Nature is a wonderful teacher because it evolves as it adapts.

Winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each brings changes of all kinds from temperature to water to heat and humidity. As this happens over time, most species die as new ones come into being. Evolution and adaptation to change. The ecosystem has no room at all for the least adaptive. It is not, as I see it, survival of the fittest but survival for as long as possible for the most adaptive.

These evergreens teach us the most powerful of lessons. Come whatever they are green. They shine in the sun of the winter, the spring, the summer, and the fall. They are green throughout those changes. I am no botanist but what is clear is that they adapt continually as everything around them changes. They thrive as all around them changes.

Our enterprise, Aboitiz Family & Firm, was and is an evergreen. We have to be so into the future. We were because we adapted to the changing environment as change began to speed up.

The Sevilla - Mexico - Manila trade route was the first shipping line in history. The foto below, the Spanish Dollar, was the currency established and used thanks to that shipping line.

These coins were each to debase. Just take a bite. They innovated with minted coins and serrated edges to create the first real world currency ahead of any other. The silver came from Potosi in Latin America. It was used to buy silk, pottery, tea, and other goods from China for consumption in Europe.

Manila was the transport hub for the 250 years of the Galleon trade. It was possible because of the discovery of the tornaviaje or return journey. The winds took the Spanish ships from Acapulco to Manila. It was not until Andres De Urdaneta, a Basque friar cum navigator, discovered the tornaviaje that this shipping line was able to come into existence. It was the “return voyage”. He found the way to return thru Japan, across the Pacific Ocean to California and down to Acapulco. The westward trip took a month or so and the tornaviaje four or five months or so. This is why they did one trip every six months over 250 years.

Our great great grandfather, Yrastorza, came to the Philippines because of that discovery. Change was slow and we adapted to what was then. The Philippines was a hub but it also exported hemp and abaca among other agricultural products. That is how Yrastorza, our origins, made a living.

Our great grandfather, Paulino Aboitiz, came in 1871 or so (Txanton 150) because of a new change. Ferdinand de Lesseps built the Suez Canal and opened for business on November 17, 1869. Paulino came early and arrived in 1871. Steam engines and iron ships and their invention drove the building of the Suez and facilitated the trip. Andoni speaks more of this in his article on the Larrinagas.

Paulino Aboitiz was born in a barn in the Basque region of Spain. He was educated to some extent. He had to adapt and he saw opportunity so he crossed the Suez.

Since then, for 150 years, Aboitiz has adapted and adapted and adapted successfully. We adapted on time. We continually transformed from being Spanish, to an international world with America at the helm through World War 1, the Great Depression, World War 2, and the new Filipinas and adolescent Republic. That institution called ROP transformed from an agricultural economy to a services economy by passing industrialization. Very few economies skip this step. Whether that is good for us or not, it is.

We Aboitiz, Family & Firm, have adapted successfully.

We changed in time. Many of the enterprise, if not most, failed to do that and they are presently in the albums of oblivion.

The 2000s will mean two adaptations, each in less time. We transformed ourselves to an enterprise spread across many businesses. Shipping was a main one. We exited at what seems to have been the right time. We focused our time and attention into less businesses with power generation as our major transformation and very successfully. That was a 20-year or so transformation. The next transformation will not allow us two decades.

It may give us 5 years but I fear it will only allow us three.

The sale of 25 % of AboitizPower is the start of this transition and transformation from a business ruled by the cash generation of coal and other fuel-fired electricity to selling more feed in China, to an expanded retail customer base through the Citibank credit card business purchase, to competitive edge in all businesses through the use of technology and digitalization.

Change is accelerating.

Competition is coming from more winds and will come from yet more fields. Amazon is a logistics company that may buy shipping lines, airlines, and ports. No business will be left unconnected or unthreatened as technology facilitates innovation and creative destruction.

There is very little time to chill as many are out to kill.

Education, learning, attention & engagement by all 24x60x60 996 (ELA&E - 24x60x60 996) is an expanding of my original concept of A&E 24x60x60 996 as, I fear, without higher and higher levels of education and learning we will not be able to innovate and disrupt nor adapt on time. You see, it is not just about adapting. It is about adapting on time.

Let me clarify the original misunderstanding on 996. It does not mean the life is only about work — absolutely not. Even God took Sunday off. Today’s technology gives much more flexibility to make the most of time for all kinds of using. What it does mean, I think, is that leisure and rest time could benefit most when combined with learning.

Success without hard work just does not happen nor does success happen from burnout. Success without innovation and change does not happen either. Innovation without education and learning can also not happen without learning.

University of Experience is a special Aboitiz Eyes section that focuses on leadership insights from the unique experiences, perspectives, and wisdom of leaders who have stood at the helm of Aboitiz over the years.

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