John Gokongwei’s Four Main Secrets to Success

John Gokongwei is the forefather of the JG Summit, a Multi-corporation which engages in various well-known holdings such as Cebu Pacific, Robinsons, Universal Robina, PLDT, and Meralco.

John Gokongwei literally started from scratch in order to build his fortunes. Being the second richest business tycoon in the Philippines with a net worth of $5.5 billion next to Henry Sy, what must be his secrets?

Here are John Gokongwei’s four main secrets to success:

He is hardworking

You have to love your work. You have to save money instead of spending all of it. Look for areas you can compete in. Work damn hard. Most importantly, you have to love it.

John Gokongwei

I believe this is not a secret after all. Working hard is, of course, essential for being a successful individual, and Gokongwei never failed to apply it on himself.

How Gokongwei imposes the idea of hard work to his family is even more amazing. He trained his children to be thrifty, that he never spoiled them with any cash gifts during special occasions. The value of hard work and frugality were significantly imprinted in the minds of his offspring which in return taught them the real value of money.

He loves simple talks over dinner

Most of us might be caught up with so many activities that we tend to just eat and run without saying a word. Or perhaps, we are too busy facing our gadgets that we’d rather chat with an online friend than talk with our family over dinner. But for Gokongwei, the dinner table is the place for ideas. He makes sure the gadgets are all turned off to allow conversations on how their days went, until intellectual ideas start to come up.

He believed in gender equality

We are often left with the notion that Chinese businessmen prefer their sons to run the businesses rather than their daughters, but Gokongwei eradicated this mentality. He has been blessed with one son and five daughters and he sees his descendants to have an equal potential regardless of their genders.

He lived with Simplicity and Humility

If you think about it, almost all of the wealthiest men never blunt about their wealth. They dress simply and prefer to live below their means. That’s exactly who Gokongwei is. He never shows off. He’d rather invest in travels and books than those luxury things others wanted to acquire.

On the other hand, he was never hesitant to ask advices from his fellows which requires a great amount of humility, knowing that he might already know it all when it comes to running businesses.

Gokongwei’s success story teaches us that it doesn’t matter where we came from nor how our lives went. We all have struggles in life, but these will never be the reason for us not to aim for bigger things. Instead, we should use such challenges to fuel our passion and desire for the things we wish to acquire.

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