Being Rich and Being Good Are Not Diametrically Opposed: Top 5 Lessons from the Life of David G. Bradley

I came across this man when my Facebook friend and childhood chum Marden Iglesias posted an article of Cheche V. Moral, (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sunday, December 4, 2011) titled "Enjoyment is by Heart. The Purpose is by Will."

This article is very refreshing to read because it contained many novel ideas. I decided to make a blog on My Top 5 Lessons from this man’s life:

1. Being Rich and Being Good Are Not Diametrically Opposed. Atlantic Media Company (of which he is chairman), had a recent year-to-date revenue of $80 million. David G. Bradley is a 58-year-old philanthropist who graduated from Harvard Business School and made it big in business. In Washington, he is described as “a force in the entrepreneurial world of new era business” and the “most civilized man in Washington,” for his generosity of spirit and elegance. Yet his 3 kids have, at different times, visited the slum areas of Tondo, Manila. With his wealth, he ventured into anti-poverty programs in the Philippines to provide shelter, health and psychological care and legal protection to abused street children.
   
   
2. Dare to be the voice in the wilderness. Bradley says: “While there are 100 fantastic causes, CPN (Child Protection Network) is the one where no one was watching when we started.”
   
   I think far too many of our business leaders are engrossed trying to make themselves good managers. They forget that what propel private enterprise forward in this country are good leaders with vision and passion, with little help or encouragement from government, if any.
   
   Another way of 'daring to be the voice in the wilderness' is to say that a leader must be able to 'stand against a crowd'. It is normal for any novel idea to encounter inertia at the start. But you have to stay the course if you believe in it. As I have quoted in Perry's Apothegm no.19: “History, though, shows us that the people who end up changing the world... are always nuts, until they’re right, and then they’re geniuses.” Dr. John Eliot said so in his book 'Overachievement'.
   
   
3. Try to hire the best and brightest if you can. One of Bradley's company’s core values is “force of the intellect”. He went to great lengths to get the best people to work for him. However, he looks for a person with first-tier intelligence and an ego under control. He said the latter cannot always be found in star executives in media (Bradley owns several media ventures). In fact, he found only one in 80 candidates while scouting for a president of a magazine division in one of his ventures.
   
   
4. Develop generosity. Another of Bradley’s company’s core values is nurturing a spirit of generosity. He says: “If you can create a culture that’s largely selfless, thoughtful, generous, it is a powerful magnet for attracting and retaining talent.” This one caught me by surprise, perhaps because we have been so jaded by too many success strategies articulating the best way to have an edge in this highly competitive world is by being a step or two ahead of everyone.
   
   
5. Pursue your passion relentlessly. Bradley says: “The Philippines is much too special a place for me to just enjoy it. I want to be serious about something here”. This became his purpose. And he pursued it with passion from the time he first set foot in the country in 1977 as a Fullbright scholar. He established, and for the past 34 years has been helping anti-poverty programs in the Philippines, like the Child Protection Network (CPN), an organization that cares for abused street children, providing them shelter, health care, psychological care and legal protection.

Finally, the article pointed out that Bradley and his family ‘were amazed at the Filipino spirit.’ I’d like to say that if other people could love us for who we are, then it’s high time we start loving our selves. 

Let us show our appreciation by being proud of our own. 

Enough of the Pinoy crab (“pull-everyone-down”) mentality. 

Only then can we take our rightful place in the ranks of respectable nations. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the best of them. Better now than later.