EVER NA MAY NINGNING PART 1

Part 1 of the cameo role of Ever in Bituing Walang Ningning.It's got the most views so far among my videos

EVER NA MAY NINGNING PART 1

This was the first part of the "Bituing Walang Ningning" episode showing Sarah Geronimo winning a singing competition and being awarded by Ever Espanol as Jollibee Marketing Executive(kuno) the 1M check prize

EVER NA MAY NINGNING PART 2

This is a video of the TV novela "Bituin Walang Ningning" which featured a good friend of mine Ever Espanol as the Jollibee executive signing the contract of Sarah Geronimo as a Jollibee celebrity endorser.

LESSONS FROM JAMES' APPENDICITIS

My second son James Benedict had a case of acute appendicitis last Friday so he had to have an appendectomy that same day.

It was completely unexpected. He was fine Thursday evening when he went to bed. Twelve midnight he started having stomach pains which he tried to bear until 1 AM when he couldn't take it anymore. When TJ,my eldest son, woke us up and told us about James' predicament,he was breaking out in cold sweat so I rushed him to the nearest hospital.

There were "lessons" I learned over the weekend when I had to deal with James undergoing his appendectomy and recovering from the operation.

1. It pays to trust your instinct and to be decisive: Although James wasn't feverish I knew there was something terribly wrong with him already because he was breaking out into cold sweat. I made a decision immediately to rush him to the nearest hospital where at least he was given temporary relief via antibiotics.

2. It helps to have contingencies ready: When the doctor in the emergency room diagnosed James as possibly having appendicitis I had to check on the cost of the operation in case they needed to do the procedure. The estimate given to me was 50K which would include both the hospital and doctors fees. Although I knew it would be a drain on my finances it helped that I knew I had money to cover the expenses. If I hadn't saved money I would be in a terrible bind.

3. Call for help---if you have other options use them: I texted my eldest sister, a doctor,informing her of the emergency. Since it was 3 AM,I didn't expect she would answer back at once. When she finally called me back in the morning she suggested I call one of her classmates who had done the procedure on her son, Johann last year. I'm glad that option was open to me because her friend didn't charge any professional fees which saved me a considerable amount of money.

4. Prayers definitely help and so does assurance from friends: I sent a text message to one of my former classmates about James' condition. I found out later on that he had emailed members of my egroup about it because I started getting text messages saying that they were praying for James and telling me things would be just fine. One message came all the way from Canada! The fact that James recovered quickly from the operation must have been the power of prayer at work.

5. Good things can come out of unfortunate incidents ---It all depends on your perspective or outlook: In all appearances the whole thing looked like one big hassle and one which any parent would not want to experience. Funny though,I didn't feel abit stressed by the situation. For one,I had a whole weekend of bonding with my son. It made me feel like a real father again! I was amazed at James' attitude towards the whole thing. He even seemed excited about going under the knife! He wanted to see how his appendix looked like and wanted to get the specimen after the operation (unfortunately they didn't give it to him.) We watched several shows on TV (like Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and the World cup match between England and Trinidad-Tobago) and we enjoyed it. When his barkada and cousins visited him he was grinning from ear to ear and loving the attention.

SOME HEAVY THOUGHTS ON A HOT,SUNNY AFTERNOON

It's supposed to be raining 'round about this time in June but surprisingly the day's been hot! Some ideas crossed my mind as to things I could do to make a contribution to the organization.

1. Note to myself: Develop a series of 10 minute Lectures on my readings from John Seely Brown/Innovation and Impossible Thinking and share these during the Area Managers' monthly meetings.

2. While reading on JSB's discussions on 2 schools of thought for gaining competitive advantage namely: the core competency model and collaboration model, I realized that we've got to have both in Chowking.

For example, we have the competence in developing new, delicious products. However, these tend to be very costly because the raw materials are expensive or it will be costly for us if we carry the SKUs required to produce the new products. Following the thinking of collaboration perhaps it will be to everyone's advantage if our suppliers find a way to improve their processes so they can give their raw materials to us at a lower price so we can offer these new items in the market cheaper.

