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Kindness is teachable. Kindness is contagious. Kindness increases lifespan. Kindness decreases pain. If all of these are true, why wait to catch it? Be a kindness carrier and pass it on!

Ever had someone believe in you more than you believe in yourself? Ever had a manager push you to do and be your best? How about a mentor who said something that profoundly changed your career direction? A friend who encouraged you to get back up and try again? Or a co-worker who you thought did something rather insignificant or even harmful initially but you, later on, realized how it was truly an act of kindness? Or that one person who inspired you to be a better human being? Or even a stranger who stopped to jump start your car as you were running late for your kid’s school recital?

This week (February 11-17, 2018) is RAK (Random Act of Kindness) week. To commemorate the week, the principal at my daughter and son’s school wrote about the importance of teaching kindness at school and how the teachers are reinforcing the lessons at each grade. I’m sharing with you an excerpt from the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation that he included in his note as it is relevant to us in our professional and personal lives, as it is with the children’s.

Kindness is Teachable

“It’s kind of like weight training, we found that people can actually build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help.” – Dr. Ritchie Davidson, University of Wisconsin

Kindness is Contagious

The positive effects of kindness are experienced in the brain of everyone who witnessed the act, improving their mood and making them significantly more likely to “pay it forward.” This means one good deed in a crowded area can create a domino effect and improve the day of dozens of people! (Check out this wall of kindness notes. The kids wrote kind words to describe each of their classmates.)

Kindness Increases:

• The Love Hormone. Witnessing acts of kindness produces oxytocin, occasionally referred to as the ‘love hormone’ which aids in lowering blood pressure and improving our overall heart-health. Oxytocin also increases our self-esteem and optimism, which is extra helpful when we’re in anxious or shy in a social situation.
• Energy. “About half of participants in one study reported that they feel stronger and more energetic after helping others; many also reported feeling calmer and less depressed, with increased feelings of self-worth.” – Christine Carter, University of California at Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center
• Happiness. A 2010 Harvard Business School survey of happiness in 136 countries found that people who are altruistic—in this case, people who were generous financially, such as with charitable donations—were happiest overall.
• Lifespan. “People who volunteer tend to experience fewer aches and pains. Giving help to others protects overall health twice as much as aspirin protects against heart disease. People 55 and older who volunteer for two or more organizations have an impressive 44% lower likelihood of dying early, and that’s after sifting out every other contributing factor, including physical health, exercise, gender, habits like smoking, marital status and many more. This is a stronger effect than exercising four times a week or going to church.” – Christine Carter, UC Berkeley
• Pleasure. According to research from Emory University, when you are kind to another person, your brain’s pleasure and reward centers light up, as if you were the recipient of the good deed—not the giver. This phenomenon is called the “helper’s high.”
• Seratonin. Like most medical antidepressants, kindness stimulates the production of serotonin. This feel-good chemical heals your wounds, calms you down, and makes you happy!

Kindness Decreases:

• Pain. Engaging in acts of kindness produces endorphins—the brain’s natural painkiller!
• Stress. Perpetually kind people have 23% less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age slower than the average population!
• Anxiety. A group of highly anxious individuals performed at least six acts of kindness a week. After one month, there was a significant increase in positive moods, relationship satisfaction and a decrease in social avoidance in socially anxious individuals. (University of British Columbia)
• Depression. Stephen Post of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine found that when we give of ourselves, everything from life satisfaction to self-realization and physical health is significantly improved. Mortality is delayed, depression is reduced and well-being and good fortune are increased.
• Blood pressure. Committing acts of kindness lowers blood pressure. According to Dr. David R. Hamilton, acts of kindness create emotional warmth, which releases a hormone known as oxytocin. Oxytocin causes the release of a chemical called nitric oxide, which dilates the blood vessels. This reduces blood pressure and, therefore, oxytocin is known as a “cardioprotective” hormone. It protects the heart by lowering blood pressure.

Like many, I’ve been fortunate in my career to be surrounded by kind people, as I’ve discussed in my article, The Best Gifts are Priceless and Should be ReGifted… Really. It behooves us to get out of quarantine and pass on the kindness bug! Who wouldn’t want a worldwide kindness epidemic?

Also, check out this short and fun video on How to Change the World With Kindness. It’s easy, simple, and can make a big impact. So let’s do it!

”If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction.” – Marti Kornfield

If you enjoyed this article or found it helpful, click the thumbs up icon below or share (Be a carrier!). Feel free to write in the comments your thoughts, other examples of acts of kindness that have made an indelible impact on your career, or ways you’ve paid it forward.

If we’re not changing, we’re not growing. If we’re not growing, we’re dying.

We are the people we are because of our experiences, small or big, tough or easy, fleeting or lasting. It is with these experiences that we change and grow. And those experiences that take us beyond our comfort zone, like situations we deeply fear, create our biggest growth opportunities. It could be fear of being judged, alienated, rejected, disappointed; fear of making a mistake, losing your job, destroying your reputation, failing, dying; and all sorts of other fears.

Ironically, fear paralyzes us to the point where we end up not doing anything or doing what we’ve always done and known.

Not doing anything or simply doing the same old thing can become a self-fulfilling prophecy of our fears.

Particularly in this age of digital transformation, our biggest risk is doing nothing. We can’t innovate in our comfort zone. As they say, “Innovate or die.” And when we need people and the business to evolve, how we led people to get us to where we are today won’t get us to where we need to be tomorrow. (Also check out my related article on Leading a Digital Business: What Wasn’t OK is now a Must!)

We need to lead fearlessly to inspire others to follow and become leaders themselves.

We can conquer fear consciously or subconsciously. We each have our own examples of how we’ve done that and how we’ve changed as a result. I’d like to share with you a story of what was an adventure of a lifetime for me. What I got out of it was far greater than what I expected, making an indelible impact on me personally and professionally.

