The value of a Nametag in an event

Wha’s in a NAMETAG?

Most frequently, in an amateur event, this piece of paper or ID is looked upon lowly. But, for professional organizers, a simple nametag is a ticket to know the person intimately.

I came to reflect on the value of the nametag upon attending a small assembly of young people in Alaska, Mambaling, Cebu City. The event came to a point where they have to introduce the new members and attendees. It was a good start of the organization that afternoon, until the emcee’s began to say this lines, “can we ask the gentleman from the left corner to stand and introduce himself.”

What’s wrong with the line? Calling a person other than his name or nickname establishes distance and unfamiliarity. The ability to tell the persons name at a glance, on the other hand, establishes the organizers ability to pay courtesy, respect and familiarity to the participants.

There can be an excuse to this situation. The organizer might say, they don’t know the persons name so they call it by the possible adjectives we can connect to him. This may be OK for some, but if you intend to establish a long term connection with this persons, what just had happened was a big “NO, NO!”

Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) Celebrates its 94th Anniversary

Numerous blogposts, news, and forum string today, is aimed at noticing Iglesia Ni Cristo’s accomplishment as a religious organization in the Philippines.

A reputable national paper published in the Philippines (Manila Bulletin) has this to say about the Iglesia Ni Cristo on the occassion of its 94th year Anniversary:

94th Anniversary of the Iglesia ni Cristo

THE Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) was founded by Felix Y. Manalo on July 27, 1914, as a non-trinitarian Christian restorationist religious organization. A basic component of the INC’s beliefs is that its founder, Felix Y. Manalo, was sent from God to reestablish the Christian church in its true form.

AREA 3 Visitation @ Carcar City “Makes me Wanna go WOW!”

It took us 45 minutes by Ceres bus to get there. And after a while of endless talk we arrived at the “ampao” capital of the Philippines — Carcar City.

As expected, we came in first. Matet, Ivan. Mhedz, Ayen, Ruben, Sheila & Arland (a.k.a. Arlshei), Tyra and Poklat (a.k.a. Giancarlo Reserva) was met warmly by Melna. To our surprise Jebei came minutes ahead of us.

“Ambi nako kuya dili ko kaari”, Jebei blurted. He was from an academic project in Perrelos – a nearby barangay. Shortly after, Rael came with a half gallon of Ice Cream. Little did we know that that day was also Melna’s Tita’s birthday. How lucky we were.

The preparation took us barely five minutes. Banner is up courtesy of Poklat.

Emcee? Tyra (check).

Leader, lead thyself

How does a leader measured? Is it in the leaders looks, attitude, and culture? This is an interesting article from Roel Andag, the mind behind TRAINER ON CALL.

LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT POWER AND INFLUENCE. Given, you are perched highly in the company, hit business targets while keeping costs down, worshipped by staff like a deity, pulverize the competition and cause others around you to gasp in awe but do you really have power and influence over yourself?

True leaders are successful in three aspects: managing tasks, leading people, and leading oneself. Success in the first two aspects makes a person an excellent manager. One can only truly be called a leader if he excels in all three.

Leadership includes what the leader does away from public view. Without the scrutiny, he relies on his own faculties in behaving towards himself. Such behavior is largely stimulated by the subconscious. Luckily, there are areas of the subconscious that one can consciously influence to achieve worthwhile goals. Self management – the process of maximizing one’s own resources to realize objectives – starts with managing self image, thoughts and emotions.

Self image

Self image is the product of a lifetime of internal (how you see yourself) and external (how others see you) scripts. Self image or self concept is rooted in conscious or subconscious perceptions and feeling about your capability (what you believe you can do), worth (what you believe you deserve) and significance (what you believe is your impact). If you are constantly told that you are a leader and your self-generated script agrees, chances are great that you will embody the script.

Conditioning is so potent that your self-image becomes your comfort zone, which is why it is important to deflect scripts that are not beneficial. Gifted with wisdom, it is up to you to receive or reject what others tell you and what you tell yourself. If you disagree with the script but act it out anyway, you become a fabrication who lives an illusion manufactured for projection purposes. You will find it difficult reconciling your multiple personalities.

