Success Lessons from Jonathan Yabut

The corporate and business circles in the Philippines is in a buzz with these two issues at present, (1) ASEAN integraton, which is set to happen next year, and (2) Managing Filipino Millennials. This is evident with the inclusion of these topics at public seminars and conferences.

Jonathan Yabut during his talk at the 5th SSON Shared Services and BPO Conference at New World Hotel. Photo taken by me using Lumia 920

Because WSPH is one of the partners of SSON or Shared Services Outsourcing Network for the 5th Annual Shared Services and BPO Conference, I was around when Jonathan Yabut gave his speech. Jonathan is season 1 winner of “Apprentice Asia” and he inspired many young asians with his famous quote

you can never be too small to dream big

His talk  is value adding to both business leaders and millennials like him.  I’m planning to write another post for corporate leaders, but I prioritized this one with the hope that millennials will be inspired and learn from Jonathan’s story.

So what should the millennials learn from Jonathan Yabut ‘s experience?

1. He looked at successful millennials for inspiration.
   The likes of  Mark Zuckerberg, becoming a millionaire at a young age, convinced Jonathan Yabut that millennials can achieve their goals at a young age.
2. He has his own share of career setback.
   Jonathan Yabut was once an employee of one of the two major telcos in the Philippines. He expected but failed to make it on the list of promoted employees, even though, he completed the requirements.
3. He set his sight on what he wants
   Jonathan Yabut ‘s goal is to win season 1 of the “apprentice asia”.  Consumed about this, he downloaded and watched the complete episodes of  different franchises of the reality program.
4. He strategized
   Futher to Jonathan Yabut ‘s  talk, he shared two funny stories that seem trivial, but makes a lot of sense. During the competition, according to him, he was able to outwit other contestants on two occasions.
   • At their apartment, only 1 iron is available for all the contestants. As a consequence, every morning, they scramble to get hold of the iron. Jonathan bought a portable steamer (steam iron) and saved him time and unnecessary stress.
   • During the competition, they have an average sleep of 4-5 hours, so chances of low energy and sluggishness at the later part of the day is common. His “secret” weapon to stay energized was, guess what,  “extra joss”.

   Millennials, according to Jonathan Yabut, tend to jump into something sexy and hip without getting a sense of the why’s and the how’s of their involvement.

5. GRIT
   Grit = passion + perseveranceWhat defines successful people, Jonathan sharing the study of  Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth, is grit. The sustained passion and determination to achieve something for a long period of time.Grit, is something millennials should be able to develop as character trait, if they want to excel and achieve  their goal.

My next blogpost about his talk will be angled on how corporate leaders can engage and develop millennials for a leadership position.

For  the millennials reading this blog, do you find this valuable? What will be your action plan in light of this?

For non millennials, is this story unique to his generation or we have similar takeaways from our own journey  but the generational and cultural determinants are different?

Speak your mind and spark a conversation.