My Journey in Africa

For a month in 1999, I traveled solo in Africa and then later joined a small Tusker Trail safari group with other solo travelers and couples from all over the US. We mostly roughed it in the bush, camped in tents, dug and used latrines, boiled water to purify it, washed clothes in the river, doused in DEET, and popped our daily dose of malaria pills.

I spent just as much time engaging with the locals as I did enjoying the wilderness and its wondrous creatures, sleeping under the stars and waking up with the sun, without a watch or mobile phone (certainly no smartphone yet in those days).

By design, I wanted a solo adventure to push my boundaries. Back then, I was young and better equipped to conquer my fears. In other words, naive and stupid, in some cases 😉 So it wasn’t until later, as I’ve become more introspective in my older age, that I came to appreciate it for more than just a thrilling adventure.

Ask, Listen, and Learn

I loved traveling solo in countries where people speak different languages. It took me beyond my comfort zone but I learned most about myself and the locals. It’s amazing how far one can go with hand gestures, facial expressions, sounds, and a small translation dictionary.

I was forced to interact with the people all the time–to eat, find the nearest bathroom, get recommendations for things to see and do, work my way around the city, and make friends. Again, no Waze, Google Maps, Yelp, or Google Translate yet, just me and the African people.

In a black township in Cape Town, South Africa, the locals graciously gave me a tour of their neighborhood, shared stories about key historical places and moments during apartheid, and showed me how they make natural medicine using herbs, dried rats, and the all-powerful baboon skeleton at a makeshift pharmacy. They even let me taste homemade beer.

Reminders of apartheid still abound as I felt immediate sharp contrasts going from a white neighborhood with opulent homes to tin shacks where blacks lived just across the street.

Everyone had a story and I learned, saw, and experienced so much more talking with the people. The children were funny. The easiest way to make them smile was to take their photo. Oh, how they posed and flashed those pearly whites for the camera!

How often have we found it more comfortable to do things ourselves, relying on our own knowledge and perspectives rather than asking, listening, and learning from others, particularly those who have different opinions from ours? We fear that we might be wrong and be judged by others for being wrong.

In the business world, disagreements and misalignment often stem from the lack of understanding of each other’s unique perspectives and motivations. As many of us know, when we make ourselves vulnerable and reach out to others, more often than not, others show genuine appreciation for our efforts, richer ideas flourish, collaboration and alignment come naturally, and better execution ensues. In a previous article that I wrote, I discussed in more detail how we can save organizations from strategic misalignment.

Appreciate Differences and the Unknown

I met men, women and children of the Maasai tribe in the Great Rift Valley in Tanzania. Before this meeting, I had only seen pictures of them in their bright red robes against their deep black skin, colorful ornate jewelry, and long fighting sticks on National Geographic. So I was a bit awestruck and, at the same time, apprehensive to interact with them.

The children curiously touched my skin and asked me, “Mzungu (white person)?” They had never seen an Asian person before. They had only seen black and white and I am neither. I remember the children and me looking at each other in wonder and amazement as if we had just seen purple beings from another planet. Without saying a single intelligible word, we all smiled and laughed at the situation in which we found ourselves!

In Zanzibar, I laughed with adorable preschoolers as we tried to understand each other. I taught them some English words and they taught me how to count in Swahili. They giggled when I said, “Hakuna matata!” Thanks to The Lion King, as you can tell, I used everything in my arsenal to break the ice and keep the conversation fun for the kids.

I conquered my fear of the unknown and my fear that they would reject me because I’m different. Instead, I replaced fear of the unknown with curiosity. I found myself enjoying their company and truly immersing myself in the experience.

In business, think about what we could be missing and passing up because we fear the unknown. As Sydney Brenner (South African biologist and Nobel prize winner for physiology or medicine) said, “Innovation comes only from the assault of the unknown.” With every single innovation, from the design of ancient architectures and engineering feats to the integration of artificial intelligence in various industries, we can thank the many innovators who conquered their fear of the unknown.

Innovation comes only from the assault of the unknown.

In this day and age, we should be less fearful of the unknown because there’s greater tolerance for failure, especially fast failure in this age of digital transformation. The faster we fail, the faster we uncover the unknown. The faster we learn, the faster we succeed.

The Journey is Just as Important as the Destination

Two things you should know about me: I can’t swim and I’m petrified of heights.

In Zambia, I got in over my head (literally, when the raft flipped over and the guide pulled me back in) when I rafted down the formidable Zambezi River. I told the guide that I can’t swim. He laughed and said, “Too late! Swimming can’t help you in these rapids anyway.”

So he sang songs and told jokes to allay my fears as he rowed giant oars and expertly navigated our raft down the raging waters with baby crocs. (I only saw baby ones. But where there were babies, I’m sure there were big ones close by.) I suppose the sight of world-class and Olympic kayakers on either side of our raft also gave me this false sense of security.

For 18 rapids including Class 5 rapids named Stairway to Heaven, Commercial Suicide, and Oblivion, I laughed, cried, screamed, baked in the sun, swallowed river water, looked like a drowned rat, and crouched down and held on for dear life when our guide yelled, “Positions!” as we approached each rapid.

I simultaneously wanted all of it to end and not end. But never did it enter my mind that I would bail and walk back, even when our guide gave us the option. I still have my Zambezi rafting t-shirt to remind me that I dominated what many consider the “wildest one-day white water rafting trip in the world” and overcame my fears!

Later that day, I honestly don’t know what compelled me to go on a microlight flight over Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world, with Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the south. I had this burning desire to do it and even my intense fear of heights wasn’t going to stop me. I broke out into a full-body sweat as we took off in this open-air vehicle with a little engine and propeller, a few metal rods, a couple of plastic seats, and something that resembled a gigantic kite. I was sitting there with no parachute and a bike helmet.

After screaming for what felt like forever and blowing out the pilot’s eardrums as we climbed, peace and serenity overcame me as we glided across the mighty and thundering Victoria Falls and followed a migrating herd of elephants from above. No fear whatsoever, just pure exhilaration and deep appreciation for the spectacular, heaven-on-earth experience. I learned a lot about distress, perseverance, and triumph that day.

