FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF ACCOUNTS, BUSINESS, AND FINANCE
Nicanor Reyes Street, Sampaloc, Manila
Thought Leadership Presentation Report
Mukbang Kmart/Samgyup Resto
Ginez, John Robert
Submitted by:
“Power Rangers”
Ablas, Leila Vashti T.
Cabatbat, John Kenneth P.
Garrido, Fritz Rinonne M.
Lampa, Angela Faye S.
Mangoba, Sylvia Nicole M.
Reodique, Diosalene V.
Roldan, Marigold S.
MGT1101 SEC 36
November 12, 2021
Table of Contents
Introduction
1
Overview/Name of the Business
1
Company Address and Contact Details
1
Date of Virtual of Online Interview
2
Resume of the Person Interviewed
2
Questionnaire Template
3
Transcript of the Interview
4
Photo Documentation
13
Individual Reflection and Personal Plan
14
Conclusion
24
References
24
Acknowledgement
24
Appendices
25
Introduction
Action, influence, passion, inspiration. These are characteristics that make up a fruitful leader
towards followers and various situations. The final requirement in the course of Leadership and
Decision Making entails definite objectives of demonstrating leadership among the group and
taking into account the factors of decision making. These attributes were incorporated from
conducting an interview session with a professional business leader, learning from the knowledge
shared by the chosen leader, and how they handle problems based on the three core elements of
leadership-leader, follower, and situation. The whole process of this paper was done in a step-bystep manner, with each part assigned to every member, further increasing productivity. From
searching a possible respondent, formulated guided questions for the interview, setting the
schedule that applies to all members, especially the respondent, to the compilation of each content
of the final paper. Each step was carefully accomplished with the utmost importance.
Overview /Name of the Business
Mukbang Kmart/Samgyup Resto is located in Santa Maria Public Market, Poblacion West, Santa
Maria Pangasinan beside Chibugan ni Kapitan and Primicias Pharmacy. It is a sole proprietorship
owned by John Robert Ginez.
Mission: To be one of the samgyup restaurants in Pangasinan providing outstanding quality service
and affordable rates.
Vision: To provide the most affordable and highest quality Korea BBQ with impeccable service
in a friendly and enjoyable atmosphere.
Company Address and Contact Details
Business location: Santa Maria Public Market, Poblacion West, Santa Maria Pangasinan beside
Chibugan ni Kapitan and Primicias Pharmacy
Business contact number: 09062501047
1
Date of Virtual or Online Interview
The interview was conducted on November 9, 2021, around 10:50pm to 11:40pm.
Resume of Person Interviewed
2
Questionnaire Template
1. In hiring employees, what do you think are the essential qualifications they must possess
to help your business grow?
2. When hiring certain employees, do you believe that their practical skills are being more
considered than their college degrees?
• If yes, “Why?”
• If not, “Why not?’
3. In terms of hiring, which one do you value most, their works, or their attitudes towards the
company? Why?
4. What was the most difficult or unexpected situation you encountered in your business, and
how did you handle it?
• In case one of your employees committed a mistake, how do you handle the
situation?
• Regardless of any situation, your daily attitude in business is being positive. Is it
a Yes, No, or Sometimes? Why?
5. What are the significant attributes that you and your business possessed that became an
advantage when being compared to the rest of your competitors?
6. As we are amidst the pandemic, how did you handle and sustain your business in the first
few months after the first wave of Covid-19 was officially declared in the Philippines?
7. Do you believe that there is a formula to become a successful entrepreneur?
• If yes, cite a simple outline
• If not, why?
8. As a leader, and given that you have years of professional experience in this type of
business, what are the tips and advice that you can share with other aspiring leaders,
specifically in the area of food-related business?
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Transcript of the Interview
Cabatbat: Good day everyone! We are the Power Rangers! I am John Kenneth Cabatbat, and
together with my other groupmates, they are Fritz Garrido, Angela Faye Lampa, Leila Vashli
Ablas, Marigold Roldan, Diosalene Reodique, and Sylvia Nicole Mangoba. And we are going to
conduct this interview with the aim to understand the 3 core elements of leadership, these are the
situation, follower, and the leader.
Roldan: Alright, thank you so much Mr. John Robert Ginez for accepting our invitation for today’s
interview.
Respondent: Thank you so much for inviting me, I really appreciate it and it’s been a long time
since I spoken to a lot of students like you and its also timed that I share some of the knowledge
that I’ve learned in this industry right now.
Cabatbat: Okay thank you so much Mr. John, so first question that I’m going to ask you is that
in hiring an employee, what do you think are the essential qualifications that they must possess to
help your business grow?
