Is there hope for this country? One of the more popular questions people ask me during seminars. My answer is an unequivocal “Yes.”

And how is that possible?

My response is think Peter Drucker and think Marikina.

Let me explain. My answer is not important. My opinion does not matter. So why don’t we ask the eminent father of modern day management Peter Drucker and find out what he has to say.

In his book “The Age of Discontinuity,” Drucker says: All originations need a discipline that makes them face up to reality. Organizations need to know that virtually no program or activity will perform effectively for a long time without modification and redesign. Eventually every activity becomes obsolete. Among organizations that ignore this fact, the worst offender is government. Indeed, the inability to stop doing anything is the central disease of government and a major reason why government is sick. Hospitals and universities are only a little better than government in getting rid of yesterday.

Businessmen are just as sentimental about yesterday as bureaucrats. They are just as likely to respond to the failure of a product or program by doubling the efforts invested in it. But they are, fortunately, unable to indulge freely in their predilections. They stand under an objective discipline, the discipline of the market. They have an objective outside measurement, profitability. And so they are forced to slough off the unsuccessful and unproductive sooner or later. In other organizations – government, hospitals, the military and so on – economics is only a restraint.

All organizations must be capable of change. We need concepts and measurements that give to other kinds of organizations what the market test and profitability yardstick give to business. Those tests and yardsticks will be quite different.

And thus sayeth Peter Drucker.

Why should we listen to him? Well this famous Dutchman who passed away a few years ago stand head and shoulder above the rest of his colleagues. He is not only a consultant to the top business organizations in America, Drucker is also a consultant to governments and he knows what he is saying.

The market is changing. The world is changing.

And some of the worst offenders are organizations where traditional bureaucratic processes impede process rather than promote it. Bureaucracy breeds corruption. Simplification of processes makes everything transparent. There is a need to destroy old activities and replace them with newer and more efficient ones.

Ask yourself this question. While we all understand the need for foreign investments to come in and pep up our economy how many steps does it take to have a business run?

My own entrepreneurial experiences say that just securing barangay and local permits is as challenging as doing the business itself.

But then again there are leaders who are doing their best to address the program.

Just two days ago Cavite Governor Ayong Maliksi invited me, together with a few other speakers to train all their barangay captains on the area of leadership, values and skills set development. This is a good step for a start. Skills and values.

And why is this important? Because there is a model that stares at us in the face.

Have you ever wondered why the residents of Marikina are beaming with pride these days? I had a business executive telling me recently that his brother’s family is moving to Marikina simply because they believe in the way Marikina is governed and run.

Credit this to the entrepreneurial spirit of the leaders of that city. They understand the changing market and they are ready to abandon what no longer works in place of what would work and thus, they are more service oriented than being overly and stubbornly bureaucratic.

I am sure there are many local government leaders who see this too and are endeavoring to do their best to replicate the successful Marikina model. But the key here is that there should be the discipline to do so and the political will to make it happen. This is why there is hope for this country because IT CAN BE DONE!!!

While the yardstick for business is profitability, the yardstick for government is greater. It is the quality of life for the next generation. Let us support leaders who demonstrate character, possess credibility and carries competence in the dispensation of their jobs.

Politicians we have too many of them. But what we need are more statesmen.

What’s makes the difference between a statesman and a politician?

The politician thinks of the next election while the statesman thinks of the next generation.