Reaction paperThe Leadership of Manny Pangilinan (MVP)

Submitted by:

Alvin Cabrera

In partial fulfillment of the requirements inOrganizational Behavior1st Term SY 2010-2011

August 28, 2010

Who is Manny Pangilinan?

Manny Pangilinan today is one of the most influential person in the Philippines, may it be politically or in Business. He is the Chairman of the biggest companies in the country may it be Utility, infrastructure, Media, Hospitals, Energy, and Media.

His life story is very inspiring, I first heard of him in San Beda where I also graduated, they mentioned that MVP was just a scholar who was able to finish his study from that prestigious school.

His genius was his key to his success, because he was able to create opportunities using his God given talent. He finished College through his scholarship in Ateneo, and was able to finish his MBA in the United States through a competition offered by Procter & Gamble.

An achiever who have looked upon himself as a competitive individual has also experienced different failures throughout his career, first was when he went back from his study from the US, he was turned down by his benefactor. Forced to take a low paying job, and worked in another country to pursue his dreams. Many times he wasn’t able to meet his expectations, however his belief in himself and his firm hold in his ambition and values has keep him intact and made him move forward.

It’s just like in the book the Outliers, he’s just at the right place and at the right time. Being in investment banking, he was able to gain tremendous networks in the Business community. He also gained knowledge on how to truly manage his finances, until the perfect opportunity came when he started the First Pacific Corporation.

Not all perfect, Business failures here and there, losing companies gave them such a challenge. Perseverance, patience and hard work have paved the way to what these companies are right now.

His investment in PLDT, has been very controversial and was very challenging, considering that he had to face a different culture. An environment that is already established by its monopolized society… Confident, hard headed and slack people posted to be a problem for him to turn the company around. HE was faced to make unpopular decisions just to change the company’s culture, including to which was reducing the company’s manpower from 14,000 to 9,000. That is indeed heart breaking. However his belief that this is only a temporary set-back and it is really for the better good motivated him to hold on. True enough because later on he even increased the man-power requirement of the company to 19,000.

Now he has owned and headed various companies in the country, including to which are Smart, PLDT, Meralco, Stradcom International holdings, Cure Inc (RED mobile),

San Beda College, First Pacific Ltd., Cignal Digital TV, Piltel, First Pacific Tollways Corporation, Metro Pacific Investment.

Personally, when I see Makati Medical Center and Cardinal Santos Hospital which I have seen to have aged throughout the years, and when MVP entered into the picture has experienced a different paradigm shift. Truly this great person has magic within his head.

Although he ranks only as the 40th richest Filipino in the Philippines, however considering the position of his investments in the country and how had influenced change in the different companies he has entered into. This scholar has become one of the country’s most influential personalities.

Characteristic of MVP

Investors puts his trusts to MVP, because they know that he is competent and has the wisdom to handle the business. This in turn transmits to his people, wherein because of his skills his people entrust him to lead them. At thus he is considered to be a trustworthy and responsible leader. I remember that he also practices account responsibility as shown in the Ateneo event, where he took responsibility to the mistake of his subordinate being his superior. This also showed how calm he is in handling situation and how confident he is to his people. He considered his organization as his extension, thus taking whole responsibility as its head to any mistake that his people does.

MVP is a very ambitious and enthusiastic leader, because he aggressively handles one organization after another and the best part of it is that he is able to transform these organization into something better.

Leadership style of MVP

MVP may be considered to be a Charismatic leader, I remember when I went talked to someone who attended to one of his speeches, she mentioned that he has this kind of charisma wherein by the way he speak you will be empowered and inspired to be more committed to your job. Considering such, he is a person with a vision and is able to communicate this to his followers so that they themselves are able to embrace the same.

As we can see in the different business endeavors of MVP he is a very willing to go into risk, he is a risk taker, taking new terrain after another thus expanding his empire.

He is also sensitive to follower needs, one of his activities is the MVP cup where he tries to unite all of his people in his different companies. At thus he was able to develop teamwork and camaraderie between his people.