Developing One Life: Leadership, Learning, and Lasting Impact

In this episode of Leadership Quotient, Lindsay Guzowski, CEO of The Crucible, speaks with Aian Guanzon, Chief Marketing Officer at Global Dominion Financing, about leadership, long-term vision, and why relationships remain at the center of value creation. Drawing from a career path that spans nursing, tech support, advertising, insurance, fintech, and finance, Aian shares how systems thinking and service-oriented leadership shaped his approach to building teams and developing people. The conversation explores the importance of humility, listening, and lifelong learning in investor-backed environments, as well as the challenge of communicating long-term strategy across stakeholders with different experiences and perspectives. Lindsay and Aian also discuss why great leaders avoid benchmarking others against themselves, how technology should augment rather than replace human judgment, and why changing one life can ultimately create impact far beyond the organization itself.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Leadership Quotient, a podcast by The Crucible, where we explore how leadership teams in investor-backed companies are built, aligned, and scaled for impact. I'm your host, Lindsay Kazowski, and in each episode, we'll talk with the people shaping value behind the scenes, from operating partners to investors to advisors to C-suite executives, about what it really takes to drive performance through leadership. On today's episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, I chat with Ian Guanzan, Chief Marketing Officer at Global Dominion Financing, about the challenges of sharing long-term vision, the lack of universal experiences, and why changing one life changes many lives. Ian, welcome to Leadership Quotient. To set some context, I would love for you to give a little bit of your history and describe your journey in getting to the place you are today, leading an investor-backed business that also gets to function in the uh the risk management space and providing financing for motorcycles.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

No problem. Um, I hope I can do that in a few minutes, but it's gonna be a long story. So to begin, well, I I think I have to go back when um when I was younger in grade school, at the very least here in the Philippines. I know that I started getting into having that business or entrepreneurial mindset. Um, when I started selling stuff at school, I started with uh food items and anything that you know great schoolers would be able to use in their day-to-day lives. Um I know right then and there that I'd be able to that that is something that I'd love uh to be able to serve um with something that people might need in the future, um, and have that available uh with me so that I'd be able to help other people. Um, that's where it started, uh, you know, having that uh part of me that want to serve people um with resources. Uh and then fast forward into the future, my career started really as a nurse. Um, it's too far from where where I am right now. I have a background in nursing, um, but I did uh just a little of that back at school, mainly through internship, right? While I was doing school, I was already working as a tech support for another company, right? So it's kind of a mix of different worlds, but all um I learned essentially were about service and how how one type of service can be priced differently to another type of service, uh, just because it adds more value to people. So, right from nursing to tech support, a little bit about service. I jumped into insurance industry and then to fintech, where you know you manage the same uh quality type of service, uh, you manage your risk, you communicate how uh this adds value to people's lives and all that stuff. And so I also had to study different uh dimensions, different principles, just so I can jump from one industry to another, but essentially doing, you know, doing the same thing for people.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

The world of nursing is seen as a highly empathetic, you know, people-oriented business, although there's a lot of process involved. Tech support and insurance are seen as anti-empathetic in a lot of ways. Um how did you merge the two of those in your conceptions of how to bring great service to the people with whom you're working?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah. Um, but believe it or not, one thing that's that I used uh all through those different industries is what we call um what I call adpy or ADPIE, which is part of uh traditionally, I don't know if it's still the case now, of the nursing care process. ADPI or ADPIE that talks about assessment, diagnosis, intervention, planning, um, uh planning, intervention, and then evaluation, which is really the process of problem solving, if you think about it. So when I was when I was younger in my career, I used the same principle to get a tech support job because I rarely need the job back then. Um, and I thought when an opportunity for a people manager came in, I thought of using the same principles and I didn't, you know, really expect that I'd get the job. Um, I would say that that's my first or initial exposure to leadership um in people development. And then, you know, all throughout these different industries, and as I move the career ladder, I'd use the same principle. I thought of problems as universal, but it's it's going to be the same. And so the way it's handled would probably be, you know, not too far uh from that, or using that principle. You have to assess, to diagnose the issue, to plan for how you're gonna resolve it, to implement whatever you planned, and then to evaluate right back at the data that you had um when you first assessed the problems and see if it made any impact, right? Um, and so I thought I don't think it's gonna be the same anyway, whether it's in healthcare, it's in advertising, because I went through advertising as well right after um insurance, and and now that I'm in finance, um serving financing products to to a lot of Filipinos. I think um it's not that it's all the same, but they follow the same structure, and uh I'd be able to handle whatever type of crisis or problem that's thrown to me uh with that principle.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

That's a fascinating connection between truly a great triage and problem-solving uh methodology and taking that and applying it to less urgent environments. Have you been able to teach some of those skills to those that you develop within you know the running of the business andor people you've met along the way?

