LOPEZLINK APRIL 2015 ISSUE: Ordinary to Extraordinary

Upon my return in the office after a 2-week rest in the hospital, 3 reading materials greeted me on my desk.  The first 2 were business books I had to read to keep up with the continuous learning initiatives of our company First Balfour and the entire First Philippine Holdings companies. The 3rd one was a copy of the  all too familiar monthly publication of the Lopez Group of Companies - the LopezLink. 

The April 2015 issue is out already and I thumbed thru it excitedly.  Earlier in March, prior to my hospitalization, I was interviewed by Dulce Festin-Baybay, the Public Affairs and Media Relations Consultant for the Lopez Group Foundation, Inc.  Arriving at page 9, I saw the fruit of that interview. It was a wonderfully done article of the Bicolano Penguin.  Ms. Dulce did a very good job in making the ordinary me look like the extraordinary runner. The thrust of the article was to see the relevance of our Lopez core values with the life of an employee of the Lopez Group of Companies. 

You see, in the Lopez Group of Companies, all employees get to recite by heart the Lopez Credo and Values: 

In the words of our Chairman Emeritus, Oscar M. Lopez (OML), the Lopez Credo and Values  effectively "clarify the employee value proposition...what it mean to be an employee in the Group.  In other words, the Credo will also make it clear what is expected of each employee to include such things as upright conduct, positive attitude and service orientation. The Credo also gives the employee ideas on what to expect from the employer...I am hopeful that in time these core values of the Group will be held in common by everyone in any Lopez company so that each one will stand out in the community as one among the best." 

Such is the real-life challenge for us employees of this exemplary group.  In my more than 10 years of working for First Balfour which is a construction company in the group, I have tried my best to live these core values.  It is challenging but no doubt rewarding.  I must admit, it is not easy and some values are easier to live than the others. 

In my case, I am like a duck to water when it comes to the last value on the list of 7:  Concern for employee welfare and wellness.  Specially, the wellness part.  Early on in my working career in First Balfour, I was exposed to the importance that the Lopez top management put on the welfare and wellness of the employees.  Thru the leadership of  OML and Raffy Alunan, many employees were introduced to an active exercise lifestyle via the Walk the Talk monthly program, the annual Biggest Loser competitions and the regular mountain treks.  Likewise, my bosses in First Balfour, Glo Raymundo and Tito Fernandez, were supportive.  It was my taste of success in "conquering" mountains (i.e. Mt. Arayat, Mt. Daguldol, Mt. Maculot)  that gave me the confidence to target long distance running. And when I became savvy with marathons and ultra marathons, I made it a point to share this passion of running with my officemates in First Balfour and my friends in Bicol. Either thru regular long slow distance (LSDs)  running with them or thru my writing in the Bicolano Penguin blog. 

On page 9 is the article on Lopez Values in action plus...

... an article on my preferred running brands.

On page 10 is a photo of the finish of First Balfour officemates Iya Pe and Tato Dalawampu on their first ultra marathon (T2K).

I often say that the appeal of running is that it is a sports where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. By weekdays, I am your ordinary office worker but on weekends, I try doing extraordinary feats like running  50kms and/or helping others be extraordinary. The fire that fuels this passion does include the desire in me to live up to the value(s) of our company.              

Many thanks to Dulce and Rosan Cruz for the opportunity to tell my story.