Keynote speech given by Atty. Antonio L. Bernardo, commissioner and CEO, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, at the Grand Annual Awards Night of Eternal Gardens on May 3 at Citystate Tower Hotel.
Your Company traces a long and colorful history. Almost 40 years ago, your highly renowned and well-respected founder, Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, whom I greatly admire, had the vision to organize a company that sought to develop and maintain first-class memorial parks in key provinces. Now, four decades later, the company has branches in 10 locations: Caloocan City, Dagupan City, Biñan City, Balagtas in Batangas City, Lipa City, Naga City, Cabanatuan City, Santa Rosa City, Concepcion in Batangas City and Cagayan De Oro City. And with men and women like you and with Chairman Edgard A. Cabangon at the helm, there can be no doubt that Eternal Gardens will continue to expand and scale greater heights.
Over the years, the company had undergone a lot of changes in keeping with the times. Just like any other organization, it had its highs and its lows. There were many significant achievements but also some disappointing setbacks. Developments in the industry and advances in technology have caused adjustments to be made in the direction and activities of the organization. Notwithstanding all these changes, however, the company has remained anchored on the original vision and values espoused by its founder, Ambassador Cabangon Chua, which is to provide its clientele the best memorial parks and services while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and business ethics in all its dealings with the community.
Your pioneering efforts and advocacy in preneed memorial planning have benefited many of your clientele who purchased memorial properties even before there was a need for them. This has helped them prepare in advance and protect their families from future financial concerns and anxieties brought about by the untimely demise of family members and loved ones.
Truly, Eternal Gardens has gone a long way from its simple and humble beginnings. Currently, the company has around 30 agency managers, 70 unit managers and 200 counselors. Tonight, we gather to honor the cream of the crop from among them. We recognize the valiant efforts, strong commitment, deep loyalty and hard work demonstrated by all of them.
You could not have chosen a more appropriate theme for tonight’s Grand Annual Awards than “Our Pillars of Success.” Indeed, the men and women we honor tonight are the pillars of success of the company. They are the pillars on which the company has anchored its programs as it continues to build on success after success.
An event such as tonight’s provides, not only the awardees but all of us, a very good opportunity to reflect on the many blessings we have received from God and how much we have to be grateful for. This occasion is as good a time as any to think on how we can share these blessings as good stewards of everything that God has given us.
In the Parable of the Talents, we saw how our Lord Jesus Christ showed us that we are all stewards of God’s blessings and that if He gave us more blessings than others, God expects us to share these blessings with the less privileged. We are all called to share what we have received. We should not bury our treasures and keep them for ourselves. Rather, we should use them not only for our own personal needs and wants but, more important, to help those who are in need. Drawing from this parable, we hear loud and clear the exhortation that: “To whom much is given, much more is expected from.”
I am sure that all of you, in your own respective ways, have used and continue to use your time, talent and treasure in the service of God and fellowman.
In closing, please allow me to share with you a very important lesson I learned early in life. God allows us to excel in certain aspects of our lives for a reason. The awardees we have tonight have been blessed with the opportunity to accomplish many of the things that others merely dream of. They have been set apart from their peers because of the hard work they have put in and the dedication they have committed to their work. This success, however, carries with it a price and a calling. Our success does not entitle us to be just leaders. Rather, we are called to be “servant-leaders.” No matter who we are and what we have achieved, we are all called to be servant-leaders in our families, communities, parishes, schools, places of work and recreation, and in places where we touch other people’s lives. And this is what I have learned about servant-leadership.
I have learned that in order to lead, one must serve. Leadership is no longer about being on top of the heap, barking out orders, cracking the whip and making others follow your commands. Leadership is about standing side by side with your fellow members, walking the same journey toward the same goal, working together to achieve the same objectives, jointly performing the tasks at hand and relishing together the victorious feeling of realizing your dreams together.
The leader must give more than he takes, must offer more than he receives and must serve more than being served. It is no longer enough to be a leader. One must be a servant-leader to be a leader in the true sense of the word. Being a servant-leader means putting others before one’s self. Chapter 19 of the gospel of Matthew is very clear, “Many who are now first will be the last, and many who are now last will be first.”
A servant-leader is one who leads by example and is willing to do more even if it means giving up his privileges and comfort. The only thing that sets the true leader apart from the rest of the team is that the leader works harder, comes earlier, stays longer, does more, complains less, walks the extra mile, takes full responsibility and serves the most. He does not enunciate what others must do. He does it first. If he says everybody should start early, he is there first. If he says the job must be done, he stays until it is done. If he says this is not good enough, he does it all over again. He is always ahead of his team or with his team, never staying back to let others do the work. A servant-leader shows integrity. He does not cheat his team members out of their just rewards. He gives everyone his due.
A servant-leader shows competence and always gives his best. The servant-leader studies what must be done, lays out the appropriate plan and executes the same with his team. A servant-leader shows dedication. He infects his teammates with his enthusiasm and motivates them to move on in the direction of their goal. A servant-leader shows perseverance. He does not give up in the face of difficulties. He shows his teammates that no matter how big the obstacles along the way, the goal can be achieved if everybody works together as a team to attain their common goal. A servant-leader does not have to do great things. He just needs to do ordinary things extraordinarily well.
A servant-leader is sure to leave a legacy. He does not have to consciously plan it. His life of leadership by example already assures that he will be remembered long after he is gone, in the same way that Ambassador Cabangon Chua is honored and remembered. His reputation and image will continue to live beyond his mortal life. His very own life will be the testament and the monument by which he will be remembered. He will be loved not only by his followers and teammates but by his opponents and critics, as well.
I cannot think of a perfect example of a true servant-leader other than our Lord Jesus Christ. He was not born of nobility, He was born to a carpenter and an ordinary maiden; He was not born in a magnificent palace amid royalty, He was born in a manger amid animals and ordinary shepherds; He was not educated by philosophers and learned men, He learned his values from His simple parents; He did not grow up in the splendor of the court being pampered by courtiers, He grew up in simple surroundings learning the trade of His father-carpenter; when He became a man, He did not ride into battle at the head of His army, He went from village to village with His small band of disciples preaching the good news, curing the sick and helping the needy; He did not come into this world to be served, He came to serve; and at the end of His life, He made the ultimate sacrifice of serving others by giving up His own life to redeem us. May we all learn from the example of our Lord how to become true servant-leaders.