Lemurian Cogitations

Kung kaya ng iba, ipagawa mo sa kanila

Recently I was watching TV and I saw Ai-ai delas Alas in the trailer of her latest movie as she said these words "Kung kaya ng iba, ipagawa mo sa kanila." Later on I realized that it was part of series of supposed to be funny mangling of common Pinoy sayings, the original target of the joke being "Kung kaya ng iba, kaya ko rin!"

I was about to dismiss it as just another of Ai-ai's funny antics when I recognized that there is a nugget of wisdom in what she was saying. Especially when taken from an entrepreneurial context, this is perhaps one of the most common travails of mom-and-pop enterprises who fail to cross over to bigger business. At the point when they are about to expand, there is a tendency to freeze out of a feeling that if they will not be the ones to do it, it will not be done properly at all. Or worse, whatever others can do, they can do better.

"Kung kaya ng iba, ipagawa mo sa kanila."

That's how Henry Sy built his SM empire. That's how business empires are built.

Just a thought.