UNLIKE the human body, well-run corporations grow stronger with age.
Three corporations marking a total of 239 years. 38,800 employees. One evening to celebrate RCBC (the youngest, at 60 years), Malayan Insurance (90), and EEI (89).
When Chairperson Helen Yuchengco Dee turned 75 last year, friends realized she had 75 companies under her stewardship, one for each of her birthdays. At last Thursday’s triple anniversary, her keynote speech was quintessential Yuchengco-Dee, short and straight to the point, approximately two minutes to deliver from five short paragraphs of written text.
The triple treat program spelled cocktails, a musical revue of Broadway hits, and a brief documentary highlighting the contributions of the three companies. To wit, EEI with 30,000 workers “committed to erecting infrastructures, buildings, power and petrochemical plants, heavy industrial facilities” in the digital age. Malayan Insurance, a byword and after nine decades still at the forefront of the non-life insurance industry. RCBC, with an 8,000-strong force, with reason to rejoice in opening the year of perfect vision with a 25 percent jump in income, strengthening its position as the country’s sixth largest bank.
“Milestones don’t just happen,” Ms. Dee said. The key is “passion and collaboration” between and among clients and workers.
The Bosslady, whose stress busters include unplanned, unannounced trips out of town and the occasional theater entertainment, chose Repertory’s staging of their Showstoppers, a medley of memorable music from Broadway, to make the evening more memorable in a personal rather than purely corporate sense. Something was in the air – the sound system worked perfectly to enhance the cast’s style of singing, definitely Broadway in character. Broadway is between opera and pop, and it is neither. Rep, you got it – foreigners in the audience could not believe they were not in New York!
HYD’s preference for Broadway over pop and opera has its roots in her mother Paz’ dedication to Repertory and her father Ambassador Al’s advocacy to promote music and the arts as a component of education. No wonder she couldn’t resist adding a touch of her own, asking Rep to include three Filipino love songs in the program: “Dahil sa Iyo,” “Ikaw,” “Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas.” As it turned out, those three turned out to be the showstopper of the night.