Because surely our sales will increase then demand for their supplies will also increase. Everyone wins in the end. Also, in the exchange of ideas on how we can keep improving our products we can learn together with our suppliers and they can improve themselves in the process too.

More and more I'm beginning to see the wisdom of sharing more in order to gain more!

MORE INSIGHTS ON INNOVATION

My recent interest in the topic of INNOVATION led me to clicking on related links about the subject. And reading these articles made me think about how I could put the ideas I picked up to good use,for example,here at Chowking.

One idea I got was to have a meeting with RDR and try to convince him that we ought to explore ways of encouraging NEW IDEAS GENERATION. Right now there seems to be no forum for this. New ideas that get translated into product improvement or organizational change seem to come from him. What if he's gone? What will happen to the company then.

Bill Gates is reported to take an idea retreat annually where he just reads thru suggestions of employees that can be put to use at Microsoft. Maybe something along this line might help.

I don't think our R&D is also doing R&D in the strictest sense of doing research into new products. If I were to list what really came from them in terms of new ideas that made it to the market I would say there was really none. Most came from RDR. Maybe R&D ought to be encouraged to do more experimenting & not be limited to their current way of thinking.

In the end,new ideas or innovation will have to come from people but these people who innovate must get heard by the main man otherwise their ideas just get forgotten or are eventually used by somebody else.

I realized too that the innovations do not really have to come from within the organization. The "Open source" mentality and practice of techno-geeks helped in the development of LINUX. This operating system was a product of many minds contributing to the development of a product.

Another insight I got was that INNOVATION that gets bought or used by customers is USUALLY SIMPLE and does not have to be a radically new idea. Take the case of the iPod (which I still don't have) which is simple in design and functionality. It's concept is similar to the Sony Walkman (portable music) but it allows it's users to customize music they want to listen to.

My challenge as a consultant now is how to help transform Chowking into an organization with a culture of learning, innovation and experimentation. Because only if we become nimbler than our competition in building our capacity to compete can we survive and thrive in today's business world.

BREAKING THE MOULD:NEW IDEAS FROM JOHN SEELY BROWN

I first heard the name John Seely Brown during the Marketing Conference I attended two weeks ago. The CEO of Ayala Land, Rene Almendras, cited JSB as one of his inspirations for instituting innovation in his organization. For example, at Ayala Land they encouraged people to band together based on common interests (e.g. photography, sports,or even drinking beer.) These "communities" helped break down barriers within the company and made working together easier. Why? Because they could relate with each other in an interpersonal rather than a functional manner. Trust levels were higher.

So I read JSB's works on the internet and I was fascinated by his ideas, not because they were new but because they were common sense...and obvious! And since he headed the PARC (Xerox's renowned Research center) he had experience to back his words up.

Among the ideas he put forth I was sold on developing communities of collaboration to increase the learning curve of organizations.

If I were to use Chowking as an example of the typical organization, the traditional approach is to rely on a Training Department to take care of implementing programs or conducting training to make sure its workforce is knowledgeable. It assumes that this central department is the seat of all learning and can best respond to the needs of the people in the work place.

But the reality is different. The people in our stores don't really learn because of all the training we provide. At best what they probably get is basic information and skill demonstration. All other learning they get by asking other people on the job.

I'm pretty sure that even if we have provided our cooks with manuals and training guides,they probably resorted to asking their fellow cooks for information when they needed to get something done.

So maybe what we ought to do is exploit this natural tendency of people to share information to speed up the learning process. If we could encourage collaboration, sharing of best practices more, then Chowking will probably be ahead of others in its ability to learn.

This just brought to mind a situation we had recently with a product, Yang Chow.

During the pilot test the feedback was that the rice tasted bland inspite of the many ingredients. This was because R&D, in the effort to "idiot-proof"the operations, had prescribed a specific amount of rice seasoning similar to that used in our Garlic Fried Rice.

