demands the best and the all-out attention and commitment from all his people.
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala is the most beloved, best respected and admired among the country's second generation business magnates. The employees of BPI, and all Ayala aligned companies simply love him. He is a decent, and respectable executive who walks his talk, values his companies' customers, takes care of the people in the organizations and does a lot of corporate social responsibility projects. He exemplifies the highest standards of ethics and integrity in business and industry. He lives a balanced work and family life and sets an excellent example to his own executives, managers, and rank-and-file. JAZA is well-loved and revered by people who know him. To JAZA, it is not just about money or business but about friendship and long-term relationship.
The tragedy of Lucio Tan is that he has no daughter like Tessie Coson, or a son like Lance or JAZA. And the misfortune of Fred Elizalde and Andres Soriano III and Carlos Palanca Jr was that they were not able to live up to the expectations of their great fathers and grandfathers. What matters most to business empires built by the first generation is the ability to prepare the second generation to take over. On this criterion, Henry Sy, John Gokongwei, and Don Jaime Zobel were very successful. They did not only build empires. They sired sons and daughters whom they molded and nurtured to take over. These were the real wealth that money could not buy. And that was what matters most.
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