of Philosophy and Technology

I have heard a lot about Mark Jimenez in the past thru TV, radio and newspaper. Just recently, I had come face to face with the man when I bumped into a friend in the lobby of one of the hotels in Makati.  I was there for an event, and Mr. Jimenez was with my friend for a meeting.  We were introduce and I admit I was really uncomfortable because we have nothing in common to break the ice.  Expecting just a “HI”, “HELLO” and “GOODBYE” I respectfully smiled and was about to excuse myself out when my friend said that Mr. Jimenez is into the computer business. To cut the conversation short without being obviously blunt, I asked Mr. Jimenez his insight about the IT business in the Philippines and his idea on how to succeed in this cut-throat industry. I did not expect to get a significant answer but I was dead wrong, with a smile as if he knows that I was testing him he said: “In the technology business, price of hardware is always decreasing while the capacity and features are always increasing.  Everything in the middle does not matter. Having good insight on the market dynamics helps you make the right decision.  Time to market, sweet spot pricing, effective channel and constant innovation are some of the key ingredients of success.” It felt like a punch on my face. My impression about the man was totally wrong.

Later I learned from my friend that as a young boy, Mr. Jimenez would pilfer some goods from his parents’ stockroom to give to the needy children in the area.  There was even a time when he was nabbed by law enforcers, because he had a bag of food which the cop thought that he had stolen, when the cop checked  his story the maids promptly identified him as the child of their employer haha.

I have learned two important lessons with the accidental meeting with Mark Jimenez, never again would I judge a man based on what I read or heard from other people and never again would I think that I am better than anybody else.  And I was also wrong, we have indeed something in common, we were both ex-seminarians .