Think of the tens of millions of malnourished Filipinos – despite the tons of money we borrow for the 4Ps – to insidious poverty, especially in the rural areas. And the failure of Philippine education is to develop the ability to think, meet new situations, and solve problems one encounters in real life. Shouldn’t we have gotten off our high horse – like yesterday?
“The truth is we have been on this long journey to nowhere for some time now. Things do not just develop overnight and suddenly happen.” [“World Bank apology,” Ramon J. Farolan, REVEILLE, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 19th Jul 2021]
Let’s hold it right there.
And recall what Mahathir said to us Pinoys: You don’t have to love your former colonizer, but beg for money and technology. We are poor nations. We cannot go it alone.
Enter: Rizal. He saw through our instincts (1) of parochialism and insularity; (2) our value of hierarchy and paternalism; and (3) reliance on political patronage and oligarchy. And why we submit to tyranny.
What Mahathir told us is not rocket science. But have we confused “patriotism” with our instincts? And why do we talk about a damaged culture?
After decades of missing the beat, can we acknowledge that we are a poor nation — and cannot go it alone?
Consider: Today, we have a much steeper climb, this being the 21st century — with its imperatives: innovation and global competitiveness.
Those familiar with the blog know I am a development worker in Eastern Europe, not Mongolia or the Philippines. And these countries are not as poor as we are — GDP per capita-wise.
Why does it matter? I have lived and worked in different parts of the world, and the experience taught me to recognize people’s instincts. They can either hinder or drive change — especially in raising their well-being.
But that is not new, and why the blog has often referenced Kurt Lewin’s “forcefield theory.” That to succeed in a change effort, one must exploit the drivers and fix the barriers. That’s why this world, this universe is not for Juan Tamad or Bondying. There is no free lunch.
For example, my Eastern European friends recognized that they need technology, too, beyond money. And these people pleaded for me to stay well after the USAID’s commitment ended. Because they believed they couldn’t go it alone.
But they’re not alone in recognizing their instincts. See below; my 200-year-old MNC company. When they faced an acquisition threat, they hired “change agents” in the top 10 subsidiaries. And the Philippines was one of them.
Let’s get back to the Philippines.
Our failure to move beyond “analysis” into “analytics” to address the “entire methodology” explains why we can’t successfully deliver against complex undertakings.
In other words, we don’t have a track record — enough of the hubris?
Let’s pause and ponder.
And that must be our starting point, not to keep to prescribing cures invoking “Pinoy abilidad.”
Recall that the blog discusses Steve Jobs often. In the patents that Apple obtained from their innovations, it is not only his name that appears, but every member of the team also appeared.
Why? He had a brusque personality yet didn’t have a fixed mindset. He had a growth mindset. And he would stretch his people’s minds too with thoughts beyond the obvious. He would then parrot what members of the team said in contradiction of him.
He personified the 3C’s of the hardy mindset: (1) Challenge; (2) Commitment; (3) Control. He set himself the challenge of making a dent in the universe. And he demonstrated his commitment, knowing full well that he controls only himself – no one else. That is why he could take contradictory views.
Consider: We have an almost century-old problem in Philippine education. How many of us in the Philippine elite class and chattering classes will take that? How often did the blog discuss that in the 80s corporate America had to deal with the shortcomings of US higher education?
And why did we create a Marcos and a Duterte? And why our caste system is so entrenched. We value hierarchy and paternalism – and they nourish tyranny.
How often did the blog discuss that our top companies combined can’t match the performance of one Vietnam enterprise?
Did we solve such basics as water and electricity despite the hallelujah we sang to our top companies?
And why the blog introduced the science of “thinking.”
We must accept the reality that only a handful – hence the one-percent phenomenon, e.g., Einstein, Beethoven, Rembrandt, da Vinci, Newton, Jobs, among a select few – can claim great intellect.
