Page 4 - Dash of SPiCE (December 14, 2018)

Accepting the Challenge

by Rianne Bu Rocamora, Dumaguete

Oprah Winfrey once said,
“Sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do.”

It has been a long journey to get to this point. A lot has happened. A lot has changed in half a year. Looking back, I remember
the uncertainty we felt when Claire, our supervisor, informed us that we’ve been enrolled in the Silver Program of ASPiRE University.

You see, when you’ve spent months learning to do one thing really well, you get so comfortable with that PLACE, that ROLE, those RESPONSIBILITIES that it
came to define HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF.

Then, BANG! You find yourself in the crossroads. Should you take action or decide to wait? Or, worst of all, decline the opportunity presented? When faced
with this dilemma, I often hear excuses like: The timing is not right, I have family obligations , I’m fine with where I am now, It will eat up so much of my time
And so on and so forth…
All the more so with us. The class started in February when projects from the U.S. and India were coming in bulk. We were acting as project managers slash
unofficial team leaders by then. Mere rookies to the game of project and people management.

And then, there was the Project-based Revalida in ASPiRE Silver. The worry then was, “how will we ever find the time to CONCEPTUALIZE, DEVELOP &
COMPLETE the project?” At the end of our shift, our brains were so exhausted and drained that when a meeting was set-up to work on it, it was USELESS and
INEFFECTIVE.

Fortunately enough, our ideas worked in sync, with 3 members doing different parts of the project without even discussing about it first. We were able to
submit a proposal, develop it, and successfully defended it.

But it was not easy as it sounds. We did not come out of the battlefield UNSCATHED nor INTACT. Cypres and I lost a team member to stress.

We win some. We lose some. What matters is we committed to the journey to become full-fledged team leaders. We can’t always wait around for the
RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCE to fall into place, then leap into action. We need to take CALCULATED RISKS. We have a choice – we can either be PASSIVE VICTIMS
of circumstance or we can be ACTIVE HEROES of our own lives.
At this point, I would like to give recognition to the outstanding people in our lives who have helped us through to this point. Thank you to our mentor,
Clarisse Benjamin- Palalon, for taking a chance on us and for seeing our own potential. Thank you to our teacher, Jerlyn Grapa (and the rest of ASPiRE
University faculty), for sharing your time, talent, and knowledge. And for honing our leadership skills. Thank you to our classmates from different
departments. I hope over the years we help each in some way. Being part of our group has been a privilege. Our parents and families, who have
persistently loved and supported us, are due our BIGGEST THANKS.
To end, I leave you with another quote, this time by Chris Waddell. “It’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens to you.”
Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS to the SILVER CLASS of 2018.

Out of the Box
by Andrewly Agaton, Parañaque

Do you believe that your role in SPi Global is small? If so, this message will prove you wrong. According to Konstantin Stanislavski, a Russian stage actor,
director, and producer, “There are no small parts, only small actors.” Agree? In the context our company, I'm sure we've come across a certain crisis where
we questioned if our role is relevant. We may have thought “My part is insignificant. Whatever I do, right or wrong, will not matter anyway.”
This mindset is exactly what ASPiRE University aims to break. In the silver medal program, the focus is on reinforcing our stance in becoming better versions of
ourselves as leaders. As we go higher, we may have that tendency to loose grasp of the details by seeing more of the bigger picture. However, what
matters is that we learn from our mistakes and any idea and skill are radiated and channeled outward to other people so that they too will continue
cultivating a sense and culture of leadership to others. Ultimately, this program aims to make us realize that our ideas and actions can have a significant
impact.
Then AXer, which stands for ACS XML Viewer, came into fruition. Admittedly, coining a brand name happened at the latter part of the project. Oh! Did I
mention that ACS is a newly acquired account? Yes. For the past 10 years, SPi Global has been trying to get this new client to offer our services. From the
beginning, the challenges were bright as sunshine: ACS is new client, there was no significant improvement in productivity because of manual process, and
expectations are high. To address these, AXer will simplify XML checking by projecting the most probable final output. With the rollout of AXer, productivity is
expected to increase by 67% and annual net cost savings is projected at P1.7 million.
AXer simply aims to simplify a process. That may be small, but the potential impact is positive. As an analogy, let me share a short real-life story. Anyone
familiar with China Airlines Flight 120? It was a regular scheduled flight in 2007. The plane landed safely without incident. Or so they thought. Minutes after
landing, the plane caught fire and engines exploded. The reason? A loose bolt.
Moving forward, challenges are ever increasing. As leaders of tomorrow, ASPiRE University taught us to deviate from norms, shatter bad habits, and think
out-of-the-box solutions. After all, we are not just a technology company. Here at SPi Global, we are driven toward success. Thank you and good
afternoon.

Graduates’ Testimonials • 14 December 2018 4
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