One of our trainers,Choi Palermo, pointed out that this did not seem right because the amount of ingredients in Yang Chow would easily neutralize the taste of the seasoning. But since he was not R&D, he did not get a hearing. The functional unit's expertise had prevailed. If only he had been listened to, then we would not have had the problem in the first place.

JSB's thinking might seem revolutionary but he also is cautious about going overboard. He says that there must be a balance somewhere.

FASCINATING THINGS I LEARNED FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Last Sunday I chanced upon a National Geographic feature about caterpillars, elephants and the emperor penguin from which I learned the following:

1. In the transformation of caterpillar to moth (or butterfly,) two different sets of DNA are operational. Once the caterpillar is ready for metamorphosis it's hormones activate the butterfly DNA. The caterpillar "dies" in the process while in the cocoon to give way to a different being.

2. Before it can even fly & feed the newly emerged butterfly must stretch its proboscis so that the two divided parts lock in like a zipper. It's crumpled wings must also stretch to allow oxygen to pass thru (since the butterfly doesn't have any lungs.)

3. The male emperor penguin takes care of the newly hatched egg,keeping it warm by balanceing the egg on it's toes and sitting on it for about 6 weeks. Meanwhile,the female goes to sea and hunts for fish which it will feed the chick when it hatches. The males huddle during cold days to keep their bodies and eggs warm and because they don't feed all this time they start to grow thinner. Just in time, the chicks hatch and the mother penguin has to be back by that time because the male might,in his hunger, go out and feed,leaving the chick to die from the cold. Once the females arrive they give out a call which only their partners recognize! When they finally reunite, the male passes the chick to the mother quickly so that she can feed it with regurgitated fish. The male then leaves to feed.

4. The elephant mother carries her baby for 22 months. The reason for this long period is that the brain of the baby elephant must be fully developed before it can come out.

5. Baby alligators must feed themselves once they hatch because like all other reptiles they don't rely on mother to feed them.

Whenever I watch fascinating things like these I can only believe that there is a God!

MY FIRSTS

I got to thinking about what I have really accomplished so far in my life. One thing I noticed is that in my "professional"(i.e., work) life I have been known for having achieved or accomplished many "firsts." So if I were to boast about my accomplishments I can probably cite the following:

1. Created the first videobased orientation for Jollibee ( a slideshow production which we fondly called the "Gotta Bite" production.)
2. Designed and implemented the first systematized Management Development Program for Jollibee. (the BOTP)
3. Co-wrote and illustrated the first updated Operations Manual for Jollibee.
4. Produced the first SMART (Marketing) manual for Jollibee and launched the first training program for marketing officers.
5. First to extensively use video training at Jollibee.Produced the first in-house videos on conducting P.A. discussions;Crew Training and Crew recruitment & Selection.
6. Organized the first Managers' Convention for Jollibee.Emceed the first 5 conventions.
7. Set up the first MDPs for Assistant store managers & store managers.
8. Was among the first in-house facilitators of SMA, the longest running in-house MDP of the Jollibee group.
9.Launched the first Managing Director's Training Program for Jollibee.
10. Implemented one of the most effective organizational development initiatives to have an impact on the Jollibee system: Managing Service
11. First to set up a Training Kitchen for Jollibee.
12. Training manager with the longest tenure so far(12 1/2 years) and opened the most number of stores during his term (320 stores)
13. First to implement Equipment and facilities training for managers.
14. The Jollibee Beeline, a short-lived Management Digest
15. First to ever use line trainers in the system
16. First Training Manager to speak in a Learning session for PSTD & first to be Board Member of PSTD
17. First Training catalogue and training database for tracking/monitoring training programs attended by employees.
18. Organized the first Jollibee Operations Sales Rally in 1999.
19. Set up the training system for the first Jollibee Drive thru
20. Composed the Chowking Hymn and Chowking Pledge
21. Organized the first sales rally for the new Chowking
22. Published and managed the first FSC Update for Chowking.
23. Launched the first seires of management development programs for Chowking
24. Set up the cooks certification program for Chowking.

