Parochialism lulled us into believing we are the center of the universe. And it is manifested by our caste system.
Why disturb the apple cart when hierarchy comes with paternalism? Unsurprisingly, we never understood dynamism and remained an “adolescent” – i.e., an underdeveloped economy and nation. Our worldview is so ingrained that our “reality” continually shrinks.
“The individual who feels secure and comfortable with the status quo sees no need for change.” [Fr. George Gorospe, SJ]
Here’s a breath of fresh air: “Reforming, rebuilding and recalibrating;” Gerardo P. Sicat, CROSSROADS TOWARD PHILIPPINE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS, The Philippine Star, 21st Oct 2020.
“We must recognize the mistakes or inadequacies of the past and tackle them with a fresh approach.
“There is no substitute for a more direct assault on the issue of reducing constitutional impediments to foreign investors if the country wants to move faster on the subject of foreign investment attraction. Such an effort will give substance to recalibrating the country's desire to be competitive with neighbors.
“Therefore, the nation’s leaders must find a way to address the issue of this ‘original sin’ in the investment laws through an amendment that softens or transfers the specifics of restrictions to national-law making.
“In short, the subject ought to enter the realm of parliamentary legislation, not constitutional prescriptions. It is the best expression of intent to simplify many foreign investment rules in the country.”
Understandably, our economic managers must assure us that we are doing the right thing to deal with the pandemic’s economic impact.
We know that we remain a service-consumption economy and getting a free lunch courtesy of over 10 million OFWs. The status quo is not good enough. We must rapidly move up to an industrial-investment economy. Even our neighbors have shown concern that they want us to heed their advice and examples.
Those familiar with the blog know it often speaks to the Asian Tigers. And that Lee and Mahathir advised Deng to beg for Western money and technology. The writer was a regional manager when this was all happening and himself, representing his old MNC-company, negotiated JVs in these countries, including China and Vietnam.
“When the coronavirus pandemic fades, I expect the Philippines to be an economic champion, outperforming other emerging economies in its class.
“But we are not out of the woods yet,” the BSP chief cautions.” [A better economy, Tony Lopez, Virtual Reality, manilastandard.net, 23rd Oct 2020]
With due respect to the BSP chief, we have been an emerging economy for the longest time. Our neighbors have left us behind. We cannot take our eyes away from the ball.
Consider: “Myron Scholes is the co-originator of the Black-Scholes options pricing model. He was a key player in the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, one of the biggest hedge fund disasters in history — just after he and Robert Merton won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on options pricing.” [Myron S. Scholes, by Will Kenton, Investopedia, 7th Jun 2018]
Perfection is not of this world. The Markov model comes to mind every time the writer hears predictive exercises. It is an excellent model. But there is always a caveat. And that is how he guided the Ph.D. candidate in her dissertation. She does not disappoint, navigating the real world, rapidly ascending the corporate ladder, managing one of the world’s most popular brands.
This universe is dynamic, not static.
“When we think of problem solvers, many of us tend to picture a poised and brilliant engineer. We may imagine a mastermind who knows what she’s doing and approaches a problem with purpose.
“The reality is that most good problem solving has a lot of trial and error; it’s more like the apparent randomness of rugby than the precision of linear programming.
“We form hypotheses, porpoise into the data, and then surface and refine (or throw out) our initial guess at the answer.
“They require an embrace of imperfection and a tolerance for ambiguity—and a gambler's sense of probabilities.
“The real world is highly uncertain. Reality unfolds as the complex product of stochastic events and human reactions.” [Six problem-solving mindsets for very uncertain times, Charles Conn and Robert McLean, McKinsey Quarterly, 15th Sep 2020]
Sadly, beyond the challenges of a dynamic universe, we like to shoot ourselves in the foot.
Consider: “A 42-year-old man with hardly any experience in any national government heading the House intrigues. Or a Prez without just sending a messenger to tell Allan, Alan and All: ‘The Prez wants this,’ and hears, ‘Oo, and what else can I do for him (or Mayor Sara; in one speculation,’ the new speaker is her choice).
“When I was still in grade and high schools, those in government, politicians, judges, the military, and other civil servants were professionals. The Marcoses managed to harm, minimize, or ruin our values, institutions, and processes in 20 years. I don’t know if and when we can recover, but how the House resolved the speakership issue is unpromising.
“The House, as an independent body, can pick a speaker any time. The President has no business openly flaunting whom his choices are without caponizing the House.” [Savagery, civilization, decay; Rene Saguisag, The Manila Times, 23rd Oct 2020]
But let’s get back to dynamism.
And here is a question to us in the chattering classes: Why are we not promoting big time the imperative to move up to an industrial-investment economy? Why did we drop the ball on Arangkada, for example?
“The proper medicine to redirect the issue of Philippine human resources going abroad for work is to build an economy based on labor prosperity right at home, where domestic and foreign capital add to the economy’s productivity. Such policies would have a higher multiplier impact on the domestic economy than workers finding jobs in other countries.
“If we attract foreign capital more into our shores and make them more substantial here in our country, domestic investments will also prosper since the economy would be enlarging. Such is the story of progress in many East Asian success stories. It is not the original fear that foreign capital would displace domestic capital.
