Aboitiz Group executives take a long-term view and champion innovative strategies to succeed amid and beyond the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
Speaking virtually to 516 team leaders at the 2021 Aboitiz Leaders Conference on Feb. 4 and 5, Aboitiz Group president and chief executive Sabin Aboitiz underscored that innovation should be “instilled” and not merely “lived.”
“An instilled value of innovation will help carry us through these disruptive times. The way we lead our organization will determine the future of everyone who depends on us,” he said.
The Aboitiz LeadCon this year carried the theme “The Aboitiz Way: Driving Resiliency and Innovation.” Aboitiz said that “instilling” innovation would lead to deep-rooted value and the resilience needed for the future.
“Instilling the value of innovation is establishing that belief within ourselves for the long term and influencing others to do the same, every single day. When people are talking about innovation and doing it moment by moment without being told, that is the true measure of success in instilling this value,” he said.
During the Aboitiz LeadCon, CEOs of the group’s various businesses such as AboitizPower, UnionBank, Pilmico, Aboitiz InfraCapital, Republic Cement, AboitizLand and Aboitiz Construction also delivered performance updates and directions, specifically their companies’ collective efforts in applying and incorporating innovation in their operations to provide better service, achieve optimum results and improve efficiency.
“We will only achieve our strategic growth objectives in the post-COVID world by truly believing that an instilled value of innovation is what we leaders want to leave behind for the future generation,” Aboitiz said.
During the conference, two concepts were also given due emphasis: “radical candor” and “remix.”
Radical candor was discussed by the Aboitiz LeadCon keynote speaker Kim Scott who is best known as the author of “Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity”. Scott was introduced by Enrique Aboitiz, chairman of the board of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.
In a nutshell, Scott described radical candor as “challenging directly, at the same time that you care personally so that you’re helping people grow in their career and you’re helping your team achieve better results.”
Meanwhile, Sabin Abotiz, in his closing remarks, highlighted the need to create a synergy between traditional and progressive perspectives in the workforce—creating the so-called “remix.”
“Our workforce is diverse in their thinking and backgrounds. It becomes increasingly challenging when we have to lead and manage five generations in one organization. But if we take the best of the old and the new, and harness their uniqueness, we can design a ‘remix’ workplace for our teams that is much more engaging, productive, and connected,” he said.
He said Aboitiz leaders should take on the responsibility to catalyze this “remix.”
“Our job as leaders in the workplace is the same as our role as leaders in our families. We must prepare people for the “remix,” to balance all that’s good from our past, with the style that works for the future. This is how we turn our multi-gen mix into an asset,” Aboitiz said.