MUCH ADO ABOUT THE DA VINCI CODE

With the Da Vinci Code about to be shown in theatres soon, it seems there are, what I would call "overreactions," starting to take place particularly from the Catholic Church.

One example was from a priest whose sermon Jaja shared with me because she thought it was a great critique against the Da Vinci Code. I think it had to with the question of whether one should watch the movie or not. The reverend father's response was something like:"Would you watch a movie that ridiculed or made fun about someone you love?"

I pointed out to Jaja that the priest might not even know what he was talking about! (Of course,this elicited a raised eyebrow from her!) I said this because in the first place, the da Vinci code was a fiction novel which was based on a specific premise,i.e., the Catholic Church was out to protect a "secret" which if known by everyone would undermine the whole foundation of Catholicism. Rome would go to the extent of killing people to prevent this secret from leaking out. There was nothing in the da Vinci Code about "ridiculing or making fun of Jesus." I had read the book in fact and just found it entertaining like any well -written mystery novel.

Instead of overreacting, the priest should just have told his liteners that the movie is fiction, entertaining but nothing to doubt their faith about since the basis for the story anyway is apocryphal. Of course, it would be a different thing if one's faith was weak and one was gullible...but that's another story.

RECENT HAPPENINGS...RANDOM THOUGHTS

1. There was a heated exchange of emails recently in one of my egroups. It all started when a private exchange of emails among members leaked out,and other members who felt offended by those who allegedly were talking behind their backs,retaliated. Moral lesson: "Never ever have an exchange of private emails with egroup members about a sensitive issue lest you push the wrong button."
2. I was finally able to mail my secret to PostSecret. While I was working on it,for some strange reason I started trembling,either from fear or excitement. After I finished with it though I felt a sense of relief...a feeling of catharsis! Just by bringing it out of my system I had unburdened myself. I now realized the good that Post Secret was doing.
3. Recent news about organizational changes in the JFC group somehow bothered me. But then I caught myself starting to worry and changed my frame of mind...and voila things didn't seem bothersome after all!

THE MYSTERY OF MEMORY

There he was at the hallway talking to some Marketing Officers of Greenwich while members of his Creative staff waited by the elevator.

I recognized the big eyes and the features. He caught sight of me but apparently didn't show any signs of recognition.

He was Ramon "Mon" Jimenez, now President of Jimenez Basic,one of our ad agencies, and a classmate of mine back in kindergarten.

It's strange how the memory recalls pictures of the past. The only memory I have of Mon is him wearing one of the SBC caps sold in our bookstore holding a hotdog in one hand and a bottle of Coke in the other! Maybe the reason I remember him was because he told me how much that hotdog and Coke cost.

Back in kindergarten I only had 25 centavos for my baon,and since I was rather shy, I didn't want to buy stuff at the canteen fearing I wouldn't know how to count change or afraid I wouldn't really have enough money.

When I learned from Mon that the hotdog and Coke combination cost 25 centavos, I was able to pluck up enough courage to buy these over the counter.

I never saw Mon after kinder. This was the first time I've seen him...after about 46 years! But what an amazing flashback it brought.

THE REENERGIZING POWER OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

Last night I was finally able to finish the drawings for the Reunion Souvenir program of my San Beda batchmates. These had been literally on the drawing board for about a year and I had been putting off finishing them since there was really no pressure to complete them. I felt more excited though as I was doing the finishing touches of the illustrations. Then finally they were done and I felt inspired to get started on the other drawings.

Accomplishing something carries with it the power to create more and do something better.Maybe that's why I enjoy being involved in the creative process.

A ROCKER IN THE FAMILY

Last night the whole family went to the Indo's Strip Bar at Orosa (Malate) to watch James and his TB (Tacho Band) perform with 14 other "amateur"bands. It was his 3rd gig at a bar and the second time for me to watch him perform in public. For Jaja it was the first.

