Self-awareness

Recall Yoda: Your “focus” is your world. However, “focus” is not one-dimensional but three: self-awareness, awareness of others, and understanding our universe.

And that mirrors the elements of cognitive development, which is a function of experience: Beyond binary thinking, there are multiplicity and relativism, i.e., the imperative of context.

And I think Elfren Cruz, in a recent article, reflects the above. Also, in the real world, no idea is final. Iterate. Iterate. Iterate.

Here’s a quote from Elfren: “History suggests that there is no straight path to the top when it comes to economic development. Our nation has reached the status of a breakout nation, only to fall back again to being the sick man of Asia. But this only means that we must start over and maybe again and again until we finally reach the status of a breakout nation. Then from there, we may even reach the status of a developed economy.”

Disclosure: A few times, I shared with Elfren that I disagreed with simply mandating a living wage, given that the Philippines’ income per capita is so meager that it is a fraction of Vietnam’s, Thailand’s, and Malaysia, for example. And it explains why Juan de la Cruz quickly falls into poverty – and noted by ADB – whenever there is an economic shock, e.g., employment, health, or price shocks.

And that is why the blog has been raising the pragmatism of the Ramon Ang Bulacan initiative. Beyond the Bulacan airport is an ecozone that will generate $200 billion in export revenues.

$200 billion is more tangible than a 6%-7% GDP growth target and easier for Juan de la Cruz to grasp and embrace. Recall the GPS model familiar in the private sector, i.e., Where are we; Where do we want to be; How do we get there?

For example, PH needs to raise exports to 50% of GDP to match Thailand, where they have overcome poverty.

Those who read the blog may recall the AA 12 steps. And parallels exist between the Exercises [of St. Ignatius] and the 12 Steps. The first is to admit that we are powerless as we recognize that our lives have become unmanageable. In other words, self-awareness.

Successfully driving change entails exploiting the “forces driving the change while addressing the restraining ones.” Self-awareness is related to the bodies of knowledge behind “change management,” postulated by Kurt Levin [and reflected in my business leadership career. See below; 21st-century skills, central to the efforts of my former MNC company when we developed an in-house education and training curriculum, as did other Fortune 500 companies, to overcome the shortcomings of the US education system exposed by Japan Inc.]

It is no longer laughable that we are the poster boy of Einstein’s “insanity.” We keep tripping ourselves that our challenge now appears way over our heads.

But there is no such thing. Humankind has overcome every challenge it faced, including the 2019 pandemic.

How? We upended old mindsets – and invented new ones like WFH and zoom meetings, for instance.

Our challenge is way beyond our heads. [See above; cognitive development is a function of experience, which our neighbors have from their journey to prosperity.] I am referring to Boo’s recent article, “Attracting investments,” which is putting words in the mouth of Boo Chanco. I apologize.

“Removing the economically restrictive provisions should help put us in the running for investor dollars. But not enough. Allowing foreign ownership of land won’t do much to help us. Investors can’t own land in Vietnam and China but have flocked there.

“Neither will all the attractive investment incentives in terms of tax perks convince investors to come here. The Philippines, according to Oxford Economics, is one of the least attractive destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Asia-Pacific because of our poor infrastructure and business environments.”

Disclosure: I shared with Boo and a few others the following note:

Quoting Oxford Economics is what I mean by distinguishing the academic from the real world. [And “drivers and enablers” of enterprises or economic undertakings.] Vietnam does not have over 400 ecozones. We do. In other words, we are spreading our resources thinly because of our inability to distinguish the vital few from the trivial many.

Vietnam could tailor an incentive plan, including getting Samsung to spend on infrastructure because the revenues envisaged were over $50 billion. [That is as much as we get from both OFW remittances and the BPO revenues. And they are the drivers of the Philippine economy.]

In other words, FDI is an investment that will yield healthy returns. And those familiar with the blog would recall that I am a practitioner, i.e., representing FDIs, pursuing business restructuring in-house and M&A-related, and driving innovation in product development and best practice models. And the blog has shared these personal real-world experiences that won’t neatly fall into a treatise, e.g., Oxford Economics.

For instance, take self-awareness. The blog keeps raising our misplaced celebration of the “manufacturing uptick” in 2014 because our mindset would become so set that it would narrow our ability to do scenario exercises.

When the blog speaks to iterating, it reflects the adage that there are six ways to Sunday. And it is consistent with forward, lateral, and creative thinking. Then recall the skills demanded by the 21st century: Critical thinking, Creative thinking, Collaboration, and Communication.

And that is why the blog urges our economic managers to do a rigorous benchmarking exercise against the Vietnam incentive model, for example, to determine the big-scale products, technology, and investment we must attract.

In other words, it is a targeted and proactive mindset akin to doing due diligence upfront instead of a reactive, low-hanging fruit perspective and, worse, accepting “pwede na ‘yan.” Why did we get to over 400 ecozones and the least able to attract FDIs? 

If our economic managers are listening, take an “averaging” perspective, and we bring home the “trivial many instead of the vital few.”

Question: Why have we failed to get ahead of the curve in energy development? We plan our electricity needs consistent with our GDP growth-metric mindset of 6%-7%. We can’t move beyond logical yet linear and incremental thinking. On the other hand, establishing a $200 billion export zone in Bulacan will lend itself to forward thinking.

That’s why the blog often differentiates “analysis” and “analytics.” In other words, we don’t distinguish “growth mindset and fixed mindset.” It comes from our instincts of “privilege and entitlement” courtesy of our caste system.

Recall my Eastern European friends and their forwarding thinking, i.e., putting up twelve robotic factories. We included an in-house solar-powered energy source because local electricity is costly.

Why won’t it work in a $200 billion ecozone? Spreading over 400 ecozones across the Philippines doesn’t lend itself to economies of scale, electricity-wise and otherwise. 

Why are our export revenues a mere fraction of our neighbors’? Ditto for our income per capita.

The exercise cannot be a product of one higher-math effort. It must be plunging into several scenario options reminiscent of the “one-percent inspiration and 99% perspiration” mantra.

Recall, too, that our neighbors were all third-world countries. In other words, they faced infrastructure challenges, corruption, and an inefficient and ineffective public sector. Yet, they all left us in the dust.

But they started somewhere: Begging for Western money and technology.

We ruined and mismanaged this country.

What is the latest example? “NEDA ordered to conduct a study on delayed devolution timeline.”

The bottom line? We succumbed to devolution, as in the “crab mentality,” and why we have over 400 economic zones yet are the least able to attract FDI.

We are too “sabog” to prioritize and connect the dots.

Recall Yoda: Your “focus” is your world. However, “focus” is not one-dimensional but three: self-awareness, awareness of others, and understanding our universe.

Gising bayan!