WBW 6: Set Aside Your EGO!

It’s always a bitch to wake up in the morning to go to work with a boss that’s an ass – a boss that takes credit for good work but simply feeds you to the sharks when something goes wrong. According to Bob Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule, that’s what we call a “positional leader”, a person that covers up his insecurities by blowing up his ego. If you don’t want to be an asshole, watch Bam Aquino as he tries to make us aware of one of the pitfalls of true entrepreneurial leadership – the ego.

Who is Bam Aquino?

After having ended his stint in government, Paolo Benigno "Bam" A. Aquino IV has recently been involved in a number of entrepreneurial efforts.  In late 2006, he co-founded and is currently the President of Microventures, Inc., a social business enterprise that services microfinancing organizations and their clients.   

Sometime in 2007, he joined the board of Rags2Riches, Inc., another social business enterprise that helps underprivileged women with livelihood projects. 

Previous to these entrepreneurial activities, Bam was made Chairman of the National Youth Commission (NYC), the main youth policy-making arm of the Philippine Government from 2003 to 2006. Previous to this, he was Commissioner-at-Large for two years. As such, he was the youngest person in Philippine history to head a government agency.

He also hosted Breakfast, a youth-oriented TV morning talk show aired over ABS-CBN’s Studio 23 from 2001 to 2006, and Yspeak, from 2006 to 2007, another youth-oriented show on the same channel. 

Bam is on the Board of ReefCheck Philippines, the Coca-Cola Foundation, and Venture for Fund-Raising, an NGO that capacitates other organizations for fund-raising. 

He is currently one of the ambassadors of the Haribon Foundation and is the current President of the TAYO (Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations) Awards Foundation, the country’s premier youth award-giving body for youth groups.

His first publication, Young Southeast Asia: 40 Inspiring Youths, a book that focuses on young achievers in the region and commissioned by the ASEAN, has recently been released in leading bookstores in the metro.

At si Bam, which the EntrepBuff team can attest to, hindi mayabang.

When asked what's his greatest failure?

When asked what's his greatest success?

SHOW NOTES:

The Ego is the Enemy

• Your ego tells you that you are more important than you really are
• Your ego also tells you that you are not as important as you really are
• Ego is what will make you stop achieving and what will keep you down & keep you from being your best

Leadership Experiences

• Was always put into positions of leadership at a young age (Chairman of the National Youth Commission at only 25 years old)
• May chance na lumaki talaga ulo mo, but he noticed that people respond to leaders who aren't really full of themselves

Success =  Self Awareness

• People have the mistaken notion that to succeed, you have to have a big ego
• Ego is basically your doing everything for yourself and not for other people
• Being self - aware means you know your strengths & you know your weaknesses. You know your motivations. You know what wakes you up in the morning. You know your purpose.

Goals of the Ego VS Goals of the Organization

• If your organization is one in following its purpose & following its goals & everyone believes its something bigger than themselves, then the organization will just move quicker, it will move smoother and people will just be more aligned all the time
• That is the number 1 enemy of the ego, because the ego says you do everything for yourself     and will stop you from trying to achieve the goals of the organization

The Need for Sincerity

• People know it when leaders act like it’s really for everyone, but deep inside its really for themselves.
• People respond more to sincerity, earnestness
• We are able to move beyond ourselves if the leaders of the group also see that they are there for something bigger than themselves
• If the leader acts for his own benefit, then everyone will just be working for their own benefit
• At the end of the day, its really more for the effectiveness of the group

Lesson:

As we get success after success, it’s important that you always keep your feet on the ground, and be humble enough. To quote the bible, "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first."
If the leader is able to serve (not false humility) & help the people that they are with and not to have such a big ego to distance himself from the people who are working with him, then I think people will just respond to that and work towards that goal much faster

"The Board" message: