Lewie Diasz launches Marketing & Business Strategy
Following is the speech delivered by Lewie Diasz at the launch of his book Marketing & Business Strategy.
Ministers at the head table, Eardley Perera, Yasas Hewage, distinguished invitees, our friends from the media, ladies and gentlemen.
It has been four years since I got on this same stage to present my first book to you and I made a pledge to Eardley Perera that I will be back. Here I am.
I dedicate this book to my mother Romayne, Jacqueline and Josh Diasz as well the late Prof. Uditha Liyanage, who would always live in our hearts forever.
When I was 17 years old, which is not too long ago, I met my first love! ‘Marketing’. It was love at first sight. It has given me everything I own, everything, from the food I eat, to the clothes I wear, the car I drive, the house I live and the most precious of them all, a beautiful wife. Marketing changed my life.
When I was 17, I came across a marketing textbook, left by my mother on the dining table. After reading this marketing book, I made a request to my mother to enrol me in the same course that she was following, to pursue my studies in marketing. Although I was not the most brilliant kid in school, with much reluctance, my mother Romayne Diasz had some faith in me and enrolled me to start my studies in marketing.
I sat in the front row in class, never missed a single class and I enjoyed it so much, that I ended up completing the qualification before my mother. Mother, today, I keep marketing books on my dining table, hoping that, one day, my son Josh Diasz, who is three years, will ask me the same question. Thank you for all you have done.
I started my career as a salesman, with a salary of Rs.2,500 and sang in a band part time to pay for my studies. Travelling the four corners of this country in busses and trains I learnt the art of selling to mudalalis and then moved into the corporate sector to master the art of managing affairs in the board room, working with some of the finest business leaders in large blue-chip companies in the country.
Today, I have a very special message to the youth of this country. You are the future this nation. This country needs you and this country needs marketing. Marketing is a philosophy and it’s for everyone in the organisation.
I had three big dreams as a young marketing student and as the black sheep of my family. They were, to start my own business, to find a smart, loving companion and to have the joy of intellectually stimulating people. I am living my dream right now.
And I want to share four things with you today – that will help you build a personal strategy or a strategy for yourself.
#1. Decide on two competencies for yourself – two things that you would like build for the next 20 years. What is competency or a core competency? It is something you are very good at; it is something that you execute above average; it is something that you would do sufficiently better than someone else.
It is any activity that can be skilfully carried out and is central to your personal success. Just pick two things, two activities that you would execute with passion and dedicate the next 20 years to be the best in it, improving every day. Two activates or competencies that you would be so good at that it would be your completive advantage one day. Find them early.
For Mark Zuckerberg it was the ability to write code; for Steve Jobs it was calligraphy and design; for Elon Musk it was solar energy; for Victor Hettigoda is was a recipe; for Meryl J. Fernando it was the taste of tea and for me it’s strategic marketing – two competencies for the next 20 years.
#2. Envision. Envision a business model through the lens of your own core competencies. How would these two competencies sustain you? What will be the end game? This is where you would need some help and I would be glad to help you. Successful business leaders develop a rare the ability to see futuristic scenarios. Fundamentally, ‘strategy is’ to develop the ability to foresee the scenarios of the future and be prepared with plan A, B, C. Envision, a profitable, sustainable business model with the two competencies you have chosen.
#3. Persist. Persistence is where most of us fail. Do these competencies wake you up in the middle of the night? Are you channelling all your free time, every day? Are you committed enough to stay focused and persist when no one else can understand why you are doing it and when everyone else is asleep at night, you need to stay up and persist, pushing the boundaries of your knowledge and skills to be the best in the two competencies. Assigning all your resources, your time, investments, your thinking capacity and your mental energy, towards developing these competencies. Stay focused. Persist.
#4. Failure. Don’t ever worry about failing. I fall down and fail all the time. Get up and start walking. To the youth of the country, there’s so much potential in all of you, stop complaining that you don’t have resources and amplify the little resources you’ve got; persist, persevere, for this is the time and ‘this is’ the land of opportunity.
I was once without hope or any plans for the future. Well, if you’ve tried everything and you’ve failed over and over and over again, there’s always politics. And to the younger generation, your biggest distractions are Facebook and Whatsapp. You get depressed if you don’t see notifications on Facebook or your Whatsapp, turning red.
So, in summary, remember the four things that would enable you to build a strategy for yourself. Decide on two core competencies for the next 20 years. Envision a business model from these two competencies. Persist and overcome your failures. Follow your heart and leave a legacy behind!