Conquering my fears didn’t stop there. We had close encounters with majestic beasts and wildlife, sometimes a little too close for comfort with only the tent cover, thin metal of the canoe, or the safari jeep’s glass window between us and a hyena, hippo, and elephant. All survival instincts including utmost patience, utter silence and stillness, incredible courage, fast thinking and action, teamwork, and enormous amounts of positive energy came into play.

There are only two things we can control in life: our attitude and our actions. As we go through the journey, despite our fears and struggles, we can choose to go through it the best way we can and with the best possible mindset. The alternative, choosing to let it bring out the worst in us, isn’t much fun so why bother with it. A positive mind sees opportunity in everything. And a positive attitude leads to positive outcomes.

A positive attitude is contagious. Don’t wait to catch it, be a carrier.

Break Down Filters and Biases

We met an African fortune teller and healer, his family, and the villagers in Malawi. He offered to do a traditional African wedding for one of the married couples in our safari group so that they could renew their vows. What an experience to be part of that ceremony with all the villagers singing, chanting, and dancing with us along the shores of Lake Malawi as the sun set!

One lovely woman even trusted me to carry her infant boy when I asked her how her baby carrier works. These people were incredibly generous, kind, and hospitable. Not one expected anything in return. No one had ulterior motives. They simply wanted to share with us their culture and a special African experience in the village.

Our increasingly divided world places a bigger spotlight on filters and biases based on differences—race, gender, age, religion, national origin, socio-economic status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, disability, and more.

These filters create fear and even hate among people. Although we can’t control the filters that others choose when they look at us, we can control the filters that we put on others. When we break down our biases, we have a better shot at helping others break down theirs.

When we allow ourselves to not fear and look at people as equals, we free ourselves to consider differing points of view, debate openly, collaborate and solve problems together, and innovate better than we’ve ever had before. Moreover, it allows us to lead generously–abundantly giving ourselves so that others may be and do their best.

Fear is nothing more than an obstacle that stands in the way of progress. There is no greater illusion than fear. Fear not and grow!

If you found this article helpful, please click the thumbs up icon below and let me know! Please feel free to share in the comments your thoughts, examples of how you have conquered fear, and how they have helped you grow.

As we spent our Christmas and New Year holidays in the Philippines visiting with family and friends, from the pristine and quiet beaches of Puerto Galera to the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila, I couldn’t help but notice how similar and, at the same time, how different the Philippine and American cultures are.

Then my next thought was how technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and deep learning need to account for similarities and differences across geographies, people, cultures, and societies. Not a trivial undertaking and if we choose to ignore or consider less important can potentially have sustained impacts on economies, morality, humanity, and more. In the martech (marketing technology) world, some have discussed the opportunity to combine data science with social science, and it requires the human element. IBM refers to this need for humans and machines to work together as augmented intelligence or intelligence augmented (IA, not to be confused with AI meaning artificial intelligence). Rather than replacing human intelligence, augmented intelligence capitalize on the combination of algorithms, machine learning, and data science to inform human decision-making abilities. In other words, the human element can’t be forgotten.

Augmenting Knowledge of Less Predictable Human Elements with AI

Throughout my marketing career, I’ve always worked for multinational companies serving customers all over the world. That, plus me being an immigrant, has made me extra sensitive and passionate about deeply understanding different target segments, especially people’s motivations, challenges, desires, fears, preferences, beliefs, biases, passions, attitudes, values, and the reasons for these differences.

Segment characteristics like firmographics (e.g., industry, revenue, number of employees, headquarters location) and demographics (e.g., age, gender, household income, years of education, race) tend to be easier to analyze and action. However, digging deep into sociographics (e.g., values, beliefs, culture) and reflecting it as an integral part of sales and marketing efforts are much more complex but I would argue are, ultimately, more interesting and have more profound impacts.

As more companies globalize their businesses and go through or enable digital transformation, the need to automate, predict, and act on-demand has become critical to ensure a fast and agile business. As they say, transform or die, right? It’s happening in all facets of the business—manufacturing, product development, engineering, inventory, e-commerce, finance, supply chain, sales and marketing, logistics, and more. However, we run the risk of compromising deep consideration of sociographic elements for speed and agility. One can imagine a much better outcome when we apply human intelligence about peoples’ values and beliefs in conjunction with AI.

Deeper Understanding of Sociographics

Just for fun and to offer real life examples to analyze, I’d like to share with you some sociographics about the Filipino culture. I’m Filipino American. I was born and raised in Manila and have been living in the US for the past 35 years. I’ve been fortunate to have opportunities to visit friends and family for vacations (as I just did recently) and have dropped by occasionally when I’m in Asia for work.

Let’s think about how AI can help and how we may need to augment AI with human intelligence about less predictable, unique, or even irrational segment behaviors to determine the best ways to market, sell, and serve. Some of these examples might have more relevance to B2C companies and others to B2B companies. However, even B2B companies can benefit from deeply understanding the ultimate end users’ behaviors—it’s about understanding not just our customers but also our customers’ customers.

1.    Malling is Cultural. Online shopping in the Philippines can and does present some challenges, from slow or no Internet access to traffic congestion with the ever increasing number of vehicles on already crowded streets of Manila. The traffic makes executing a concept like Amazon Prime nearly impossible given that even emergency vehicles have a tough time navigating through the dense traffic. There’s no space for other vehicles to move to make way for ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks. Package delivery would probably take more like a week or more. But these aren’t necessarily the reasons why malls are flourishing and more malls are being built.

You wouldn’t think you’re in a developing nation when entering these mega malls. Some are multi-story buildings interconnected by overpasses built over busy roads, occupying five or six square blocks. And rest assured that you’ll find stores for most well-known global retail brands.

