AN HOUR WITH THE CEO: A REFLECTION
by Pia Manzano
I’ve seen him a couple of times. Twice standing onstage with a mic in hand and an honest face in tow, and a couple of times walking out of SPi on his way to somewhere. Yes, I am writing about our hour with the CEO himself. I have a habit of staring at people I don’t know, especially when their look just catches my curiosity but I just couldn’t dare look at him, all of a sudden I’ve turned shy. So when the opportunity came to speak with him, in person, face to face, live, I just had to dress my best!
Coming into the Board Room, I scanned the place for a possible seat, close enough to see him clearly but not close enough to make me melt. I had the club’s yearly report at hand and sat bravely on the chair one seat away from him.
As soon as he arrived, we began the meeting. All the attendees were club officers, all sitting so upright and barely moving (note that Jeff Lim of Chorale Club, the quintessential Nora Aunor amongst us, barely said a word) while on the other end of the table was Ernest Cu - or ELC to all of us - in his relaxed state. We all gave our reports, then he came up with solutions and ideas that were out of the box. Most of the clubs were struggling in terms of membership and he just sparked our curiosity with the ideas he had.
In the course of the meeting, I got to speak, I got out of my box, my vocal cords perfectly exercised. The good exchange made me feel good. Great ideas and thoughts were passed along, and having all the clubs represented helped a lot. The latter half of our hour with the CEO was a bit more relaxed. Ideas were flowing, ELC’s posture and laid-back attitude helped me, if not the whole group, relax and just lay our cards and throw our thoughts onto the table.
I can’t delve much into what we spoke of, what comments and suggestions were given - there were many - and squealing them would just spoil the gimmicks we will be having this coming year, but I will indeed treasure the hour we had with ELC.
Goodness, I am still awestruck!
_________________
I’ve seen him a couple of times. Twice standing onstage with a mic in hand and an honest face in tow, and a couple of times walking out of SPi on his way to somewhere. Yes, I am writing about our hour with the CEO himself. I have a habit of staring at people I don’t know, especially when their look just catches my curiosity but I just couldn’t dare look at him, all of a sudden I’ve turned shy. So when the opportunity came to speak with him, in person, face to face, live, I just had to dress my best!
Coming into the Board Room, I scanned the place for a possible seat, close enough to see him clearly but not close enough to make me melt. I had the club’s yearly report at hand and sat bravely on the chair one seat away from him.
As soon as he arrived, we began the meeting. All the attendees were club officers, all sitting so upright and barely moving (note that Jeff Lim of Chorale Club, the quintessential Nora Aunor amongst us, barely said a word) while on the other end of the table was Ernest Cu - or ELC to all of us - in his relaxed state. We all gave our reports, then he came up with solutions and ideas that were out of the box. Most of the clubs were struggling in terms of membership and he just sparked our curiosity with the ideas he had.
In the course of the meeting, I got to speak, I got out of my box, my vocal cords perfectly exercised. The good exchange made me feel good. Great ideas and thoughts were passed along, and having all the clubs represented helped a lot. The latter half of our hour with the CEO was a bit more relaxed. Ideas were flowing, ELC’s posture and laid-back attitude helped me, if not the whole group, relax and just lay our cards and throw our thoughts onto the table.
I can’t delve much into what we spoke of, what comments and suggestions were given - there were many - and squealing them would just spoil the gimmicks we will be having this coming year, but I will indeed treasure the hour we had with ELC.
Goodness, I am still awestruck!
_________________
Pia Manzano is Administrative Assistant at the Office of the HR Director. She is the Guild's Vice President and Backspace's Features Editor.
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