BECOMING A PERSON OF VALUE

Speech delivered on: October 19, 2019 at the De La Salle University College of Business Graduate School recognition rites.

TalentView CEO, Anj Vera, was invited by De La Salle University—one of the country's top universities—to deliver the commencement address for their College of Business Graduate School recognition rites. 

In her speech, Anj shares 3 lessons rooted from both her MBA education and professional experience on how to become a person of value.

Good afternoon, Associate Dean Dr. Sarreal, esteemed faculty and administrators, proud parents and today’s graduates. Greetings in St. La Salle and congratulations on this milestone!

What an honor it is to be invited back here today. Though I must admit that the feeling of honor and pride came with a feeling of nervousness and surprise. The invitation made me look back at my own MBA graduation 5 years ago. I pondered, reflected and became sentimental. I told myself, “I don’t remember a single thing about the recognition rites, except that all my classmates wanted a picture beside the DLSU flag.” This thought has given me greater peace today knowing that whatever I say will simply be one of your faded memories in the future.

As successful professionals who have completed graduate studies programs, I do not need to talk to you about why you should invest in yourself or increase your value as professionals. Your follow through of this entire program is already evidence of that. With your hard work, dedication and perseverance, you have accomplished another achievement that will help you set yourself apart in this game called life. It is not an easy feat to juggle work, family, friends and another round of studies, most especially studies that you paid for with your own money. "Mas mahirap mag-absent,” sabi nga nila. (As they say, "It's more difficult to be absent") .

So instead today, allow me to talk about the word VALUE. This is my word for the year and the word that has guided the decisions we all make at TalentView. There are three lessons that were impressed upon me during my MBA days and my journey as a professional which I believe helped steer my path of adding value to others.

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Lesson # 1: Agility

Agility is defined as the ability to adapt and respond to change. I believe its roots come from competence in your craft and confidence in yourself. You cannot be agile if you doubt your capabilities or do not have the fundamentals required to play in your field. A secret I have on agility is being crystal clear with your end goal. When my then boss asked me to take on new responsibilities, my first answer would always be a question: What do you want to achieve once this project is completed? Then I work backwards to figure out the how. It is a surprise even to myself how I am able to find ways around every goal given to me. This is where my MBA education has also come in handy. There are many paths to adapt to change and my degree has given me a view of these paths across various disciplines. I have increased my awareness of resources to tap, use and access within and outside of my organization ranging from finance, marketing, operations and technology to help me achieve my objectives. Peers in industry would always ask me how TalentView managed to acquire 200 clients and expand to three countries in a matter of six years. It is in connecting the dots that I have met my goals faster and in a more efficient way. 

And that brings me to my second lesson, creativity.

Lesson # 2: Creativity

The dictionary defines creativity as the use of one’s imagination to produce artistic work. While this term is often used for artists and the counterpart for business is the word ‘innovation’, I believe we can all stand to be a bit more creative in shaping our environment. My original field is in Human Resources and my very first job was as a recruiter for a large BPO. Everyday, my task would be to interview 20-30 candidates and I was lucky if I was able to give a job offer to one. I would ask questions like “Why do you want to work in a call center?” and on a bad day, the answer would be “I want to have pasteurized benefits.” Of course I would ask “What do you mean by that?,” to which the applicant would confidently say “you know, greener pasture.”

I have always kept that story in my heart to make the mood lighter during difficult days but also as a reminder that there can be a better way. Fast forward to today where the HR field has truly evolved and expanded, TalentView leads the region in helping companies position themselves better so that the talent market has a clear view of what to expect from the company. From creating recruitment strategies, managing social media career pages, creating videos that can be used to attract, engage and retain talent to implementing technologies that make people decisions better, we continue to use our imagination to help our customers solve their most pressing people challenges. Learning how to learn was triggered in me as I broadened both knowledge and network in this institution.

The third lesson is on trust.

Lesson # 3: Trust

Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits for Highly Effective People, said “Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust.” Any achievement considered great is not done by one person and not even one team but by teams upon teams all working together to make an impact bigger than themselves. You can be an instrument player and say that you have become absolutely skilled at music with one instrument. Or you can rethink this whole thing and become an orchestrator, someone who brings skill and savvy to music and transforms an entire genre or even creates a new one. Building trust and taking the time and effort to connect with your people will multiply your investment beyond leaps and bounds, so much so that it reverberates beyond your own powers of observation. People start to care about their role, their work and the organization if they can see that you care. Trust is the powerful accelerator to performance because when the people you work trust you, they will deliver for you not because they have to, but because they want to. Strengthening the relationships you have with others and being human is the first step to being able to add value. As author John Maxwell said, “To add value to others, one must first value others.”

ACT: Agility, Creativity and Trust

ACT—Agility, Creativity and Trust—these are the elements that I believe can help you add value to the people around you.

Act when things don't go your way.
Act when you are overwhelmed with all the moving parts you are trying to balance in life.
And act when no one is. Because we are always leading, in good and bad situations, and our example can serve as a guiding light for others.

As you go out into the world which by now you are all too familiar with and have learned to navigate on your own terms, let me ask you—how do you plan to add value to others? In a world that considers itself highly evolved in all aspects whether it be finance, technology or science, we have never seen higher rates of suicide and depression, pollution and carbon emissions and extreme wealth amidst extreme poverty. Even as far back and with all his knowledge, the scientist Albert Einstein knew that this was a necessity for every person and said, “Try not to become a person of success. Rather become a person of value.”

With the grace of God, it is my hope during your recognition rites that you realize that the stakes are high and that you have put so much investment on time, money and effort that you have to do something. Something different, something agile, something creative and worthy of the trust of the people around you. As my classmates and I used to say, I hope you also say: “Mahirap maging absent.” ("It's more difficult to be absent").

Congratulations again class of 2019. Animo La Salle!