Respondent: For me number one, right now I have employed around twelve staffs, like crew
members of my team I call it “Team Mukbang”, one of the essential qualifications that my
employee should possess is the willingness and of course their willingness to learn from me and
their willingness to serve other people. Because that’s one of the most important things that you
should look into as an employer because you’re in the food industry, you’re in the service industry,
so their willingness to learn from the customer and as well as their willingness to learn from you
as well as the employer or the boss. It’s all about willingness for me, if you’re not willing then I’m
not going to hire you but if you’re willing to learn like more than what is required for you to learn
then I’ll hire you as long as you have that.
Roldan: Alright, that is actually interesting. For the second question, In hiring certain employees,
do you believe that their practical skills are being more considered than their college degrees?
Respondent: For me, I’ll for example my restaurant, most of the people out there do not have
college degrees, I have a working mom who didn’t even entered college and I also have most of
them a drop out from college also learning from them and yung mga kwentuhan. For me it’s more
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on the practical skills I don’t mind if you have college degrees, because I’d like to see my
employees working on the task, I don’t mind if you know the process, for example you memorized
all the process I don’t care about that, I will only look at the situation where you’re applying the
process that you’ve learned I don’t care if you’ve memorized the step by step process, but if you
do it in the actual way and you didn’t do it well then it’s not good, you didn’t learn anything. But
if you have the practical skills or let say for example the strategy that you could also think without
asking me, you do your things without asking me, that’s the kind of leadership that I do, don’t ask
me if there is a problem or if it’s a minor problem then do it the practical way. For me college
degrees in this kind of business is not really important it’s more on serving other people, it’s more
on showing the character that you have. Yes, college degrees could be an edge but it’s not really
essential for me as an employer, I would love to see doing the actual thing, if you do it the highest
level, I don’t care if you have that college degree, I don’t care if you memorized the step-by-step
process of my business but I only about on how you apply the theoretical process in my business,
if you do it well then I think we don’t have a problem with that at all. To make it clear, I always
prioritize if you have if you have the practical skills rather than college degrees.
Cabatbat: Thank you so much Mr. John for that wonderful answer. So the next question that
we’re going to ask you is that in terms of hiring, which one do you value the most, their works or
their attitudes towards the company? And why?
Respondent: For me it’s both, their outputs and as well as their attitude, it must always come
together. Because if you work and you didn’t put that much attitude then it’s not going to be a
great output. The same thing goes that if you don’t have the attitude for the output that you have
given then it’s not also a great output, so for me it should always come together, you should always
value your works or you should value in many things like in the working environment or in the
business environment or you are just an employee or an employer you should always value your
attitude as much as your work or the output that you produced, it should always come together,
you should value both because it’s not going to be a great output if you’re just going to value the
output or the attitude that you’ve put in it, it’s only 50/50 it now hundred percent output.
Roldan: Alright, thank you. So for the next question, What was the most difficult or unexpected
situation you have encountered in your business? And how did you handle it?
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Respondent: In my five years of being in the business industry and in the corporate world, my
kind of leadership entails if we met, like for example you are my employees and we met on the
first day I don’t really require them to go for an orientation, I don’t really require them to do the
usual business process. What I do is guide them straight to the kitchen or straight to the table or
straight with the work that they are actually going, then that is the time that I train them, like with
the actual customers or with the actual clients, that’s the kind of training that I have but that entails
a big problem because if you’re not going to responsibility as the leader, in informing them the
theoretical process on the first day of business or work. Then there are chances or a hundred percent
chance that they are going to fail or they are going to miss the mark of doing the actual thing that’s
required to do in the process or in the business, so that happened to me in my business because the
first day I met my crew or my employees went thorough with them and then I guided them to the
kitchen and the table, and then my customer came and they didn’t know what to do because there’s
no actual orientation that happened, but I corrected it the other day because it’s my first time to
have a business and first time to be in the operation side of the business. So what I did is I oriented
them at the end of the day, and then I handed out the whole plan, the whole process, for example
is how do you take care of the customer the first thing when they arrived at the restaurant or how
do you manage the complaints of the customer, which one are you going to serve first, are you
going to serve water or are you going to serve food, so those are the things that I learned. I also
learned from that situation but I how handled it is really stressful but was really a job well done
for the whole team because we were able to overcome it like weekly, so we need to improve it
weekly the process. Right now there are still problems that we are encountering but because of
the misorientation that have happened like from the first week of our business, we learned from
that and we take it from the journey that we are into right now and developing the step-by-step
process and improving for the better like the continuous improvement.
