Ep 5 - Standing Out in Times of Crisis and Opportunity

Resilience in Leadership

Paulo Tibig is one of the most celebrated Filipino motivational speakers in the Philippines today. He is renowned for his “Learnjoyment” brand of keynotes and workshops.

He is a real corporate/business practitioner with solid on-the-ground experience in managing companies and businesses such as the award-winning V Cargo Worldwide and Paulo Tibig Corporate Trainings for more than two decades, making him relevant and in touch with the real workplace conditions that many see as his competitive advantage.

He is the bestselling author of the book “Strategies of a Champion Entrepreneur” and the recently released “STANDOUT: How to Lead Without Losing Your Values”. He is also a go-to regular resource person on national TV, radio shows, and programs.

Very recently, Paulo was part of the Inaugural Philippines' Top 30 Leaders on LinkedIn.

When Paulo started V Cargo, they knew very well that it was going to be challenging. The industry they were getting into was dominated by multinational players. The competition was tight, so what they did was create services and solutions that will make them stand out. They wanted to be resilient. At that time, they had two options — resist or absorb what was happening in the industry. They chose the latter! It wasn't a piece of cake. There were a lot of struggles — financial, operational, and more. Competing head-on wasn’t the best course of action.

Then, the pandemic hit! Paulo learned that "We are like coffee beans. When we are dipped in hot water, we know exactly how strong and intense we are. Similarly, as an individual or organization when we are faced with problems and uncertain situations, we can see what the true character of a certain individual is.” All these prepared them to grow and thrive. Had they resisted, they could have not won and thrived.

How did he make his company stay strong? How did he, himself, become strong?

According to Paulo, even before the pandemic happened, they already knew what their market was. They had already developed some flagship products/services — logistics marketing services. They understood the pain point of the market well. They took into account the competition and the opportunities. Paulo says that in every crisis, there's a business opportunity. Focusing on the peculiar need of the times is the resilient strategy he employed 22 years ago, and has continued to evolve and work until now.

Ian found it very interesting since he's also in the FMCG industry. He mentioned V Cargo worldwide being awarded by Philippine Airlines recently the Diamond Awardee Partner, the highest award.

How was he able to win an award in the midst of the pandemic? How did he keep his employees engaged?

Paulo also emphasized paying attention to culture. He shared the mindset, which is also their famous #dugongponkan. The culture that they want to embrace. Be the orange among the apples. The secret sauce of V Cargo. He explained that the principle behind this idea is if you try to compete based on the same platform, pricing model, and operational model, you won’t win. There's a need to stand out. Create your own market space.

He ended with his note, “The world needs ethical leaders.” Take the opportunity to be with people and see how you can lead and help them.

Episode Highlights:

01:27-04:14 - Introduction of guest

04:15-05:19 - V Cargo’s history

05:20-07:45 - Paulo’s and VCargo’s learning during the Pandemic

07:46-12:52 - The key to staying strong

12:53-17:48 - V Cargo Worldwide won the Diamond Awardee partner by Philippines Airlines

17:49-20:12 - Explanation of "Be the orange among the apples"

20:13-26:04 - Drilling down the mindset #dugongponkan

26:05-30:54 - Being an Ethical Leade

Connect with Anda Goseco and Ian Santos

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