SPEAKER_00 6:34

It's crazy that you you have these questions. These these are really interesting questions, and that's what exactly what I did, uh Lindsay. As soon as uh I realized that this this is a great uh process, it's a great principle or framework to use for leadership. Um, there was a part in my career when I also focused on people development. I thought if this worked for me and it's working for an organization, it might work for others as well. And so it's important that I hand over this knowledge, uh, this this I'd say framework to others and see if it also works for them. Um, for me, the one of the strengths that I have or that I've seen that really works as in a form of an investment is really people development. If you develop other people or help or guide other people to see the best in them and make them or help them become leaders as well, it really you know creates a domino effect. Um, and it's it's kind of become my way of uh giving forward or paying back the the community. And so uh I think it was in recent, in the recent decade, by the way, I've been working for almost a couple of decades. In the recent decade that I started using the adpy principle um and then passing it over to other frontline managers and future leaders and to see if it works for them too. And it did. And uh, you know, it it also comes in uh these people also come from different backgrounds and different industries. I became a consultant aside from my you know, I'd say my daytime job, uh, to other industries like in pharmacy and in pharmaceuticals, in healthcare, in real estate, and I saw it working for them too. So yeah. Uh it became a training framework, it became a frontline manager framework and a leadership framework that I used uh in developing people.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Great. Have you found uh scenarios where the adpy system doesn't work?

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Uh I I don't think so. Because it's it's basic and foundational. Uh it it's not that it works all the time. There may be some components that I had to tweak and add a little bit with as years go by. For example, recently, um one of the uh one of the modules that I added into this training, leadership training, is what I call strategic foresight. It's not that in it's not in ad pi, but it's it's a skill that does not involve any historical data or you know, merely just communication skills. Strategic foresight is something that's different as well. And I learned that through one of my educational uh experiences or educational background as well. I have a master's and development management of it, and then I inserted that just so I think the leadership experience of all the people managers I've I've worked with would also be kind of complete or maybe augmented by some sort of uh futures thinking and systems thinking as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

And what skills do you think are unique to working in an investor-backed environment relative to different entrepreneurial environments?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Uh that's a great question because I've encountered some challenges just around that lately. Uh I I think the the the the way communication skills are formed um originally is just you know linear. It's gonna be the same across. When you know how to communicate with other people and you treat them just as your customer, you're you're probably good and you know, at all angles and all dimensions. But it's different when you have um investors um with different knowledge and different backgrounds, and you have unsai principals that have decades of experience as well, interesting their investment in you and in the company, you have you require, I'd say, a different level of or a different type of communication skills as well. You have to be able to not just answer their questions um and uh you know anticipate what what the questions are going to be, but you have to be able to listen. I think the listening skill is at out is you know out up to the next level um when you're you're dealing with uh your your principal investors, I'd say, uh in a company that's you know backed by backed by investors. They they ask questions that may not necessarily be at the surface level. It's asking you what what it sounds like that's you know the question, it it may mean something different. And uh, you know, you that you have to, it's it's sort of there's an element of guesswork right there when you have to understand what what would actually be the real question that that particular investor would actually want to want to really ask instead of this question that he brought uh to me. And you have to go back to his years of experience, how he's handled different things before. I mean, it might be common to some, but it's kind of on a different level when you're well, at least in my case, when you're in the Philippines, Filipinos are very um sometimes indirect uh with when it comes to asking, especially the the the ones in the previous generation.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Yeah, I was gonna ask if if some of that's cultural, because I think that in in US contexts, frequently someone would say, and what do you mean by that? Or can I answer that question differently? And they would be answered fairly directly, and or there would be enough context provided ahead of time that someone knew exactly why they were being asked to somewhat streaming.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

It would probably be a cultural thing. Um, but particularly with the previous generations of of Filipinos, some are really still indirect. Um, and then it's hard to ask them directly. That's that's not usual, uh, the usual case here. It's kind of a you have to really be able to answer the question with just by trying to guess what he really wants to ask.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

So does that require a secondary level of filter and intuition when you're engaging in frankly any business relationship? Or do you find that specific to investor-backed contexts?

