There is always a need for Plan B

Even the best laid plans can go awry, whether due to unforeseen circumstances, faulty assumptions, or simple bad luck. Having a backup plan provides a safety net when Plan A falls through. It’s wise to prepare alternatives to mitigate risks and adapt when conditions change.


Matthew 25:1-13. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-244: SEPTEMBER 1, 2023]

At peace yet alert: Another reflection on flow

Finding a balance between peacefulness and alertness can lead us to peak performance. When we are at peace, fully present in the moment, we have a sense of calm and focus. Our minds are not distracted by worries about the past or future. We feel centered and ready to act. Yet we also want to remain alert, attentive to the demands of the task at hand. We tune in to what needs to be done and stand ready to respond.

Perhaps the key is integrating these two states. We can cultivate an inner stillness and be immersed in the now, while also maintaining awareness and vigilance.

This allows us to tap into the optimal state that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls flow – complete absorption in an activity we are skilled at.

We are peaceful yet primed for action, open yet intent on the goal. We move in sync with the task and environment. Finding this sweet spot leads to feelings of joy and high performance. This inner poise provides a solid foundation for excellence.


Matthew 24:42-51. Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-243: AUGUST 31, 2023]

“Hugot” and authenticity

Flourishing as human beings requires that we be open and honest with ourselves and others. Often we keep our true feelings bottled up inside, afraid to let our vulnerabilities show. However, it is precisely when we can bring our innermost thoughts to the surface that we begin to flourish.

This is why hypocrisy is a trap we must avoid. Kung hindi, paano tayo huhugot?

The Filipino idea of “hugot” captures this well. “Hugot” means to articulate one’s deepest longings, pains, and emotions. Rather than bury our hugot, we need to let it out. This takes courage and involves risk, as we do not know how others may respond. But it is only by taking this risk that we can experience the freedom and flourishing that comes from living authentically.

When we hide our true selves, we remain stuck in our heads and disconnected from others. But when we share our hugot, we forge genuine connections. Though we may tremble at our own audacity, we often find that others relate to our struggles more than we ever imagined. Our humanity is affirmed.


Matthew 23:27-32. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-242: AUGUST 30, 2023]

The responsibility of trying to be right

The responsibility of trying to be right is indeed heavy. When we strive for truth and accuracy, we open ourselves up to being wrong and making mistakes. It can feel daunting to take a stand on issues or make definitive claims, knowing that we may have to retract or alter them if proven incorrect. The weight of this responsibility can make us tentative, indecisive, or fearful of asserting anything too strongly.

However, avoiding or shirking this responsibility is not the answer.

While being right is important, it is perhaps even more vital that we engage earnestly and thoughtfully with ideas, questions, and debates. We must be willing to think carefully, research thoroughly, and revise our views when appropriate. Though challenging, exercising diligence and intellectual humility is necessary for personal growth and progress.

By sincerely striving for knowledge and understanding, even amid uncertainty, we fulfill our duty to ourselves and society. The responsibility of being right may be heavy, but it is far nobler to bear that weight than to take the easy way out.


Mark 6:17-29. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-241: AUGUST 29, 2023]

Illusions and veering away from authenticity

We went to the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag today. We were able to attend the Holy Mass scheduled on 10:30am.

The homily (I am sorry I cannot recall the name of the priest) was about illusions – how we tend to use tricks and appearances to mask things we don’t want, like being fat, being “ugly” (by normative standards) or other “undesirable” traits.

While listening to this homily, my mind tended towards how a person can gain skills and expertise such that they can manipulate appearances at will. Comedians and artists use this for the sake of artistic expression; however, there have been times in business and politics where illusions and appearances are used to cover vicious cycles or mechanisms of injustices.

My insight is that an ethical professional will encounter a fork in the road the moment they acquire the skill to potentially disentangle appearances with what is actually happening.

And the person who refuses to disentangle what seems to be and what really is can make all the difference.


Matthew 23:13-22. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-240: AUGUST 28, 2023]

Discovering our own voice

Sometimes we wonder – what is the point of knowing for ourselves when others have written so much about something?

Perhaps the point is internalizing learning and discovery in a way that we are predisposed to grow and flourish. Nothing can beat personal eureka moments compared with passively receiving boring maxims and laws that we may find irrelevant at first.

When we discover our own voice, it provides us the opportunity to make our ideas more powerful and worth acting on


Matthew 16:13-20. But who do you say that I am?

