Of Meritocracy and Choosing the Right Man for the Job

Based on the volume of readership that has been spawned by my Dutdutan entries I'm sure that they are still awaiting the next installment of my picture blogs (which I must say that there are still a lot to be posted) but after going out for coffee with my wife this afternoon, I chanced upon the Lifestyle Asia Magazine which featured an article about four of the country's top entrepreneurs, namely:  Tony Tan Caktiong (Jollibee), Jaime Zobel de Ayala (Ayala Corporation), Lance Gokongwei (Cebu Pacific), and Martin Lorenzo (Pancake House).   Both Tony Tan Caktiong and Jaime Zobel de Ayala mentioned about MERITOCRACY.  And as I shifted to reading the day's Philippine Star this word again came to my attention as the topic of Carmen Pedrosa's column in "From a Distance".  Is this by happenstance or is there something about this word that I need to write about?  So I start thinking and scribbling my thoughts and here's what I have to say about the matter.

By definition, meritocracy  "is a system of government or other administration wherein appointments and responsibilities are objectively assigned to individuals based upon their "merits", namely intelligence, credentials, and education, determined through evaluations or examinations."  Both Tan Caktiong and Zobel de Ayala subscribe to getting talent when there is nothing to be found in the organization.  This reflects the value of humility in both leaders to realize that much that keeping their companies within the family enterprise, certain expertise needs to be outsourced if they intend to move forward.  

I do not intend to contest this for a fact.  Both have their business portfolios (and bank accounts) to give credence to this.  However, the key to making this as a true instrument for business continuity and growth, the selection process should be attuned to the corporate values and the experience aligned to the company industry.  This is especially true for key positions.  The intelligence factor maybe off the charts, the accomplishments and the prestige of coming from a multi-national company  adorning the curriculum vitae but these do not guarantee an automatic job fit.  Intelligent people do not automatically have the people skills to lead.  Unfortunately, many intelligent people are too intelligent to admit to this fact.  If you give the reigns of leadership to a general who does not know how to lead and influence his troops to action do not expect to win any battles.  

I believe that in order for big companies to repeat the folly of the Roman Empire, all battle fronts should be led by loyal, charismatic and battle hardened generals to keep the ranks on their toes and the enemy at bay.  

Outsourcing key management positions is critical.  The hiring process should be able to spot leaders who have both the wisdom and charisma to move the company forward.  Unfortunately, this is not an exact science and there will be instances that actual performance does not back up the colorful CV.  The next challenge is how to weed out these false leaders and continue the quest for the one who can lead and provide the stability in terms of business continuity.

A leader who do not have the power of influence within his command cannot be expected to hold the fort from the enemy.  

Jahziel Manabat @ The Dutdutan Festival 2012

It was very difficult getting a clear shot of Jahziel Manabat during the Dutdutan Festival yesterday.  She was in a booth selling posters (or was it calendars?) and there was not a time in each of the visit I did to her booth that there was no frenzy of photographers and on-lookers!  I had to do over-head shots which was either blocked by a head or camera.  It would be incomplete to leave and not capture a photo of her in this event so I got on shooting at every opportunity I got and just crop the unwanted.

Contestant #29 @ The Dutdutan Festival 2012

It was a loooonng uneventful wait for me as the tattoo competition went underway at the second day of the Dutdutan Festival last night until this lady showed up and got my blood flowing (in all directions!) and based on the predominantly male crowd they were awaken from their stupor (or drunkenness) when Contestant #29 came on stage!

Obviously, The BATMANs (Batang Manyak) are in the house!

Manong, OK ka lang?

Russian Ladies of the Starwood VIP Lounge @ The Dutdutan Festival 2012

I think there were five Russian ladies from the Starwood VIP Lounge last night at the Dutdutan Festival but I only took notice of one which I found to be the prettiest of them all (not to mention the nearest from where I'm perched with my camera).

I do believe the pictures will tell you what is the type of services that this institution has to offer.  If you're at a lost---GOOGLE it!

You can also watch the video here:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkC65gxNiI

Daiana Menezes @ The Dutdutan Festival 2012

My side stage vantage point did not do justice to how beautiful Daiana Menezes was last night at the Dutdutan Festival.  But she IS still beautiful at any angle!

Here's Daiana wowing the crowd and clowning around with Sam YG, Slick Rick, and Ramon Bautista of the Boys Night Out!

