Plan B

About eight months ago, I decided that I wanted to get an MBA. I want to get it fast. I felt the window of opportunity was going to be open for this year only. Why? I was at the crossroads of my career--planning to either continue doing what I did for the past two years or finally switch to a new industry. I would want to settle down in a couple of years, start a family and be financially independent. So it's got to be now...

But what pressed me the most to do the MBA was my genuine desire to improve my career through business education.  I mean look at the CEOs and directors of big companies. Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Columbia. Ivy League. Stone-brick walls and hollow halls. On the other side of the Atlantic, London Business School, INSEAD, IESE, IMD. I want those. It became an instant dream, a dream that I honestly think I can actually go for.

I did. And I had only one school in mind. IESE Business School - University of Navarre in Barcelona, Spain. Arguably one of the top B-schools in the world (at least according to The Economist, Financial Times, and the BusinessWeek). Story short, I got ACCEPTED and have been OFFERED a slot in this year's MBA class (more on this on later posts). 

But I'm not going. 

Instead, in a sudden twist of fate, I am opting for Plan B. A career shift. Giving up my current job for another. Only this time, it's ten times harder, a hundred times more challenging, and a thousand times more stressful. This is great. Giving up a life in a fishbowl with Flounder and Nemo for a (non)life in a shark tank. Well, not really. At least that's what I think this is. 

So what really happened here? I gave up one dream to reach another. And now I realize there are too many dreams to choose from. This is typical. WE ALL WANT IT ALL don't we? This is our nature. But in reality we can only have one dream at a time. You have to choose which ones to reach first. We all have to choose which one. I'm not saying I can't do the MBA in IESE anymore, but I right now I have chosen this dream. A dream of finding a career that is just right, something that will challenge me to new heights, something that will maximize my talents, my potential, my gifts from God. A dream of fulfillment that's beyond monetary needs...

(Okay, not really. Who am I kidding. Money is and has always been part of it. But I'd like to think it isn't so.)

So Plan B happened. And it was a difficult decision. I've invested so much money and emotion into getting the MBA this year. But I have a strong feeling I won't regret this. My gut feel says I'm going to be fine. It's going to be fabulous. It's going to be legend--wait for it--ary (borrowed from Barney Stinson). And I can't wait to start my new career in a few weeks. I am excited! And I felt vindicated when I saw the look on my Boss's face when I told him I'm packing. He smiled as if saying "you did the right thing and I wish you the best of luck." (at least I'm hopeful he really felt this way) I was so relieved. 

In economics, there is such a thing as the "second best choice." When the best choice is not available, the second best choice is of course your best bet. But it doesn't mean you're settling. It just means under the current circumstances you are in, the second best fits the bill. 

For me, both choices--MBA or a career change (in a field I have been in the past few years hopeful to be in)--are great. I guess you can call it a win-win situation since it's not really that bad if I turned out to be successful in this upcoming career; or if I turned out to be ok after the MBA. But it is what it is, I have made my decision although I still (day)dream about Barcelona and the best B-school in the world... I came so close to reaching that dream. 

You see? This crossroads of dreams I encountered over the first six months of this year posted economic problems for me. How do I choose what's right for me? How do I know if this is the right choice? How do I know what will benefit me the most--short term and long term? What do I have to pay to achieve those dreams?

It seems to me that the most glaring price to pay for reaching one dream is to give up the other... at least for now. Then there comes effort, prudence, patience, and what-have-you's. In a few weeks I will start a new career. In a few months I will find out just how much I will have to give more. In a few years I will definitely find out if all of this is worth it. But no regrets. 

Now I'm here, where soon I will be swimming in unfamiliar (and possibly treacherous) waters. I will try to stay afloat. I will try to outswim those sea monsters. And something tells me I'm going to pull off a Michael Phelps.

UBUNTU: Success in the NBA

Measuring SUCCESS is very relative. For some it’s being able to afford Hermés bags, Chopard watches, or a sporty BMW M3 (guilty here). For some, it’s being at the helm of a multinational company; for some it’s simply educating and helping people (hats tip to Efren Peñaflorida); for some (like Philippine president-elect Homer Simpson Noynoy Aquino) it’s winning a presidential election… although this I strongly oppose… who, in his right mind would want to head a country like the Philippines—facing trillions of dollars in foreign debt, PhP300 Billion budget deficit, at least 20 million Filipinos starving, while basically earning a measly PhP60,000 a month in direct salary. Well, unless you count access to more than USD20 Billion of tax revenue each year as a measurement of success. But that’s another story.

