Structure drives behavior. I learned this a very long time ago from a very wise man. When the Aboitiz Board went to Silicon Valley to meet with people and learn where innovation was going, in one of our first visits someone made a comment that we were all structured to be exactly where we were as an enterprise. It made me think that that had to be so for individuals and economies. In the visits I made this fall, I saw examples of this being so valid.

One is structured to be exactly where one is.

What did the fathers retain as their most important oversight? Quality.

Miguel and Miguel Gonzalez of Castro y Gonzalez (Valladolid, Spain), they make bellota ham and accompanying products.

Angelo and Gaia Gaja of Gaja (Barbaresco, Italy), they turn Nebbiolo grapes to among the very best Barbaresco and Barolo wines that one can enjoy.

Luciano and daughter Barbara Sandrone (Barolo, Italy), they also turn Nebbiolo grapes to among the best Barolo wines in the world. Alessia is Lucciano’s granddaughter. In 2021 she took over as the winemaker.

Father and son, father and daughter, and father and daughter.

What do they have in common that results in their reaching the top of their game. Hard work, the best materia prima possible and great terroir to start. Decades of institutional knowledge to continue. Now everyone has some of that. Alas, they are not what these three are and will probably be.

On their own, with common sense as their guide, they have the same structure.

Strategy is fully about gaining competitive edges and advantages in doing what no one else can, over and over and over to win in that Infinite Game.

The fathers and owners have turned over day-to-day management to their most competent child that lived the vineyard, the wine, and the life since mother's milk. So they know the wine, the values, the name, and the soul. They do not need anything in writing. They all get it and together and they get things done.

What did the fathers retain as their most important oversight? Quality. They do not see quality as something of the past. They know that longevity is about quality.

Quality is about the future and not about the past. The past in wine is harvest memory and harvest lessons that teach about quality in the future. This struck me.

Who knows more about the quality of the future than the one who brought up wine over years and knows its possibilities? One who has learned from his father who brought up those vine years that spent centenaries adjusting to the terroir, in general, and the soil, in particular.

Strategy is fully about gaining competitive edges and advantages in doing what no one else can, over and over and over to win in that Infinite Game. The grape matters, the terroir matters, the weather matters and so much more but it is the conductor that makes music.

We Aboitiz together with Ayala, Family & Firm, are among two marathon winners in the history of family businesses in our economy. Our one ingredient for success was the timely adaptation to change.

On intent, I separate my experience with Giacomo Conterno of Podeiri Aldo Conterno. His vineyards can produce 120,000 bottles from his 25,000 hectares but he only produces 80,000 bottles because he will only make the very best he can make. He does not produce a second label at a cheaper price. It is philosophy — philosophy about quality and the expression of his land, his family, and his name in wine. He will not sacrifice a millimetre of quality for his Gran Bussia because his customers just do not want him to.

The story of Tondonia is the same. Maria Jose Lopez’s position in the company is not CEO. It is Bisnieta — great granddaughter. She will not sell you a wine that is not a teenager, aged 13 years or so in her barrels, because she knows that drinking young wines are infanticidal. They have been adapting to change for close to 150 years. Her grandfather made this wine you see above — 1939.

On top you have Andy Soriano and Team Alegre representing the Philippines in the Mallorca Super TP52 race. He has to have the very best crew, the very best boat, the very best use of information and experience. His entire crew knows that the distance between them being number one or number two is seconds. How fast on picks up wind in seconds makes all the difference in the world. They analyze information of all kinds from pieces of the boat sent by computers to computers to search for the smallest of improvements. Equipment, systems, information, team, and experience to fight together to win. The structure on the boat with not only a captain and his crew but a tactician. He has a tender following him taking photos of everything for the debrief and the post mortems daily. Mistakes are fertilizer for them and they are are to be seen in slow motion and in fast motion because there is no room for non-improvement when you are fighting for seconds to win.

We all have to understand as much as we can of why things are changing because that change did not start yesterday. What we are seeing is evolution speeding up.

I would like to wish all of you a very happy new year sharing with you some of the lessons that I learned in 2021 from people who are among the very best at what they do.

We enter the third year of St. Covid signalling to us the importance of thoroughness but with flexibility, of adapting to change, of technology and what it has to do for us from productivity gains to customer service to learning.

Change is accelerating out there at an accelerating pace. We all have to understand as much as we can of why things are changing because that change did not start yesterday. What we are seeing is evolution speeding up.

I have purposely sent you this article as close to January 6 as possible in celebration of Three Kings to honor a revolutionary who questioned authority and power. He had the “cojones” to question and challenge high up there. Personally, I think it is our duty to question our leaders and hold them accountable. We have launched the Philosophy of Radical Candor in 2021 as we all as openness and agility to innovate. Can one disrupt without questioning? You are familiar with the disruption caused by Jesus Christ. He turned the world upside down.

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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