Saturday, November 25, 2006 Batuhan: Pains and gains By Allan S. B. Batuhan Foreign Exchange
One of the stories that came out during this week’s series of special features in our paper was about the “Pains and Gains” of being a columnist for Sun Star Cebu.
At the time the question was asked, I have to say I had not given my reply much thought. Something that one does out of habit often goes unquestioned, and having written a column for the better part of six years now, this certainly qualifies as one of them.
Indeed, what trade-offs do I have to make as a columnist for our paper?
The sacrifices are easy enough to identify.
Putting together something sensible for our discerning readers week in and week out, and having to balance the demand for doing so with a busy work schedule requires a fair bit of juggling.
In my current responsibility, I often find myself as much in the air as I am on the ground, shuttling back and forth between Europe and our part of the world like a DHL delivery man. It is, therefore, not unusual to find myself in a lounge in Amsterdam at 5:30 on a Friday morning, trying to put the finishing touches on a draft piece, before firing it off for publication.
Sometimes when the schedules are not quite as forgiving, I could be putting something together over the former Soviet Union, en route from Amsterdam to Bangkok or Jakarta. I have to say that staying off that Jack Daniels until I have finished writing ranks up there as one of the most agonizing decisions I have ever had to make in my life.
But what of the gains?
Oh the gains are bountiful. In short, I get to practice what others can only preach about, in terms of the benefits of globalization. And being a UK-based writer for a Philippine publication is as globalized as any work arrangement can be.
From a personal standpoint, I have a forum for expressing my thoughts and ideas about the various issues that confront us all as managers, whether we work in Makati, London or New York.
Since starting my column, I have had readers send in their comments and reactions from places as far away as the United States, Thailand and the Czech Republic. I even had a reader from Brazil e-mail me, saying he found my name when searching the web for a topic in business strategy.
With the Web allowing us access to the world, it also allows the world to have access to us. This is where I find another reason for my satisfaction as a writer.
One of the readers who had written to me in the past expressed some surprise that the source of an answer to a query he had came from a publication in the Philippines. Not many people are familiar with the country, and a good number of those who do may already have some misconceptions about us from reading too many news reports about the Marcoses, the coup d’etats which spring up every now and then, and the state of lawlessness and disorder in our troubled southern provinces.
The fact that, in a way, we may be managing to change people’s perceptions about the country, and the kind of people we are, is satisfaction in no small measure. Because if there is anything at all that I have learned, the Philippines is a great country, and the Filipinos are a great people. It is just that all along, we have never managed to employ a great public relations (PR) agency.
I cannot claim to be that PR agency, but if I can contribute in any way at all to forming a positive picture about ourselves to the outside world — that would be the ultimate gain.
