Leadership

 

Interview about Leadership

by: Yvonne A. 

            Last November 21, 2016, the group had the chance to interview one of the head engineers of Benguet Corporation, namely Eng. Rex Balbalin who has been in the operation for six years. During the interview session, the group asked the following questions: What are the most important values you demonstrate as a leader? How can a leader fail? What is your greatest strength? What would be your greatest weakness? How do you get others to accept your ideas? How often do you feel it’s necessary to meet with your team? What is your advice to us, students?

            According Eng. Balbalin the most important value that he has is his integrity. He demonstrates honesty and trust in all of his actions to establish credibility as a leader. He also mentioned that a leader fails when they can’t get their team on board with the goals of the organization. Factors outside of a leader's control may also lead to failures such as available resources, time constraints, and the economy. He also stated some of his greatest strengths wherein being able to lead and inspire a team to perform their best and strive to achieve goals. He does such things through building a relationship and being passionate about the goals, and influencing those people around him. He also cited that his greatest weakness is when he delegates duties to others he always thinks that he can do better himself. However, if he doesn’t delegate then he could end up with more work than he can handle himself. So he took courses in time management and learned how to effectively delegate the task to overcome his weakness. He gets others to accept his ideas by citing the benefits of the idea and how to apply it. He is always open to other thoughts and changes his ideas in a way that they can all agree. He also stated that it is necessary to meet with his team at least once a week at a set time and day of the week. Communication among teams is critical and this will allow the team to get together regularly and talk about their challenges and best practices. Also when their team reaches a milestone, a new project begins, an award or promotion is given or when there is a challenging situation he would want to bring the team together. Before we end our interview, he also gave a piece of advice to students, wherein he stated that you should not always stay as a dreamer, you must act, start within yourselves and embrace the quote that says “leader in me”. You must be a leader who will not just be motivated by money and self-interest rather have the initiative to bring out the best and provide the much-required guidance to the followers.

            After the interview, the group came up with the following reflection. Even though we’re not commanders of a military troupe or the president of a nation like President Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump, not even the CEO of the company nor the founder of charities, we don’t need to be like them to be called leaders. We are leaders in our own way. Even if we’re still college students, we have the utmost potential to lead which was proven by many people who created names even at a young age. Do not settle like a caterpillar if you have a butterfly potential because from the day we were born to being school girls and boys, leadership skills matter through life.