AS the year ends, companies prepare their respective budgets to achieve a common goal of commercial profitability. Revenue targets, key performance indicators and cost reduction initiatives are set from a strategic point of view to ensure all departments are aligned toward achieving that goal. Aside from profitability, what really drives companies and their leaders toward stability? There are companies that remain stable by simply staying true to their corporate identity, specifically, what they are and what they stand for. Financially stable companies are fully aware of their strengths and the playing field. One such company is Starbucks.
Since the first Starbucks opened in 1971, its unquantifiable objective is to share great coffee with friends and help make the world a little better. From the very beginning, Starbucks wanted to be a different kind of coffee with a mission of inspiring and nurturing the human spirit—“one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” While Starbucks diversified and ventured into iced coffees and specialty teas, the company is driven by its core product: which is not coffee but the experience of going inside a store and having an experience, not just the taste, of Starbucks coffee. Companies should learn from Starbucks and not lose sight of what truly drives them amid the pressure of generating more income for their stockholders.
For the past several years, one of my high-school batch mates from the University of the East, Lolit Dino Tiu, has been hosting luncheons and dinners for the batch UEHS 1982, some out of town and others out of the country. She is fortunate and financially blessed as her family owns and operates several rice mills in Northern Luzon. Gifted with a giving heart, Lolit never lets a year go by without sharing her blessings to our batch mates. Without even asking her, I think what drives Lolit to give freely and happily is her eternal perspective.
As we are in the middle of the season of giving and reflection this December, we should find out and decide what drives us to live. For some of my classmates in the military academy, recently retired or about to retire, net worth is the most important driver in their lives. After all, with a reduced income stream due to retirement, they have to find ways to generate wealth for the sake of their children and grandchildren. For some of them, they live to gain recognition as the best in whatever they do. Inspirational author and pastor Rick Warren shares that believers ought to know that the key driver in their lives is to please Him. It has been said that the process is much more important than the product.
Whether companies become profitable, business ethics dictate that competition should be within the spirit of fairness. I have seen a few companies whose financial rise was as fast as their doom as they embarked on wicked methods just to stay above the competition. In the same way, there are people who gained and lost much wealth in a short span of time as they circumvented regulations by bribing their way to get short-term gains. Imprisoned American financier Bernie Madoff, who was the brains behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in US financial history, and convicted middleman/businesswoman Janet Napoles, who masterminded the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, are classic examples of how people rise and fall. Within us, we know what is right and wrong. Unfortunately, our culture muddles the dividing line and creates a gray area where people like Madoff and Napoles have tried to seek refuge.
In the Bible, Mark 8:36-37 tells us, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul.” Mankind is His creation and everything that comes from Him is good. We have to be mindful that we were born with hearts to serve, help, do good and share. Lolit is a living example of how someone is slowly becoming a financial and spiritual success. Her generosity, consistently and passionately displayed in activities such as our high-school batch reunions, is a manifestation that she is wealthy yet not materialistic. Her giving heart drives her to help others. In her business, the acquisition of wealth is a stepping-stone toward her ultimate objective in life. I truly think the rice milling and distribution business of Lolit will never falter, for, in the words of Buddha, “You only lose what you cling to.” Therefore, giving, whether financial resources, time and attention, or a cheerful attitude, should be our driver in life.
For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.