“IF YOU THINK YOU CAN …”

I avoid talking about the details of my entrepreneurial life in this blog. For all intents and purposes, this is practically a public confessional booth - and I really don’t want to reveal all the stuff that’s going on, as some personalities (and even more tricky, partners and/or clients) might chance upon this corner of the universe and recognize what the hell I’m talking about. Even worse, some ideas might be copied before they’re ready to be released to the bigger world. So … for safety, for confidentiality, and for respect, my lips are relatively sealed … for now.

But I will say this - the pace has certainly picked up, most especially these past couple of months. I used to complain to myself that when we were starting out, it’s as if I went from 200 mph to a sluggish 20. But now I’ve revved up back to 3rd gear. And even at this rate, there’s still the 4th and 5th gears to look forward to.

Every meeting, every deal, every new partnership brings my business partner and I one step closer to where we want to be. Of course, there have been stumbling blocks, and sometimes even downright stupid mistakes along the way. I mean, if it’s in your DNA to Think Big, then there are really times that you’re just going to fall flat on your face. But I guess it’s all part of learning and adjusting to the new rules of the game.

Speaking of playing the game, more and more I realize that there are times that it’s really just a discipline of chipping away, of almost clinical patience. You’ve just got to ensure that your head’s clear on what it is exactly you’re trying to achieve. Everything else is just background noise. Personally, it’s all good. Because if this were chess, it’s as if our first round of moves have already been strategically placed.

In fact, yesterday we had a major milestone, a big win amidst the string of small and medium-sized wins we’ve had so far. That’s really all I’m comfortable to share at this point, but come early next year, you’ll definitely hear all about it. It’s all part of The Plan.

Thankfully, The Plan is extremely clear, almost to an obsessive fault. And all the things I’ve started to get involved in – both business and non-business-related – are all part of putting the pieces into place, almost as if I were weaving this elaborate tapestry whose overall pattern will only be revealed through time.

It’s hard to put into words, but it’s really an extremely different rush when you pick the battles you want to fight, choose the spaces you want to play in, and you, well, you just go for it. My to-do list is my own to-do list, not some hand-me-down order from way-on-high. It’s literally saying that these are the things that matter to me, the things that I have decided to invest my self in; In the end, this is what my life’s work will have been about, long after I’m gone.

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Anyway, I had coffee with my former big boss yesterday morning, a catch-up session if you will. Since he’s no longer my big boss, I’ve obviously no ulterior career motive as I transition into my next line of thinking. Let’s just say that he’s one of the very few people who have earned my utmost respect. Our conversation revolved around several topics – starting with the normal how-are-things, how-are-the-people-we-know; and once we dismissed with the niceties, we eventually traversed into other territories.

He was talking about his vision, and my gut instinct told me that this vision had the usual suspects in it. But he wasn’t talking about hitting sales targets, or of accumulating market share and distribution, or of garnering awards. These were natural byproducts of what he really wanted to achieve. For him, his clear intention was to develop a generation of world-class leaders under his watch. And having done my tour of duty under him, I can testify to how many people’s lives he’s literally influenced, molded - and at times, stretched to the limits, hehehe - for the better.

I was thinking about it, and realized even more just how much I owed to this person. He’s been a constant in my seven-year career, a veritable coffee 3-in-1 sachet – coach, mentor, and boss all rolled into one. But if there’s one thing that really has my gratitude pump flowing, it’s this – he believed in me. Way before anybody had any business believing in me, he saw something that nobody else saw (not even myself, at the time), took that, and pushed it to the limits. Ironically, several instances in my career, he showed me what I was capable of doing.

Looking at this rollercoaster ride called my current life, it’s unquantifiable how big a role that belief, coaching, and nurturing plays now. After all, when I decided to take this leap, I did so hinging on nothing else but my own two core beliefs – 1. that this is what I really, really wanted to do, and 2. that I could actually do it. I was leveraging on nothing else but self-confidence, on the almost stubborn mindset that I would eventually be capable of getting it on. I was starting from Base Zero.

I remember when somebody broke my spirit and told me “problema sa ‘yo, masyado kang bilib sa sarili mo.” That really shook me for awhile. After all, what else did I have? What else could I hold onto? Think about it --- take away everything, and we’re left with nothing but faith in God, and belief in ourselves. It’s not brash arrogance nor mindless self-assuredness, believe me. Having confidence is fine, but there’s a fine line that should never be crossed. In the same vein, the other extreme of absolute meekness and false humility, I believe, really won’t get you anywhere either. So let’s shoot for somewhere in the middle - an espresso-shot sized dose of self-confidence; not a whole damn lot, but packs a wallop of a punch.

If you don’t have people who believe in you, who are willing to bet on you, then you’re in for a rough ride, most especially during uncertainty-slash-risk mode. You’ll need warm bodies that will unwaveringly stand by your side, through the ups and downs and sideways of it, no matter what. Family, friends, companions, partners who see you not as who you are now, but who you will eventually become. Not who you are now but who you will eventually become. Actually, to be very blunt about it, it’s times like these that you’ll know who’s real and who’s not.