Malls are not just for shopping in the Philippines. Malls are a place for family and friends to gather. With air conditioning, they’re also a place where people escape the heat. Because of the heavy, everyday traffic in Metro Manila, malls have become a one-stop destination for literally everything. Yes, everything! (Running errands would be a full-time job and quite stressful if you had to go to different places to buy different things.) You can shop for shoes and furniture, buy drill bits, eat lunch, enjoy a movie, entertain the kids at a play zone, relax with a foot massage, grab groceries for the week, mail packages, pay bills, stroll along a rooftop garden, and watch amateur singers showcase their talents using demo karaoke machines (some of whom end up on YouTube and become YouTube sensations!). Worried about missing church on Sunday if you go to the mall? No problem, there are malls with churches complete with cry areas for the kids and multiple scheduled masses. That’s the ultimate in malling!

Think about the big data analytics at play here. We can collect so much data for different products and services plus a variety of behaviors and patterns, all in one mall complex. A marketer’s dream! It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Think about the integrated marketing and omnichannel experience as people go from one store to another and also interact via mobile and web.

Someone who ignores or fails to recognize this cultural phenomenon can miss out and leave a lot on the table! AI can only go so far without this human intelligence.

2.    A Round-the-Clock Society. The Philippines ranks fourth in the number of English speakers with 90 million people who know how to speak English. Excluding English-speaking countries like the US and the UK, the Philippines ranks sixth (behind Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) where professionals are most proficient in English. In fact, because of the many dialects in the Philippines, you can say that English is the currency in the country, even among the locals.

The Filipinos’ fluency in English, close affinity to western culture, more patient trait which comes in handy in dealing with irate customers, and high problem-solving skills have contributed to the rise of value-added BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), such as contact centers, in the Philippines. Although people work graveyard hours, the industry offers lucrative opportunities and is an economic lifeline for many, employing more than a million people. People also benefit from not having to deal with rush hour traffic hence improving their quality of life. (How bad is the traffic in Metro Manila? It was ranked as having the “worst traffic on Earth,” based on a global evaluation conducted by Waze, a GPS-based navigation app. Filipinos don’t talk distance when traveling, they talk time. It may take 30 mins to go 3 km in parts of Metro Manila!)

24-hour fast food places have cropped up everywhere (not just at major highway exits) to cater to this growing segment of the market. When we arrived in Manila at 2 am on December 23rd, we drove by 24-hour Jollibee and McDonald’s with long lines and wall-to-wall people. As lunchtime shifts, so does happy hour. Booze start flowing at 6 am!

All sorts of business ideas come to mind when operating in a round-the-clock society. Pretty much everything that people typically do during the day may need to be done at night—from mailing things, to buying groceries, to picking up dry cleaning, and more. Imagine the role that AI and automation can play here given less resources available at night. But first, someone needs to deeply understand this way of living which is unique to certain parts of the world.

Ironically, AI is a double-edged sword as it can potentially threaten this industry, replacing people with machines and the use of chatbots. So the country is taking steps to complement the employees’ good command of the English language with training on data mining, analytics, and machine learning. This is yet another dynamic to watch closely to determine how it may affect a round-the-clock society.

3.    Important Role of Status Symbols. Considered a third world nation, the Philippines suffers from a wide divide between the rich and the poor, with a miniscule middle class. People have gravitated towards status symbols to elevate others’ perception of their value and improve their self esteem, even for just a few fleeting moments.

As a result, preference towards wearing branded items like Nike, Gucci, Lacoste, and others abound. Starbucks is a place to see and be seen. Despite the meager wages, barely enough to feed their families, some people spend money on expensive coffee, not necessarily for great tasting coffee, but for the feeling of social acceptance and greater self worth.

People avoid extended sun exposure to keep from getting darker. On hot sunny days, you’d think that it’s raining outside because so many walk around with their umbrellas open. There’s a general perception or misconception that people with dark skin hail from poor farming families in the provinces. As a result, the popularity of skin whitening products has skyrocketed. Seeing beaches lined with sun worshipping Causasians next to locals sitting in the shade under coconut trees is quite comical. In a society that considers light skin to be more beautiful than dark, companies often feature mestizo and mestiza (part Filipino and part Caucasian) models, actors, and actresses on TV commercials, online ads, billboards, magazine covers, and movies.

It’s not easy to predict what may become a status symbol. But it starts with the realization that status symbols are an important part of the buying process and may, in fact, be the primary deciding factor.

Human intelligence about status symbols coupled with AI can create powerful brands, presence, and experiences in the market.

4.    Hospitable and Service-Oriented People. The Filipinos’ passion for providing exceptional customer service is partly cultural and partly economic. The family is the nucleus of the social structure and includes the immediate family, extended family, godparents, and close family friends. New friends instantly feel part of the family as it is common for people to welcome new friends into their homes, share meals, and enjoy each other’s company. There are words to show respect for the people within the structure like Ate (older sister) and Kuya (older brother). Even close friends are referred to as Ate or Kuya, or Tita (Aunt) or Tito (Uncle). The sign of respect extends to the business world calling customers and supervisors as Sir or Madam/Mam and are often greeted with a smile.

Products, particularly imported goods, are expensive but services are cheap. Check out this promotion for a 70-minute, full body massage for 199 Philippine pesos. That’s $4!

The law of supply and demand is at work here. There are more people available to work than there are job opportunities. In the service industry (e.g., retail sales, salons and spas, entertainment, domestic helpers, etc.), people do their best to provide the best possible service to attract new customers, retain customers, and keep their jobs.

At a retail store, I had four sales ladies helping me find the right t-shirt size. You’d think I was buying hundreds of shirts. An employee at a fast food restaurant politely stopped me when I got up to put away my tray and throw trash in the bin myself. He told me his job is to do that for me. People may not be able to afford air conditioning, a washer and dryer, or a hot water heater, but they have a nanny, maid, and driver. Comfort, convenience, and time savings are achieved through cheap labor and not through machines, automation, and self-service.