We waited for over two hours before the show started.Thankfully, James' band was third in line. The first two groups were Lourdesians from lower grades and obviously needed more practice. Specially the 2nd band which was really trying hard to sound like a reggae band.

When their turn came,TB warmed up with a series of riffs before breaking into their first song. I really didn't know what their songs were but they sounded very good compared to the first time I heard them perform. They were still rough around some edges but they were playing together.

James started out cooly at first but when they were into their 3rd song he was putting in some showmanship!

They got loud applause not only from their friends but also from the other bands who recognized they had just seen a very good performance!

Tacho Rocks! TB Rules!

GROWING IN WISDOM

I just had an insight this morning.

As I grow older I realize more and more that being wise does not mean knowing all the answers or having all the answers.

Wisdom is realizing that there's a lot I don't know and that I must therefore be humble and learn.

That's why I believe that old dogs can still learn new tricks!

FEEL GOOD MOVIES FOR "NOT FEEL SO GOOD" DAYS

I had a bad case of the flu during the past three days. It wasn't so much the pain in the joints that bothered me. What I couldn't stand were the recurring,head-splitting headaches that prevented me from getting a much needed rest. Good thing was that a dose of paracetamol provided me with relief.

The only other thing I could do besides eat,sleep and pee,was to watch TV. Fortunately,there were some "feel good" movies on the tube that helped me make it through the 3 day ordeal.

One feature on the Hallmark Channel was "The Magic of Ordinary Days." Set against the background of World War Two,the story was about Livy,a pretty,educated single and pregnant woman who got herself in a marriage of convenience to Ray Singleton,a simple farmer,who agreed to the arrangment because he believed it was God's will. Livy,who was city bred and raised,gradually finds herself being drawn into and loving the simple country life. She meets and befriends two Japanese-Americans who are working Ray's farm and gets to know about their butterfly-watching hobby.

All this time,Livy has been sending letters to the father of her child,an Air Force instructor. Ray finds out about it toward the end o f the film and professes that he has fallen in love with her and wants her to stay. He gives her a ring...something he wasn't able to do,when they got married and she accepts.

The other feel good movie I saw was Big Fish. It reminded me of the 4 Antiques,specially Uncle Peds who was well known for his fish stories. It made me appreciate that I belonged to a family of storytellers,who, in their effort to make history interesting by embellishing the details, were somehow in fact,telling reality as it was!

MUSINGS ON GRADUATION DAY

Yesterday, my second son James graduated from High School. I didn't pay much attention during the ceremonies,which consisted mainly of presentation of awards to achievers in the academic and non-academic fields. I guess my behavior was understandable because James wasn't going to receive any medals or plaques.

I'm sure that if he had only excelled in academics and was going to receive medals,Jaja and I would have been very attentive. I could not help but mention to her that when I was in elementary,High School and College,my parents,specially Mommy,was probably on top of the world seeing her son going up the stage to receive recognition and even deliver Valedictory addresses (since I was class valedictorian in High School and College.)

Jaja jokingly asked how come none of our kids inherited our abilities. I pointed out to her that we did have Tasha who got medals...only it was in the field of athletics and not academics!

I replied that if we had really wanted them to excel in academics,then we should have spent more of our time supervising their studies and driving them to achieve like my Mom did to me. But,I pointed out (maybe as an excuse...or maybe out of experience),I didn't want to push them at the expense of them not enjoying their childhood.

I also remarked that from my own experience with my batchmates,it wasn't really the brightest who turned out to be the richest and most successful in life. There are in fact many from my Bedan batchmates who were not in the star section but are now rich individuals because of either business savvy, sales acumen or just plain hard work and luck! On the whole,though most of us who were above average performers did well in life and are living in comfort, some of our brightest are struggling.

Personally, I have very high hopes for James in spite of the fact that he almost didn't pass high school and doesn't show the flair for academics that his siblings show. I even predict he will be the richest among them mainly because of his business sense and people relations skills.

