Downward Mobility

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.” 2 Corinthians 8:9-15 NKJV

True power is not when you come to a point where you find yourself up there with the affluent. It is when you find yourself able to go down to the needy.

Today is my presentation in Social Transformation. This is our devotional for the day. In context, Paul was referring to Christians giving money. But what God has impressed upon me is that the same applies for any good work that we do. When we start out, it is usually for good. We start out excited to give, or to be doing something that changes the world for the better. But more often than not, we get sidetracked or discouraged. We question if our giving actually does anything. We question if what we do actually has an impact. I had been losing steam these past few months. Changes in my life and relationships had shaken my convictions when it comes to my company. But God gave me the chance and excuse to do field work and observe how different organizations work. Social Transformation class has helped me pause and reflect on the things I have been doing for my company and the motives behind it. I wanted to stop and run away. Not because it was too difficult, but because I felt lost and I wasn't sure if it was worth continuing. At a certain point, I almost believed what some of our critics have told us: that creating games is nothing but play. Nothing but meaningless wasting of time. But my class and people I've met recently have made me pause and think of the original reason why I'm doing this in the first place. Wasn't it to tell our stories? Wasn't it to change the mindset of generations through games, comics and animation? Wasn't it to create a work environment where people didn't care about career opportunities, but creation. Wasn't that what we wanted to do? For us, creators, who cares about being director or senior producer? All we ever wanted was to create, to touch lives, to make people feel.

It allowed me to stop and look at where we were. We didn't start this to make brands popular. We didn't start this to make money. I didn't start this to let big organizations abuse my people. But what was I doing now?

I wanted to stop and do everything over again. But no, that's not the solution. The solution is to press on, as we always have, and slowly but surely get back on track. Many times, it really doesn't matter WHAT we choose to do, but more WHY we do it. We can make branded games. We can service ads. But I needed to remember that the point was to tell stories, stories that stir people, stories that compel people to change the world. And by stories, I don't mean the stories of the work that we do, but more what story we live by doing the work.

All of us have good work that we started. All of us have projects that we've chosen to support for the good they do. But for many of us, we've lost steam. We've been discouraged. We've questioned the effectivity and acceptability of our projects. But I think we sometimes need to be reminded, "you also must complete the doing of it." Keep the faith. Press on. And together, let us encourage each other that we may do the work our God has placed in our hearts.

Leadership is Relationship

As part of my requirements for MBA, I had to interview a person of leadership. And I decided to interview Pastor Joey Bonifacio because I was curious how he could be so busy traveling and checking up on the churches they had planted all over Asia, be the Senior Pastor of a church with around twelve thousand attendees, and not seem to be stressed about it. Well, he and his kind secretary managed to squeeze me in his busy schedule. :) Pastor Joey didn't seem very comfortable answering my questions, though. But nonetheless, I got a lot of valuable insights from that interview. And I'm very thankful he agreed to let me interview him.

In one sentence, his view on leadership is this: Leadership is a relationship. It is not all about hard work and just trying hard. It's about how you deal with people around you. And it's also about people you know. A leader doesn't have to know everything. But he has to know when he needs help, and know who to approach when he does. It is not about the number of economics degrees you have. It's about the economists you know. Because people will give you insights. People will give you advice. And people can be specialists in their own fields.

VALUE
In his view, leadership is not learned in a classroom. You don't go around looking to be a leader. You are called to it. And you're given grace to do it. With each of my question, he seemed to be telling me that I was missing the point. I asked how he motivated his people. He said he didn't. I asked him what his struggles were in the leadership. He said he didn't have any.

He spoke of value. What was valuable to your people? Do you provide that which is valuable to them? Why are they working for your company? Is it because of money? Because if it is, then don't be surprised if they leave you when a better-paying job comes along. Is it because of what your company stands for? Then in that case, as long as you stick to what you believe in, they will stay with you. And they will give you their best because they're not doing this out of fear or obligation. They're doing it because they want to, and they believe in what they do.

Leadership, he said, was not about trying to get people to do what you want them to do. It was about finding people whose values align with yours. If you find people on the right lane, everything is easy.

INFLUENCES
I asked about his influences. And they were the people around him that he had a relationship with: the other pastors, his parents, his mentors. There was not one particular person that molded him to be the type of leader that he was. And also, there was not one particular instance in his past that made him what he was. It was not about the big things. It was the constant interaction, the modeling, the conversations that made him what he was today. Again, it was the relationships he kept.

LEADERSHIP TODAY AND HIS ADVICE
Times are changing. Today, information is sent out very easily. With social media, it's so easy to share information. But it is also very easy for your reputation to get destroyed. If someone uploads a compromising video of you on YouTube, it would spread so fast, and the damage done to one's reputation would be very difficult to repair.

Pastor Joey thought this a good thing, though. And his advice to people in leadership is this: Be transparent. In other words, have integrity. Be the same before all people. Say only what you mean. And when you say you'd do something, do it.

