Leadership Excellence : Setting the Stage for Success

Remarks delivered on April 1, 2017 at the 1^st ISEssions: The Gerry Roxas Leaders Forum, Balay Expo Centro, Araneta Center, Quezon City.

Former Secretary Dinky Soliman, Gerry Roxas Foundation Executive Director Monette Parado, Gerry Roxas Leadership Awardees Inc. Executive Director Glenda Carlota, fellow members of the GRLA Inc. Board of Trustees, my fellow GRLAs:

             

Thank you for the privilege to speak before you as we launch the ISE Sessions with this afternoon’s Gerry Roxas Leaders Forum.  I feel much honored to be given this opportunity, especially as I am sharing the stage with one of our country’s most distinguished public servants.

              Perhaps because of my experience in the theater, my time with you has been appropriately named “Setting the Stage for Success.” Given this, I will share with you some of the learnings I have picked up after working with successful people, particularly in my field of arts and entertainment.

             

But first, let us define success. 

For me, success does not simply correspond to financial or job security or the accumulation of material things.  It is not measured by the properties that one owns, or the awards and recognitions received.  Perhaps one of the best descriptions of success I have encountered is that of motivational guru Zig Ziglar, who said that “Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”  In other words, the true measure of success is not how it is perceived through the eyes of others, but in becoming the best that we can ever be.

So, what does it take to be a success?

Let me share with you what I have personally observed as essential characteristics of successful people I have met and worked with.  All those I know who are considered to be the best in their field seem to share the following common characteristics

First, they have the necessary skills;

Second, they have the required intellect; and

Third, they seem to overflow with passion for what they do.

Let’s talk about each of these characteristics.

Skill is commonly understood to mean expertise, or the ability to do something well.  As a general rule, this requires hours upon hours of education and training and accumulation of experience.  Author Malcolm Gladwell propounded that as a general rule, 10,000 hours are required before anyone can be considered an expert in most every field.   Just how long will it take to reach this milestone?  Roughly four hours per day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year, for ten years. Or eight hours a day, for five years.  In the performing arts, this is common among musicians and classical dancers who normally begin taking lessons as children. For those who may not know, prodigies are advised to spend three to four hours rehearsing each day.  By the time they reach their teens, they can already be considered experts.

In his book Outliers, Gladwell actually cites The Beatles as proof of the application of the 10,000-hour rule. Shortly after they were formed in 1960 in Liverpool, England, The Beatles played various pubs in Hamburg, Germany over a three-year period.  If they were not playing, they were rehearsing. In effect, it was normal for them to devote up to ten hours each day to music.  Should it be surprising then that after their Hamburg stint, they were already skillful and accomplished musicians? 

The second characteristic of successful people is intellect, or the faculty of reasoning and understanding.  More important than the accumulation of data and information, intellect presupposes knowledge of one’s self in order to make sense of everything that impact on an individual.

Leadership guru Warren Bennis has famously said that leaders are made, and that leadership is learned through four lessons of self-knowledge.  These are:

1.      You are your own best teacher. Denial is a major stumbling block.

2.      Accept responsibility. Blame no one.

3.      You can learn anything you want to learn.

4.      True understanding comes from reflecting on your experience.

The third characteristic is passion – that intense, driving or overmastering feeling or conviction, the sum of perseverance and devotion.  For some it is equated to love, and that when you love what you do, you should be prepared to do everything in the service of what or who you love. It also means plodding on and never giving up, whatever the odds.  Albert Einstein is quoted as saying many are those who said that the reason why a lot of people fail is because they did not know how close they were to succeeding when they decided to quit.

How do you know what path to pursue, which passion to follow?  Lisa Macuja Elizalde, Prima Ballerina and Artistic Director of Ballet Manila, has these words to share: “And when your heart speaks to you, you can never go wrong because it never lies. And it will push you to go forward and excel because at a certain point, your dream becomes like oxygen. You need it to breathe. You need it to grow. You need it to live."

Let me share with you the story of one of my favorite actors, Morgan Freeman. In his high school yearbook, Morgan Freeman had “Actor” written under his name.  No matter how long it took, he never let go of his dream.

Through the years, he played every role he can get, whether it be on stage, on television or on film.  One of his more lasting roles came in the television show “The Electric Company”.

When he was given the Kennedy Center Medal, part of the citation for his achievements read as follows: “The years came and went. He took part after part, still no one knew his name. He was fifty years old, and his dream was dying.  Then Destiny found him wearing a chaffeur’s cap – first in an off-broadway theater, then a long shot of a movie. Now Hollywood would be writing roles for him.”

The play and the film was “Driving Miss Daisy” by Alfred Uhry, and its film adaptation directed by Bruce Beresford was nominated for nine Oscars, winning four, including Best Picture in 1989. Afterwards, Morgan Freeman was playing roles such as Nelson Mandela, the President of the United States, and even God. In 2005, he won an Academy Award for himself, for Best Supporting Actor in the film “Million Dollar Baby.”

Skill. Intellect. Passion.

These are the essential ingredients for success.

But I have also come to realize that these three are not enough. A fourth characteristic separate the men from the beasts, the person from the brute. 

This is integrity, Integrity – the quality of having strong principles. Integrity entails being true to one’s self and convictions. It requires a moral compass. It demands that we choose not only to do something right but, more importantly, to do the right thing. A good friend of mine, actor Fernando Josef, currently the Artistic Director of Tanghalang Pilipino, teaches actors to be good human beings first as a pre-requisite to becoming  good actors. Change must start from within. As Mahatma Gandhi said: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” 

And so I leave you with these four words to live by:

Integrity.

Skill.

Intellect.

Passion.

Isa-isip natin ito, isa-puso, at isa-buhay.  And I am certain all of us will be the success that we are all meant to be.

Thank you.