I believe there is a self image continuum that ranges from extreme insecurity at one end and narcissism at the other. Extreme insecurity or inferiority complex makes one overly receptive thus becoming susceptible to manipulations. Former US first lady and human rights champion Eleanor Roosevelt once quipped: “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.” On the other hand, narcissism or superiority complex leads the narcissist to believe that he doesn’t need the opinion and help of other people. Either way, a deflated or inflated ego is destructive. Lead yourself by cultivating a healthy self image that results in esteem and trust in self.

Self talk

You don’t mumble words to yourself in public lest you become suspected of losing sanity. But you talk to yourself all the time. It is routine. Scientists believe that one talks to himself at an average speed of 50 words per minute or 3,000 words an hour. Imagine the thought torrent! A speeding train of thought, so to speak. This is the most important conversation you have.

If you listen close enough to your inner dialogue you will hear judgments, fears, hopes, worries, prejudices and useless gobbledygook. You discuss with yourself a myriad of subjects including family, career, sex, money, what to wear, what to eat, what to say. It’s an endless list. Your inner dialogue contributes largely to your self image.

The danger is when you dwell on limiting thoughts such as “I can’t do it,” “I don’t deserve to be successful,” or “I’m not good enough.” Lead yourself by applying the self-talk interrupt technique: eliminate an unhelpful thought as soon as it crops up and replace it with enabling and uplifting self dialogue.

Leadership gurus from in different eras testify that thoughts are things. Thoughts translate into reality. No wonder “think positive” is an undying reminder.

Emotions

Leaders are stone cold, devoid of emotions. Excuse me. This notion of leadership is obsolete. The popularization of emotional intelligence concepts is an obituary-in-progress for the macho corporate culture that considers admitting emotions is queasy and un-businesslike. No longer is emotion considered a mushy topic associated with tearjerkers. After all, beneath its icy exoskeleton of chrome and metal, the workplace is an emotionally charged environment, what with buyouts, layoffs, low pay, hyper targets and other close-to-the-gut issues.

Basic and complex human emotions run the range from pleasure to despair, love to hate, empathy to jadedness, comfort to fear, calm to anger, and conviction to doubt. Do you have to hit your staff with a telephone when you are angry? Do you gratuitously act out your sexual urges? Do you withhold appreciation? Do you decide on bonuses when you are euphoric? Mismanaged negative emotions result in harassment, office rage and, at times, suicide. There is no joy in working with someone who is emotionally unstable.

Lead yourself by exercising your three choices in handling emotions: display, delay or deny. Situations and consequences guide the appropriateness of handling emotions. There are times for transparency, deliberateness and concealment. Process and express your emotions to move toward a positive direction.

Self mastery

How you handle your thoughts, emotions and self image manifests in your appearance, decisions, words and actions. How you treat your inner self shows in how you treat other people. Castigate yourself and you criticize those around you. Celebrate yourself and you become appreciative of others. When you are positive towards yourself you radiate a positive energy towards others.

A powerful force resides inside you. The self is one’s most powerful cheerleader and most dangerous enemy – everything starts from within. Take ownership of your life, lead yourself.

(Published in the Working People section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25 May 2008)

Being Written about in SUNSTAR CEBU Today

Being permanent is one of the characteristics of the printed word. An erratum may be printed the next day or in the later issue, but the printed word tells a story of what has happened today and the story behind how the news was generated.

Today, I take the flattery of being featured in SUNSTAR CEBU. What is more flattering is when you realized that the person you highly respect writes about you and takes your word as one of the main content feature of the main lifestyle article of the highly read newspaper in Cebu.

Here is the link of the article entitled “RETURN TO THE NATIVE” published today as the main article of SUNSTAR CEBU’S Lifestyle Section.

My undying gratitude to Madame Mayette Tabada. You can view the writers MATAMATA BLOG here.