Cabatbat: Alright, thank you so much Mr. John for that wonderful answer. So the next question
that we’re going to ask is regarding of any situation, your daily attitude in business is being
positive, is it a yes, no, or sometimes?
Respondent: Sometime, you can’t always be positive every day, we are humans, we commit
mistakes, we feel different in every situation. But as a businessman you should always think
positively but not every day, because as what I’ve said you’re a human being, you feel hurt, or you
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feel dismayed, you feel like you’re a failure, but positive or negative thinking doesn’t define you
as a whole, it’s just day by day and how you overcome it and as well as how do you learn from
those but as much as possible you should stay positive, but do not do the fake it till you make it
attitude were you fake the vibes that you’re feeling, you don’t do that because you’re just hurting
yourself at the end. But it is required for a businessman to be positive because it is your
responsibility to spread the positivity or spread the positive vibes inside the working environment
that you are into, because once that your employees or your crewmembers will feel that you are a
negative energy to them then that’s the time that you’ll fail in every aspect of the business from
service to the relationship with the customers as well as until you go home it going to be negative,
but if you’re going to do your responsibility as a leader where your emotions, or the things that
had happened the first thing when you wake up in the morning and you get a negative vibe you
don’t bring that in the work environment you should always have to stay casual. But you shouldn’t
always feel the positive vibes when it come to business but it’s just sometimes, but don’t stay in
the area of negativity like all the time, it happens but don’t stay there.
Roldan: Alright, that was so inspiring. Okay for the next question, what are the significant
attributes that you and your business possessed and that became an advantage when being
compared to the rest of your competitors?
Respondent: For me it’s all about marketing, as I have said I have dreamed of becoming one of a
marketing student and student in SLU but I wasn’t able to give myself a chance because I entered
accountancy in the first place. Back when I was a third year, I was already exploring, even if I was
an accountancy student I enrolled myself in different universities, for example MIT-US, I enrolled
myself in a Bachelor’s Degree Entrepreneur, and also I explored the area of marketing. So when
it comes to dealing with my business, other businesses, because it is not the only business that I
have. But at this moment Mukbang K-mart has been biting most of my time, the significant
attribute that my business possess that the other competitors failed to do is the marketing, the
marketing side of business. Because it is really important we’re in the middle of pandemic, so the
marketing, the social media marketing, digital media marketing is really important, because it’s
going to force customers to come in to your restaurant, because they are not going to buy from you
if you don’t market well, if you don’t market great. So that’s area in my business that I really
splurge a lot of money. In my business I pay advertisements in Facebook, and the outcome is really
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positive, like the money that I paid on Facebook is really worth it because it became a bandwagon
in the whole municipality, like you should try this, you should try that, and then when I started
marketing with my business, because I’ve also hired like a team of marketers back in Baguio City
because I can’t do all of the job, I need to delegate other responsibilities that’s why I splurged a
lot in marketing, I hired my friends who works in a marketing firm to market my business and as
well as to boost up my sales. I think that’s the thing that my competitors doesn’t have, because it’s
also an advantage that I graduated in the businesses school, because I’ve learned a lot in the area
of marketing, I’ve learned a lot on how to market my products, like my valued propositions and as
well as my unique selling propositions and those are the things that I’m using, the marketing
techniques that I’ve learned in my college. It only came to these days, that those principles that
has been taught to us during my college days are really important, because I started going back to
my college notes, I started going back to my marketing books and when I accidentally bumped in
to one of my competitors, they always ask me how do I market my business, but I can’t share them
what I know because they are competitors. I just tried to stay silent but I always do the SWOT
analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, so basing it from that I can see that
we’re way far, it’s not to brag about this, but we’re way further than any competitors when it comes
to marketing, and that’s why we call our full house in the restaurant, we call it a blockbuster, like
it’s in a cinema where you get to have a long line, we call a everyday blockbuster, and they always
ask us what’s the secret of this longest queueing line, is that the marketing, it’s all about marketing
because people always engage themselves from the moment they wake up they open their
Facebook accounts, they open their Instagram accounts, so that’s where we started that’s where
we splurged and that’s where we also do our responsibility as the business owner or as a team, we
market and then the customer will come to us and they will be in love with our brand, they will be
engaged in our products and services and the cycle goes on and on, until they won’t care about
my competitor anymore because they are really engaged with my brand or they are really engaged
in my product and as well as our unique valued proposition and the customer relationship, so that’s
it, it’s all about the marketing.
Cabatbat: Alright, so as we are amidst the pandemic, how did you handle and sustained your
business in the first few months after the 1st wave of COVID-19 was officially declared in the
Philippines?