So find your posse, buckle up, and start believing. This is our time, our ride, our destiny to take. After all, if we don’t go for it, who else will?

JUICED!

Top 10 Things that Give Me a Natural High

1. falling in love. 'nuff said.
2. lazing on my surfboard, in the middle of the sea
3. the company and conversation of great, interesting people
4. my mind chewing on a great idea
5. turning that very same great idea into reality
6. music : u2's "beautiful day", sigur ros' "hoppipolla afturabak", chicane, house music
7. movies : jerry maguire, braveheart, stupid comedies
8. listening to LD/agimat sharings, or inspiring stories for that matter
9. buying a new gadget
10. winning in hold 'em poker

HEHEHE

i'm so getting addicted to kitchie nadal's cover of the apo's 'pag-ibig'. it's been on repeat since 6 am. its just so freaking catchy. "di mo malimutan kung kailan nagsimula ... " head bobbing up and down, hehehe.

STEP 3/1000

another good week!

well, they say there's good stress, and there's bad stress. this past week was definitely the former rather than the latter.

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YAHWEH
U2, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb"

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit

Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean

Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist, no

Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up

The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this cityIf it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

"MUSIC JUNKIE"

I love music. I’m literally addicted, I listen to all kinds, and my ipod could very well be my de facto best friend.

Of course, the top of my music consumption food chain remains to be U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Chicane, Radiohead, Snow Patrol, House, Chillout, Kaskade, Pavement, Hum, some classical, inspirational music. (Although I really have to share that my favorite band of the moment is Sigur Ros, this band from Iceland. Their music will take you to aural vistas you’ve never been to.)

I love music so much that I actually write some songs on the side. Very amateurish, and really more of a very personal interest and creative outlet more than anything. For the longest time, these songs just resided in my hard disk, and were listened to by some friends. And well, I was thinking, in this age of the internet, what the heck? Might as well post it on my site.

Anyway, the first songs I wrote were about getting over a breakup around four years ago. That served to be more cathartic than anything, and I’m not really that open to share those songs. Not because I’m still hung up, but really because they’re so downright sad and kahit paano, kahit paano, may hiya naman ako. But I will post some songs I wrote after that period. Bahala na.

http://markruiz.multiply.com/music

1. HOME

written in my head while driving up to la union last 2004. my trip buddies were sleeping and I remember that it was literally around dawn. it’s about a journey that everybody goes through, and finding one’s own personal sanctuary. With lyrics.

2. BREATHING AGAIN

A relatively dark song about picking oneself up after a troubling period. Written 2004, no lyrics.

3. IF I COULD LIVE A THOUSAND LIVES

A song about a love affair with life. Written 2005, no lyrics.

4. OUR LOVE WILL DROWN THE SEA

At that time, written for a girl I haven’t even met yet, a similar theme to john mayer’s ‘love song for no one’. Written 2005, no lyrics.

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HOME

And I wake into a dream
Rays of sunlight piercing trees
And the road it stretches free
All the way to open sea

And I feel the love in you
As the sky is bleeding blue
Silent mirror of the truth
Of the waking morning

My heart
Was awash with tears when I gave you
All these broken dreams that wouldn’t come true
All these tired reveries beneath your feet
And I sing

My heart, my thoughts
My fears, my hopes
My love, my thorns
My songs

And I’ve found home
And I’ve found home

Through the waves and turning tide
In the whispers of the mind
Swimming through this space and time
Of the waking morning

My heart is a flowing stream when I give you
All these new-found dreams
That have come true
These shining memories beneath your feet
And I sing

My heart, my thoughts
My fears, my hopes
My love, my thorns
My songs

I’ve found home
I’ve found home

And now I clearly see
Your love has set me free

I am home
I am home

THE NEW NEW

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do - is ignore them. Because they changed things. They pushed the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world … are the ones who do.” – ‘Think Different’, Apple Campaign

My Real World University continues.

This incoming 2nd semester, I’ll be teaching an elective in the Ateneo College. After a few meetings, discussions, paperwork, and a mock-up class, my proposed subject is being programmed into the system, and my hiring papers are being processed. Barring any major complications, I’ll be having my class every Thursday 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm, which I feel is still manageable given that it’s only a once-a-week commitment, and the fact that I certainly have more control over my time nowadays.

The elective I’ll be teaching is something new. It’s called “Business Innovation Management” (the original name, “Innovation and Creativity” was admittedly rather too general, unpointed, and vague). Given that it’s a new subject, I had to build the syllabus/modules from scratch, which actually turned out to be fun. As the Department Chair said, “A class on Innovation has to be in itself innovative.” I couldn’t agree more, and I took that as a semi-blank check to propose a class that would be as ‘different’ as possible.

