In the 90s, my sister Cecile had two cute and cuddly little boys Nico and Carlo. Well, they were cute then. When they got older, they became Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. Man, they were always fighting! Well, I guess thats how boys are. But geez, they just wont quit! We always have to keep them apart. A vase breaks my sister shouts, "Nico, what did you do?!" Nico answers, "Dont look at me it was Carlo!" Carlo replies, "Hey, dont look at me! It was kuya!" And boom its Round 1, folks! And this goes on every day day in, day out.
These days, I have to deal with another pair of "heavyweight fighters" the nephews of my wife who stay with us during the week. The older one, the massive, wrestler-looking, 88-pound-seven-year-old Mico and the other the cat-quick, lightning-fast, always pilyo, always scheming, policeman-bellied, three-year-old Marcus. Like Nico and Carlo, these two are always trying to rip each other apart, clawing and battling for every toy, every piece of food, or every computer game disc. And as constant as the Senate bickerings, a thing in my house will get broken and my wife would scream, "Mico, what did you do na naman?!!" And Mico would answer, "Dont look at me, it was Marcus!" And Marcus would deny vehemently, "Hey, dont look at me, it was kuya!!"
Sigh ..Ones thing for sure. If God does bless us with kids, I pray I dont end up with two consecutive boys. Theyre impossible, I tell you. Makes me appreciate my mom. She had five! (Plus two girls!) But dont get me wrong, okay? I love these four boys dearly. They certainly make life more interesting. But sometimes, I just wonder how two people could come out of the same womb and be mortal enemies almost every day of their lives. Drives me nuts!
While I find that somewhat amusing and, to a certain extent, cute, I find it tragic that most of us carry this "instinct," albeit, in a subtle way, when we move into the corporate world.
Ive seen it all before. During tight situations, like when our company is facing a crisis, whenever the boss calls a meeting to "investigate" the matter, we often find ourselves trying desperately to wiggle out of the hot seat. And why not? Were only human. Were only doing something that is consistent with our human instinct of self-preservation. We fear that if somehow the crisis could be traced to something we failed to do or a screw up that we committed, well be out of work. And so, the natural thing to do is to distract the boss, raise another issue, and make it appear that someone else is to blame.
Boss: So who came up with this press release that was not supposed to come out yet? Didnt I tell you to keep this confidential?!!
Staff: Sir, I heard that theres been a lot of unauthorized personnel coming here in the office. I bet a competitor was able to come in and fax the press release to our media friends. I say, lets fire the security guard!
Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating. But admit it it does happen, right? Sometimes youre happily working, diligently doing your job and then all of a sudden an issue comes up and before you know it, youre being held accountable for losing a multi-million dollar deal or for the murder of John F. Kennedy. And you say, "Hey, wait a minute! Im just a patsy!" Or sometimes theres an exchange of e-mails within your company and you werent sent a copy. Then all of a sudden, when a meeting is called, everyone is looking at you like you were Jack the Ripper. And everyone points at you and shouts in unison, "Dont look at us he did it."
We sometimes call it the "crab mentality" of Pinoys. We always blame other people for our own miseries. But you know, sometimes, humility is the best policy. I really find it admirable when a person, confronted with a sticky situation which could have been anyones fault, stands up and says, "Well, I must admit, had I been more on the ball, we could have avoided this. I apologize. Ill just make sure that the situation is controlled and Ill handle the crisis management. "A person with this much courage is rare and I would tip my hat to him.
Recently, we had an intern whom we hired in MTV. He was a very effective guy a self-starter and very entrepreneurial. He did things on his own and didnt need much supervision. But one time, there was a big boo-boo in a print ad we released. Its a good thing that the newspaper was a friend of ours and they notified us of the mistake. Naturally, I wasnt too happy with this and I confronted my staff. Our intern told me, "Rod, its my mistake, 100 percent. I should have proofread it more. I proofread it twice and didnt see the mistake. I apologize. I will handle it and correct it." This intern of ours has since left us (hes gone to the States for greener pastures). But to this day, I consider him the best intern weve ever had only because he was man enough to accept responsibility and correct his mistake right away.
All of us are human. We all make mistakes. Thats a given. But it takes a superhuman character to accept fault and immediately rectify it. Most of us either shun away from responsibility or, if we admit fault, we dont act on it right away. But let this be a challenge to all of you.
And if this article affected you positively and eventually gives you more courage to accept your faults hey, dont look at me you have yourself to pat!