why not ?

2008-07-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

i've migrated my blog to http://markruiz.typepad.com :)

2007-11-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

REAL WORLD EDUCATION

---
Just wanted to share my ... uhmm, sharing ... i gave to the Ateneo faculty in the recent ISEW
---

Good morning everyone. My name is Mark Joaquin Ruiz and i’m an Ateneoholic. I am the product of (16) years of Jesuit educational engineering. Ateneo Grade School Batch ‘91, Ateneo High School Batch ’95, Ateneo College Batch ’99, with a degree in BS-Management Engineering, now part-time faculty in the JG School of Management.

After graduation, like most of my batchmates, i went straight for the jugular of stability. I sought financial sanctuary in the womb of the corporate world. I eventually found myself working for Unilever Philippines --- to this day the only company i can and will ever imagine myself working for --- wherein my growth would accelerate to levels i never thought possible. And yet, crazily enough, it was a life that i eventually said goodbye to.

Although i would love to credit my parents’ genes for my so-called crazy decision, it’s just not right to factor out the (16) years of Jesuit education – the man-for-others mantra -- bubbling constantly at the back of my brain. Looking back, it was this very same Ateneo education which had formed a paradigm of service for me. And truth to tell, sadly it was not so much the subjects or the courses that we offer. It was the faculty (Mr. Pagsi, Fr. Nemy Que, Dax Manacsa, Mrs. Chee Kee, Mr. Tamidles, and so on ... ), the environment, and the culture of the Ateneo that made the most difference in shaping who i am. So we can never discount what profound an impact we can have on our students’ lives.

It was actually around this time that i realized that for most people my age, life offered a bipolar pendulum into which you could swing either way --- either you follow your head, and live a li(f)e of financial stability; or you follow your heart, and much to your parents’ chagrin – you live a life of veritable uncertainty traversing relatively unchartered waters. It was something most of our students would also grapple with.

Having arrived at a state of ‘been there, done that’ in my professional corporate career, i realized that i wanted to prove that there exists a third viable option – to get the proverbial cake and eat it too. Follow your heart, it’s just the right thing to do. Use your head, most definitely. Create an impact, hmmm. And yet, still be able to live and afford the lifestyle that you’ve imagined for yourself, a-ha!

I am – as i was way back then ---still very much hungry. But my hunger now goes beyond increasing market shares, or hitting my targets, or coming up with the next great cross-functional company-impacting initiative. I wanted bigger things, greater things, crazier things. I no longer wanted to be just another cog in the machine. I wanted to build the freaking machine.

For me, all this meant that i had to become an entrepreneur. But mind you, not just any kind of entrepreneur. I wanted to become a strategic entrepreneur who would have a positive impact on society.

So – ‘management engineer’ that i am (coupled with my corporate programming and Jesuit-induced reflectiveness) – i reflected, i thought, i analyzed, and i eventually committed a plan to softcopy in all of its Microsoft Office glory --- a Word-powered vision statement, an Excel-sheet based roadmap, and all the visual digital poetry of my most-beloved PowerPoint.

So in a little over a year since i’ve been out of corporate, i’ve literally been living the dream.

Having been unshackled from a 9-to-5 job, i went after all the things i just wanted to do. Current involvements of mine – a mixture of business endeavours and non-profit organizations -- AdvocomAsia, Rags2Riches, MegaMobile, the Creative Business Council, OneFilipino.Net, and so on and so forth.

But if there’s really one thing that has my passion pump flowing, it’s this --- with the best partners in the world, we set up a Social Business Enterprise, MicroVentures -- a microfinancing business development services company that works in partnership with microentrepreneurs. Our first project is Hapinoy, an endeavor that we really believe can help a lot and a lot of people (http://www.hapinoy.com). We now have 1,000 Hapinoy stores, with the vision of having 100,000 stores by the end of next year. Pardon the scale of the ambition, but we really believe that it can change the world.

Just to share, my latest passion project is The WhyNot? Forum, a business-slash-advocacy on furthering inspiring Filipino ingenuity. It’s a venue wherein we gather the most brilliant Filipinos in a venue and give them (15) minutes each to talk about their passions, ideas, dreams. These talks are then posted online for all the world to see for free! (plugging http://whynotoforum.multiply.com and http://www.whynotforum.com). I guess the tagline of WhyNot? says it all : “Think Big Things. Share Big Dreams. Do Brave Things.”

There’s also one thing in my roadmap that i knew that i really, really wanted to do early on, it was this --- I wanted to teach. And not just teach anywhere – i wanted to teach part-time in the Ateneo. And the subject i wanted to teach was also absolutely crystal, most especially since it was a subject that didn’t exist yet --- i wanted to teach “innovation and creativity’.

The first person in the School of Management that i broached it to actually said no and wanted the safe and trodden path of me just teaching a sales class, since it was my background. But I really didn’t want to do that. Luckily, i eventually linked up with Darwin Yu who was more than willing to bet on both myself, and the class. To give you a fuller idea on why i wanted to teach this, let me share with you snippets from my blog entry i wrote right before i started teaching.

---

This incoming semester, I’ll be teaching an elective in the Ateneo College.

The elective I’ll be teaching is something new. It’s called “Business Innovation Management” 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?

---

I have a confession to make. My favorite class during my four years of quantitative management techniques --- was actually philosophy. Dr. Leovino Garcia, Fr. Nemesio Que – they blew my mind.

But I’ll never forget a line that rang in my head, which i overheard from an upper batchmate when we would --- pun intended – wax philosophical. “The problem with Ateneo teachers is that they teach you about a world that doesn’t exist.” Whoa. That’s not only heavy stuff, that’s downright insulting to all of us here.

So coming into my class, i wanted to flip that. I wanted to prepare my students to the realities of what’s out there. I wanted them to be dreamers, but more than anything, i wanted them to be doers. They would see the world as it is, but wouldn’t be disheartened. In fact, they would be further edged on to remold the real to the ideal. I wanted to spur students who just wouldn’t talk about “what i want to do”, but students who would actually go down, get their hands dirty, and do stuff.

And that is why i didn’t want come into this just as a pure academician. I needed to be an academic-industry practitioner hybrid - for it to make absolute sense in the way that i believed it would make absolute sense. I wanted to be able to show my students that i could eat my own dog food.