Yesterday, when his name was called, there was a big round of applause. When we asked him why, he said it was probably because his photo,which was projected on screen looked funny. But I would like to believe it was also because he was so popular with many in his batch!

Time will tell whether I am right or I am wrong. Maybe I'll have the answer when I'm finally driving my BMW and basking in the Caribbean courtesy of my rich son, James...the son who almost failed High School...but made it with honors in the school of life.

AN OLD DOG LEARNING NEW TRICKS

During the past week I've been using Adobe Photoshop to include faces of ex-Juvenists who joined our grand reunion but weren't included in the group photo. After learning thru experience I finally finished "Photoshopping in" 12 people and it didn't look bad. I asked my daughter to pinpoint those I had added and she missed about 4 so I must have done a convincing job.

I've also experimented on using the other Photoshop tools to create a poster of my son James playing bass guitar. This time around I intend to learn all the possibilities I can create using this fantastic software. I'll even extend the learning to using Adobe Illustrator for the SBC Souvenir Program.

I'm getting excited about learning something new...and something creative at that! It really proves that "old dogs" can still learn new tricks. I guess it depends if one thinks he's an old dog or not.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING

Just read some announcements recently coming from JFC Corporate about the changes taking place in the Jollibee organization.

Gina Navarette is moving to Red Ribbon as its GM,and Erwin somebody (I haven't met him) is replacing her as Greenwich CEO. (That should get some tongues waggling!)

People have also been identified for different posts in the new Finance organization and the newly formed Jollibee Worldwide services group,the Shared Services arm of JFC. Ces Landicho has been named the head or Team Leader of the Training Services group.

I'm still just a spectator to all these changes since I'm technically not an employee anymore of Jollibee. I am concerned of course, because I feel the changes are happening too fast and maybe...just maybe a lot is being left to chance by the think tanks of this project.

Maybe I'm becoming a "writer and critic who criticizes with (my ) pen" as Bob Dylan puts it. I just hope the transition works out for the company I can't help but love because I helped build it! I just hope the individuals running the show are not intiating the change for change's sake..(or worse...for their own personal glory.)

Time will tell. But I'm just preparing myself...just in case my services will be needed...to troubleshoot things in case they make a mess of things! Ha! Wouldn't RDR be vindicated after all!

"Blessed are the meek...for they shall humble the mighty!";-)

TRANSITIONS atbp

I got an email last Friday from a friend saying she has found her "significant other" (S.O. in today's lingo) and that we,her close friends,keep this a secret in the meantime.

I know what she's been through and I do wish this relationship works out well for her and her growing daughter's sakes.

It just made me realize how people are going through transitions everyday and the way we handle those transitions really make an impact on future outcomes.

Take Tasha for instance. She competed last Saturday in the International School Goodwill Gymnastics Competition at the new IS facility at Global City. Jaja and I recounted Tasha's first IS competition when she was about 6 years old. She didn't win anything then but she made a resolve then to do better. Now, almost seven years later she is competing at the highest category...the Open category. Since there were only two of them competing,they were both assured of medals. But,looking back,if Tash had been discouraged after that first experience she would not have even gotten this far.

This past week I've been obsessed about getting things on my "to do" list done. One of them was to learn Adobe Photoshop. First, though I had to be able to load the software onto my PC. I had borrowed pirated copies from Marketing but wasn't able to install it because of an activation security code. Yesterday, I bought another pirated version hoping I could finally get it going in my PC. Turns out I only needed to install a "crack" code and it worked.

My realization: if I really put my mind and heart to something I want done...it gets done. Now, I'm another step closer to achieving something I wrote on my list.

Bench pressing 160 lbs.,is another item on my list that will soon be crossed out by June.

Because of these small successes I'm now putting my mind and heart to:

a) Organizing the tour to the USA for my family and ex-Juvenists
b) Setting up websites for my own family and the Oranditan which will feature a composite photo of the Mendoza Progeny from Lolo & Lola Iqui to the latest additions.
c) Being able to play the acoustic solo version of the Beatles' "In My Life" which became our Reunion's theme song