“In such a midst, many success stories in Asia consist of the founding of domestic businesses flourishing within the prosperity built by an open economy. In this way, quality jobs are made at home to absorb the available domestic labor in employment.
“Taking a close look at our political system, the country’s decision-making from administration to administration has produced little to lift us out of our problems. In the course of our almost eight decades of independence, here is what it has achieved for us:
“At the birth of our independence – as the world awoke from the destruction of World War II – we were ‘the most likely to succeed among many developing countries in the East Asia region.’
“For decades, we have struggled to keep pace with some of the more prosperous economies in the region. And lately, we are still being surpassed by latecomers to the development game.
“We were among the first democracies in the region. Today, because of our economic experience, we are still struggling to become a better democracy, while some of us suspect our democracy is failing us.” [Sicat, op. cit.]
That’s the macro view. What about the micro, e.g., MSMEs?
Those familiar with the blog will recall that the writer’s presence in Eastern Europe, arranged by USAID, assists MSMEs. While his career in a Fortune 500 company equipped him for the challenge, what it boils down to is the size of an enterprise does not alone explain why MSMEs, especially in the Philippines, cannot pull their weight.
Consider: ‘Most people never call and ask. And that’s what sometimes separates the people who do things from those who dream about them. You got to act. You got to be willing to fail. You got to be willing to crash and burn. If you’re afraid you’ll fail, you won’t get very far.’
“That was Steve Jobs in a 1994 taped interview.
“He’s right. The fear of failing can paralyze us – cause us to do nothing and keep us from getting very far. Some causes include:
“A reluctance to experiment with new ideas and try new things.
“Procrastination. You fear failing, so you avoid following through with goals.
“Low self-esteem or self-confidence. Example: ‘I’ll never find success, so I may as well go back and get a real job,’ or ‘I’m not smart enough to start a business.’
“The good thing about the fear of failure is that it’s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it. Perspective matters. We can choose to see ‘failure’ as the worst-case scenario and toss in the towel, or as a learning experience that helps us bounce back, grow, and become even better.
“1 sure way to reduce your fear of failing. Facing failure head-on and embracing it is pretty courageous. But if you’re not quite ready to make that leap, there is one sure way you can reduce the fear of failing: Squashing the negative dialogue in your head.
“To quiet the voice of criticism, doubt, or fear, you have to catch negative thinking. Blaming yourself or believing you won’t succeed is a recipe for passivity and depression.
“So, challenge the inner monologue in your head by reframing. For example, write down three alternative ways of viewing a situation. Go to work tomorrow and act as if at least one of those alternatives is correct.
“Happiness and success are ignited when our internal environment is free from negative assumptions. Countering destructive thoughts makes us better friends to ourselves and more desirable partners, colleagues, and coworkers.” [Steve Jobs: 1 Thing in Life Separates the People Who Do Things from Those Who Dream About Them; Marcel Schwantes, inc.com, 24th Oct 2020]
Let’s get back to parochialism.
The blog often speaks to forward-thinking. In today’s globalized world, that means even if one starts an MSME, to succeed means to be prepared to take on all comers, including Western giants.
The starting point is not to whine that there is no access to financing. That is precisely what Steve Jobs shot down in the above interview.
The writer chose the challenge to help his Eastern European friends because they had very little capital in a small market (of less than 10 million) yet facing competition from global behemoths.
And they had lost money for eight years. After the writer arrived, they still lost money for three more years. But with the writer, they developed a game plan to become a one-hundred-million-dollar enterprise. And they did and why the EU recognized them as a model.
Today they are far more prominent – being themselves an MNC – and matching Fortune 500 companies in profitability, despite the pandemic. They are a more formidable competitor to these Western giants because of the innovation culture, investing aggressively in capital expenditure, including robotics, and marketing and paying factory people in the 75th percentile of comparable companies, including MNCs.
Recall what the blog keeps saying, “inequality” is not addressed by paternalism but by the commitment to the common good.
Forward-think, think “ecosystem.”
But first, recognize our mistakes and inadequacies.
Then act!
“Most people never call and ask. And that’s what sometimes separates the people who do things from those who dream about them. You got to act. You got to be willing to fail. You got to be willing to crash and burn. If you’re afraid you’ll fail, you won’t get very far.”
Gising bayan!
“Here is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. And where freedom and its blessings are a reality for a minority and an illusion for the many. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy, dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste.
“But the fault was chiefly their own. Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]
“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? Moreover, that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]
“True social reform has little to do with politics. To unmoor ourselves from the burdens of the past, we must be engaged in the act of continual and conscious self-renewal. All men are partially buried in the grave of custom. Even virtue is no longer such if it is stagnant.
“Change begins when we finally choose to examine critically and then recalibrate the ill-serving codes and conventions handed down to us, often unquestioned, by the past and its power structures. It is essentially an act of imagination first.” [David Henry Thoreau; American essayist, poet, and philosopher; 1817-1862]
“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists. [A] nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]
“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard, and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]
“Development is informed by a people’s worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]
“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]
“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists, and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]
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