BERLIN – It’s Day 2 here at the Berlin School January Module. It’s my 4th module and it again promises to be a very enriching and insightful 2 weeks.
As adobo has partnered with the Berlin School with the recent scholarship contest, I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on the program as I go through it. You can publish this if you wish (that is if you find it of interest for your online site) as I do want to encourage more people from the creative industries in the Philippines to seriously consider enrolling in this MBA program.
The first thing that has hit me during this module is the profile of participants. We are 40 people in this particular module and the big surprise for me is how diverse the class is with European participants being the minority (less than 10) and the others coming from both developed markets (USA, Australia) as well as developing markets, most notably Brazil.
Indeed, in the 4 modules I have attended, the Brazilians are quite a significant group to the point that Michael Conrad (the founder of the Berlin School) half jokingly calls the program the “BRALIN” School of Creative Leadership.
The Brazilians in the Berlin School come from different sectors. Certainly there are those who work for the ad agency networks (DDB, BBDO, Publicis, etc.). But I think even more significant are the Brazilian participants who come from adjacent industries such as film and music production, as well as clients such as banks and even tableware manufacturing.
I am very impressed at how seriously the Brazilians are taking on this program. Collectively, in class and in our informal sharing sessions, they articulate their motivation for being here. They are highly creative people but they recognize that they need to learn to manage their creative businesses for long term sustained success. They all recognize the value of the Berlin School Mission: helping Creative Industries develop competent Leaders to know how to manage their Creative Capital (people/talents).
Now Brazil is a developing country, just like the Philippines. In my years with Nestle, I have worked with many Brazilians and have been to Sao Paulo about 6 times. While I love and respect the Brazilians, I can say that we are just like them! We are both cultures of passion, music, creativity and dance. Indeed the only thing that the Brazilians do better than us is probably soccer. So if a vibrantly creative culture like Brazil embraces the need for more professional creative leadership training, why not the Philippines?
I am glad that Donna Dimayuga will soon join the Berlin School this March thanks greatly to the scholarship application you offered in partnership with the Berlin School. I only wish that more of those who work in our creative industries would seriously consider sending their current or next generation leaders to this program.
I say this because, as you know, I truly believe in the Rise of the Filipino Creative Class as I had shared during your Festival of Ideas. I believe that Filipino creativity, not just for the local market but for the global market, can and should be the next economic engine of our country, matching if not exceeding the size of the BPO industry.
But a future like this will not happen by accident. It must be nurtured, managed and led with professional business leadership skills that perhaps we must be humble enough to admit that we need to learn.
I am sure I will likely ruffle the peacock feathers of many creative professionals who learned their trade “on the job”. And indeed, there is no better education than work. However, knowing how to craft ads (or film or music) is only about managing the output. I believe what we need to learn as an industry is how to manage our own talent capital (i.e. our creative people) to a level of excellence such that we can become more than just the “call center capital of the world” but rather one of the most sought after creative capitals of the world. We have the natural talent for it, but talent without discipline, structure, and the right exposure will unfortunately be like hiding the proverbial lamp under a bed.
I know several people complain that the program is expensive. But then I think of my colleagues from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa, all of whom are paying for their Berlin School MBA education personally, and I can’t help but think surely we have more resources than these people do, yet they have chosen to make this investment into their own development.
So I do hope my writing about the program encourages others to seriously consider it and apply. Our country has every right to play on the global creative stage and giving ourselves world class executive education is an important step in this direction.
All the best from Berlin.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paolo Mercado is the SVP for Communication & Marketing Services at Nestle Philippines. He is a global Filipino with extensive international marketing & advertising experience having worked in China, Switzerland & Paris for both Nestle & Publicis. With 12 years of experience in advertising, and 15 years in theater, Paolo is a strong believer in the value of creativity for brands and for nation building. He is currently pursuing an MBA with the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, focusing his studies on the Rise of the Filipino Creative Class. He is the son of the late Tony Mercado, reknonwned adman & founder of Basic Advertising.
