Remembering the Late Jesse Robredo's Quote on Systems That Force People to be Good

It's been some time since Jesse M. Robredo died too soon. Hopefully, his wife Atty. Maria Leonor Gerona-Robredo is true to her word, in her willingness to amend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, for the sake of foreign investments. It's a shame I never wrote about the late great man. The CoRRECT Movement on Facebook gave this important note on Robredo's life. Robredo said, "It's not enough for an official to be good. There has to be a system that forces them to be good." Whether or not Robredo was for charter change or a few constitutional amendments, I can't tell. For some racists, let me remind them that Robredo's real surname is Lim, and his paternal grandfather is the late Lim Pay Co. 

In terms of Robredo's credentials (and I tend to sometimes brag about the credentials of those I quote), here's what the City Government of Naga website says:

He is an Edward Mason Fellow and a graduate of Masters in Public Administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previously, he completed his Masters in Business Administration at the University of the Philippines, finishing at the top of his class as university and college scholar. He is an alumnus of the De La Salle University, having obtained undergraduate degrees in Industrial Management Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

Mayor Robredo joined San Miguel Corporation’s Magnolia division after his graduation from De La Salle in 1980. Returning home to Naga City in 1986, he was named Program Director of the Bicol River Basin Development Program, an agency tasked to undertake integrated area development planning in the region’s three provinces.

Robredo went beyond degrees. Robredo was once part of the Magnolia division. That was after he graduated from De La Salle University. Getting not one but two engineering degrees should be a difficult feat. Robredo may have put his expertise to use at the Magnolia Division. Magnolia may also owe its success to Robredo's system. Even if Robredo left Magnolia, the system Robredo built stayed in Magnolia and may have evolved from there. 

A look into Robredo's value of all types of legitimate work 

Rappler also shares this detail of Robredo's management system:

a. As a management philosophy. Jess truly believed that each task, no matter how big or small, is worthy of his best efforts. And he expected the same from his subordinates. Of course, this management concept is not really original — as a management engineering graduate, Robredo probably picked it up from the Japanese “kaizen” management philosophy.

Kaizen, which means “the way of continuous improvement,” was adopted by the Japanese to propel their war-ravaged economy into becoming the world’s second largest, next only to the United States. The Japanese were able to achieve this because their “quest for never-ending improvement” enabled them to equal, and eventually surpass, the Americans.

In time, Japan succeeded in manufacturing cheaper but superior-quality cars, electronic products and consumer goods. The Japanese were able to achieve this because the lowliest factory worker in Japan rendered the same “best effort” as the top-ranked executives in their corporations, in line with the kaizen management philosophy.

Another aspect of kaizen is the belief that each part of the process and/or each individual member of the team is as important as everyone else. It is said that top level executives of Japan’s Toyota car company are tasked to clean the corporate bathrooms once a year to keep them grounded and to remind them of the importance of each person’s role in the corporation. 

This is probably the reason why Jess did not think it was beneath him to shovel dirt and clear debris after a typhoon, to sweep the street in front of his home, or to come to a PTA meeting in slippers. As such, Robredo never got tired of exhorting his own people in Naga City and the DILG to take pride in their work and give it all they’ve got, regardless of how menial the task or how low their rank. 

 

If there's one reason Robredo can be worth admiring, is his attitude toward menial labor. The illustration above shows the haciendero mentality of many Filipinos. Some people are told, "If you don't study hard, you will end up like the street sweeper." However, think that Robredo studied hard and he was seen shoveling dirt, clearing debris after a typhoon (and Naga is flood-prone), sweeping the street in front of his hope, and going to a PTA meeting in slippers. I may have subconsciously carried it when I seldom go out in short pants and slippers when malling. Robredo's attitude is worth admiring when he did work deemed "for slaves only". 

During Odette, I'm glad that I got rid of the mentality of, "Menial work is just for slaves." When we think of it, sure Robredo's ideas aren't all his either. Take note that neither is mine. I'm simply sharing thoughts that I've gathered here. However, what can't be dismissed is how he spread great ideas. The Small Business Chronicles also writes this about the value of low-level work:

While upper-level employees make and implement decisions, low-level employees are usually the ones who carry them out. Low-level employees are the ones who assemble merchandise, serve food and provide customer service. Although low-level employees are paid the least, they are integral to the success of an organization. In fact, some corporations require that their upper-level employees work among the ranks of low-level workers so they understand better how the organization operates.

The body needs both brain and muscle to operate. Companies can't live without workers. Workers can't do without companies. Both need each other in contrast to class struggle ideology. The brain without the body is useless. Great ideas without the right people, are no longer great ideas. The workforce without a guiding system, is no workforce either. When someone from the workforce becomes an entrepreneur, he or she needs his or her own workforce. Low-level employees get paid the least because they're starting. However, they get paid more when they are put in charge of critical decision-making. 