They're Back!

After a long wait that seemed to be forever, my favorite TV series are back!  Looking forward to the plantsa days ahead!

NCIS Season 10

It was a cliff hanger Season 9 ending after Harper Dearing detonates a bomb in the NCIS headquarters.  Then Ducky was shown to have had a fatal heart attack after hearing of the events.  Well good news guys!  The team is back---WHOLE!  Gibbs and Dearing goes for a final showdown and we know who's left standing!

NCIS Los Angeles Season 4

Another cliffhanger finish last season where Callen shoots the Chameleon on live television before the prisoner exchange with a CIA agent and is carted off by the police.  Hetty resigns (again) after the incident and the team was left in the state of disarray.  Everything turned out to be a ruse by the team to avert an international incident with the Iranians.

Person of Interest

Finch gets a visit from an old friend and turns out to be a set up to flush him out.  Left alone, Reese looks up to Finch's contingency plan---The Machine---determined to rescue Finch from Ruth.  Or so he thought...

Dexter Season 7

Travis turns out to be the real Doomsday Killer and Debra witnesses Dexter serve him justice.  What happens next?  Well, a good serial killer is a good liar.  Unfortunately, Deb is a good cop with the tenacity of a pitbull.  Now how will Dexter extricate himself from this dilemma?  I guess, we'll find out in the next couple of episodes.

Supernatural Season 8

The Winchesters have been to hell and back---literally!  When Dean zapped Dick to kingdom come, he inadvertently transported himself to Purgatory!  But I guess Sam and Dean does have nine lives.  Dean survives Purgatory with the help of a demon after one year of "bloody, messy, and thirty-one colors of bottom dwelling nasties".

The two brothers finally meet up and have their own stories to tell but they need to find the Prophet (Kevin) before the demons do.

Photo and other GENICS

Being an Art Studies graduate, I am into the beautiful:  music, architecture, paintings...but more than anything else---WOMEN! 

Everywhere I go my eyes are always on a lookout for gorgeous babes.  My type are fair skinned, long haired, mestizas.  Of course, there are pretty morenas as well but by default the first criteria is what makes me turn around for a second look.  Now if I have my camera on hand posterity will surely beckon for a shot.  This is why I like going to car shows---lots of pretty girls all around! Unfortunately,  car shows are far in between but there's not much to fret about since I have seen a lot of beautiful Pinays about especially in high end place like Makati, Greenhills, and Rockwell.  But then,  you really don't expect them to just pose for you, right?  So whenever I get a chance they would be stolen shots.  Hmmm...I'm not going to get in trouble for that, am I?  Anyway, another thing is that not everyone of them you see front side and sometimes light and distance can play tricks on your eyes.  This is why I have classified the other beauty types (outside of the really beautiful ones) into three:  LAYO-genic, , DILIMo-genic and TALIKOD-genic.

1.  LAYO-genic.  Or, as my wife would call them, PPP (papalapit, papalapit, panget).  These are those who, from a distance, would seem to pass my beauty criteria (fair skinned, long haired) but upon closer inspection turns out to be not within your expectations.  In Boracay, many Korean ladies fall within this category.  I guess it's the sun playing tricks on me especially when all you can see is a 5 inch perspective of a lady in two piece bikini!

2.  DILIMo-genic. You usually have many of this type in bars, discos (meron pa ba nito?), or establishments that has minimal lighting---pag nailawan na, di pala kagandahan.

3. TALIKOD-genic. In my experience this is the most common type among the three since when you are strolling, your immediate attention is to your front; hence, when I spot a fair skinned, long haired, and curvaceous back side, I imagine a beautiful face to match.  In the last couple of weeks I have been playing a game with myself where when I see an attractive back side I would make it a point to validate by over taking the subject to check her out.  Funny thing is that many such sorties end up in disappointment as the target is either not my type or belongs to the third sex.  This is especially true along the San Miguel Avenue/St. Francis side in Pasig which is my normal office route.  At the average, only 3/10 ladies that I check out are what I deem beautiful.

OMG!

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. My being an art major does not make me a connoisseur of beauty. Abstract art does not follow the normal visual reference of this world but is an art form viewed as beautiful by many.  I guess it goes the same with how we look at a person's physical beauty.  I do remember a friend of mine who was into the "exotic types" (which actually got me thinking if he's got a foreigner's blood in him.) So, to each his own beauty perspective.