---

So why – despite the fact that my gas costs so much more than what i get from teaching – do i not only continue to teach, but i still do so loving every minute of it?

I’ve a simple answer : it’s because of the students. It’s because of what they represent for me. It’s because i believe that we as educators are literally shaping our country’s future.

Of course it’s not always a bed of roses. Teaching can sometimes be frustrating, especially if some students are disconnected, apathetic, and have a very narrow worldview. But i guess its precisely our role as educators to shift those paradigms.

But then again, there are also a lot of psychic perks. When you receive an email from a student telling you how your class had inspired them. When you receive feedback on how you’re encouraging them to move forward. And when– especially in this generation of students – you appear in their blogs, it’s just really cool.

---

So to end, let me share with you what i believe Ateneo teachers should be and do.

I’ve got three I’s on my list – Ateneo teachers should 1. Inspire, 2. Immerse, and 3. Incite.

1. Inspire

Speaking from the School of Management, it is our responsibility not only to our students, but to our country-at-large, to push and challenge our students to THINK BIG. In this hypercompetitive global arena, our country is just falling way way way behind. It is our moral imperative to generate a generation of leaders and entrepreneurs who will build world-class businesses and create the next wave of sectoral industries. We need visionaries.

2. Immerse

We have to open our students’ eyes and hands to the Real World. We’ve got to encourage entrepreneurialism and practicality, so as to translate grand visions into street-smart on-the-ground applicability.

In my case, I wanted to remove the dangerous programming of schools. And truth to tell, this actually meant being a bit unconventional at times. Surprise, surprise – i gave no quizzes, no long tests. I wasn’t going to build the next generation of innovators on a bedrock of just being rote memorizers . Their grades came from practical outputs and judged and graded using practical means. I wanted my students to be synthetic and entrepreneurial, grounded yet imaginative, practical yet visionary.

Immersing also means exposing our students to the harsh realities of inequality in society, and how it is also part of our servanthood and purpose to do something about it. That’s why in my class, i actually had groups working on a prisoners’ cooperative and a payatas community.

3. Incite

We have to get our students moving. We need to spur them TO ACTION. Ateneans are known to be talkers. I’d much rather we were known as doers. ‘Nuff said.

So to end, i really love to echo this really cool inventor, Dean Kamen in a talk that he gave.

Will our work result in the most brilliant students the country has ever seen ? Will we as educators actually be able to shape the future of our country? Will we make a difference?

I really really don’t know.

But we’re trying.

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

Thank you.

Mark Joaquin Ruiz
October 27. 2007
http://ruizmark.blogspot.com

2007-09-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST BULLSHIT

the Hapinoy hype is slowly bubbling up and can border on dangerously distracting. but let me just write this down to remind myself and everybody else ... this is all about our nanays. if this doesn't have any impact on their lives, all of this hype is absolutely freakin' worthless.

2007-09-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

HAY, LIFE !
(a.k.a. There's Something About 30)

As i'm writing this, it's early morning and i'm on a beachfront,
feeling cornered by the sea. I'm ipod-plugged, laptop-wired,
nature-inspired. Sporadic waves sputter, dogs wander about sniffing
sand, the wind oscillates yet eventually calms down. There's this
kid, she's running mindlessly across the shoreline, and unlike most
(if not practically all) grown-ups i know, she's not running like
she's racing against time. She's running because – well, let me put it
this way -- she's running because she's just running.

I guess this is as best place as any – a personal sanctuary -- to
spend my last day before i greet the fkkking big 3-0. It feels like a
reverse prison sentence, this age point no longer landing on the line
of 2. I know i'm making more out of it than it should really be – i
mean, what the hell does age mean anyway? It's just a freaking number
after all. But my blood feels richer than it used to be, my spirit's
beautifully heavier than it used to be, my head's lighter in places
that it shouldn't be, and my libido – well, let's just not go there.
Bwahahaha ... *wink*.

And so i'm here. And it's frustratingly hard to actually posit where
"here" is. Or what it even remotely feels like. And so i try to hide
in shadows and mirrors and metaphors, a writer's cop-out if you will.
And all i glimpse is water. Fluid, boundless water. Water that drowns
as much as it cleanses, engulfs as much as it embraces, calms spirits
as much as it creates chaos. Water.

---

I had a relatively weird experience the other week. I had a meeting in
a coffee place somewhere in greenhills, my first time to go there
after several months. And i couldn't explain it, but i just felt
downed.

It took me awhile to realize, but that place had negative mojo for me.
When i resigned over a year ago to try my luck out on my own, that was
the place that i would crash. It was around that time that we didn't
really have an office yet, and so it became my little nook in the
universe. Our schedule wasn't exactly brimming with appointments and
to do's. I distinctly remember that there were days that i would just
stay (more like hide) there the whole day - most especially from the
world - 'cause i was afraid that people would think that i was just
really a bum.

And i vividly remember what kept me going during those days, the
emotion and reason still crystal. It was nothing else but the
absolutely stubborn belief ... that i'd get to this point where i am
in now. The absolutely stubborn belief that i'd get to this point
where i am in now.

And where i am now is several steps beyond in-between. The time for
thinking about what to do with my life has long passed, the shaky
starting-out jitters jarringly cleared, this life transition finally
in full gradient. It's making-it-happen time.

And if there's one thing amongst the litany of things i've put on my
plate that i'm dead-set on seeing through (with unimaginably the best
partners in the world), just please check out http://www.hapinoy.com.
It's a dream slowly coming into its own reality.

---

I saw this new ad i really love, and its for Arcelor Mittal, the steel
company. It's a picture of two similar images of people from different
perspectives. One guy is staring at the moon. The other image is a guy
in a spacesuit on the moon, staring back at the earth. The tagline
goes, "Boldness changes everything."

And so as i hit the big fkking 3-0 i realize THAT'S IT. THAT'S FKKKN' " IT".

I'M NOT OLDER. I'M BOLDER.

I have a passion project right now, and it's called "The WhyNot? Forum
: Inspiring Filipino Ingenuity". It's actually bloody simple : (7)
ingenious Filipinos, (15) minutes each – sharing their ideas,
passions, dreams (inspired by www.TED.com). As i was trying to capture
the spirit of the forum, trying to distil what it was that made the
speakers' lives so meaningful that they HAVE TO BE SHARED with the
rest of the world, the following line sort of wrote itself : "Think
New Thoughts. Share Big Dreams. Do Brave Things."