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Respondent: To be honest it’s really hard, like some of my friends right now are really applauding
me for opening business especially in the food industry in the middle of pandemic, and I didn’t
even of that it would be a risk, it only came to me when my friend told me, “Robs, you are really
brave for opening a restaurant or a food industry knowing that there would be protocols like social
distancing, like the safety protocols that would be implemented in your restaurant, you really took
up the risk”, and I said is it really a big deal? Because when I opened my business it wasn’t really
a big deal to me, then it came to me that it was a big deal when my friend reminded me of that.
But the first few months that I opened my business it’s really hard, because people are really afraid
to go outside their house because of the CoViD-19 pandemic, it’s all over the Philippines, all over
the world, and people are getting paranoid because they might catch the virus, or they might have
it. So from the first few months the operations was really hard, but handling it and sustaining all
of those problems, what we did is to really market, we really did our job in the marketing, since
they can’t go out we used the opportunity from them that they can’t go out. So maybe they are all
using their phones, scrolling through Facebook, so let’s market our products, let’s pay Facebook
to do it for us, because we can’t go to them house to house, because it is now allowed because of
the CoViD19 protocols, and we also implemented deliveries, we also implemented no touch
deliveries during the first batch of our operations, because the fact that people are getting paranoid
because they might catch the virus or they might have it on their own, so we implemented the no
touch deliveries. We have also marketed well on Facebook, for example on one of our products
like samgyup are home, or we call it “samgyup sa bahay”, because during those times I
remembered we still accept diners like samgyupsal diners inside, but might feel like it is not safe
to be there because they are on the table with other groups of customers and also on the other side
of the table , so we have overcome that by offering them a more convenient way of enjoying the
samgyupsal because of samgyupsals are done at restaurant outside of your homes so you could
enjoy it more, but with the samgyup sa bahay it’s possible for you to have a great family bonding
at home while not getting the virus, like it’s safe, it’s a much happier place for you to enjoy the
meal or the food. So overcoming it is a step-by-step process from marketing to introducing new
products to adjusting to the CoViD19 protocols, like for example the no touch delivery and
introducing the products that they could enjoy at home, so that’s what we did for the first few
months until the government loosens its control for the CoViD19 protocols that’s the time when
we have hit the highest sales unli samgyup diners in the restaurant.
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Roldan: Okay, so for the 7th question, do you believe that there is a formula to become a
successful entrepreneur?
Respondent: For me there is actually no formula, for me just be yourself, that’s the actual formula.
Because when you are in a business, you should be passionate, when you build a business make
sure that business is the one that you are passionate about. Because if it’s not going to make you
happy, or if not going to make other people happy or the other way around then it is not a good
business, you are just forcing yourself to be busy or just forcing yourself to do some other things
or you re just adding some stress in your life that you couldn’t even handle or you might end up
dying or you might end up hurting your mental health or you might end up hurting yourself.
Because what I learned about doing this business, while I’m in this business I don’t feel super
stressed, I don’t feel the stress that the other businessman are feeling, because I’m doing what I’m
passionate about, I’m in the area where I’m passionate about. For example, I enjoy marketing my
business, I enjoy engaging with the customers, I enjoy serving other people, and I enjoy seeing
other people happy, and that’s what Mukbang K-Mart does or do. Because we’re after the
happiness and satisfaction that we give to the customers and that’s what I’m passionate about and
that’s how you do business. Because when you do business you should be passionate about it, like
for me right now I don’t care about the profits that I get from my business as long I see other
people happy, as long as I see people laughing in one table, bonding and they’re talking on random
things while eating my products, while enjoying my services. That’s happiness for me, that’s
success for me, like I feel like I’ve done my part, when I get a lot of reviews, I get a five star from
the Facebook page, I feel like I’ve done my part as the business owner, I feel like I am a successful
entrepreneur when I received all of those. So it’s all about being yourself, because I grew up as a
“makapal ang mukha” and at the same time feeling close, I grew up like that because I won’t leave
a room without talking to people inside that room. That’s the kind of person like me where I would
always leave a room after I talk to everybody, and that’s what I brought to Mukbang K-Mart, that’s
why they’re applauding our customer relationship, because when they enter our restaurant, they
will feel the vibe that they are already part of the family. Because we make them feel that they are
our visitors and we’re the hosts and that’s what we always do inside the restaurant and I think that
we became more successful as a company or as a business because we are passionate about what
we area doing.
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Cabatbat: Thank you so much Mr. John for that thorough answer, and you know? We really
learned a lot from your answers. Okay the last question that we’re going to ask you is that as a
leader, and given that you have professional experience in this type of business, what are the tips
and advice that you can share with other aspiring leaders, specifically in the area of food-related
business?
