The UST Graduate School (GS) recently held two virtual lectures via Zoom, for Ph.D. and MBA students, in relation to its Business Leadership Series. BDO Unibank Inc., Senior Vice President Jennifer M. Tantan, and Ayala Corporation Executive Director and Treasurer Estelito Biacora served as speakers during the two-part event.
Tantan presented insights gained from her corporate leadership styles at several significant firms involving numerous areas (i.e., batteries, luxury products, real estate, and banking financial services). She imparted important lessons on transformative leadership and connected civic ideals to GS students, emphasizing that being a leader necessitates devotion, discipline, character, and effective communication.
Specifically, Tantan discussed how to navigate and progress up the corporate ladder while ensuring corporate continuity. Her perspective on the significance of lifelong learning and focusing on what matters most were key considerations on her personal leadership.
Her mentor, Ms. Teena Tan Cabbab of SM Group, joined her later during the event with an in-depth talk on experiential learning, organizational and change management, shifting leadership and collective leadership, workplace performance coaching, shared leadership, creating team vision from technological changes, and creating visions for companies.
For Biacora’s talk, he discussed transformational leadership styles in various large organizations, based on his experience in banking gained from managing one of the largest and oldest conglomerates in the Philippines. He was previously the Chief Investment Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Markets and former Head of Private Banking at Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Biacora shared lessons from the very challenging global macro-economic environments and pointed out how those were translated to making top-down decisions. He also pointed out various volatile markets that are currently roiling the financial markets globally. He explained that being a good leader requires connecting the dots, optimizing the returns for the organization, being flexible, resilient, sustainability capable for long-term goals, and a good leadership role model. He also emphasized the importance of managing risks and adding value to the organization.
Dr. Elizabeth Recio, UST Graduate School Business Cluster Head, gave the welcome remarks, while the Ph.D. students Mr. Karl Baroro, Mr. Keene Go-Imon, Mr. Prince Torres Medina, Ms. Frida Len