And so as i reach the big 3-0, i've decided i will embrace that
spirit. The WhyNot? Spirit. Of limitless possibilities, bold thinking,
the "going for it" imperative. More than anything, I've reached a
stage that i've run out of excuses not to make a big difference. More
than anything, it just wouldn't do justice to this wonderfully
beautiful gift of life -- if it wasn't used for life itself.

I'm fkkkn' 30! And truthfully, absolutely, positively – a bold new
chapter in my life has just begun.

+AMDG

Mark Joaquin Ruiz
September 16, 2007
La Union

H BOMB

2007-01-25T01:57:00.000-08:00

jan 22 2007 and so it begins

2006-12-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

12 LITTLE THINGS EVERY FILIPINO CAN DO TO HELP OUR COUNTRY

from the book by Alex Lacson
---

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3. Don't buy smuggled goods. Buy local.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively about us and our country.
5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman, and soldier.
6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.
7. Support your church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your taxes.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your children to follow the law and love our country.

2006-10-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

“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.

---

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?

2006-10-21T01:19:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-10-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

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.

---

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

2006-10-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

"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.

---

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

2006-10-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

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

---

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.

---

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

2006-10-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

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.

---

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

2006-10-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-10-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

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.

---

"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)

2006-10-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

"LOVE and WORK"

Freud said that two of the most important things in life are love and work.

Steve Jobs expounds :

"You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle." - 2005 Commencement Speech at Stanford

for the full speech, click on the following link :
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/grad-061505.html

2006-09-27T01:35:00.000-07:00

“DREAMERS AND DOERS”

Whoa. It’s been quite awhile since I wrote an entry. It’s not that I haven’t had a lot to talk about. It’s just that for the longest time I didn’t really feel like writing. Blame it on loss of inspiration, cave time, hibernation, whatever.

So … it’s been three full months now since I left my old life. I won’t pretend that it’s been a rosy ride; In fact, it’s been far from it --- some days have been literally downright rotten. But it helps that I knew fully well what I was getting myself into; I jumped into it with my eyes wide open.

I’ve heard that “happiness or satisfaction = expectations – actual reality”, and it’s true. So it’s actually good that I managed my own expectations in this transition stage. After all, what can one reasonably expect when you’re starting all over again? Welcome to 'My Life, Rebooted'.

I guess you could say that one of the silver linings in my life now is that I’ve found a sense of personal freedom. Maybe not yet the much sought-after financial freedom, but internal freedom, nonetheless. Few rights are as empowering as the ability to choose, especially the ability to choose for yourself. Jack Welch said it well, “Control your destiny or someone else will.”

I’m far - still very, very far - from where I want to be. But I have faith that I’ve chosen a path that will eventually take me to where I want to go.

“Twenty years from now, you will regret more the things YOU DID NOT DO, rather than the things YOU DID DO.”

Aside from learning to be a start-up entrepreneur, one thing I’ve been enjoying - aside from occasionally indulging in DVD marathons, that is - is having enough time to invest in personal interests, and getting involved in personal advocacies. Life’s Directions. Small steps in nation-building. Education. Innovation and Creativity.

Us humans, we’re made up of hope. Strip that away, and there’s nothing left except the day-to-day drudgery of our existence. We hope that things can be better. That our lives can be better. That our world - no matter how big or small we define it – can be better. Else what on earth are we living for?

“You’ve got to dream up the world you want to live in …
You’ve got to dream out loud” – U2, “Zooropa”

This new chapter in my life has also led me to meeting a lot of very interesting people, and believe me, there’s a lot of them out there. But the ones who’ve struck me the most, the ones who’ve really inspired me - they have a certain vibe about them, an inner mojo.

At their core, they’re true believers. They’re Dreamers – people who seem to have direct access to an unlimited wellspring of hope. But it’s not that which sets them apart. They’re Dreamers who are also Doers. Dreamers are a dime a dozen. But Dreamers who actually move their butts and do something … they’re the rare gems.

The Caltex Ad asks, “What Moves You?” Dreamers and Doers - they’ve answered this question. They let themselves be moved … and then they started making things move.

If you’re gonna dream, you might as well dream big. As my spiritual director said, if you’re gonna ask God for something, then don’t waste your time asking for the small potatoes … a promotion, a new car, etc. Ask for the big kahuna, things that make a difference. Ask for love, purpose, direction … (insert your own personal advocacy here).

One thing I’ve learned from dreamers/doers who’ve gone through a lot - they know all too well that the bigger the dream, the bigger the price tag. Dreams may be free, but turning those very same dreams into realities is never, ever cheap. At some point, if you’re going to go for it, then you’ve got to know exactly what you’re willing to give up.

I have a friend who had it all in the corporate life. And yet she turned her back on it, in order to study Theology. She’s been in Sales all her life, and became one of the best at it. But she realized that her dream is “selling” God to others. The price tag? Her job, her car, her financial security. Nowadays, she’s adjusted by commuting to and from school. Her dream came at a cost, and she coughed up the dough.

“I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else fades away”
- Oriah, “The Invitation”

Recently, we had “Agimat” – a Retreat on Leadership on Spirituality - with a Local Government Unit. One of the highlights was a sharing which was coincidentally given by my teacher in High School, Mr. Pagsi, all of 79 years old. He gave an inspired performance (somehow, calling it just ‘a talk’ undermines the experience) and touched on these themes. His message? You’ve got to dare to dream. And to dream, you’ve got to have passion. But all the passion in the world is useless, even dangerous – without the right direction.

So … what moves you? What’s your dream? How big or small is it? And what price are you willing to pay to at least try and make your dream a reality? And realize this – that by not doing anything, you’re already paying something.

“The Goal is Soul” - Bono

2006-09-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

"from now on, i can see the sun. makes me conscious, makes me run"
- Pavement, "Loretta's Scars"

2006-08-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

i'm back

2006-07-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

“IT’S NOT ABOUT ME”

I used to be a guy who thought he knew the answers. I knew what needed to be done, how it had to be done, and most importantly -- who can, and will get it done.