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Uh I I would say so. It's it's the former, yes, it would require a different level of uh a different level of listen or communication skills. The listening and communication, it it's it's mainly focused on listening. One thing that I think leaders of uh investor backed organizations here in the country should should have um when it comes to not just leading your organization but leading uh people as well. Because in our case, a lot of times you have to also lead the principals themselves or the principal investors. So yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

So it managing up through influence, it sounds like that's true. So you mentioned you're experiencing potentially some challenges recently about the distinction between investor back scenarios and other entrepreneurial ventures. What are the hardest things about working in these environments outside of the communication skills?

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Uh I think about it, but uh I I I said that, Lindsay, by the way, because uh my recent experience, uh at least work experience, would be the first time I've worked with a local company. Usually, or in my previous uh career, I'd be engaged in in a US or an international company that's established here uh in the Philippines as well. And so I probably saw or experienced for the first time that that cultural difference. But I've been with them also for uh uh more than five years. And so uh I I just noticed that when I when I was given this opportunity uh by individual investors to to form a startup and and lead in in a bigger way, that you know, oh okay, now it requires a different level or different type of communication skills. It's not it's no longer that direct as before. Um, but I'd say one of the additional challenges that's kind of tied to it still would be able to share with them a vision that's also tied with communication skills. Uh that is more long-term, the concept of perhaps sustainability um and uh you know long-term business for not just sort of profit, but for people and the planet as well. I I'd say it's it's not that they they don't understand it. Sometimes it's different to it's more difficult to uh uh align those uh those concepts and you know show show the money around those two specifically. How do you how you can probably explain to them why it's important to always consider sustainability aside from profit and risk management?

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Well, and I think you're talking in different different frames, right? You're thinking both about immediate impact and long term, they're looking at investment horizon in a lot of ways. And it's it's matching those up in a way that can enable both parties to feel understood and get the right results.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

That's right. And in many cases, I I talk about this in terms of people development as well. I'm I and I know I've seen we've seen this question surface before, and we've you know debated about it. Would you rather have um an employee who's you know stay loyal to you and who have who doesn't have an opportunity to go elsewhere um just because you didn't train them? Or would you, you know, rather have an employee who you developed and trained and move elsewhere to you know uh grab another opportunity? And I I would always pick the latter. I would always go for people development no matter what. Um and that concept is quite uh unconventional for many um organizations still up to this point in time, you know, knowing we've been through a lot of different crises um and different uh I'd say generations of uh problems as well. I think we we still haven't reached that point that uh of really believing 100% to people development and what it can do, not just for the business, but for community and uh the society as a whole. And yeah, that's that's that's one of the most difficult um aspects of the business. Because I I would always go for, you know, regardless, whatever happens, um, we develop one life, we for sure will, you know, develop a lot of lives um in the long run.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

That's a great quote. The idea that by developing one life, you're developing many lives.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

I mean, I've experienced it personally. I I never thought I'd this is something that I'd be you know doing in the future. Of course, when I was a kid, uh, and I know a lot of Filipinos can relate to this. Uh I I I thought I'd become a doctor, either a doctor or or nurse. That's in fact why I became a nurse in in the first place, because my my a lot of my relatives were nurses abroad. Um and and I thought that was really, you know, there was really no other option. Uh, I never thought I'd be in business. And when I got into the field of tech support just because you know I needed some good money, I didn't realize that it was going to be good work too, um, because of the relationships I built with people uh and seeing how they could they could potentially grow. Um I'll share this with you, Lindsay, as well. A lot of the people I was working with when I was in uh technology, they thought of that as their temporary work as well. And a lot of them thought they're they're gonna be in healthcare, they're gonna be nurses, they're gonna be doctors in the future, just because that's what you know most of us are known for. And so I uh I thought I'd shared a personal vision of seeing you know themselves in the long run in this service and seeing themselves as working in this particular industry, um, understanding that it's going to be long-term, that it does it's not far from what we're thinking we were supposed to do. Um and that that concept of loving what you do instead of you know just doing this temporarily and moving to what you love anyway, is something that is really close to me. So I I I mentioned earlier that I was uh I worked I because that's my educational background, nursing, and then I moved to insurance tech support technology and then insurance and then to uh fintech and then now finance and in financing. I did uh I studied a lot of other aspects or a lot of other academic dimensions as well in C. So I I grabbed I need I needed uh knowledge in economics. So I took up a degree in economics and then marketing because I went to advertising when I was in the finance industry. I became the the vice president for business development and advertising for one of the financing companies here. And then the last one was in a master's in development management, because I thought of really of wanting to make one service produce more impact. I know it's odd because I was in financing, we were giving out loans, we were giving out, we were financing products to to businesses, but then I thought this has to mean something. I should be able to do more than this. And that really didn't change my desire for working in the industry. It just gave me a different perspective of how this service should be, you know, facilitated in and around the community that that we really want to serve. And I understood how everything I did before and all the other industries I've worked with or worked for uh really serve the the community and the society. So it's not in it's not in the place where you are, it's not in what you do. But what really those things can do for the community is how I see it now.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Yeah, you're highlighting a lot of intellectual curiosity and Just a desire to go out and if you don't know something, go get it. Um, and I think that that sounds like it really is aiding the community writ large.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