DZFE FM: The Master's Touch

I have come to appreciate classical music during my college days.  I guess being an Art Studies Major you just can't NOT like Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and the other classical musicians. The internet was just in its infancy and there were no downloadable MP3s that time so I tune in to 98.7 DZFE on the FM dial to get my classical trip.  

Listening to classical music relaxes me.  Once I close my eyes it instantly brings my me to places where my soul is in equilibrium.  Of course, that depends on what you're listening to.  Well, it has been a while since I have listened to this station.  With the dawn of mobile phones with radio I thought I can continue this habit on the go where ever I am; unfortunately, the phones that I owned could not get the station's signal.  It was that or the predominance of the pop music culture killed their broadcast.  It really saddened me to think that was the case and wondered if their last airing would get the same fanfare as the final broadcast of NU 107.  I don't think so.  Classical music followers are not that many.  

I have since compiled a huge collection of classical music that I just need to browse through them and select what mood I need to turn on to but every once in a while I'd dial in 98.7 on the radio and it pains me to hear static.  On my way home yesterday, I decided to bring my headphone and plug it in to my Nokia 101 to listen to the zany discussions of DJs Tony Toni, Sam YG, and Slick Ric of the Boy's Night Out.  However, The Boys were not able to take away the after effects of a stressful work day and so I decided to listen to RJ Radio for some oldies beat.  As I scanned through the dial I passed through one that I thought played classical and ---low and behold---it was The Master's Touch on 98.75!  Man!  It was such a welcome discovery that I was tuned in to it from Cubao all the way to SM Fairview (where I did my grocery) until I came home.  This morning, as I went to work, I was again tuned in.  Kung kelan naman chipipay lang ang gamit kong cellphone e dun pala ako makakasagap ng signal nila!

Anyway, other than the classical music playlist this station also have other value added segments that I appreciate like their Talk segment where different hosts gives the listeners a "deeper understanding of the biblical precepts and perceptions" among which I particularly like Guidelines by Dr. Harold Sala.   It is surely nice to hear his calming voice and his insights on Christian living.

My Maong and Me

I'm not someone who really cares about dressing up.  This is especially true during weekends.  For me, so long as what I wear is clean and doesn't smell I'd put it on!  I don't even care if my maong pants has holes in the under carriage.  My wife and my daughter would laugh at me whenever I put on my torn maong pants but I really don't give a damn.  First of all, you can't really see much; and secondly, I don't think others would give a S_ _ T as to what's going on down there! I'm no exhibitionist but it's really not all that bad.  And unless I really open up my legs that whole is a subtle as a pimple under concealers. 

Truth be told, most of my pants are hand me downs from my brother in Canada.  I have four maongs in my closet and all of them have holes where my nuts rests.  Nope, my pets aren't corrosive but the damage is more on wear and tear.  Besides, those holes gives me a breath of fresh air when it's otherwise hot under normal conditions!

Dredd

Unlike Sylvester Stallone's 1994 version, the new movie adaptation of the comic character starring Karl Urban, has more gore and bloodshed.  The new film also characterized Judge Dredd as a hardcore and gruff law enforcer  in leather and body armor living in a crime prevalent society. 

Well, if you don't know who Karl Urban is then you'll be left clueless in this film for he does not take off his helmet at all.  His most notable roles in the past were as Eomer in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 2009 Star Trek movie.

Karl Urban is Judge Dredd

Lena Headly (Terminator:  The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Game of Thrones) plays the villain Ma-Ma a prostitute turned drug lord whose drug Slow-Mo is becoming the scourge of Mega-City One.  If you hated her as Queen Cersai in Game of Thrones you'll hate her more in this film.  They downplayed her pretty face with a prominent scar and a crooked set of teeth to give her that ruthless look.

As Cersai Lannister in Game of Thrones

As Sarah Connor.

As Ma-Ma in Judge Dredd.

 Did I like the movie?  Not that much.  The story lacked substance and aside from the sub-plot of the rookie judge Anderson (which isn't much either), there ain't much going on.  So I'd say, watch at your own risk.

The Death of Lois Lane

Thank you to my wife's cousin and comic book aficionado, Danry, for sharing this with me.  And now I'm sharing this to all of you old comic book fans like me who lost touch with the superheroes that  we used to love.