Ante up a bit -- I knew what I wanted. And what I wanted, I just went for. And more often than not, what I went for, I would get. The past few years have been relatively, blessedly glitch-free. In fact, it created a stable enough springboard for me to muster enough courage and jump into this new life of mine.

But God had other plans. And He dealt me a major blow, a major loss.

The last time I dealt with loss several years ago, I discovered a formulaic template to get out of my funk. It opened me up to an explosion of life, to rediscovering a wider, greater sphere. It was easy to drown myself in new experiences, dream new dreams, meet and re-meet people; All I had to do was get out the door and boom, the outside world was waiting.

But there’s the rub. Because this time around, the same old formula just isn’t going to cut it; it’s a different situation, and I’m a different person altogether. As I said in a previous blog, everything I know is wrong.

If before I was unleashed to run outwards, then this recent experience has me backed into a corner, forcing me to go entirely the opposite direction and dig inward; I’ve had to go to my core.

---

What if you thought the world was all yours for the taking, but then you’re bonked and you’re forced to realize that you’ve got nothing, have nothing, am nothing?

When the bliss of sleep remains beyond reach, and you’re up in the middle of the night grappling with your inner demons; when you’re debating – nay, arguing - with God, you begin to realize that you’ve got nothing in this world. There’s literally nothing you can hold onto that’s truly, truly yours. Not even the shirt on your back.

Even worse, when things stop making sense and you turn a deaf ear even to the stillness of night, you’re faced with the harsh reality that you are utterly, utterly alone. It’s that eerily familiar feeling when everyone’s already asleep and you’re the only one tossing and turning in bed. But it’s also that unintuitive, unfamiliar feeling when you’re right smack in the middle of a crowd and you still feel so much desolation, totally cut off, so miserably alone.

EBTG -- Everything But The Girl -- had a song for this. The ‘Walking Wounded’.

---

I had quite a long breakfast with Fr. Ted the other week, and he said that this was going to be a glorious period in my life. Easy for him to say, I thought to myself. The 'why'’s escaped me then, but he was actually excited for me. Apparently, this will be a time that I’ll be chiseled, formed, reformed.

Now all this stuff would be such a beautifully romantic notion - if all this would happen without pain. But you see, pain is not only part and parcel of the equation, it’s actually the chisel.

We are by nature pain-averse. And if there’s an easier way out, we’d naturally take it. But if we really want to grow from the shitstorms in our life, then we’ve got to stand up to the in-your-face truth that the only way out is through.

You have to muddle and feel your way through the darkness. You don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, but you believe that it’s there. You trust that it’s there. You have faith that it’s there.

To quote something I picked up this morning --- the only faith more powerful than waiting with hope, is waiting for hope.

-----

If there’s one thing the chisel has taught me, it’s this --- it was never about me.

I’ve got big dreams and wild ambitions --- though hopefully (I’m slightly apologetic here) tempered by the right intentions. But then again, it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve still got way too much pride in my stew.

But the pain of grief and loss lacerates all that away from you. Chops away your pride. Shakes your confidence. Makes you question what you have, who you are. And once the well’s all dried out, that’s when you see what you’re really made of. What you’ve got at your very core.

It’s actually when you hit the bottom of the barrel that you have to rebuild everything, literally from the ground up. And as you dream it all up again, it comes alive in different colors.

Don’t get me wrong, the dream remains the same. But what drives the dream, how we view the dream, can be different altogether.

It's not about us, it's not about you, it's not about me. It's about something bigger than all of us.

i'm truly humbled, yet not one bit less hungry. At least now i know where the appetite is coming from.

---

The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human behavior.

- Ezra Taft Benson

2006-07-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

THE INVITATION
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
From PDI/15 Feb 1998

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for,
And if you dare to dream
Of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk
Looking like a fool for love,
For your dreams, for the adventure
of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets
are squaring your moon.
I want to know if you have touched
The center of your own sorrow
If you have been opened by life’s betrayals or
Have become shriveled and closed
From fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain,
Mine or your own
Without moving to hide it
Or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,
Mine or your own,
If you can dance with wildness
And let the ecstasy fill you
To the tips of your fingers and toes
Without cautioning us
To be careful, to be realistic, or to remember
The limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story
You tell me is true,
I want to know if you can disappoint another
To be true to yourself,
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
And not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful
And therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty
Even when it is not pretty every day,
And if you can source your life from God’s presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure,
Yours and mine,
And still stand at the edge of the lake
And shout to the silver
Of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn’t interest me how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
After the night of grief and despair,
Weary and bruised to the bone, and
Do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you are,
How you come to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
In the center of fire with me
And not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what
Or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
From the inside
When all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
And if you can truly like
The company you keep
In the empty moments.

2006-07-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

"You've got to dream up the world you want to live in. You've got to dream out loud." - U2, "Zooropa"

2006-07-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG

Lately, I’ve been thinking that maybe there’s something more useful than the art of learning. It’s the art of unlearning.

Our paradigms are shaped by a hodgepodge of things: the experiences of our past, all the junk we’ve fed our brains, our perspective of the future. All these things guide how we think, what we say, how we act.

Going through the daily grind called life, at some point we begin to settle into auto-pilot mode. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. What has worked before, will work again. What we’ve learned can be consistently applied - time and time again - and you will get more or less the same result.

Pretty much until these past few weeks, I thought I had it all figured out.

But life has its way of smacking your head with a brick, if only to knock some sense into your head and hammer you into shape. You can scenario-plan every possible occurrence, but there will always be things that will sneak up under your radar. Sometimes, there are things that you actually saw coming – giving leeway for mental preparation --- but the reality of it finally happening will jolt you nonetheless.

At the end of the day, there are no magic formulas, sure-win strategies, no secret sauce, that will guarantee success time and time again. Because reality and context will change from situation to situation. Life is rooted in time, and time is rooted in fluidity. As such, everything you do must be constantly anchor itself in the reality of the present. It needs an objective assessment of “what the hell is goin’ on?”.

So what to do when the proverbial shit hits the fan?

One of my favorite thoughts ever goes like this: “The event is not important. But the response to the event is everything.” Let me repeat that for emphasis --- “The event is not important, but the response to the event is everything.”

