Leadership Lessons from President FVR

Allow me to take this opportunity to pay my respects to our 12th President, Fidel Valdez Ramos, who passed away on 31 July 2022.  PFVR is credited with many things, including ushering a period of stability and creating an environment conducive for investments, but the mining industry is understandably most grateful to him for the passage during his term of Republic Act No. 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act. 

The Mining Act was but one of the pieces of legislation that were part of “Steady Eddie’s” road to Philippines 2000, which included breaking Marcos Sr.-era monopolies.  Surely no one misses the days when there was only one airline and one phone company, or when there were daily power outages.

While I never had the honor and privilege of working for him, I was always in awe of his leadership style. PFVR is well known for having institutionalized complete staff work or “CSW” in Malacanang which, simply put, admonishes all government agencies and his subordinates to “do their homework” before any document reaches his desk. Later administrations would follow his lead and further flesh out and provide details and timelines for more effective CSW. 

If I am not mistaken, it was also PFVR’s administration which began using barcodes to track incoming documents.

Before the internet age, PFVR was already fond of clipping news articles and writing marginal notes on them in his legendary red pen which we would send to government officials very early in the morning by fax.  These notes would either be reminders, action items or a simple pat on the back.  An aide de camp who spoke at his wake ruefully recounted that his days were filled with collating news clippings for his workaholic boss from dawn until late evening.  At the end of the day, “The Boss” would still ask, “wala na bang papel diyan?”, meaning he was still willing to work when others much younger than he were already exhausted.

Listening to other eulogists who shared their memories of PFVR, I was struck by several recurring themes of their years working with him. These were men who were not politicians, but who knew him as a military officer in the field, and who saw him face the challenges of both military and civilian life.

From their comments, I gleaned the following leadership lessons PFVR-style: 

1. Take care of your people.  As a military commander, he would not leave checking on the troops to lower ranking officers.  A subordinate recounts being surprised that a younger FVR would go to the field with a bag of medals both as a reward for the hard work of his men and a way of comforting them through their difficulties. According to Brig. Gen. Anthony Alcantara, one important lesson he learned from PFVR is: “(I)f you care enough for the nation you serve, act decisively on what needs to be done.  There is no place far enough or isolated enough that cannot be reached if you wanted to.  Honor every effort as soon as possible of those who sacrificed enough to fulfill their duties.”
2. If you need something done well, put in the time and resources to make it happen.  PFVR’s battlecry was “Let’s show them how to work” and work hard he did, spending long days which would often begin with running with the troops at 4am, which would allow him to hit several birds with one stone: meeting and discussing work concerns while bonding with his team.
3. After the siege of the Manila Hotel on 05 July 1986, when those responsible were only meted pushups when they returned to their barracks, then-AFP Chief of Staff Ramos was severely criticized for the light treatment given to the putschists, ½ of whom belonged to the Constabulary, which he formerly headed. His aides say that lesson to be learned from that experience is: know your true intentions (in taking a course of action).  PFVR then recognized the fragility of the new-post EDSA democracy.  He knew then that his true objective was to unify the AFP which was severely politicized and that any punishment would further divide it.  Keeping the organization intact, professional and strong was worth any criticism hurled at him.
4. Make your organization function well.
5. Be prepared. Anticipate all contingencies.
6. Take every opportunity to improve yourself and serve others well
7. Ask “are you part of the problem or part of the solution”?
8. Strive for a win-win solution.  One former aide recounted a PFVR trick of getting warring cabinet members to come to an agreement by asking them to meet in a small conference room and to revert to him only after they had a workable solution. 
9. Anything important needs to be written.  Despite his famous photographic memory, he was a stickler for writing notes even on the golf course.
10. Practice attentive listening.  An aide recounts a gaffe when he only caught PFVR saying the word “barber” and, in his haste, called former Sen. Robert Barbers, when all PFVR wanted was a haircut.  Lesson learned: don’t assume, but always seek clarification when in doubt.
11. Throughout his six years as President, PFVR was always on-point and on-message with the direction he wanted to take (“Kaya Natin Ito!”).  Whether or not you agreed with him, there was no equivocation about his position.  He also effectively used wit and humor to defuse tense situations, including with the press.

Two thumbs up, Mr. President.  Mabuhay!