Many corporate executives talk about culture, but very few can seamlessly connect deep organizational values with hard, marketing strategy. Unilab President and CEO Sebastian “Backy” Baquiran belongs to that rare breed.
In fact, Backy achieved a historic milestone in the Philippine business community by becoming a rare two-time Mansmith awardee. What makes his trajectory fascinating is the order of his milestones. He first received the Mansmith Market Mentors Award (MMMA) in 2019 for excellence in mentorship—an honor uniquely triggered by a “reverse nomination” from the very proteges he developed. He followed this in 2025 with the Honorary Mansmith Sales Masters Award, recognizing his decades of visionary commercial leadership.
In this Q&A, Backy reveal the raw strategic logic, value-chain discipline, and structural integrity required for a homegrown giant to consistently win against global multinationals on home turf.
Q1: What is the most important lesson you learned in your first month at Unilab about how senior leaders made tough strategic trade-offs?
A1: One of the earliest lessons I learned at Unilab was that great commercial strategy is not about pursuing every opportunity—it is about making disciplined choices. I saw senior leaders make tough trade-offs with conviction, directing resources to the initiatives that would create the greatest long-term value, even when it meant sacrificing near-term gains. What impressed me most was their ability to balance market realities with strategic intent, always asking not just Can we win? but Where can we create the most meaningful and sustainable impact? That discipline sharpened priorities, accelerated execution, and strengthened our competitive advantage. It reinforced my belief that sustainable growth is achieved not by doing more, but by focusing on what matters most—and having the courage to say no to everything else.
Q2: As a mentor, how do you distinguish between a fluent, polished presenter and a leader with actual strategic substance?
A2: I’ve learned that eloquence can open a door, but only sound judgment keeps you in the room. As a mentor, I pay less attention to how polished a presentation is and more to the quality of thinking behind it. I look for leaders who can separate signal from noise, make sense of ambiguity, and translate insight into decisive action. The real test isn’t whether someone can explain a strategy—it’s whether they can make the difficult choices that strategy demands. In the end, presentations may influence opinions, but judgment shapes outcomes. And in leadership, outcomes are what people remember.
Q3: Have you ever had to let go of a top revenue generator because they violated Unilab’s culture? How do you calculate that trade-off?
A3: Yes, and I’ve come to believe that those decisions reveal what an organization truly values. Every leader eventually faces a moment when short-term commercial success appears to conflict with culture. My experience has taught me that this is a false choice. Culture is not separate from strategy—it determines whether strategy can be sustained. Exceptional talent that erodes trust, collaboration, or integrity ultimately weakens the organization’s ability to execute. That’s why I never calculate the trade-off based only on today’s revenue. I ask a different question: What precedent does this decision set for every other leader and every future decision? Institutions are shaped less by the values they proclaim than by the behaviors they choose to reward—or tolerate.
Q4: What traditional sales practice is completely obsolete today, and what core commercial principle remains timeless?
A4: The most obsolete sales practice today is believing that commercial success is measured by how much you sell. In reality, it’s measured by how much value you create. The best commercial organizations don’t begin with products or promotions; they begin with a deep understanding of customers, the discipline to choose where they can uniquely win, and the courage to walk away from opportunities that don’t create long-term value. Technology has transformed how we sell, but it hasn’t changed why customers choose to buy. The timeless principle is this: when you consistently help customers succeed, commercial success follows. Revenue is an outcome, not the strategy. The best commercial organizations don’t pursue customers—they become indispensable to them.
Q5: To keep a legacy enterprise strong, what non-negotiable capability must the next generation of Filipino leaders possess?
A5: The most important capability is the ability to renew an institution without losing its soul. Markets will change. Technology will evolve. Customer expectations will continue to rise. The next generation of leaders must have the strategic courage to reinvent business models, embrace new capabilities, and make difficult choices before circumstances force them to. But they must do so without compromising the values that earned the trust of customers, employees, and communities over decades. Legacy is not something to preserve unchanged; it is something to strengthen through thoughtful renewal. The true measure of leadership is not what you achieve during your tenure, but what your institution is able to achieve long after you’re gone.
Q6: In healthcare, trust is the ultimate commercial asset. How does Unilab systematically build and safeguard consumer trust across its entire supply chain?
A6: In healthcare, trust is not a marketing advantage—it is our license to operate. We earn it through disciplined execution across every link of the value chain, from scientific research and responsible sourcing to manufacturing excellence, regulatory compliance, distribution, and every interaction with healthcare professionals, patients, and consumers.
Trust is not managed by one department; it is built by the choices every leader and every employee makes, every single day. That’s why we don’t treat quality, ethics, and customer care as separate priorities—they are one and the same. When trust becomes the basis for every decision, commercial success is no longer something you pursue; it becomes something you deserve. Because products may build a business, but trust builds an institution.
***
Josiah Go is the Chairman of Mansmith and Fielders Inc. Join the Mansmith Strategic Marketing Audit Summit on September 22–23, 2026. For more information, email info@mansmith.net.