For my NBA team—Boston Celtics—it’s nothing less than winning a title. For Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, it was a dream three years ago. But as part of the Celtics team they became champions in 2008, not because they were athletic but they worked as a team. The price of living that elusive dream to be NBA champs is giving up statistics, individualism, stardom—in other words, giving up individual EGOs to establish a COLLECTIVE EGO. The price of being called “champs,” is working as a team. In the 2010 NBA season, that’s what they tried to be. (Flashback: In 2009, Kevin Garnett, the team’s defensive pillar injured himself in the second half of the season, so go figure what happened to their campaign that year)

Coach Doc Rivers called the Celtics to be a TEAM. He adopted the African philosophy of UBUNTU—which focuses on people’s allegiances and relations to each other, emphasizing compassion and humanity. The Boston Celtics became the UBUNTU team with only one common goal: to win. Feared, envied, and most of the time hated by other teams in the NBA. The team’s mantra that was posted in the locker rooms read, “Individuals win games; Teams win titles.” It was an inspiring quote, something MBA schools can use to teach aspiring tycoons, or something generals can shout about as battle cry to their troops in war.

So what happened?

Unless you’re not into the NBA like my Scottish colleague who thinks basketball is boring, you know that the L.A. Lakers won the 2010 NBA Title. The NBA’s most storied franchises—Celtics and Lakers—make up one of the most famous (arch) rivalries in sports and they have 33 NBA championships between them. The Lakers won in 2009 and they still have Kobe Bryant who is by far the best baller in the world. Of course they were expected to win again this year. They did. But the story is not about them. It’s about a mediocre team (4th seed in the East) whom most people predicted to be out in the early rounds of the playoffs. It’s about that UBUNTU Celtics team who faced none other than the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

The Cinderella story didn’t end with a parade celebration in downtown Boston for the Celtics’ unprecedented 18th NBA title. But it was UBUNTU that brought them six minutes or five points away from that. Boston knocked out three heavyweights on its way to face the Lakers in the Finals. Three of NBA’s best players—Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard—and their teams all went down against the Celtics. How? Teamwork. It was beautiful to watch.

LeBron (King) James cannot carry his team alone, and this is the lesson these Celtics taught the world. Success, no matter how impossible, can be achieved with the proper mindset. For basketball, it is teamwork. Kobe Bryant scored 38 points in Game 5 of the Finals but they lost. Boston’s team had six players scoring at least 10 points in that game. That, my friends, is called teamwork. This is why other NBA teams are jealous of the UBUNTU: no other team is even close to resembling the level where these Boston Celtics compete when they are at their best. This philosophy was so strong that despite all the difficulties they faced all season, they remained resilient against the best teams in the NBA. It all paid off.

A lot of things went wrong in the last 15 minutes of the do-or-die Game 7 of the NBA Finals when the Celtics played poorly and the Lakers played like champs. But these Celtics already proved their point all along. No one picked them as the eastern conference champs; no one believed they could give the Lakers a challenge; no one expected them to live past Lebron and Dwight. UBUNTU did it. That’s what it really takes to win. That is the price of winning in the NBA.

In November, we might see a very different Celtics team, with some of its pieces new, and some old pieces replaced. But I believe their mindset will again take them to places no one expected them to reach. They will try to be champs again; most likely they will fail again. But I’m not betting against their chances. Because they have what it takes to win a title.

Success is relative… and with UBUNTU, to me this team succeeded.

Caveat: The author is obviously a Celtics fan.

The Dream Economist

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“Blank” is how one can describe this blog for the past 12 months. I planned to write about lots of things but I never really had enough will to start. So when did I find the time to write this first entry? Well, now I’m in front of my office desk, trying to finish a dreaded presentation for a convention that I am invited to talk to in three days. And all I can think about is my future which is getting brighter or gloomier by the second, depending on what angle you are looking from.

I am a 25-year old typical guy who works for a typical company with a typical salary, typical (semi-non-existent) benefits. And out of a sheer dream to gradually succeed in the corporate world, I want my way out. You know, to try new things… learn new things… earn and buy new things… things that typical young professionals drool about at this point of their careers, well at least if they’re serious about it. If they are inspired, driven, competitive; if they dream…

But that’s only one variable to the equation…

They say dreams are free. But why keep dreaming if you can actually reach for it? Why bother (day) dreaming when you can actually do something about it? All you need is to pay the price. That, my friends, is ECONOMICS. Plain and simple. And now I coin the term DREAM ECONOMICS, where I constantly ask the question: what do you have to pay to live your dreams? I am telling you right now, it’s not free.

The famous economics quote “there’s no such thing as free lunch” says it all.

Join me as I share with you my thoughts on careers, sports, economics, movies, relationships, politics, society, gadgets, cars, problems growing up, being successful in life, et cetera. Dig into the realms of dreaming big, aiming high, falling hard, and the learning curve we all face every day. I am your Dream Economist. Let’s all get a better life for ourselves. Who’s with me?