when leadership fails

 

The challenge in the leadership of Selecta Walls in 2001 controversial sales performance.

The challenge in the leadership of Splash Corp. amidst aggressive global brands.

The challenge in the leadership of Silka in a foreign dominated cosmetics category.

The challenge in the leadership of RC Cola’s chosen field of battles against Coca Cola.

The challenge in the leadership of Cobra in their war with Red Bull and Lipovitan.

The challenge in the leadership of C2 in defending their ground against Nestea.

The challenge in the leadership of Lucky Me in defense of territory against Quick Chow.

If one realizes the weight that rests in the shoulders of leaders, one will be able to understand the boldness and decisiveness of the their stratagem. I always share with my students, leadership is a vocation – vision, mission and passion. It is a choice made of deep discernment. It gets lonely up there and the leader must have the capacity to find a self sustaining drive to preserve his command and the morale of his organization.

With authority comes responsibility. Victory rest on the shoulder of the leader. He owes it to his people that victory must be achieved. There must be a morale compensation for the death and sacrifice an organization contributes. Victory is the responsibility of the leadership.

Have you felt the shame of defeat? The avalanche of fate falls upon you and forces your knee to bend before extraordinary odds with only your soul and mind to support your weary heart. A scornful fate falls upon your people, forced into slavery. The fate of your children and that of your forefathers and your traditions are lost. The victor dictates the outcome of war; or competition for that matter. For a General and his other worthy captains of war, defeat is equivalent to dishonor – for men of war, defeat is the worst form of humiliation. It is told that the Vikings, having a warrior culture similar to the Spartans, to save honor, the Viking Kings face defeat by cutting his side, takes his intestine and ties it to old Viking Stonehenge. He walks around this edifice with honor until he dies of hemorrhage. A similar tradition to the self mutilation of the Japanese samurai. Victory is the responsibility of the General. 

The consequence and effects of defeat has been told since time immemorial. The destruction of Carthage where to this day many of its lands are barren when Roman legions planted its rich soil with salt. The death March at Bataan when Philippines fell in the hands of Japan in WWII. In our corporate world today, we see the tragedy of defeat in so many news items and coverage where its people and other stakeholders are the direct benefactors of losses, cut wages, cost cutting and retrenchment.

1. The PALEA troubles of PAL. It is a fact that Cebu Pacific has eaten a huge chunk of PAL business for the past 10 years.
2.  The organizational troubles of Splash Corporation where the turnover is so high and trouble some because of its poorly managed brands and overly too ambitious strategy. They were forced to rationalize their Nutraceutical Department last 2006, displacing so many employees.
3. So many pastel brands have been sprouting all over Northern Mindanao with the failure of Vjandep to saturate the market, in terms of Niches, distribution channels and Availability.
4. Millions spent on L&M by Philip Morris Philippines only to pulled out of the market. FTC is deeply entrenched in the low and med priced cigarette category.
5. The losses of Nestle for the past ten years in its Ice Cream Business is a manifestation of the weakness of its leadership in formulating timely strategy and decisiveness in execution.
6.  The failure of the Coke leadership to make use of Pop cola as a flanker brand to keep in check low cost competitors like RC cola. They bought Pop for so much from the Concepcion only to be met with the same problem years after.
7. The people displaced at Sterling Tobacco when the company was bought by Philip Morris last 2005. To penetrate the low price segment of the cigarette market in the Philippines, PMPI acquiredSterling brands as Bowling gold, Stork, Miller and Bowling Green.
8. The losses absorbed by Unilever when it had to rationalize Van Den Bergh Foods Division. The Product leadership of Van den Bergh brands as Goldcup was not strong enough to check the distribution advantage of Bambi supported by its mother company's fleet of ships.

I say this with conviction for I have experienced it first hand. The defeat of the Bitara family business in Albay with the entrance of Philtranco and the death of my grandfather, the former Mayor Marciano Bitara, the Transport Magnate of Albay. It was a tragedy for the family. The death of my grandfather was the start of the debacle. Until the last bus unit of Pansit Transit ended in some foreclosure proceeding in some obscure Rural bank in the Bicol Region. My grandfather was an extraordinary man. He was a Chinese metizo who had to work his way up the ladder of success in the most unusual way, Greek poets would attribute to the gods. My Great grandfather was a Chinese Chef from Macau who migrated to the Philippines in the early part of the century. He had Chinese relatives in the Philippines  only that he had to work as a humble chef in Albay to support a family. My grandfather grew up seeing how his family faired and treated by their rich Chinese relatives whose affection was determined in financial terms. This experience in early childhood must have created a lasting and deep impression on the child who in later life ventured with boldness in the logging industry in Quezon where he almost died of malaria. By fate, he found his was back to Bicol. There must have been a 180 degree change in perspective and deepening of maturity with his near death experience. Upon his recovery, he started the trading business in Albay where he used kareta, a carabao drawn carriage, to haul basic commodities as abaca and paroy during the World War II. From stories told by the old people of Malilipot and Tabaco, I heard of the exploits of my Grandfather. From this humble beginnings rose a good reputation for integrity, credit, and competence from whence my grandfather found his thriving short lived conglomerate in Albay. The people of Malilipot so loved him that he died at 56,  an undefeated Mayor of Malilipot.

The competence of my grandfather was a type gained in some mystical approach where the second generation would never appreciate except perhaps thru study of business and deep analysis of management and its related abilities. Thus, I say with conviction the importance of Planning, where a company or a family for that matter, should prepare for contingency; Leading, the leadership must be defined – this is the grave reason for many Chinese families that for some practical reason the first born is groomed to take over the helms, a leadership that will be benevolent as much as strict, responsible to take care of the family as much as assume authority; organize, the organization should be established to prevent chaos as what happened to the family as members started to hack on the resources of the family business to protect their personal interest; control, the interest of the company should be protected at all cost to protect today’s generation and tomorrow. PLOC is not some modern concept. It can be traced to the Greeks, the Romans, Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Maslow’s, Philosophy, Drucker, Kotler and many other related sciences and the arts involving human behavior and philosophy of man. One may not be blessed with the gifts of the gods like fortune and talents, one may resort to persistence and dogged determination towards dreams and ambitions. As they say “ continuous effort is the key to unlocking one’s potential”.

I learned this wisdom the hard way. Trial and error combined with brute determination. Injuries, wounds, casualty, and sacrifices – were my teachers. Only that I wish upon the younger generation that the same fate will not have to visit them to make them realize what is there to lose and what is there to gain. May you heed the caution of some forgotten sage, “wise men learn from others mistake, fools from their own”. Nevertheless, one must persist in mind, in heart and in soul towards his defined meaning in life.

Thus, we conclude this page with the realization that competence is required to protect your family and organization; and the need for commitment today to gain competence in leadership to ensure victory is achieved at all cost. For defeat is not an option in business. It is not an option in life. 

Rene Bitara, Prometheus Consultants