Servant-leadership: The MVP way
Much has been written and spoken about the ethical and effective leadership that serves others. Even so, people are still hard-pressed to fully understand servant-leadership and how this is practiced in today’s complex organizations.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, a.k.a. MVP, is a top Filipino business corporate leader whose servant-leadership practices have been inspiring, igniting and propelling his more than 20 corporate organizations to a continuing success here and abroad.
Some years back, this writer was privileged to conduct a study on MVP’s leadership style, providing general insights into his subordinates’ perception on his servant-leadership, character orientation and practices.
The results of the study reveal certain innate qualities of MVP which are manifested and felt in his dealings with his valued human resources.
These inherent qualities of MVP that make him a genuine servant-leader can be summarized into: integrity, humility and servanthood. Such character-orientation qualities make up a servant-leader based on the research framework of Don Page and Paul T. P. Wong of Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C. (2000).
INTEGRITY
Meintosh (2011) says that the face of leadership is integrity. It is knowing what one’s values are, developing a set of shared values with the people you serve, and remaining true to those values (Fotch, 2015).
MVP has been successful leading changes in the visions, strategies and culture in his many organizations because his people have huge and deep trust in him. MVP, as perceived by his subordinates, does not compromise his innate solid ethical principles to achieve success in his organizations. It is in the same breath that MVP expects from his people to possess financial integrity and remain true to his quality of servant leadership until the very end.
HUMILITY
MVP’s subordinates see him to possess this servant-leadership character-orientation, in that he is more concerned with the success of his team or organization than with his own. In a nutshell, he is not motivated by selfish goals. In his many interviews, MVP would acknowledge his dependency on his professional people, and considers his human resources as the very reason why his corporate organizations are successful. He believes as well, that part of being a servant-leader is being able to craft a succession plan for his MVP companies. And such is being undertaken now by his First Pacific Leadership Academy (FPLA), offering management development and training programs, and his tapping people with great leadership potentials.
SERVANTHOOD
This San Beda–Ateneo–Wharton bred leader is perceived by his people to possess the genuine heart to service. This can be attributed to the fact that MVP came from the working class, and not a scion of a business tycoon, and he succeeded from his own merits, making him a truly servant– leader. What is uniquely the Filipino servant-leadership trait of MVP is his love for the country and his fellow Filipinos.
At 72, MVP has still a grander vision and mission to contribute to an extended level to include the Filipino society, the country, and the global community at large.
Undeniably, MVP is a very proud Filipino, a world-class servant-leader in his own way.
Fotch A. and Ponton M. (2015). Identifying primary characteristics of servant–leadership: Delphi Study. International Journal of Leadership Studies. Regent University.
Meintosh, F. (2011). The Relational leader. Cengage Learning USA, p. 145.
Page, D. and Wong, P. T. P. (2000). A conceptual framework for measuring servant-leadership. Trinity Western University. Langley, British Columbia, Canada.