Still, that is not surprising given that the chamber of the brain responsible for lateral and creative thinking is not well-developed in humankind because day-to-day life requires logic and incremental thinking.
How do we mere mortals overcome the above challenge? In an ever-increasingly complex world – not a surprise; it is the character of this universe – we face multifaceted problems. They demand multidimensional solutions. That’s why the blog often discusses “design thinking.”
It is a human-centered approach to innovation and recognizes the hierarchy of human needs. It is this hierarchy of needs that makes humanity thrive in this dynamic universe. And inherent in this challenge is interdependence – as mirrored by the ecosystem.
Design thinking was at the core of Jobs’ magic. He relied on a team of people he picked from different parts of the world and disciplines. Recall that he tapped a Japanese technology in creating the iPod and moved the world from analog to digital.
How often did the blog discuss my Eastern European friends – born and raised as socialists under Soviet rule? “The free market is not about rules but principles.”
For example, these people did not just sit to hear me deliver a lecture. And they had to live through it: Education is experiential.
They had to form breakout groups across functions – and problem-solve. And the practice is now inherent in how they respond to challenges.
And what are they gaining from the exercise? They internalize the value of freedom and pluralism and an egalitarian ethos instead of a hierarchical and tyrannical one.
Can we connect the dots from the “universe” to dynamism and interdependence, then to freedom and democracy through experiential education, and to the ethos of pluralism instead of tyranny — and a culture of impunity?
Let’s again pause and ponder.
Recall that the blog raised that when Sen. Manny Villar was in the Senate, he acknowledged oligarchy as a stumbling block to FDIs. And in more ways than one, it explains why FDIs would instead go to our neighbors. And a dozen years ago, when the blog came into being, Vietnam had already taken a very healthy share of FDIs against the drop in the bucket that we get.
Foreign investors (see above; what Mahathir told us about foreign money and technology) won’t come to a skewed playing field.
Then relate our failure to move beyond “analysis” and into “analytics” — to address the entire methodology — and created the Philippine Competition Commission. And our inability to solve the basics of water and electricity despite EPIRA and the privatization of these utilities.
Do we appreciate why human undertakings are a subset of larger sets? And why we can’t deliver against complex undertakings?
And why, despite staying with the US model of focusing on fiscal and monetary interventions and yielding the ideal 6%-7% GDP growth rate, do we remain the regional laggard with a GDP per capita at a pathetic fraction of Malaysia?
Recall that at a 200-year-old MNC company, they let a foreigner from a small developing country change its planning and budgeting system. Despite a thousand scientists at its technology center, they obtained state-of-the-art technology from a small entrepreneurial laboratory. And this same foreigner decided for himself. “What are we waiting for?” That was my response to the CEO of the pharma unit.
And not to mention that I had contradicted the company president, then tapped as a resource for similar issues.
It is what freedom is and what tyranny is not. “One who submits to tyranny loves it,” said Rizal.
Here’s another quote from an earlier posting: “We must generate much more economic output.
“And we need it in a hurry, like yesterday. That is why the blog has raised the imperative to raise Philippine GDP by $200 billion rapidly. That is what IRR for CREATE and SIPP must deliver.
“Why? To leapfrog the economic output of our neighbors — which is why they were able to put poverty in the rearview mirror.
“Question: Do we have to amend the Constitution to leverage CREATE and SIPP to (1) put us on equal footing with our neighbors; (2) attract the suitable foreign money and technology; (3) that will aggressively drive our export receipts – i.e., benchmark against Samsung Vietnam because Vietnam arrested poverty?
“That must be the debate amongst our economic managers and legislators, not to keep to a 6%-7% GDP growth rate.”
Think of the tens of millions of malnourished Filipinos – despite the tons of money we borrow for the 4Ps – to insidious poverty, especially in the rural areas. And our inability to develop the ability to think, meet new situations, and solve the kinds of problems one encounters in real life, shouldn’t we have gotten off our high horse – like yesterday?
Gising bayan!
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