The rise of the COO (child of the owner)

The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust —    John F. Kennedy

How can business and political clans prevent the rise of disobedient brats or self-destructive black sheep? Are the secrets a solid family upbringing, good education, not spoiling kids, teaching traditional values, not insulating children from hardships, and leadership by example?   

How To Raise a Lance Gokongwei, Tessie Coson or Arthur Ty

How can the heirs of businesses and political dynasties become as accomplished and level-headed as a John F. Kennedy, who inherited both wealth and political savvy, or a Lance Gokongwei, Tessie Sy-Coson, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala or Arthur Ty?

On a recent Etihad Airways flight I watched The Descendants. Hollywood actor George Clooney plays the role of Matt King, a simple-living but rich Honolulu-based lawyer who fears spoiling his kids. He is also the sole trustee of a family trust that controls 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kauai and grapples with the fate of this huge inheritance, which his cousins mostly want to cash in on.

In Philippine business and politics, even in entertainment, there is the rise of what I would call the COO, or “child of the owner.” In contrast to the rugged, self-made entrepreneurs who started from scratch, the COO inherits control of a business; he or she might be good or not capable depending on his or her upbringing, latent capabilities, priorities and inner motivations.

An exemplar of new COOs rising quite well, smoothly and impressively in business include the recent election of Arthur Ty as the new chairman of Metrobank, and seasoned banker Fabian Dee as the new president of the Philippines’ second biggest bank.

Arthur is the humble and diligent eldest son of taipan George SK Ty, himself a successful COO who inherited a modest bank and some wealth from his self-made dad, textile and flour-mill tycoon Norberto Ty. It was George Ty who built up Metrobank into a much bigger conglomerate. Arthur’s hardworking brother Alfred is in charge of the family’s realty businesses.

How To Pass On Traditions Of Entrepreneurship & Public Service

Fabian Dee is my paternal cousin; he’s also grandson of Dee Hong Lue, the respected president of the prewar Philippine Lumber Merchants Association, of which my late dad was vice president. Dee Hong Lue was also founding vice president of the postwar Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII). Coincidentally also last week, one of Dee Hong Lue’s sons, former Ambassador to the Vatican and Assisi Development Foundation chairman Howard Q. Dee, deservingly received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of the East (UE).

Fabian Dee’s first cousin is top banker Peter SyCip Dee, president of China Banking Corp. All of us are direct patri-lineal descendants of the 19th-century migrant Dy Siu Gam, who reportedly was the second-generation migrant to the Philippines from our family, who famously survived a typhoon disaster on his sea voyage to Manila, and who sired seven sons. His self-made fifth son Dy Han Kia pioneered the family’s lumber trade and philanthropic traditions.  

In politics, the rising new leaders who are almost similar to business COOs in inheriting the mantle of leadership include the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) possible senatoriables to be endorsed by Vice President Jojo Binay and ex-President Erap Estrada: Chiz Escudero, who is a third-generation politician from Sorsogon province; Koko Pimentel, the son of Cagayan de Oro’s ex-Senator Nene Pimentel; Alan Peter Cayetano, son of the late Senator Rene Cayetano; JV Ejercito, son of ex-President Erap; Juan “Jack” Ponce Enrile Jr., the son and namesake of outgoing Senate President Enrile; Joey de Venecia, the eldest son and namesake of the former Speaker; and Migz Zubiri of the Mindanao political clan.

On the UNA senatorial ticket, those who are not sons, daughters or grandkids of politicians or first-generation and self-made political leaders include the nationwide surveys’ frontrunner Senator Loren Legarda and former rebel Senator Gringo Honasan.

In the Liberal Party’s possible senatoriables, according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr., himself heir to a political clan of Batanes province, not a few are also similar to business COOs — Transport Secretary Mar Roxas, who is the grandson and namesake of a former president; Harvard and London School of Economics graduate Sonny Angara, the son of Senator Ed Angara; Tesda Secretary Joel Villanueva, the idealistic and workaholic son of JIL founder Brother Eddie Villanueva; born-again Christian Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, son of former Senator Biazon; Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III, the grandson and namesake of the nationalist senator and son of a former senator. Koko Pimentel and Chiz Escudero of UNA are also both grandson and son, respectively, of successful politicos.

On the possible LP slate, those who are not kids or grandkids of political clans or first-generation political leaders include Reproductive Health (RH) bill author Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, former military rebels Sonny Trillanes and Danny Lim, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, and others.

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III himself is the epitome of a COO in politics, being grandson and son, as well as namesake of top politicos from Tarlac province. On his maternal Cojuangco side, his great-grandfather, grandfather and mother were pioneer legislators as well as the ex-president of the republic, respectively.    

Coos in the USA & China: Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, XI Jinping

In the US, the biggest political COO rising, whom I believe has a strong chance of engineering an upset win in the presidential election this November, is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He is a favorite bet of Wall Street and a very capable leader whose dad George Romney was a former governor of Michigan.

Another political COO in the US waiting in the wings for a possible next run as president is former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, younger brother and son of two former presidents. If Romney loses to Obama, Jeb Bush might see himself running in 2016 against the driven Hillary Clinton, who is the daughter of middle-class parents, similar to our own driven Senator Loren Legarda, who is also a daughter of hardworking middle-class parents.

In China, this year also marks the smooth rise, as well as one fall of what I would call the COOs in their politics, but whom they call their “princelings.” These are the well-educated suave men and women of the new-generation political leaders, who are either children or grandchildren of battle-scarred Communist Party revolutionaries with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

The most successful of the various COOs or princelings is the incoming new President of China, now Vice President Xi Jinping, whom even the traditionally critical Western media have described as an enlightened leader. He has undergone hardships during the radical leftist Cultural Revolution era, which has helped shape his pragmatist character.

Xi is a new leader whom I suggest P-Noy reaches out to for more harmonious relations between the Philippines and China, focusing more on the bigger picture of flourishing trade and other socio-economic exchanges rather than on differences. Even the closest husbands and wives or best friends occasionally and naturally have honest differences of opinions on small matters.  

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