One needs to carefully assess the effects of introducing automation and AI in the services industry as it can have significant economic and social implications, especially in a country already plagued with more available workers than jobs.

5.    Nomadic Creatures. Many of the things we’ve already discussed are great proof points for why Filipinos are nomadic creatures: family orientation, high literacy rates and highly educated people, desire for a much better life and increased self worth, economic struggles, and lack of work opportunities.

Education in the Philippines is of paramount importance. It’s been described as “indispensable, a national legacy passed from one generation to the next.” Everyone deeply appreciates hard work in school and academic excellence. Medals are awarded, Top 10s (list of 10 kids with the highest grades in class) start in elementary school, Summa and Magna Cum Laudes are glorified, “topnotchers” in board and bar exams with their scores are full-page news, and parents speak proudly of their children’s accomplishments.

However, many find themselves unemployed or underemployed even with a college degree. Educated individuals in this situation are among the first to emigrate to find work. Additionally, the Philippine labor cost is among the lowest in Southeast Asia which makes Filipinos easy targets for overseas work. It is not uncommon to have families supported by a parent, spouse, sibling, or close relative working overseas. This puts immense pressure on tight-knit Filipino families but it is, oftentimes, what is necessary to sustain the family. Eventually, some are able to bring their entire family with them abroad. Here’s the top 10 list of countries where Filipinos migrate permanently, led by the US with greater than 3.1 million Filipino residents.

As we stood in line at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport to check-in for our flight back to the US, the area was packed with Filipinos going everywhere—San Francisco, Riyadh, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Abu Dhabi, Toronto, Melbourne, Tokyo, Kuwait City, London, etc. You’ll find many working in the healthcare, technology, aviation, hospitality, education, entertainment, and various service industries globally.

The impact of a highly nomadic society is far reaching, creating tentacles of brand awareness, advocacy, and loyalty (or the opposite) in more countries than originally intended, as an example. It is also a unique use case for businesses enabling real-time collaboration and communications, as well as electronic funds transfer. That human intelligence applied to assess this unique dynamic and the decision to pursue expansion then create an opportunity for AI to help introduce and scale the business in other parts of the world.

6.    Proud to be Filipino. Filipinos are proud people—proud of their people, heritage, and country. They’re especially proud of successful people recognized internationally for their accomplishments: Manny Pacquiao (world boxing champion), Arnel Pineda (lead singer of Journey), Cheryl Diaz Meyer (Pulitzer Prize winner), Dr. Eduardo San Juan (NASA engineer who designed the moon buggy used by Apollo astronauts), Lea Salonga (Tony award winner for Miss Saigon and singing voices of Princess Jasmine and Mulan), Cristeta Comerford (White House Executive Chef), Pia Wurtzbach (Miss Universe 2015), Sean Reyes (Utah Attorney General), Monique Lhuillier (Hollywood fashion designer), Peter Valdes (co-founder of Tivoli Systems Inc., an IBM company), Liz Masakayan (1988 US Olympian in volleyball), Dr. Jose Natalio Rodriguez (inventor of the leprosy control program), Robert Lopez (Tony award winner, writer of Let It Go from the movie Frozen), and so many more.

Filipinos draw inspiration from these people, giving them hope that they can be more and accomplish more. But what’s more interesting is what happens when these successful Filipinos are featured on a world stage.

The crime rate dropped to zero in Metro Manila during the 12 rounds that Manny Pacquiao fought Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in 2015. Everyone, including criminals, tuned into the heavily advertised, pay-per-view fight. The author of the article Manny Pacquaio Fights for the Filipino points out that nothing connects Filipinos worldwide like Manny Pacquiao, “For Filipino Americans, it’s a battle for recognition, for identity in a culture where, for the mainstream, Asians tend to fade into a monochromatic racialized other.” Last year, Filipinos across the country stopped their normal routine to watch the Miss Universe pageant, hosted by the Philippines after more than two decades. Many beauty salons closed for the day. Beauty pageants are a cultural obsession.

From knowing not to schedule a live webinar during these times to predicting other potential impacts (e.g., street closures for parades, declaration of a national holiday, big rallies, jammed mobile networks, major stock market fluctuations, etc.) of these proud Filipino moments requires human intelligence. Complementing that with data-driven AI can transform how business is conducted to make the most out of these important micro instances, be-there-be-useful or avert.

Key Takeaways

None of these is rocket science but it’s worth reminding ourselves of the following:

• AI is not intended to replace all human intelligence but to enhance and assist it.

• Powerful sales and marketing stem from deeply understanding firmographics, demographics, and sociographics of customer segments.

• Human intelligence can be better leveraged for knowledge of sociographic characteristics like values, beliefs, culture, biases, attitudes, particularly unpredictable, unique, and irrational behaviors.

• Marrying the human element with AI not only helps with winning business in different cultures but also creates opportunities to personalize and make products and services more relevant.

• In this digital transformation age, we can best affect change globally when humans and machines work together.

If you found this article helpful, please click the thumbs up icon below and let me know! Please feel free to share in the comments your thoughts, other examples of how machines and humans can work together, and potential impacts and implications. I also invite you to read my article on a separate but related marketing topic of telling a more human story, Humanize how we Market Technology as Technology Relies Less on Humans.

When key questions like the following are hard to answer, the culprit is often the lack of a well-thought-out and well-understood strategy.

• Who are we and what is our business all about?
• Which markets should we pursue? In what sequence?
• What types of customers should we target and how?
• How should we allocate resources to get the most bang for the buck?

These are big, complex questions that need a thoughtful approach, backup data, different perspectives, and thorough discussions to answer. I continue to marvel at how much time is spent debating the answers to these questions without some kind of structured thinking and guardrails to facilitate the process. Many debates fall prey to endless loops, misalignment, wasted time, frustration, and tense relationships because people aren’t given the forum to consider other perspectives and data. Worse yet, with misalignment, each person makes his/her own assumption about what the strategy is.

