Tan, Neil Brian C.

LS127-B

134043 Mr. Fructuoso Sabug

Aboitiz Reflection Paper 16 February 2016

The talk started with introductions, but what struck me is that the speaker started his

presentation with lessons learned as the first content. This is so because lessons learned is

usually mentioned or talked about last but in this case, it was first. I think that this fact is

interesting in a way that it makes one think about the implications of the lessons we have

learned in life and how to start the next chapter of our lives while carrying those learnings as

to be able to improve upon ourselves, and/or our organizations. If we have this mindset of

always starting with applying all our previous learnings, then I think that this prompts us to

always seek improvement and constantly evolve, in a sense. Technical things that are objective

such as return on investments, financial statements, balance sheets, among many others are

easily learned in a classroom and can easily be applied in an organization as it is, first and

foremost, procedural and, in a way, robotic and mechanical. However, what I have taken with

me from this talk are lessons on how to manage an organization using managerial skills that

one can only learn from being in the fieldfrom doing and experience, not books. Therefore,

the bulk of this reflection paper will be tackling those aforementioned learnings and skills, with

one being highlighted.

The speaker mentioned lessons regarding the importance of survival and humility,

prudence with debt, and diversification. He also mentioned honor, reputation, integrity, and

most importantly, TRUST. He did not explicitly state that trust is the most important one, but

I have assumed it since all other learnings were crammed in one slide, however, trust is

mentioned in four slides, namely, trust from customers, trust from team members, trust from

shareholders, and trust from community. I believe that this distinction of different types of trust

is significant in running their company, and other companies as well. Trust, although an
abstract word or concept, is very much important in an organization. This is because of the fact

that we cannot expect organization to be solely ran by top managers. Every organization needs

people from various levels of management. Everyone is important, from top to bottom. To run

smoothly, an organization needs to have mutual trust from all levels in order to be able to

perform their tasks effectively and efficiently. If different levels of an organization learn the

ability to cooperate with each other, to synergize, then we can attribute that to good

management and company culture.

For instance, if one sector of an organization doubts the ability of another sector to

perform its tasks and responsibilities, then that doubt could derail the whole cycle of

production. By being wary of another sector, that particular sector may also doubt its own

capabilities, and this is psychologically detrimental to them. Morale may decrease and

inevitably, the whole organization could be less efficient and effective. However, if for

instance, there is trust, then a sector would not need to worry about anything else other than its

duties and responsibilities, for they have complete and utter confidence that the other sectors

can execute their tasks properly. This confidence and trust enables them to focus on their

respective responsibilities, and in turn, the organization would run smoothly.

Furthermore, the speaker also talked not only about the importance of trust within the

organization but also from outside the institution. And this outside force is the customers trust.

Lets face it, any organization would not be able to succeed if its customers do not have

confidence in the products and/or services that they provide, more so if the lack of trust is with

the companys heads. For this reason, every company must do everything they can to ensure

continuous support and unwavering loyalty from all its customers. And as evident from

Aboitizs peak performance throughout all these decades, they surely have embodied the

concept of trust.