(Adapted from the book “Entrepreneurship: The Four-Gate Model”) Imagine a business poised to disrupt an entire market, one where a simple product is turned into a game-changer through innovation and strategic foresight. This is exactly what Orocan, a trusted plastic manufacturer, did with their insulated coolers. It all started with a single observation by their president, Ramon Go. Ramon Go […]
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In strategy, activity is often mistaken for progress. Organizations move quickly to solutions because “doing something” feels productive. However, in the PILA (Problem, Insight, Logic, Assumptions) reasoning stack, the Problem is your structural foundation. If the “P” is weak, the entire stack—the forced insights, the fragile logic, and the risky assumptions—becomes an organizational liability. Solving the wrong problem well is […]
For decades, Tang has dominated the powdered beverage category in the Philippines. Leadership, however, does not guarantee immunity from change. Markets evolve. Consumers evolve. Categories fragment. I sat down with Mondelēz International in the Philippines’ Managing Director Aleli Arcilla, recently conferred an honorary Mansmith Sales Masters Award, to discuss Tang’s strategic reset for 2026. Q1: Let me begin with an […]
Early in my career, I had a routine that I valued deeply. Whenever our schedules allowed, I would ask Dr. Ned Roberto—the legendary marketing research guru who at one time served as our Vice Chair at Mansmith and Fielders—to sit in the back of my seminar. My request was simple: Audit my logic, find the cracks, and give me a […]
Thirty years ago, I had the rare opportunity to share my start-up experience and teach a full-semester, 3-unit course on network marketing, also known as multilevel marketing (MLM), at the Ateneo de Manila University. At the time, this subject had never been formally taught at the university level. I remain grateful to Rudy Ang, then chair of the management department, […]
When we launched the Mansmith Young Market Masters Awards (YMMA) 21 years ago, the intent was deliberate: to recognize leaders early, before success was obvious and before history edited their narratives. Over time, a gap became hard to ignore. Many platforms celebrate breakthroughs and speed. Very few honor endurance, stewardship, and the long arc of leadership. Yet leadership is not a moment; […]
Learning never stops. The author during a learning session, reinforcing his belief in lifelong learning. In marketing, what we know expires faster than we expect. Consumer behavior evolves, technology reshapes habits, and what once felt like hard-earned wisdom quietly loses relevance. That is why the most important skill in business today is not mastery, but the willingness and discipline to keep […]
Most marketing leaders pride themselves on discipline: detailed calendars, tightly defined KPIs, and precisely allocated budgets. These are signs of a well-oiled machine. But what if that very structure is what’s holding your business back? The danger is subtle but real: over-optimized marketing plans are slowly suffocating innovation. Rather than acting as launchpads for growth, many plans become rigid scripts, […]
In the business world, where brands constantly seek relevance and differentiation, talent remains the true edge. Yet the corporate hiring lens, understandably, tends to gravitate toward efficiency, often favoring graduates from the country’s top three schools. It’s a pragmatic filter: limited time, limited resources, and a need to minimize risk. But this efficiency bias comes at a cost, it often […]
In business and in life, we often tolerate things that no longer make sense. We experience routines, processes, and small inefficiencies that persist simply because no one has questioned them. These everyday irritations are so familiar, they go unnoticed. They become default thinking. But to customers, they are felt, and remembered. This is what I call common nonsense: things that […]