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-239: AUGUST 27, 2023]

On the burden that teachers carry and the responsibility of students

Teachers, especially those who take it very seriously, are pressured to be role models. I have read my students grapple with “impostor syndrome” – and I think that teachers grapple with this so much more. We are always trying to convince ourselves that we deserve our platforms and that it is worth hearing us out.

However, we are never perfect. Worst, we can turn out to be hypocrites. Hopefully, we catch ourselves first so we can be better. So that we can trust ourselves and earn the trust of our students and peers.

Within this context I have shared, I think that the responsibility of students is not to put teachers on pedestals and expect teachers to be perfect role models. The responsibility of students is to co-create insights with teachers that are worth acting on. If some of the words we say (hopefully not all!) turn out to be bullshit, then students can respectfully call us out or at least have the guts to take charge of one’s own learning.

In good faith, when both teachers and students embrace vulnerability and commitment to be better, learning becomes co-created and authentic. We learn from each other.


Matthew 23:1-12. The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-238: AUGUST 26, 2023]

Discerning God’s will

In today’s CFC prayer assembly, our topic is about trying to know God’s will for us. This is always relevant yet always difficult to understand.

As someone in the field of management and organization trying to reconcile spirituality wity my profession, it is necessary for me to concretize what it practically means to understand God’s will and coach my students to apply this in our lives and as a guide to internalizing the vocation of a business leader.

My favorite framework for this is what we directly use in our action research methodology as advocated by Fr. David Coghlan and inspired by Fr. Bernard Lonergan – authenticity and the general empirical method. Simply put, it is a cycle of being attentive to experiencing, intelligent in understanding, reasonable in judging, and responsible in deciding and acting.

This is not necessarily a pleasing journey. There is much mental and emotional labor in trying to understand the will of the One greater than us. Yet I also find that merely surrendering to the will of God is incomplete without putting in the work; otherwise, why did God go through the trouble of gifting us wisdom and insight?

This is also not meant to culminate into God granting us our wishes and the outcomes we desire. Otherwise, would discerning God’s will be just a mental gymnastics of convincing ourselves that what we want is what God also wants?

Thus, my own journey leads me to two simple yet profound indicators to know if we have approximated God’s will (although oftentimes this is after the fact) – have we decided and acted on something that brings about opportunities for (1) greater love and (2) greater peace?

The challenge is we can only know for ourselves that love and peace means if we have put ourselves continuously in spaces of vulnerability – of both mental and emotional labor – and decided to choose something that is inconvenient or against our initial desires to bring about a greater kind of love.


Matthew 22:34-40. And one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-237: AUGUST 25, 2023]

Avoiding duplicity and pursuing authenticity

It is indeed a great challenge in life to avoid duplicity and find authenticity that is integrated and consistent across all aspects of our lives. On one hand, it is easy to compartmentalize our various roles – as a parent, spouse, employee, friend – and act differently in each context. The pull towards behaving duplicitously is strong; we want to please people and fit in.

However, this comes at a cost to our sense of integrity.

The key is to know oneself deeply and live according to internal values rather than external pressures. This requires courage, self-awareness, and commitment to personal growth. When we are grounded in our true essence, the various aspects of life align into an integrated whole.

We build trust through reliability and act with compassion. Our relationships flourish when others sense we are showing up authentically. Though the path is challenging, living with integrity across all of life’s domains brings deep fulfillment.

Authenticity breeds a surplus of meaning through a virtuous cycle of rediscovering who we are and who we are meant to be. This is beautiful.


John 1:45-51. There is no duplicity in him.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-236: AUGUST 24, 2023]

When we perceive that the good fortune of others is unfair to us

It is easy to fall into the trap of greed and envy when we measure our lives against the good fortune of others. If a neighbor wins the lottery or inherits a small fortune, we may think life has treated us unfairly by comparison. But true fairness is not determined by random blessings of luck. What matters most is whether we live virtuously and do decent work that allows us to thrive.

Focusing on virtuous living is the key to fairness. We must strive each day to act with integrity, compassion, and wisdom—to be fair and just in our dealings with others. The size of our bank account or material possessions does not determine the richness of our inner lives. If we cultivate strong principles and engage in meaningful labor, we will flourish. The good fortune of others is not unfairness to us. Rather, measuring ourselves by our own virtues and meaningful work allows us to escape the pitfalls of greed and envy and achieve lasting fulfillment. In the end, living virtuously is the only true measure of fairness.


Matthew 20:1-16. ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-235: AUGUST 23, 2023]