If I have a soft spot in my heart for certain advocacies, then my head is consumed by the possibilities of imbuing Innovation and Creativity everywhere. It’s not only something I want to learn, breathe, and experience more of, it’s something I want to actively teach and impart, starting with inarguably some of the best and brightest minds in this country (yes, my blue blood spilling all over here).

I think it’s because the way I see it, we’re in desperate need of NEW new ideas. That’s not a typo, it’s really New x 2. Because our current crop of ‘new ideas’ aren’t really new, if you think about it. We live in a culture of “copy-and-paste” and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” What was the last product or service or business or suggestion that made you stop and scratch your head, unconsciously thought-bubbling, “Why didn’t I think of that?” I’m not pompously nor self-righteously saying that there aren’t leading lights out there, but they are admittedly few and far in between. More often that not, the comfort zone is to be generically undifferentiated, to seek shelter in the refuge of the herd. Think back - during the peak of their popularity, just how many Litson Manok stands, Shawarma stalls, and Zagu stations did people rush and latch onto, creating conditions wherein supply immediately outstripped demand, causing the total market to erode?

Again. We need NEW new ideas. After all, whatever happened to Filipinos’ innate talent of being truly creative and imaginative?

“We will speak less and less about ‘developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries’ but more and more about ‘smart, smarter, and smartest countries’ “ – Sir John Royce

In an era of globalization and hypercompetition, the ability to innovate is no longer a competitive advantage; it if fast-becoming the minimum cost-of-entry just in order to be able to join the game.

We need freshness, boldness, breakthroughs if we want to be successful not only as individuals, but also collectively as a country. Newsweek’s special issue on the Knowledge Revolution has an article by Thomas Friedman called ‘The Exhausting Race for Ideas’ and he said “The power of ideas would trump the might of armies in world affairs”. Whoa. We need to redefine our paradigms. We need to have a stronger appetite for risk. We need to go for the new new.

And in risking and going for the new new, we need to assume already that we’ll undoubtedly end up leaving a litter of carcasses of failed ideas behind our path; It’s a given. But the flipside is the certainty that we will end up with a few goldmines along the way.

“You can’t use an old map to find new land” – Gary Hamel

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I got interested in this space because the company I used to work for had innovation in its lifeblood. It not only had world-class systems, processes, and knowledge - it also actively fostered a culture of innovation. But most importantly, the people in the organization not only lived and breathed that culture, they in themselves were brilliantly leading-edge to begin with.

I remember when I was tasked to form an internal project team and had a relatively free hand to invite whom I wanted. I didn’t have a systematic checklist and used only my gut; I recruited on the basis of people’s passion - no thorough analysis nor background check nor functional requirements. My interview process was an informal ‘just-bumped-into-you-along-the-hallway’ kind of thing. And in the course of the conversation, when i literally saw how the person’s eyes lit when I would talk about certain topics, I knew that this person ‘got it’, and that I wanted and needed him/her on the team. I guess in hindsight, i was really looking for the crazy ones.

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So here’s to you crazy ones. May there be more and more and more of you in the generations to come.

THANKFUL

had a really good week; the best one i've had in a long, long, long time.

i even ended the week by scuttling over to cebu to attend a good friend's wedding, which turned out to be a lot of fun. there are few places wherein one feels they've escaped reality, shangri-la mactan is one of those. It just exudes that vibe.

and when i got back on sunday, i had to rush over to Ateneo for Fr. Ted's thanksgiving mass on his final vows. we all ended up having dinner -- where else? --- in sweet inspirations along katipunan. kung sino man yung hindi nagbayad for his/her mongolian meal, you owe me! i pitched in for you.

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oh, well. let's just see hope this momentum spills over in the days, weeks, months, years to come.

AMDG

let me write this down to remind myself.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
All for the Greater Glory of God.

i guess remembering this line up to now is a byproduct of 16 years of Ateneo brainwashing. yup, guilty as charged.

INSOMNIAC

couldn't sleep last night.

but for the first time in several months, it was 'good' sleeplessness vs the 'bad' sleeplessness which hounded me some time back.

you know that feeling when your brain feels as if it's on fire? when current/future events, ideas, and possibilities converge and diverge and converge; when your mind feels like a washing machine and just churns and churns and churns. call me crazy (i'm used to it), but i get that once in a while. i haven't had that in a long time; and in a good and bad way, i'm just happy that i did.

i guess it's because things are slowly, ever so slowly, falling into place. the present is opening up, and the future is now not only imaginable; it's becoming more and more worth going for.

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"You know I used to think the future was solid or fixed, something you inherited like an old building that you move into when the previous generation moves out or gets chased out. But it's not. The future is not fixed, it's fluid. You can build your own building, or hut or condo, whatever; But my point is that the world is more malleable than you think, and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape. " - Bono, "Because We Can, We Must" (for the full text : http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/between/2004/commence-b.html)

HMMMM

"I need someone to give it meaning. I need someone to share the view."
- Hum, "i hate it too" from you'd prefer an astronaut