This document outlines key events and lessons from the author's career journey from 1983 to present day. It describes their first job in 2004 working in baguettes, becoming a gamer brand manager in 2005, and helping a Vietnamese company become the #1 portal in the country by 2006. The author reflects on achieving a C-level position before age 30 in 2011 and shares advice about having vision, perseverance, living in the present, and finding great mentors.
13. • 70 Pure work. 30 Projection.
• Own a superlative.
• Have a personal motive to thrust you forward.
• Great mentors make great leaders.
14. CAREERS TO EXPLORE
• Social media marketing • Digital
ecosystem planning
and management
• Social CRM
• Games, Media and
• Influencer marketing Entertainment marketing
• Content and knowledge • Social media customer care
curation
I actually wanted to be a priest. Who would have thought?\n
This photo was taken one Saturday morning on my first job, Samsung. I had a starter’s desk, a landline and always a pile of paperwork to do. I started as a Product Manager handling Marketing Communications for Mobile Phones. My first mentor was Annaise Fragante who’s now with Sun Cellular. This is when I learnt the true meaning of ‘ad astra per aspera’ - which means ‘to the stars through difficulties.’ Learnt a lot, packed my bags and moved on.\n
Fast forward to 2005, I was Brand Manager at Level Up. So on the left is my in-game self and the one on the right is me in real life. One thing I am truly proud of was my first ever promotion. In less than a year, I was promoted twice. From Brand Manager to Marketing Manager then eventually I was given the privilege of managing my own business unit as a Director. I had two great mentors - Minette Naverrete then MD of Level Up and now with Globe Telecom and Sheila Paul was then Head of Marketing at Level Up and now lives in Portugal. I learnt strategic brand management through these ladies - but more than that, I learnt how to be P&L responsible. They gave me the freedom to run my brand and later on an entire business including operations.\n
Unfortunately, I had to follow my heart in 2006. I had to follow someone who had left Manila to work in Vietnam. Fortunately, I landed a good job in what was like Vietnam’s version of Level Up Games or E-Games. But the challenge was extremely daunting: I was given a whole joint venture with a Korean company SK C&C (sister company of SK Telecom) to manage and that meant having 10 direct reports with a total headcount of 40 people. In Vietnam, I met another great mentor - Bryan Pelz. I learnt so many things from Bryan - including how to manage start ups. He taught me, ‘if you gotta fail, you fail fast, and you fail cheap’ then you move on with your next innovation. This guy exposed me to the world of digital marketing on steroids. \n
Which later on led us to launch Zing.vn which was competitively poised against Yahoo!, Google, and all the other local destination sites in Vietnam. In a matter of 2 years, it rose to being the #1 content portal besting out the internet giants from the US.\n
At Globe I met Bunny Aguilar and Menchi Orlina - they both allowed me to build Globe’s first ever digital marketing practice. They taught me that to be successful, one must go beyond what is obvious, to be strategic at all times but challenging the status quo. This is how you make your work, your campaign memorable. Do it with panache.\n
And still learning!\n
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Vision - have a clear vision of what you want your end state to be and keep that in mind. This will allow you to have a steadfast commitment to achieving little things that if put together get you closer and closer to your end in mind.\n\nPerseverance - this is important because you will fail and our ability to stand up again after a fall will be what will define winners.\n\nLiving by the day - we are always told by our elders to think long term. That’s right and we should. But at the end of the day, we need to rest and accept things so we can move on to the next day and be better. It’s okay to be stressed out of our wits but we need to end one day to move to the next.\n
70% Pure work - there’s no charm to replace real good work. Never give in to mediocrity. Use procrastination wisely (it’s a trick you can use once in a while, but avoid the habit!)\n\n30% Projection \nTwo ways\n1. When you get interviewed, project yourself in the position of the person interviewing you. Do you like what you see and feel? If not, don’t. Move on to the next opportunity.\n2. Once you start working, don’t just look, sound, feel, act and work at the same position you were given. Work like that someone who will be seen as ‘more than what he is today.’ Constantly doing this will give your mentors and superiors the idea that you really are a class act, a go getter who is on his way up. Be a promising and fulfill the potential. You will then see yourself getting promoted or being given the privilege of doing more.\n\nOwn a superlative - be the youngest. do it the fastest. Most strategic. Don’t stop at merely doing your job description. Do it in a superlative order. You will then see yourself in a better position in no time.\n\nPersonal motive - I was raised by a single Mom; parents separated when I was 8. Ever since I graduated (I took IMC at UA&P), I dedicated my entire career to my Mum. It’s not that I want to make myself proud nor just making my Mum proud... I wanted people to be proud of my Mum by seeing what she has achieved despite the odds.\n\n