As leaders, we need to be hyper-aware when the organization begins to flail in execution due to lack of clarity or absence of strategy. It is incumbent upon us to guide our teams out of this mode by converging on a strategy and communicating it effectively.

Keys to Strategy Development and Alignment

To help avoid that painful ad-hoc process with mediocre or no results, it’s worth considering a more structured approach and forum to get to the answers. Although the answers are important, equally or even more important are the following:

• Using a facilitated process, tools, data, and pre-work to drive the right discussion.
• Having the right people together in a risk-free environment to openly discuss, debate, and converge towards the answers.
• Gaining alignment to articulate and cascade what the strategy is and explain why the strategy is what it is.
• Testing and validating the strategy.
• Being ok to change the strategy based on validation results, changes in assumptions, and shifts in market conditions.

I can easily write an article for each bullet above. But for the purposes of this article, I’ll primarily share tools to help break up complex problems into bite-sized chunks to evaluate and debate potential answers, and ultimately choose and align around the right answers. Vehicles or tools like grids, quadrants and pyramids should be familiar to many of you. But if you’re like most, including me, when you’re in the middle of a strategic discussion where there’s misalignment and emotions are flying high, tools to help evaluate answers and drive towards alignment probably aren’t the first things that come to mind. So this should serve as a reminder, at the very least.

Grids

I personally love using grids to evaluate multiple potential answers across a wide range of criteria. In the example in Figure 1 below, the grid shows potential business definitions for a company. In other words, it’s used to figure out what a company is all about. In which area will the company differentiate and defend to the death? The business definition provides the foundation for how the company operates. Where, when, how, and how much a company spends will be different depending on how it defines its business.

In the grid, each of the potential business definition options are evaluated against a set of criteria: leverage competencies, market fit, resource fit, and shareholder value. Using a forced ranking approach, each business definition gets a score when evaluated against each criterion. For example, the business definition of network simplification leverages the company’s core competencies the most and scalability leverages it the least. Then the scores are tallied for each of the definitions across the criteria to determine the best answer.

Figure 1. Grid to Evaluate Potential Business Definitions

Before ranking, the group needs to identify the potential business definition candidates and the criteria, as well as agree on what each of those mean. For each business definition, the group should characterize the target segments/customers, products, channels, resources required, etc. The same applies for criteria. Does market fit mean size of the market? Rapid market growth? Ability to compete? Combination? For core competencies, what does the list of core competencies look like? Regardless of the criteria, the group needs to understand what each criterion means so everyone has the same basis for evaluation.

Much of the debate happens when applying the forced-ranked scores. Two people might have completely opposing views on which definition leverages competencies most and least. So that discussion is critical for the group to make decisions about the ranking. Ultimately, with the seven potential options, it’s less important for the group to get the 3 correctly. But it’s critical to get alignment on the 7 and 1. In other words, finding the most and least important business definitions are more important than nailing down the ranking for the gray area in the middle.

Throughout the discussion, the team might also discuss and decide that the criteria should not be weighted equally, so weights can be used in that scenario. Playing around with the weights might also present different results and interesting discussions.

In the end, the team needs to gut check the mathematical answer as a result of the process. Does the answer feel right or is there something amiss? Oftentimes, it’s a combo of the mathematical answer, gut check, and data/validation.

Quads

A 2×2 quad gives us the opportunity to analyze across two dimensions and gradients within each dimension. In the Needs vs Buying Criteria quadrant example in Figure 2, it works to determine what types of customers to target based on the customers’ needs (simple vs. complex) and how they buy (price sensitive vs. willing to pay for added value).

It shows that this particular business would target customers that have complex requirements and are willing to pay for added value (upper right). The company would only respond opportunistically to customers with simple requirements and are price sensitive, which can most likely be addressed by more competitors with off-the-shelf products where there’s not as much differentiation and margins are low (lower left). The upper left quadrant is equally interesting in that the company needs to address how to show its value and get customers with complex requirements to pay for that value. And for those customers with simple requirements who are willing to pay for value (lower right), what are some of the value-added services that can be offered (e.g., expedited delivery intervals, online ordering and billing, customized reporting, consulting services, etc.) For each of the quadrants, we should be able to identify the customers, potential revenue, GTM strategy, and marketing strategy.

And the corresponding 4-Ps 2×2 chart in Figure 2 shows a sample high-level execution plan.

Figure 2. Buying Criteria vs Needs and 4-Ps Quadrants

Pyramids

There are so many different uses for the classic pyramid. The pyramid sample in Figure 3 is used to determine the go-to-market strategy for the business based on goals for various target segments of the market. The benefit of this approach is that all functional groups have visibility into the key focus areas. And it allows for discussion about how the groups will work together to best address the needs of the target segments. It also helps highlight key requirements and dependencies to achieve the goals.

Figure 3. Pyramid to Determine GTM Strategy and Approaches for Target Segments

As part of the goals and strategy discussion, the team needs to converge on the strategy for each tier based on the goals (e.g., revenue, sales, market share). The strategy might be retain, grow, harvest, innovate, or pause/exit.

Let’s use the top tier of the pyramid example above to determine go-to-market execution approaches based on the strategy. There might be 100 or so top named accounts where there’s a specific revenue goal that the company wants to achieve with a strategy of retention and customer stakeholder relationship expansion to improve stickiness. The various functional groups need to determine what that strategy means for their group and work together with other functional groups to achieve the goals.

The product team might have to focus on a developing solutions with customizable options and/or key innovations to support the needs of this segment. Sales might need to think about identifying new contacts and planning to build relationships with customer groups that it has not traditionally targeted like the business units, marketing, strategy, or finance to support new revenue generation value propositions. There may or may not be a role for the channel in this tier, given the direct and high-touch approach required. Marketing may need to focus on helping sales identify new contacts, digitally surrounding these new contacts, and engage these contacts with relevant content. Account-based marketing approaches may be a natural fit here. Finally, the support team might offer personalized support services with dedicated support resources in every aspect of the customer lifecycle and better service level agreements. A similar approach can then be applied for the pyramid’s mid-tier vertical markets and bottom-tier volume business.

