You hate your job. You’re thinking of quitting.
You are not happy and you find that you have to drag yourself out of bed every morning so you can go to work. If this is your situation then today’s message is for you. Continue reading »
Sep 032009
Is compassion important? You bet it is. Without compassion, this story may just as well be true:
A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out.
A SUBJECTIVE person came along and said: “I FEEL for you, down there.”
An OBJECTIVE person came along and said: “It’s logical that someone would fall, down there.”
A CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST came along: “You only THINK that you are in a pit.”
A PHARISEE said: “Only BAD people fall into a pit.”
A MATHEMATICIAN calculated HOW he fell into the pit. Continue reading »
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Aug 182009
I want to share with you one of the letters I received that really blesses my heart.
Here it is:
Hi Sir Francis,
Thanks for speaking at UST last month. It was wonderful and, in terms of content and audience feedback, everyone agreed it was the best seminar in the college of architecture. (And to think you’re not even an architect and the topic is not even “architectural.”)
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Aug 162009
Years ago, there was a master violinist in Europe. He would play in concerts, and he had a magnificent Stradivarius violin, extremely expensive. He would play the Stradivarius violin in concert and everyone would whisper in the crowd, “Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius.”
He would play in churches, and people would say, “Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius.” He even played before kings and queens, and they, too, would turn to one another and say, “Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius.” All the glory went to the instrument.
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Aug 112009
A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, ‘It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. ‘The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. ‘I am going to give each one of you a SEED today – one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.’ Continue reading »
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Aug 022009
I remember the battle cry of the 80’s and the 90’s was: “Quality!”
Consultants were busy and excited in bringing out cases after cases of Japanese businesses that modeled quality of which Toyota reigned king!
Even Filipinos and American executives engaged themselves in corporate babble using Japanese words and terminologies of which the word “Kaizen” was chief. Quality was the buzzword. You may be familiar with other words like TQM. Six Sigma. Zero Defect.
Quality rules.
And then something happened. Computers and technology came into the picture. Suddenly all the management programs become commoditized. Companies with money buy the same program which in effect led to consumer’s benefits as products and services improved dramatically. However, quality now no longer becomes cutting edge. Quality now becomes minimum entry requirement in order to survive the highly global competitive world.
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Jul 302009
In his autobiography, Number 1, Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle.
Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch. When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend. Mantle’s friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him.
When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door. Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn’t let them hunt. “I’m so mad at that guy,” Mantle said, “I’m going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!” Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, “We can’t do that!” But Mickey was adamant. “Just watch me,” he shouted.
When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside, and shot the mule. As he was leaving, though, he heard two shots, and he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too. “What are you doing, Martin?” he yelled. Martin yelled back, face red with anger, “We’ll show that son of a gun! I just killed two of his cows!”
Oh no! Anger can be dangerously contagious.
As Proverbs 22:24-25 puts it, “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man… or you may learn his ways” (Prov.). [1]
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Jul 222009
It’s a rare opportunity for my wife and I to take a casual and leisurely walk along the mall. What is normal for us is to rush from one place to another doing all those talks and giving all those seminars.
And so after our workout in the gym, The Ilocana and I took our sweet time, strolled inside a shopping mall; afterwards got inside my car and drove to a gas station and that’s when my cell phone rang. It was my all time faithful and reliable associate Rara sounding-agitated-trying-to-keep-her-nerve-tone-of-voice as she practically screamed, “Sir where are you? They are waiting for you.” I realized to my horror that I have forgotten about giving a talk that evening. I have mistakenly assumed that the talk was for the next evening but I was wrong.
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Jul 092009
Arriving late at Heathrow Airport, after a long flight, taking a long walk riding a long bus ride I finally arrived at the heart of Commercial London called Oxford Street. It’s not easy traveling alone but somehow I have gotten used to that. I had to spend the night in the city and prepare to leave for Queen’s College in Oxford University and attend a one-week conference – another item in my bucket list that I have drawn up years before.
And as I look at picturesque London my mind brought me back to some historical events that happened many years to this country that few people in ours remember. Steve Farrar in his beautiful book entitled “God Built” talked about this and allow me to share it with you.
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Jun 302009
One day, two elderly men were talking about their favorite sport, basketball.
“I wonder if there’ll be basketball in heaven?” Ed asked.
“Of course there will,” Henson responded, “or it wouldn’t be heaven.”
Not long after that, Ed passed away; then, one night while Henson, was sleeping, Ed appeared in all his radiant glory- in a bright light at the foot of Henson’s bed. Henson was badly shaken.
“Calm down, Henson,” Ed reassured his friend.
“Everything’s going to be all right. I just came back to visit and to bring some good news and some bad news. ”
