19:51

My primary focus nowadays are my two daughters. I am currently gearing them up for the real world. I’m helping my eldest with her professional development as she is starting her corporate career and navigating through that world. My youngest is a chef, but she is also an entrepreneur on the side, so I am helping her navigate through that as well. My main goal is to assist both of them as they pursue their own purpose and develop the gifts that are entrusted to them in order to make an impact in their circles and attain personal gratification. I also want to make time for my wife and assist her on her own personal journey.

23:26

Aside from helping my children, my current advocacy is to help HR practitioners with two things. The first is technical and professional empowerment. I am developing the skill of these HR practitioners by equipping them with the right skillset and mindset to succeed in their jobs. I would like to assist them in navigating the corporate world. I intend to empower these HR practitioners because the HR departments have to realize that they are independent from top management and the employees. This is difficult because why would you bite the hand that feeds? HR should be able to do what is right according to their values and own convictions especially when top management asks them to do something unethical. The second is financial independence - because HR practitioners rely on their salaries and income coming from top management, they are forced to obey top management regardless if their orders are ethical or not. They’re forced to follow top management in order to save their jobs. They have families to take care of and bills to pay, so it is important to empower these HR practitioners to attain financial independence by having a side hustle. In 5 years, their income on these side hustles should be equal to their income from their HR work. This would empower them to stand up for what is right and not be afraid of losing their jobs. This empowerment will prevent them from being bullied and harassed by a difficult top management.

34:18

My work revolves around 2 philosophies - professional humility and executive maturity. Professional humility is when you can admit your limitations, or simply being honest to yourself and to everyone you work with when it comes to your limitations. Executive maturity is the sense of fairness for a weaker party even if they don't ask for it. After securing a top leadership position when I was around 23, I had a personal realization that I wasn’t ready for the job yet. I needed to take one step back before proceeding two steps forward. Instead of denying that I lacked skills for that role, I admitted it and took a step back by requesting to my bosses that I step down from this position. It wasn’t that I could not do it, but I admitted that I had much to learn. I expected maturity from their end. I expected them to tell me that, “if you're not ready, we will transition you to a lesser role, it will not affect you and people around it.” But what happened next was unthinkable. I lost the free housing provided by virtue of my leadership position and I was only given a few days to leave, without a new place to move to. My entire salary was immediately cut and I was not given even a small amount to help me transition to something manageable and practical. We were left hanging and it was hell for us. My wife also resigned from a private university and moved to state university - my wife was also promised the same thing, but she too did not receive her promised salary.

38:45

I was humbled and I learned my lesson - I would never allow that to happen again. I would never entrust my life into the hands of any management or employer. Now that I am in a position of leadership, I enact executive maturity. When I see people going through hard times, I have to be sensitive and observe. If they need assistance, space, or a lift, I will do what I think I can do to help. This is why I embrace those two advocacies of professional empowerment and financial independence so that HR practitioners’ plans, lives, families, and livelihood aren't held hostage by their employers.

43:45

After this experience, I started working as a training officer and one day, my boss approached me with an offer to be an HR manager, where I got to learn management and leadership skills. After 10 years, I became an assistant VP for another company that distributes high-end German cars. What I learned in my leadership journey is that the higher I move, the dirtier it becomes. The higher positions have a lot more gray areas. For example, I was asked to remove a VP for marketing because she was the weakest link. There was no evidence for it, but my boss just wanted that person replaced. I told him, “you pirated her, now you want to drop her like a hot potato.” In the back of my mind, if my boss could do that to her, he could do that to me or anyone else. I waited 2 years before quitting and from 2010 onwards, I pursued freelancing as a learning provider. That’s where I got to where I am now.

53:36

There’s nothing new under the sun, no new things, new toppings but just the same banana. The different battles I went though still remain relevant regardless of the time. There was no social media during that time but now that social media is present, I’ve observed that people still experience the same injustice, infairness, harassment, and bullying in the workplace. Regardless of the times, the battles I went through and experiences will remain the same. I got a lot of physical ailments from stress, but I’ve also gained a lot of wisdom. What I went through remains the same regardless of what change happens. The nuggets of wisdom I learned during those times remain gold to me no matter what changes. There’s also this saying “do not throw pearls to the pigs, otherwise they will trample it.” The lesson here is to choose the kind of people to invest your time in, to guide and help them, because not everyone will be grateful for your jewels, diamond, pearls. I pick and choose HR practitioners who will appreciate the nuggets of wisdom I have because of my experiences. I share these with them so that they don't go through hell like I did.

1:20:09

Embrace who you are supposed to be serving. Sure you can be a president, executive, etc. The question is - do you belong there and is it the right fit for you and your gifts? Gifts are meant to specifically address the specific pains of specific people. If you know who to serve, then go for it, but don’t beat around the bush. If you feel like you're in the wrong strata, then admit it to yourself and leave. Achieving peace, happiness, and satisfaction is about identifying and embracing the people and pains that you want to serve. I have a mentor-mentee relationship with many people who reach out to me online. My premise is that what I went through in life is not the best template for you - I'm just here to give you my insights so that you can make your own choices and blaze your own path, a path designed to serve others.