When we think about it, some of the richest people now used to do menial jobs. Did you know Lucio Tan Sr. was once a janitor at Fortune Tobacco Factory? Did you know that Mariano Que of Mercury Drug was once a drugstore employee? Robredo's integrity was that he treated his subordinates as people, not objects. If the boss treats the employees well--he or she can expect the company to expand. If not, the employees can either stage a strike, all do a massive resignation, create their own business, or look for a better boss. 

If people say that FDIs investments will just provide menial jobs--better a menial job than none. Also, the rate of menial jobs is low because of the supply-demand scope. However, if there's a high demand for menial jobs--their minimum rates will be forced to rise up. That's a contrast compared to some idiotic Facebook page's claims. That claim is that allowing FDI will compete in lower salaries is stupid. If you want people to work for you, offer a higher minimum wage. 

The system should never depend on the "right person" but on enforcing that the right people will be there

One of the biggest pitfalls is the people's failure to understand what the system is. For the now presumably defunct Pinoy Ako Blog--they believe that changing the system is regime change. However, the pitfall in waiting for that "ideal leader" is plain foolish. Here's an excerpt from the Making Dough Show that we should be more into systems, than to wait for another Robredo or Mrs. Robredo to show up:

We have a people-dependent operation. And it is a vulnerable place to be in because ideally, we want our people to be dependent on a system.

We want our managers to enforce the system and not their opinions. People must know that they need to abide by the rules of the company.

What are these rules?

For instance, with our ticket time standards, we need to document it, so we make sure we hold the team accountable when it comes to it.

Whether our manager is there or not there, the staff must comply with our standard ticket times. As you know, we are pretty much obsessed with our speed of service.

Another example is our closing times.  For instance, when the manager isn't there, it takes an hour and a half to close.

But what is the standard for the team to know? That it must only take 45 minutes to close the store. Like within 45 minutes, everybody is out, and these items need to get done.

To ensure that the team strictly follows, we need to have a system. 

Just imagine if San Miguel Corporation depended too much on Robredo. Robredo resigned and entered into politics. I believe that Robredo created a system that Magnolia could follow, even after Robredo resigned. In short, Robredo left a philosophy to Magnolia. Robredo may have told his bosses when he resigned, "No, you need a system that forces your workers to be good." Robredo probably outlined a system for Magnolia that would do good, even without him. If Magnolia depended on Robredo, it may no longer serve ice cream today!

The Titanium Success would also be a good source. Here's something worth thinking about:

If your business requires that kind of a person, you’re always going to be putting too much out there because you’re going to be too people dependent and you do not want to build a people dependent system. You want to build a systems dependent company.

And when you have a systems dependent company and then you put really great people on it and you give them really great training, imagine how good that’s going to be. What it does, it also takes some of the pressure off of your people. Because they are following a system where they know that slight errors aren’t going to cause this entire thing to fall apart.

Those slight errors aren’t going to destroy the whole company. And so they come in, they’re more relaxed. And guess what, they make even fewer mistakes and isn’t that exactly what happens to you as you’re driving down the freeway?

Because you know you all have this margin for error, most of you drive down the middle of your lane. Of course, that’s unless you’re talking on your cell phone which you shouldn’t be doing, don’t do that. So as you’re driving down the freeway, you have all this margin for error which puts you in a state of being relaxed and being comfortable and calm so you can focus on staying in the lane and end up getting even better results.

But if the highway patrol has decided that they are going to give you 40% room for error as a professional driver and over 50% room for error as a normal driver, then imagine how much room for error you need to give your employee. This is a short episode because I want you to turn off this podcast.

Then as soon as you do, I want you to make a list of the most critical systems within your business. And what are you going to do to be able to make the systems so good that as your employees make mistakes they’re still going to be able to get the desired results.

It could be related to sales scripts, it could be recipes, it could be systems where things are done, it could be how many different people are involved in a process so that you have multiple eyes on something so mistakes are caught by other people.

But either way, that’s your most important job. In terms of getting to that 70%, but if you can create a business where anything in your business can be done 70% as well as you and still get results, you got a business that is going to be able to grow, expand and do all of that without your day-to-day involvement.

Just what you really want in a long-term because you don’t want to have a job where you’re working in a company that you own. What you really want is you want that freedom to have a business that doesn’t rely on you day-to-day.

Pretty much, it's a system that should live on, even when the founder of the system dies. If everything depended on people, it's going to be topsy-turvy. That's why the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines needs serious amendments--to fully enforce what it intends to do. That's why Microsoft and CrowdStrike are trying to fix that problem. The problem is systemic in nature. The Philippines needs amendments to meet the situation, not simpy stay with a system and depend too much on voting wisely.