Greater than the ability to plan is the ability to adapt; and to adapt quickly to the present moment. Now, I’m not saying we should stop planning - people close to me know how fervently I plan my life. But plans are useless if we’re bogged down by our paradigms and mindsets and comfort zones that might no longer work.

Plans are the lighthouse, the general direction and aspiration. In times of crisis, more than ever we need to stay firmly rooted and stay the course. But we have to accept that conditions will change and we might need to zigzag a bit – at times, take a few steps back even – just to end up to where we want to go. Reality’s harsh, but embracing the setbacks that come your way is literally the only option you’ve got.

But then again, the eternal optimist in me believes that setbacks are like slingshots. They create tension, pull you back, stretch you to your limit, only to finally release you on a higher, greater trajectory. They can actually push you farther and faster to where you want to go.

---

All these thoughts are brewing in my head because what I’m sharing is what I’m going through right now, a period of transition. I’m breaking away from my past – literally on different levels, both in the corporate life and more personal matters.

The past few days, I’ve returned everything I used to have in my corporate life. I’ve said goodbye to my cubicle, the high-plan XDA, the laptop, the car, the parking slot. It kinda hit my gut a bit, the fact that I’ve now got no job title, no stability; it’s almost as if a part of my identity died.

But this is exactly part of the process of unlearning. Of letting go. Of shedding one’s skin. Of emptying to ready oneself for renewal. Of recharting trajectories, of going for your own personal lighthouse.

Now, I’ve got seven years of corporate programming I need to put at the backseat for awhile in order to start anew. Because it’s a whole new ballgame, with all new rules. And it means i have to be ready to relearn everything, if needed, all over again. Because it could very well be that everything I know is wrong.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then the flow and motion of life and all the baggage it entails is the root of personal reinvention.

---

“Knowledge, experience, and theory have limitations : no amount of thinking in advance can prepare you for the chaos of life, for the infinite possibilities of the moment. The great philosopher of war Carl von Clausewitz called this “friction”: the difference between our plans and what actually happens.”
Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War

2006-06-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'M HOME

it feels great to be back ! i've missed home.

2006-06-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

i'm finally at my last stop here in LA. in a few days i'll be happily back home. it's been a fun trip so far, and i can't help but reminisce on my vacation here.

to think it started out so disastrously!

i arrived in new york where i had to take the subway to my friend's pad. my insanely big maleta broke just when i got out. it was a pain to drag across three blocks! i had to stop every few meters, without exaggeration. and to top it all off, the sky started pouring heavy rain. i remember thinking to myself, "God are you trying to tell me something here?"

so after a rocky arrival, i spent a couple of days in New York, mostly just walking around the city, and one relaxing afternoon with friends in Central Park.

after that, i took a train to philadelphia where i stayed with a kabarkada. he had to leave for san fran so i was left all alone in his place for a few days. it was a good thing that i had that creative economy summit/conference to keep me preoccupied. for more details on that, just check out my blog "Real World University".

my next stop was napa valley/san francisco. my flight was 6 am and since i couldn't trust alarm clocks, i decided to just not sleep at all the night before. suffice to say, i missed all the meals in the plane as i was totally conked out. i arrived in the airport and got a car which i rented over the internet. thanks to mapquest, i was able to drive my way to napa valley just in time to catch a friend's wedding. that drive was a lot of firsts --- my first time to go to napa valley, first time to rent and drive a car here, and first time to brave the US freeway. well, thankfully it proved to be a fun and accident-free experience.

from my lonesomeness in philly, i was glad to be with familiar friends in napa. we stayed in a really nice hotel which was like a park unto itself, wherein i finally got a good night's rest. the next day's schedule included going around napa, dropping by the outlet, wine tasting, and driving back to san francisco where i had dinner with some friends.

the next day my friend jay and i decided to drive up to palo alto and stanford university, both relaxing places to visit. we had lunch in a burger place and finally went back to our friend's place, where we stayed the night. anyway, i returned the rental car, hopped on a cab, and went to the bus station where i took an overnight ride to LA.

now, i'm just literally resting and relaxing here with my cousin keije. i've caught a couple of movies - "the breakup" and "cars"; and even spent one whole geeky day in the LA library just to soak up stuff! let's just say that on top of that, i'm revisiting some of the deadly sins --- in particular, sloth and gluttony, hehehe.

i don't recall a time that i've had the luxury of being this well -- to put it bluntly, lazy. it's literally been ages. but i guess i'm just recharging my batteries for the marathon up ahead ...

2006-06-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

“REAL WORLD UNIVERSITY” PART 2

--- oops!!! please read Part 1 below first, the previous entry ---

In line with # 8, I’m actually attending a conference here in Philadelphia called “The Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit”. It’s the reason I’m here.

I was actually planning to write about the conference after it finishes in three days, but I guess there’s just too much to share from Day 1 alone so I might as well get started.

Why did I attend this conference? How does it fit in what I want to do?

I begin with my starting point. --- let’s ask the question “What can Filipinos be really good at?” wherein “Be really good” is defined as “Ideally World-Class, with the minimum cost-of-entry being Regionally Competitive”

If it were up to me, I’d love for us to be absolutely excellent in Science and Technology (think Japan, South Korea, Taiwan), in Manufacturing (think China, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam?), in IT (think India), in healthcare/lifesciences (don’t really know). I don’t claim to fully have the data and depth of understanding of these industries and how we fare versus other countries but I do want to learn more (any comments / advise / info, email me please ruizmark@gmail.com)

Now, I’d like to discover and make bets in certain spaces that could be forthcoming. And when I scan the horizon, one place I’m going to bank on is Filipinos’ natural strength in creativity. I really really believe we’re inherently creative.

Now, attending this conference has made this space more appetizing. Let me be clear. The creative sector is not just arts and culture, as it can be narrowly misconstrued. As defined in this conference, “Every job where you think and/or generate ideas for a living is part of the creative economy.”

And so today, just to share the interesting topics / sessions I attended :

1. Overview of the Creative economy and the challenges ahead

Bottom-line, it’s one of the emerging sectors in the global economy. Developed Countries, especially US and England, are seriously developing programs to drive it . From other stuff I’ve studied, Asia is also getting on board. China is setting up “Design Parks”. I was in Thailand last month and I saw the concrete manifestation they’re entering this space - the Thailand Creativity and Design Center. Singapore is repositioning itself into a Creativity Hub as a source of growth. They’ve set-up the Ministry of Information, Communication, and the Arts. In fact, I met an Assistant Director who’s also an attendee here.