I'd love to hear uh the about the mistake that you made that taught you the most uh one of the when I was a little bit younger in in people development or in lead in leadership, I I wouldn't even thought that. Uh at the early stages of the leadership when I was learning about it, I'd say that um benchmarking using myself and my own experience has been the biggest um mistake, uh, mistake or misconception that I had in the past. I thought that if I was able to do this, everyone else should be able to do this as well. If I thought that this made me feel successful or happy, uh, I think others should also see this as success. Um and I learned through through the years that, you know, obviously it's relative. It doesn't mean that, you know, when they also become people manager or leaders in their organizations, they're successful, then necessarily does not mean success to them as well. Um, and in some, especially with others that are from different industries too, that I was able to, you know, convert, I would say, uh, to another industry, I thought, you know, I was able to do this, so you should also be able to do this. It should be easy or at least manageable for you. But then um, that's not necessarily true. Uh, success might mean different to them. Their skills and uh their uh their expertise is will probably be lying somewhere around, and except for this industry or this this line of work. And it's not always in the skill, sometimes it's in the value or it's in the outlook. Um, there are values-based uh components or characteristics of a person that may not fit in in one industry versus another. So I stopped, you know, benchmarking using myself as an example and developing other people because sometimes it could be much simpler than that. Success might be closer to them than in my own experience. And in many cases, and this is what uh I would really love to share, others or many more can do so much more than I did. If I just used myself to benchmark, I probably would be limiting their potential as well. Um, in recent years that I've been into people development, I was always hoping my my first line or my initial initial line whenever I trained them is that I oh I always hope to see someone you know who would go you know farther than I did, would eventually become my boss in the future. I'd love to see that. Uh that's what I that's how I always open my uh frontline manager leadership training uh with them.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

That's fantastic. As you think about what's going to be required in these investor-backed companies, entrepreneurial companies, for the next wave of value creation as technology's changing, the world's changing, etc. What do you see as the most critical skill that someone needs to be developing now?

SPEAKER_00 25:43

I think a lot of uh the other skills can now pretty easily learn given you know the the advancements in the technology, and there are a lot of uh, at least in our case also, additional support for new investment uh and or investor-backed organizations, um, except for everything that has to deal with relationships. I think relationships is a core dimension that you'd never see in a book. I mean, you would be able to read about it for sure. Um, but it requires a certain level of understanding, experience, and a lot of listening. I know I heard this in a lot of leadership uh interviews too, especially in your previous episodes. I heard about how listening is important. And that's one of which, when it comes to building relationships with people. Again, I mentioned here earlier how the level of communications and building relationships is different from your customers to your employees to your principles, principles that are in in your investment backed organization. And that's that's that's I would say something that's continuously evolving through through these years, through these decades, especially now that we are in the middle of um, and I don't consider this as very unfortunate. It seems like we've we've been through one crisis to another. I don't know if you uh you you know what I mean. Uh it just it's it's just in a different form. And um what's harder now to explain and communicate is how you still see uh a positive outlook or future amidst all of these crises, and that requires a certain level of relationship building with people around you, um, and and you know, people uh they they say below you, the the people they're uh whom you've shared your vision with and they're believing in you. And yeah, that's that's one.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

I think that's a great point. And I think that it really speaks to the importance of people in an increasingly technological world. And that wraps up another inspiring episode of Leadership Quotient. My thanks to IN for joining me and sharing such thoughtful insights. To our listeners, if you found this conversation valuable, be sure to subscribe to Leadership Quotient wherever you get your podcasts. You can also learn more about the Crucible and how we're helping investor-backed companies align leadership teams for scale at the crucible.com. We'll see you next time for more real conversations on leadership, talent, and value creation.