I had a great conversation with my Grab driver last weekend while on my way to pick up my car from the casa. Here are the practical insights and key takeaways from our chat: Dislikes: Impractical Incentives Wishlist: Meaningful Retention Drivers Overkill: Unfair Cancellation Penalties Likes: Strong Operational Efficiencies Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Print Email
Articles
Most corporate growth strategies are built on a dangerous, unexamined assumption. Executives design ten-year expansion plans, real estate developments, and product pipelines under the premise that the traditional Filipino family structure is permanent. But strategy can break because of an obsolete demographic map. A structural revolution is quietly rewriting consumer behavior across the Philippines. The traditional expectation of marriage and […]
Most marketing plans look impressive on paper. They contain polished slide decks, ambitious revenue projections, detailed media strategies, and highly creative campaign concepts. Yet in a volatile marketplace, plans often because leadership overlooked a hidden strategic fault line. When an organization experiences declining revenue, weakening customer loyalty, inefficient sales operations, or erosion of brand trust, the visible problem is often […]
The biggest strategic risk isn’t having no marketing plan. It’s executing a polished plan built on untested assumptions. During annual planning, executive teams routinely default to copy-pasting the past: last year’s sales become the new baseline, legacy customers retain top priority, and yesterday’s winning products receive automatic budget renewals. Except the market refuses to remain frozen in time. Consumers shift […]
Why understanding culture is one of the most overlooked competitive advantages in business Nearly two decades ago, we purchased our family dream home. The documents had been signed, the keys were in our hands, and everything was ready for us to move in. Yet we waited until Ghost Month had ended. To some, this may seem like an unusual decision. […]
This is my 12th year blogging. One thing I enjoy most is having conversations with people from all walks of life. Some of the best business insights come not from CEOs, but from ordinary people doing ordinary jobs. Recently, I spoke with a supermarket bagger about his job. I asked four simple questions. Here are his answers, exactly as he […]
On August 27, 2026, I will celebrate 12 years of blogging. When I started JosiahGo.com in 2014, my objective was simple: to share what I was learning and make practical business knowledge more accessible to students, entrepreneurs, managers and business owners in the Philippines. I did not realize then that blogging would also become a record of my own reinvention. […]
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 […]
On paper, companies are logically consistent: Yet execution still breaks down. Not randomly, but predictably. Because between strategy and behavior sits a force most organizations underestimate: Incentives determine what people actually do when no one is watching. And when incentives conflict with strategy, incentives always win. Here are ten points to consider: 1. The Real Architecture of Execution Every organization operates […]
While visiting Bangkok with some old friends, we stopped by a popular shopping mall where one of them decided to get a suit made. The proposition stopped me in my tracks: One coat. One shirt. One pant. One tie. Custom-fitted. Ready in 24 hours for roughly US$137 (Baht 4,500, or Php 8,300). My friend ended up upgrading his raw material […]