2. Higher education : Shaping the Creative Economy

There was a rich discussion here. Four different presentations running the gamut from design schools linking up with poor communities, attraction / retention strategies for university graduates to stay and work within the community, regional economic development strategies and programs, and setting up a “Creative Campus”.

3. Building and Sustaining Creative Cities

Cool track which was held off-site at the Atwater Kent Museum. Three presentors showed how they created city-wide programs to reposition them for the Creative Economy and thus drive regional prosperity and wealth. Bottom-line, how creative sectors can create valuable jobs.

4. How Big is the Creative Sector Economy?

Extremely interesting discussion from a consultancy company that’s linked to Richard Florida, one of the leading thought leaders in this space (he’s the author of “The Rise of the Creative Class”). It explained job trends/statistics, the creative sector, its economic contribution, and how regions/cities are developing programs to drive their own creative sectors. A bit uncomfortable in the Q&A’s section particularly when they talked of losing jobs to low-cost centers in Asia. Hello?

5. Christo and Jean-Claude and Dinner in the University of the Arts

This was just for exposure. We listened to two environmental artists. These people are really purists, absolute artists. They’d do anything in the name of their art. They don’t hesitate to think big, and it shows in their work. Suffice to say, I admire them, but I don’t envy them.

We ended with a networking dinner in the University of the Arts, which is a nice segue to my next point. Aside from the tracks, I’ve met some really cool people. I really didn’t hesitate to introduce myself and get to know them. Yes, makapal talaga ako.

In fact, I had a quick discussion with the author of “The Creative Economy”, one of the early pioneers who foresaw this emerging field and engaged him on the applicability of his ideas to a developing country such as ours. He intuitively explained yes, but seemed intrigued and wanted to further explore it. He asked me to continue the dialogue by sending him more information through e-mail. Whether he was serious and/or something will come out of this, I leave in God’s hands.

I’ve also met a score of other people whom I hope to keep in communication with. I always remind them - when I email you, just remember “that sole Filipino you met in the Philadelphia Conference”, hehehe. And i mean, all sorts of really smart and cool people doing smart and cool things.

Anyway, I’ll keep you posted as there are still two full days for this conference. Definitely more to learn and hopefully apply when I get back home.

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Whew! This has been such a long entry that I had to break this blog into two.

I’m energized by my trip here so far. Although I do miss home, I must admit that the travel, rest, and exposure is doing me a world of good. I’m sure I’ll be recharged once I get back and get on with my new life. It won't be a trouble-free ride, i'm sure. But i'm itching to get started.

Why not?

2006-06-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

“REAL WORLD UNIVERSITY” PART 1

The book I’m plagiarizing it from escapes me now, but the term stuck. It’s called “Real World University” and what it basically says is this: in the real world, you’re actually in control of what you want to learn, how you learn, and where you’ll apply what you learn.

As opposed to the traditional structures of a formal education with all its core courses and electives, its classrooms and tight schedules - in “Real World University” you can actually construct your own curriculum, find your own learning venues, and go about your educating yourself at your own pace.

Now, before you embrace this concept blindly and wholeheartedly, be conscious that RWU connotes certain practical pre-conditions :

1. You know where you want to go.
2. You know the necessary knowledge and valuable experiences to get you there.
3. You inventory what you have and what you don’t have from # 2.
4. You plan where to fill in those gaps in a way that is attuned to how you learn.

But before I get ahead of myself, let me backtrack a bit on just what reminded me of RWU >>>

I’m in Philadelphia right now, bunked with my friend Noel and his wife KC. He’s here to pursue his MBA in Wharton, and in a few years I fearlessly forecast that he’ll be so rich, money will be flowing out of his ears. (After all, he’s focusing on finance! AND he’ll be earning in $$$)

Anyway, we got to tour his wonderful campus the other day, and I must admit that there was that part of me that thought-bubbled the inevitable “What if?” (which I also felt when I visited our other friend Jay in Harvard Business School last December).

“What if I did pursue an MBA?”

I pursued the line of thinking, and realized that for all practical purposes, I’ve already missed the boat. You see, to my mind I’ve never computed an MBA as taking only two years. For an MBA to make both economic and practical sense, I’ve got to work abroad for at least three years after I graduate. That means a minimum commitment of five years. Five precious years (away from home) that I really just can’t afford right now.

Moreover, I guess I’m struggling to see how it will fit in my new path as a starting entrepreneur. I may be wrong, but at this point, I’d really much rather learn from practical experience; what some people call the school of hard knocks (apologies in advance for such a cliché’ term)

I’m not trying to devalue an MBA – in fact, I totally, absolutely envy all those who have the degree, the knowledge, the experience, and the network. I mean, one conversation with Noel here and I see just how broad his world has become! But I guess I have to accept the fact that at this point in time, I just won’t be able to fit it into the tapestry of my life.

And so when I reaffirmed that it’s “Goodbye, MBA”, my memory banks resurfaced an underlying concept to comfort me. Pretty soon, it was “Hello, RWU.”

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So what’s in my RWU Curriculum?

I’ve touched on it a bit in my “ALL IN” blog. I’ve purposely concealed some of the specifics because I didn’t want to jump the gun and fall flat on my face if some things don’t materialize. So let me just say a very concise list that I deem sharable :

1. We’ll finally be setting up the small business when I get back in July. The plan, the product/service, and the partners are already in place. Don’t hold your breath, I’ll be starting and focusing on English proficiency (full entry in a future blog once I’m more comfortable to share). Why? I need to learn how to start a business. Moreoever, it’s practical, there’s a big market, and believe me it will help people get jobs. But to be clear, I don’t consider this market the endgame. But I will focus on it for the next couple of years to get started. WISH US LUCK!!!

2. I’ve already applied for a part-time teaching position in Ateneo. Earliest is 2nd Sem 2006 (November), if the schedule doesn’t conflict with # 3. Why? I want to eventually enter education. Also the topic I want to teach is something I want to advocate and force myself to learn – an elective revolving around innovation and creativity (more details on a future blog, this topic alone is worth one whole entry. And anyway, creativity is hinted on later on in this blog).