As the teams develop their respective GTM approaches, there needs to be collaboration across to understand required resources and key dependencies from each group. During that discussion, the teams should be open to a give-and-take and potentially modify approaches as needed. For example, the teams might need to prioritize or take a phased approach across the board to accommodate resource limitations in product development.

Although these approaches are fairly intuitive, in practice, it can be quite challenging to commit to having a strategic discussion; capturing the output of that discussion in a conceptual framework using tools like those discussed above; and using those principles to drive tactical decisions and execution, while remaining agile and attuned to corrective feedback from customers and the field. However, it’s pain now or much bigger pain later. It’s well worth the time and effort to put in the upfront strategy work to avoid potential downstream implications on productivity, employee morale, market competitiveness, overall customer satisfaction, company revenues, and more.

Much of the strategy work nowadays revolves around transforming towards a digital business. An article I wrote, Leading a Digital Business: What Wasn’t OK is Now a Must, also offers other tips in strategy development and leadership in a digital business.

Debate, Align, and Onboard

In the end, it’s less about vehicles or tools such as grids, quads, or pyramids. Tools help facilitate a process. What are most important are a healthy debate that happens when the right people bring and listen to different perspectives, the understanding and alignment around what needs to be done, and the communication to gain buy-in throughout the organization for execution.

Getting the rest of the organization onboard requires more than just cascading the decisions. It means communicating 1) the process to get to the decisions, 2) participants in the process (hopefully showing that someone on their team has represented their views), 3) the decisions, and 4) the rationale for the decisions. Also share that as things change, which they will, the organization can more easily go back to the tools and notes from the discussions to re-evaluate and make modifications.

Having a clear understanding of the strategy across the organization builds confidence in people to make the hundreds of day-to-day decisions to align with company strategy. When every decision doesn’t have to come to you as the leader, then that’s a good sign that you have alignment and people are empowered.

Remember, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

If you found this article helpful, please click the thumbs up icon below and let me know! Also, please feel free to share in the comments your thoughts, other strategy alignment approaches that you’ve seen work (and not work), lessons learned, and success stories.

Last year was the first time I shared my personal story more openly with others, including some people at work. I’m not sure what compelled me to do so. And I’m really not sure what drove me to write this article and post it on social media, which still seems quite crazy to me as I sit here and type. But when we’re passionate about something, the potential positive outcomes seem to outweigh vulnerabilities and apprehension we might have about pursuing it. So here we go…

Poor and Humble Beginnings

That’s me with one of my brothers growing up in the Philippines in the 70s. (My youngest brother wasn’t born yet.) So cute (back then)! We were born to educated, professional, hard working parents. Mom was a CPA and Dad a lawyer. Mom quit her accounting job to stay home and take care of us. All was good while Dad worked, then he lost his corporate job and we never quite recovered.

Dad became a criminal attorney, a public defender, an advocate for the poor and wrongly accused. He didn’t have high-power and wealthy clients. Oftentimes, he got paid with bags of rice, corn, bananas, sugar cane, veggies, homemade desserts, eggs, chickens, goats, or a big hug and the sincerest thank you. Sometimes, he refused payment and even gave his clients bus fare to go home to their families from the courthouse. This was his career. He was not rich. But he was rich in compassion. He gave the vulnerable hope and a sense of dignity and self-respect.

We were poor for a big chunk of my childhood. We cooked food with firewood, pumped our own water for bathing and cleaning, and washed clothes by hand. At our lowest point, we didn’t know from where our next meal would come. Sometimes all we had was rice, coconut candy, and water. I recall having a pet chicken named Charlie (if my memory serves me right). When I came home from school one day, to my surprise and delight, we were having fried chicken, a rare treat. But I quickly grew suspicious and with just one look at my mother, I knew that it was my Charlie on my plate.

Worrying about how we could continue to go to school was the toughest. I don’t wish it on anyone, especially children. My parents instilled in us that helping others, hard work, and getting good grades are necessary to get a shot at a good life. Yes, just a shot, because doing all of these things doesn’t guarantee a good life, as Mom and Dad knew all too well.

I went to a good school but my parents no longer had the money to send three kids to school after Dad lost his job and couldn’t find work for a long time. It was devastating. Being inadequately educated was never an option for any of us. To help, my only recourse was to do my best to end the school year at the top of my class because my tuition would be waived for the next school year. And whatever little money we had would be enough to send my brothers to school. The pressure I put on myself was intense, especially as a 12-year-old in high school. Getting 100% was the goal on every single test. 98% or 99% was unacceptable. There were many tears as the thought of not being #1 in class and the consequences were unimaginable.

A Ray of Hope

But then a ray of hope came. Mom saw an ad for a foreign exchange student program and she asked my uncle in the U.S. for help in sponsoring me. Without hesitation, he offered financial help for my education. He is one of the most generous and selfless people I know. But we all knew what it meant—breaking up the family and us not seeing each other for a long time. My parents had many sleepless nights and shed many tears. It was the toughest decision they’ve ever had to make and they made it with me. Ultimately, Mom and Dad’s selflessness and rational thinking won out. They knew that getting an education in the U.S. was best for me, the family, and our collective future. It was our only hope for a better life. They decided to let their firstborn and only daughter go.

I had dreamed about coming to America and had visions of grandeur based on what I saw on TV—tall shiny buildings, lavish homes, beautiful people, gorgeous clothes, food buffets, four-lane highways like the ones I saw on the TV show CHiPs, and big yellow school buses. Yes, I wanted to ride a big, yellow school bus so badly!

I was excited but the thought of not seeing my family was gut wrenching. Regardless of how I felt at any given moment, I knew what I had to do and I did it. I was 14 years old when I kissed my family goodbye and boarded a flight bound for Los Angeles from Manila, carrying my brown Philippine passport and my favorite doll. Life began to change for me and my family from that day forward.

