I will never be a prominent blogger like some friends I know. I am bad at creating my own content. The best I do is post mobile photos to my Facebook, rarely on Instagram… my Twitter is luckily linked to my Foursquare check-in so that’s a bit of solid content there. Other than that, this blog is virtually a seasonal thing.
Some excuses:
No time
Okay, that’s the only excuse I use. No time. Quite true especially this year which witnessed me swirling about fast. There’s the new job at Burnett which required me to be on top of my game internally and externally. There’s IMMAP which required me to attend meetings at frequent intervals. There’s the drive to make money both for myself and the company I work for.
I didn’t even get to travel this year – not at least the level that I’d want to. This year I had hope to go to Nepal, revisit Europe, see NYC and club in it, and a whole lot more places to seize but left not done.
For all that I learned this year, one that tops my list is opportunity cost.
Opportunity cost is simply the cost of having chosen something over another – what you lose in the course of having chosen one over the other. And this is what I learnt most this year – and which I am now cherishing a lot.
Had I not decided to leave Globe, I would have received a generous amount of discretionary and performance bonuses. I would have been able to file my vacation leaves ahead and traveled, bought a new gadget here and there. Maybe bought a bag to replace my one year toddler, my everyday (and already tired) YSL bag that I got over a year ago in Paris. More money, no problem.
But I did. I decided to leave Globe. And there a ripple of effects was born.
Everyday I second guessed myself: can I do this? Can I handle this? I doubted myself if I could really do it. You know, facing clients who think they’re better than you is a problem for someone who has superiority complex. I will not deny it, it takes a lot of patience to listen and swallow your pride granted that you’re not part of the decision, you are the one at the mercy of a decision.
Then I always think of my revenue targets. It isn’t my first time to deal with revenues. At least at Globe, I was mandated to manage cost, to manage my expenses not revenues. Over at Zing.vn, I was mandated to bring to market a new service and manage my cost for bringing it to market. At Level Up, I had to manage my revenues, but the revenues were manageable, not crazy.
At Burnett, I woke up with it, I slept with it. I thought: Is this the track to being a general manager? I’ve always wanted to head a company and put everything under my control. I knew it was my training to becoming one. I have a lot of ideas on how to run companies effectively, efficiently, and how to inspire employees around a vision and how to create an atmosphere of friendly competition in order to achieve goals. And I knew this was my training. Something bigger is out there and I have to train for it.
Maybe I am dreaming too much. But this is where it all started: a dream. So be it.
I never thought 2011 would end on such a high note. Two weeks ago, I was doing my revenue tracking and I was literally harassing my leadership team over their revenues. I sent templates and called each of my staff’s attention to how much *more* we needed to generate in a few weeks’ time. Then I got a call from our comptrollership saying that as of that moment we were already hitting 108% of our revenue commitments.
I was caught in my own disbelief.
There were tears swelling in my eyes. That was an affirmation of, more than anything, that I could do it…. that I could turn around a company that was swelling with a lot of baggage. That I could inspire, that I could help others become what they want to be from a seven-year hiatus from the industry. That we are alive, we are a real large-sized agency *in* business.
So that’s how that story ends. Victorious.
Sometimes the opportunity cost is to be feared. I might have earned more had I not left, but the opportunity cost is less valiant when placed in comparo with the higher wave one could ride and risk.
Everyday I face personal challenges that I always promise to rise above. Some caused tears of anger, of pain and of pure stress. But it *is* bliss to see people smiling, people inspired to do and be more.
That is the highest order of commitment for me: to make people win, achieve, and be more. That is my promise in 2012. Nothing less.
To the best team, cheers!