3. I’ve applied to a youth delegation that will let me travel and immerse myself in certain countries (cross your fingers on that one – I’ll know in a couple of weeks). If that doesn’t pan out, apply again somewhere else. Why? If you remember, I want to serve foreign markets.

4. I already passed the test to sell life insurance (anybody out there interested please let me know okay!). Why? I want to learn to sell. This is not a focus area, it’s just part-time.

5. I’ve found a few mentors to guide me. I’d still want more. Anybody interested to tutor this inexperienced kid, lemme know! Why? I’m so inexperienced, I really need guidance!

6. I’ve made a lineup of people I want to talk to and learn from. I need to check names from that list at least once a month. Why? To learn from their experience and help further shape my thinking and plans.

7. I’ve got an enormous library of books, reports, articles, magazines, papers to go over – like you wouldn’t believe! This time here has actually allowed me to go over a lot of them. I promise to share this list with you soon enough. Why? I love to read. It’s how I learn, how I feed my brain, and how I generate my ideas.

8. I’ve listed some conferences / workshops / seminars that I want to attend. Why? To learn from industry best practices.

(continued in “REAL WORLD UNIVERSITY” PART 2)

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2006-05-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

“ALL IN!”

So I finally did it. I finally resigned.

I’m about to leave the safe confines of the corporate world and venture into the great unknown. Let go of my stable paycheck and turn my back on a career that’s as tempting as tempting can be.

There’s been a lot of talk and speculation about my resigning, so I guess I owe it to everyone to set the record straight. What really happened, what’s going on, what I’m really up to.

In Hold ‘em Poker, if you want to win big, at some point you’ll have to bet big. If you have absolute certainty in your hand, and your gut just tells you that this pot is yours to take, you go all in – bet the farm, plunk in all your chips, no regrets - win or lose. I’m there. I’m at that point where I can finally say “All In!”

You see, I’m part of this community called Life’s Directions. And, as the name implies, it’s all about people finding out what they to do with their lives, and then hopefully going ahead and doing it. If I truly wanted to “eat our own dog food”, i.e. walk the talk --- then I have no choice but to follow what I’ve discerned as my own Life’s Direction.

And when you come to the realization that what you’re doing now isn’t going to take you where you want to go, then it’s time to change the course as soon as possible. Which in my case, means resigning from the corporate life.

When I turned 27 last September 2004 I remember writing “What to do with this gift called life? It’s a question 1. Few ever ask, 2. Fewer can honestly answer, and 3. Even fewer still who can truthfully say that they actually got up and did something about it. I’d like to believe I belong to the second group. But I’m trying as damn hard as I can to fall into the third.”

Fast-forward one-and-a-half years later, I’m finally jumping onto the third category. All in.

---

If you believe in something so strongly it practically resonates with your gut, you owe it to yourself to go for it. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, calls this his “regret-minimization framework”. Armed with nothing less than an idea and the colossal opportunity which was the Internet, he left his job and went for it. He founded Amazon.

Now, I’m not out to start a multi-billion-dollar company; But like him, I’m just out to pursue my dreams.

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dust recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
- T.E. Lawrence

I’ve realized that my long-term vision is to help in my own small way to serve our country. This is something that I have been actually doing self-study into these past few months. What became a topic of interest has become a passion. It has crystallized in me that the best way for me to contribute to the country is by directly creating jobs, as an entrepreneur.

As such, I’ve decided that for the decades of my life to come, I will be focusing on three areas that I feel will have whatever small ripple I wish to make :

1. Export services / outsourcing – in my simple understanding, if we just rely on businesses that make money circulate within the country, then our country will not develop as fast as it needs to. Thus, I dream of serving foreign markets.

2. Education – there is really a strong need to build skills of Filipino people in order to prepare them more and more for a globalized world. But there should also be more and more a movement to higher-value skills. If one looks at the spectrum of skills now, we’re providing the brunt, low-value work. We can definitely be more world-class. In the future, I dream of having my own school.

3. Empowerment of the poor – our country still has one of the highest incidences of poverty. From a business point-of-view, they’re a huge market, the so-called “bottom-of-the-pyramid”. From a human being’s point-of-view, we just have to help. Areas in the future I want to enter here are related to microfinancing and skills-building.

In a line, I just want to build skills for Filipinos in order for them to compete in a globalized world. Put simply, my burning platform is to create jobs.

Now, this is something I’m not going to achieve overnight, maybe not even in the next several years, if ever at all. The more I know, the more I realize how much I don’t know. But the good thing is that this cause will probably keep me preoccupied for years and years to come. It’s a whole life’s work.

Now, I believe in thinking big, but starting small. Baby steps towards a grand vision. So in the next few months, I’ll just be focusing on three things : 1. Setting up a small business aligned to #1/2, 2. Volunteer Work, and 3. Self-education/self-training.

On # 3, you see, part of being in Life’s Directions is also a sense of self-awareness through discernment. Strengths and weaknesses, the whole shebang. I’ve looked at stuff I’m not good at, stuff I still need to learn, and these are the things I’ve put on my tasklist.

Some stuff that’s there :

- Discover and get guidance from mentors
- Learn to sell, as in the Electrolux knock-on-your door variety. Be a part-time sales agent.
- Teach an elective part-time
- Travel to other countries
- Network like crazy

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But lest you think that passion is all it takes to go for it, I caution thee my friend. This is something I’ve studied and prepared for with absolute detail. Passion gets you to leap, but it’s careful and dutiful planning which will give you the confidence to enter into execution phase.

I definitely don’t have a romanticized notion of what I’m about to embark on. No dreams that it will be an easy life, nor safe from any failures of any sort. In fact, years down the line this could very well be the stupidest decision I ever made. But I believe in it strongly enough that maybe looking stupid will be well worth it. As I said in my resignation letter, it’s a cause worth going hungry for.

Let’s revisit the practicalities. I’ve analyzed my financial position and computed my budget for the next two years. With a much recalibrated lifestyle, I’ll probably make do assuming I don’t make any money (talk about worst-case scenario). I’m working with people who I believe are very good partners and essentially want the same thing. I’ve psychologically prepared myself to fail and learn, fail and learn, until I get it right. I’m still relatively young and I’m not feeding anyone. I can still afford to make mistakes.

