There was this story being told and circulated around business seminars, conferences and meetings describing a Chinese mindset as compared to Filipinos on parenting and education. Filipinos parents usually advise their children to go to school so that when they are able to graduate, they can have more opportunity to look for work. Chinese parents on the other hand, would tell their children to go to school so that they can go into business when they finish their studies. And that’s what separates the rich and the poor, the mindset. It is about being employed versus being the employer.
I do not know who created that story but I guess there is some truth in what this story is trying to convey. Just look around you and you will know who owns the big business establishments in your neighborhood while the locals end up as mere workers. While their employers are busy thinking and planning to increase their wealth, the workers are drinking and smoking after work. And then we cry unfair when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It is all about right mindset.
Thank God that our policymakers and lawmakers have done something about this. Congress passed into law in 2015, the Youth Entrepreneurship Act or RA 10679 which is a recognition of the significance of the need to teach the young people about business. It was also a fitting coincidence that at this time, the CDA is promoting Laboratory Co-op for young people in order to train them on leadership, management and financial literacy. It is high time for the schools to expose the youth on business by inviting actual entrepreneurs that are already successful to talk in their classes.
Like what I have written from previous months, there is a need to consider giving some attention to the youth. They are the future. What the previous generation has done and what we, the present generation, is doing now, there has to be someone to continue the legacy in the next generation. There has to be an effort to guide the youth in what to do when it comes their time. They don’t just have to do things on their own. They don’t have to start from zero. So, there is that responsibility for us to show them the good things they can build on moving towards the years to come.
This is what I consider succession planning. Do not think only of the success of your co-op at the present. Succession planning is not only about determining who should take over your position when you retire. Success must be sustained and carried on by the next set of members and officers. The success mindset must be transferred to the next generation.
If we want our co-ops to be more successful even beyond your time, I’m calling on the officers of our co-ops to organize laboratory co-ops as their banner program for this coming 2019. And we will see more of our young people becoming entrepreneurs. Sooner or later, we will produce more job makers rather than job workers.