Welcome to America, Land of Opportunity

I now say that from the instant I landed at LAX, this country welcomed, raised, and provided opportunities for a child it knew very little about. I was welcomed by my wonderful American foster family in Michigan, who to this day I lovingly call Mom, Dad, Bro, and Sis. I was also given an opportunity to attend a Girls in Engineering summer program for high schoolers at Michigan Technological University, which I give much credit to me eventually pursuing a degree in engineering.

As a freshman, at the age of 16, at the University of Missouri – Rolla (now Missouri University of Science & Technology) and throughout college, I received acceptance, encouragement, and support from amazing friends and family. It wasn’t just about getting through my challenging engineering classes, it was also about helping me fit in socially as a younger college student still trying to assimilate into a new culture. So many things could have gone awry at this most formidable and impressionable time but I was surrounded by these smart, well-grounded girls, many of whom are now successfully balancing their careers with family life. We were sisters. They inspired me and made everything easier. By the way, don’t hold our big hair against us. It was the 80s!

Upon graduation, I was hired as an entry-level engineer by the then VP of Engineering of a telecomunications company, WilTel (eventually became part of MCI Worldcom and now Verizon). He interviewed me on Career Day at the university, saw potential despite my lack of any kind of relevant work experience. My resume at that stage consisted of two not overly impressive jobs: babysitter and part-time receptionist. But thanks to a reputable school, decent grades, community service, and an interview that apparently showcased my eagerness to work hard and learn, those were enough for him to take a gamble. I was given a real corporate job right out of college at age 20. I was invited to join the company’s Engineering Rotation Program where I learned the business as part of three different groups: Provisioning & Maintenance, Field Operations, and Sales Engineering. On top of that, I was now working in a tall, shiny building on the 25th floor!

I was a child, far away from my family, and in a big new world. The people of this country not only gave me a shot, they guided and supported me along the way. Little did they know, they were helping not just an eager Filipino kid, but her family, and (hopefully) many more children.

Blessed with Awesome People in My Career

Last year, after over two decades since I started working at WilTel, we had a company reunion in Tulsa, OK. Here’s a photo of many of the people that took a chance on me and gave me a solid start in my career. It was as if no time had passed, except for our wrinkles, a few more pounds, and some gray or missing hairs. I cherished that time with my former colleagues, early mentors, and the risk-taking man who hired me, Russ Ray. We were all smiles and we truly enjoyed the company of friends as we walked down memory lane and reminisced of the good ol’ days.

Fast forward to more recent times, my family in the Philippines is doing well. Although it took twelve years from the time I left there before I saw them again, I see them more often now (but still not often enough). I sometimes even have opportunities for surprise drop-by’s in Manila when I’m traveling for work in Asia. They have also visited us here in the U.S. for weeks at a time. Facebook, FaceTime, text, and messenger certainly help us stay connected.

I now have a family (hubby, daughter, son, and a puppy) of my own that I adore and a great career as a marketing executive in the technology industry. I’m currently working at Brocade, a Silicon Valley-based networking company, with amazing human beings and one of the best Marketing teams I’ve ever been a part of. This team, led by our fearless leader Christine Heckart, challenges status quo, works hard to drive growth for the business, as well as provides opportunities and takes good care of people. Even when we need to make tough decisions about people, as any manager must during corporate transformations, it’s always done with compassion. This team does all it can for the 3Ps: profit, planet, and people. No, we’re not chefs. (Thank goodness or we’d risk starvation!) This is our Marketing leadership team at our cooking team building event in San Jose, CA.

There are other equally great companies and people between my stints at WilTel and Brocade. I have learned, have progressed in my career, and have become a better leader, worker, friend, mother, wife, and person overall because of them. Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of them to share here but you can read about their awesomeness in my article, The Best Gifts are Priceless and Should be Regifted… Really.

My journey, even here in America, hasn’t been easy, just like the journeys of so many others. And I know that many others with far tougher journeys have also persevered. Throughout this journey, even when I felt like I was being rejected from something good, as they say, I was actually being redirected towards something better. All true. I wouldn’t change a thing. For this, I am grateful.

The Cycle Continues

So I share this with you not knowing all the reasons why. Perhaps it’s the burning desire to pay it forward and express gratitude to this country and its people. Maybe it’s a combination of that and the hope that people will come together someday in what seemingly is becoming a frighteningly divided America. Or, it could be because of my little boy.

Three years ago, we adopted a 2-year-old baby boy from an orphanage in the Philippines. He’s a beautiful child inside and out with the biggest personality, loving demeanor, and an extraordinary zest for life. Seeing the world through his eyes is an everyday gift. Looking back, if we could’ve brought home more children from the orphanage that day, we would’ve.

True to its very core, America once again welcomed an immigrant child with open arms and is helping us raise him. His story is still unfolding and there are many chapters left to be written for him. Knowing my son, he will give back to this country and the world many times over.

America, I am eternally grateful and indebted to you. I will never forget my roots, the path I took, and the special people along the way who got me to where I am today. Let’s keep the cycle going together, one child (immigrant or not) at a time, with acceptance, encouragement, guidance, love, support, and inspiration.

Let’s help the children understand, gain perspective, and empathize with the tough life that many have all around the world. We must not be afraid to let them experience hard work, disappointment, rejection, and failure, as it is with these experiences that they learn the most. Empathy, compassion, and gratitude may be some of the most difficult human qualities to ingrain given the better opportunities, technology innovation, and instant gratification that are prevalent in our society into which children are born today. But I believe that these same things allow the children to experience the world, interact and engage, as well as impact other people’s lives in more, different, and better ways. May we always have a special place in our hearts and minds for the children, channel their energy in the right direction, and encourage them to keep it going. It’s our moral and social responsibility to do so to help heal, unite, and make the world a better place.

I thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time and, as always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Or just a thumbs up or share if you’re in with us to help continue the cycle.