OFW Journals (OFW Stories on the News) and Some OFW Employment, Career & Business Tips

By KAREN C. LIQUETE

For someone in his early 20’s, Lloyd Luna’s life achievements read like a dream.

He has won the following distinctions: Order of the Knights of Rizal Leadership Institute Achievement Medal (2002), Catholic Mass Media Awards finalist (2002), Philippine National Police Leadership Award (2003), and the Presidential Leadership Award (2004). With such notable accomplishments under his name, Lloyd shows us how you, too, can join the ranks of the young and successful.

Youth and Campus Bulletin (YCB): What qualities must a young leader possess to become successful in guiding people?

Lloyd Luna (LL): The greatest leadership philosophy that I learned early on in my life isn’t even about "me" leading other people. It’s about "me" leading "myself." Because when I learned to lead myself, discipline my thoughts, and guide my actions, I would automatically be able to lead other people.

This is another form of leadership by example. People must see you doing "something" before they follow you in doing that "something." When you do this, you won’t have to tell them "this way, please." They will simply follow you through. Great leaders are those who are committed to personal development. Leadership is about discovering one’s potential and along the way enabling people to use that discovered potential in them.

YCB: Is it better to start a business after graduation and become an entrepreneur or work for a company first?

LL: There are two schools of thoughts here. One, if you don’t have any capital — financial, skills, connection with people, or experience, you should work for a company first. But make sure to learn and experience as many things as you can and make a strong connection with the decision makers in that particular industry. It’s important that you’ll have a perfect idea on how things are run, what unexplored potentials are there in that industry, and what you can do differently — that when you do, you’ll surely succeed.

These require small disciplines and patience. Timing is always very important. Being courageous to take steps forward isn’t enough. It should be done with the proper timing in mind. After working for a couple of years, when you’re sure enough that you can make it, and then you can be your own boss.

Two, if you have the capital — the skills, the connection with people in the industry, the experience, you can directly go to start your business.

In my particular case while still studying, I worked as a newspaper correspondent at the age of 19, became a presidential technical assistant for youth affairs in Malacanang Palace at age 21, and worked as a corporate communications manager for an events company at age 22. I was thinking of putting up my own business at the age of 25, but when I reviewed what I have that time — the experience, the people, and the skills — it turned out that I can already go on my own. So, at age 23, I started to run my own company.

So it really depends on one’s personal assessment. Either of the two can work but will largely depend on how prepared a person is. There are countless opportunities out there but it takes preparations to have those opportunities, in business or in career.

YCB: What strategies can young people practice now to get a good start on a great career?

LL: * Make and manage a decision. Many young people think that if other people want me to become this Person X, I should be this Person X. But this is not making and managing a decision by yourself. This is managing a decision made by other people. This turns out to be frustrating afterwards. You can no longer do what you love doing, you can no longer buy the things you like, go to places you want, and drive a car that you dream driving. This is simply because you are caught in a conventional belief that "it’s ok and it’s safer if someone else is driving my life for me."

* Watch your altitude and develop your attitude. I believe that our altitude, meaning our status in life, is determined not only by our aptitude, but more importantly by our attitude. Positive attitude leads to positive relationship with other people and with your work. If people see you working happily, enthusiastically, passionately, without complaint and hesitation, some will envy you and a few will praise you and would love working with you. It’s their perception about us. We know ourselves better than anyone else. Ultimately, we should be pleasing ourselves with our work.

* Learn, think and work out of the box. Enlarge your way of thinking. Open your eyes to what’s happening around and what might be happening soon. We have the internet and we know its power. Thinking out of the box is outthinking other people and using that ability to manipulate change that can lead to your success. Be different. Be creative enough to execute any plan.

* Imagine and engineer your future. Imagineering is very important. It’s ok to dream, dream big, dream even bigger. But if we don’t work on these dreams, then there’s no point to still look forward to something that for sure will never come. Imagination always requires engineering or action that when combined properly will give us great results in the form of computers, lamps, and many more. Great dreams are always built twice: They are built in the mind, and they are built in action.

* Act like a professional. Confidence is important. When new graduates go to interviews, they should learn to look directly into the eyes of interviewers. Human resource people assess your worth just by observing your behavior during the interview. So, the key is again to out-think these people by showing them how professional you are in that interview, how confident you are in that job, and how better you can be if they’ll give you that chance.

* License and qualify yourself. People should stop complaining about the government, the school they graduated from, the economy that we have. They should start realizing that it takes qualification to have a good job, or even a job that you want. Work on these classifications and you’ll automatically have that job.

* Become and overcome. The key at overcoming weakness is working on the becoming. I was told that life is not a competition and never will be. But there’s a competition in life. And when we compete, we compete not with other people around us. We compete with ourselves. Winning isn’t in the getting. It’s in the becoming. When we become someone that’s capable of winning, we win.

* Master communication and win the negotiation. Listening is more important than talking, that’s why we have two ears. When we negotiate with interviewers for example, we wouldn’t want to impress them by talking and talking. We need to be wise enough to listen to what they have to say, or what they want to know about us. If you do this, you’ll save time as well. Use body language to express your point. Your use of eye language tells them of your sincerity. Use precise vocabulary to make a point.

* Submit yourself to God. At the end of the day, we work for Someone-Up-There who can always fire or hire us anytime. So why not submit all these dreams to Him and see what happens. Our God is a God of abundance. There is always more than enough. But since not all people work to get that abundance, only a few live an abundant life. God wants you to achieve your dream. And we all know He will be happy seeing us achieving something so that in turn we can inspire and help other people. But it takes prayer and submission that we are blessed by His wisdom and love.

Shared by Lloyd Luna
Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/YTCP2007080899795.html