This hand feels good, and if I lose, I can still play a few more rounds.

All in! Why not?

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If there are people out there who believe in this as well, I’d love to hear from you. The more I talk about this to people, the more I discover like-minded individuals. I’d love to meet you and learn from you as well. Alone I’m useless, but together we can probably make a difference in all the years to come.

Please email me ruizmark@gmail.com.

2006-05-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

just wanted to post my birthday e-mail last Sept 17, 2004 :

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LOVE TO LIVE, AND LIVE TO LOVE
NAGGING THOUGHTS AS I TURN 27

Today I just turned 27. Actually, it sounds like such a good age to be in. It doesn't sound as roundishly old as, say, 28. But then again, it's not as not-quite-there-yet as 26.

Personally, it's an age I never imagined I would be in - especially way back when things were much, much simpler - back when all I concerned myself with were cramming for long tests, getting high over U2 songs, skipping lunch to save money for my car audio system, and hanging out and yet hanging out again with friends. When things that I deemed then to be absolutely complex were actually just part and parcel of this lifestage they call `growing up'.

So now that I'm here, what does it feel like? How is it like to be at this yet-again juncture in my life? Am I the person that I imagined I would be?

Push the rewind button on the past 26 years, and there's just so much to ponder and reminisce on - like seeing a full-line buffet where you don't even know where to start picking and nibbling, weary that you won't have enough of the good stuff to put onto your plate. My family upbringing, my friends and relationships, and 16 full years of Jesuit education have of course played such a great and lasting imprint-slash-influence on who and what I am. And of course, my work and work environment have definitely shaped me - arguably, even hardened me. But if you're a friend, then I guess you'd know that my most recent experiences has been the most transformative - as if everything in my history before that just bled into these past two years, when I woke up and discovered this wonderful gift called life.

Life. If we had the time to talk about it, we'd probably need the rest of our … well, lives. People argue that we tend to overanalyze it, overcomplicate it - all understandably with good reason of course. After all, how can it not be complicated? How can it not be confusing when it's often filled with so many questions that zip and zang at you from all the oddest places, like potholes from a government-implemented highway project six months after the ribbon-cutting?

Questions, turning points, and decisions. Critical points when the roads turn twisted and bending; when decisions become neither black nor white - just different shades of grey; when life itself seems to have transformed into an amalgam of past, present, and future all rolled into the ever-fleeting now-ness of now. Ahhh, life questions.

What to do with this gift called life? It's a question 1. few ever ask, 2. fewer can honestly answer, and 3. even fewer still who can truthfully say that they actually got up and did something about it. I'd like to believe I belong to the second group. But I'm trying as damn hard as I can to get myself into the third.

Sometimes the answers come unconsciously from within. I was talking to a friend who had a "relationship" concern. She was asking for advice, and the answer I gave surprised even me. I told her to go "kung saan ka talagang masaya" - to go where you will be truly happy. It's not rocket science to know that everybody wants to be happy. But putting that qualifier truly radically changes the perspective. Just think about it - how many people do you know have actually found true happiness, as opposed to just … (ho-hum, adjective-less) happiness? Now, doesn't that make things a little bit more interesting? After all, true happiness - the kind that makes you wake up every morning ready to jump out of bed - it's absolutely as elusive as absolutely elusive can get.

It's actually a question worth spending so much of your time and energy on - if only because discovering true happiness is intrinsically linked to the question of "what do I do with my life?". It's sort of like a McDo Value meal wherein you've got the burger the fries the drink all in one neat unbundable package, and absolutely rightfully so because having them all together just makes so much damn sense. So much damn sense that it riddles me so much why people don't give enough of themselves searching for it.

What makes me truly happy?

Simple joys and experiences. The enveloping embrace of waves upon water when I hit the beach. Singing out loudly in my car while hopelessly stuck in yet another traffic jam. The transportative magic of watching movies. Practical jokes that work - without backfiring (hehehe!). Killer hands during poker games. Strawberry ice cream laced with good conversation. Listening to and making music that just inexplicably connects. Living life, and loving every minute of it.

Meaningful relationships - the kind that great movie scripts are made of. Family. Friends. Mentors. People who touched my life and people whose lives I've hopefully touched. People I love.

A sense of meaning, of purpose. The idea that I'm actually living for something greater than me. Remembering man's oft-forgotten truth : that this life is not ours, it's just borrowed. And that we don't pay the rent on our lives with cash or bonds or hard assets, we can only pay back with love.

Love, love, love. It always - no matter how hard we try to negotiate around it - boils down to Love. And I'm not referring to the Mills & Boon or Harlequin Romance variety, the off-the-shelf corny kind of love. I'm talking about love in the broader sense - love as passion, love as energy, love as heart, and love as spirit. (The other kind of love a.k.a. soulmate a.k.a. lifepartner a.k.a. passionate other - still remains to be elusive, hehehe [Mark to God : hint, hint …])

But if life = happiness = love, then where do i go from here?

This morning I had breakfast with a really good friend. And one question kept ringing in my head in between slices of omelette and sausages - In this life, How much more love can I give? How much more?

There are days i feel like there's a sun inside of me waiting to explode, and today is one of those days. When there's so much of me and in me that wants to expand, to reach out, to literally burst. I feel like I'm at the cusp of something, as if the best years of my life are still ahead of me. I'm convinced that I'm at 20% of where I want to be, and it's the going through the other 80% that stokes so much the fire in me.

And so as i turn 27, as I ponder my life and try to discover what makes me truly happy, I end up with a catchphrase, a mindset, a paradigm : I will love to live, and live to love.

And so, my friend, let's be Nike and just do it. Dream. Work. Live. Laugh. Be stupid. Play. Sing. Dance. Feel. Draw. Touch. Sense. Breathe. Listen. Talk. Whisper. Hug. Kiss. Call. Jump. Fly. Experience. Give give give, and love love love as much as you possibly, possibly can. Imagine every day as your last - and then just give it all you've got. After all, when all is said is done, there will only be two questions asked of your life : How much love are you capable of? And just how much, just how much love did you give?

MARK RUIZ
SEPTEMBER 17, 2004

2006-05-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

"why not? "

it's a blog about

my life
my thoughts and ideas
my dreams and going for them
my successes and my failures

it's about possibilities
and trying to make them real