A Study on Jesus' Leadership Style

As part of the requirements of my MBA in Biblical Stewardship, I need to make and submit a paper studying the leadership style of a Bible Character. I picked Jesus. Jesus was a very powerful and effective leader for me. Two thousand years after His death and resurrection, the church continues to be a thriving and growing entity despite the dark areas in its history. The following are some characteristics in our Lord that I believe makes Him a great leader:

Jesus was clear in His Mission and Vision. He knew what He was put on the Earth for. Even when He was twelve, He knew that He was placed on the Earth to do His Father's work. (Luke 2:49) And since He was clear with His life goal, He learned everything there is to know in the past related to His purpose: He was well-versed in the Scripture. Also, He was willing to sacrifice, even Himself, for the fulfillment of the purpose He was put on Earth for (Luke 22:42). Since the goal was clear, He knew His priorities. Even though He knew it was painful, humiliating and difficult, He did what had to be done for the fulfillment of the goal.

On the other hand, though, although it is known that Jesus was single-minded in His pursuit of the fulfillment of the goal, He wasn't extremely busy as most of the current generation are proud to be. He still took time to get away from the crowd and pray (Mark 6:46). Jesus knew the value of recalibration and being in-tune with the Father. This also prevented Him from burning out.

In His dealing with people, He saw potential in them. Even in today's setting, people would question the wisdom of Jesus' choice of His twelve apostles. But He saw in them something other people don't normally see. Even in Saul's case, this is seen. Saul was a persecutor, technically an enemy, of Christians. But instead of killing him off, Jesus chose to recruit His enemy. And given that the church is still thriving to this day, there must have been something in the people He chose that were perfect for the job.

Jesus knew how to delegate. Aside from the twelve, He had seventy disciples whom He sent out to do the work He did (Luke 10:1-16). He was not afraid to share authority (Luke 10:19). And this, in the proponent's opinion, comes from the confidence He has of His position; and in the knowledge that, the goal, the Will of God, comes before the putting up of the self. There is also open communication between Him and His disciples. In numerous passages in the Bible, Jesus is found in His disciples' homes, and with His apostles.

Jesus taught. He knew that if He wanted His purposes to last beyond Himself, He needed to train people. Nowadays, leaders are so afraid of being ousted or replaced that they keep their knowledge to themselves to be irreplaceable to their companies. But Jesus didn't think that way. He taught people what He knew. He modeled what He wanted done. And He even enabled His people to do greater things than Himself (John 14:12).

It was not always easy-sailing and, given the apparent flaws of His chosen ones, He often found them not meeting expectations. Peter denied Him (Mark 14:66-71). Thomas shifted between false bravado (John 11:16) and doubt (John 20:24-25). But after all these, He forgave them. He didn't even bring the faults up anymore. But He also didn't keep to Himself what He knew was wrong. Like when the people were treating the Temple as a marketplace, He had no qualms showing them His displeasure (Mark 11:15-17).

Jesus was also a charismatic leader. People were drawn to Him. On the one hand, He had authority. He could rebuke demons and illnesses. And when He wanted someone to follow Him, He never asked if they wanted to. With authority, He would tell them, “Come, follow me.” And they would follow Him (Mark 1:17). With authority, He would tell them, “Your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5) With authority, He would tell them, “Get up.” (Mark 5:41)

On the other hand, He had compassion. And people could come to Him, and He wouldn't turn them away. He felt for them (John 11:33). And He loved them (John 11:3). Jesus also had flair. This, to me, is not a bad thing as some would think. Human beings are attracted to wonder. And Jesus often used presentations to make a point. Take, for example, Lazarus. Instead of merely healing Him, Jesus allowed Him to die, and He resurrected him from the dead (John 11:43). The woman with the bleeding problem was already healed when she touched Jesus' robe (Mark 5:29). But Jesus had to stop and ask who had touched Him. It made more impact on the woman's life that Jesus stopped especially for her to tell her that her sins were forgiven.

The best way I could describe Jesus as a leader would be that He studied the past, He cared about the present, and He prepared for the future. Well, I guess I'd better learn from Him then.

The Listening Leader

"Everything rises and falls on Leadership."
- John Maxwell


I've just finished the Leadership Module of my MBA class. And one of my take-homes is about the Listening Leader. In the old model of leadership, the leader commands and controls. There's not much listening involved. But in the new model, leaders are more open. They don't know everything, but they know how to find the answers. And here are the practical benefits of being a Listening Leader:

• A bond of respect is forged between the leader and his followers.
• There is more productivity.
• Heads are cooler.
• Everyone has more confidence.
• There is more accuracy.
• Innovative solutions are generated.
• There is total quality management.

I agree to this wholeheartedly. I am not always the strong and compassionate leader I aspire to be. I often find myself interrupting or raising my voice when someone annoys me. But I do believe the new model of leadership, where leaders listen, is the way to go, especially in the game industry. I have observed that many times, the followers, who came into the industry because of their love of games, are more in tune with what players like than their leaders. The demands of running a business sometimes takes too much of the leader's attention that many a time, we forget about why we went into this in the first place.