Respondent: So right now, I always tell everybody or all of the young people that I meet inside
the restaurant as I get along with them, as what I’ve said I love engaging with the customers. So
engaging with the customers entails talking to them like knowing more of their personal life,
because the target market of our business is millennials like you or like me, it’s millennials when
you go inside my restaurant the people inside the restaurant you would always see an age bracket
from sixteen to twenty-eight years old or we could go higher to thirty-five but mostly sixteen to
twenty-eight, so that age they would always ask me, how did come up with this business, what are
the challenges you’ve encountered, and how are doing it until now, and I always answer them that
you should always take the risk and you should always belong to the minority, like right now we’re
in the middle of the pandemic, like majority will think or will not push through the business,
because they’ll think that we’re in the middle of the pandemic and doing business is not going to
give me a great opportunity so might as well I’m not going to do business I’m gonna make it safe,
I’m gonna play safe, I’m gonna play small, I’m not going to build business because I’m not going
to earn profit from that, people would not go out, people would not buy my products, people would
not even patronize what I offer, majority would think of that. But when you belong to the minority,
you will see the opportunity that the majority didn’t see. Like for example, when you are a
minority, this is the great time for people to enjoy this products, to bring it closer to them during
this pandemic and that’s what we did, we took the risk and we reached out to them, and we really
did it in the area of marketing, but is also about taking risk because building a business entails
capital, requires a large capital, for me I’ve put a lot of capital in this business and it always comes
with the risk, with the decision the you make. But if I fail, or if ever the risk that I took didn’t give
me a positive impact or it didn’t give a positive result, then it’s okay, I’ll charge it to the experience.
Because if that’s what I paid for me to learn then it’s going to be a win-win situation because I’ll
take it as experience and I won’t do it again, I would just do it greater the next time, so I would
build up a great image, I would build a successful business and I think I’m on my way to that
because I always charge all of the mistakes from the past of my business because it’s a learning
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process and it’s a continuous improvement as long as you’re willing to take the risk, as long as
you feel that you’ve got nothing to lose, then you’re on the right track of being a successful
business in the food industry and that’s what I always tell to people who ask me all those questions,
even my employees are always telling them, when you’re confronted with different dilemmas, just
think about what you think, or just think about what is right for you, don’t think about other things
because you might end up not getting the answer. So when you think about the things that went
first in your mind then that is the time when you are going to jump or you’re going to take the risk,
because when you jump there are only three things that might happen to you, it either you gonna
jump and fly, you’re gonna jump and fall on something hard, or you’re gonna jump and fall on
something soft, but either ways you know how to get back up, because it’s a learning process and
it’s a continuous improvement as I said.
Roldan: Yes, that’s true, when you enter the business world, you should be ready for risks. Okay,
so that would be the end of our interview, we would like to say thank you to all of you for attending
our meeting today, and of course to our dear respondent Mr. John Robert Ginez. Thank you for
answering the questions without any hesitations. We are really grateful for having you today, and
of course we are thankful for your thoughts and experiences as an entrepreneur. Best of luck and
congratulations to your business! Of course if you have for us to be able to promote or support
regarding your business, we are open for that, thank you.
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Photo Documentation
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Individual Reflection Paper/Personal Plan
• Ablas, Leila Vashti T.
From what I’ve learned during the meeting, the Leader, He employs people who are willing
to learn. Most of his staffs are people who haven’t finished college or even went to college. It’s
more about the practical skills. The leader believes that he’ll accept anyone as long as they have
practical skills and won’t always depend on the leader for answers on situations that they face
everyday. This leadership entails that if he met his staff on their first day of work, he won’t require
them to attend the orientation but he’ll direct them to the kitchen in order to train with actual clients
so that they’ll have actual experience rather than have a lot of questions on the first day.
• Cabatbat, John Kenneth P.
This entire activity made me realize that one of the requisites of a successful leader is his
ability to establish a good relationship with his followers.
Prior to this activity, I didn’t know what the missing element of my leadership style was.
Every time that there are group activities in school, and I am appointed as a leader, I have this
attitude wherein I tend to become aggressive and angry every time there are members who are not
participating, do not have interest in the work that we will be doing, and members who are known
as “Pabuhat” who do not give much effort toward the tasks that are bestowed upon them.
Working with my groupmates was really fun because it helped me build my patience and
ability to collaborate, and it improved my teamwork and communication skills. This activity also
allowed me to experience how to be a leader myself, even just for a moment, because if I
remember, the last time I became a leader was 8-10 years ago.
The entire process of this activity brought joy to my feelings, especially when I discovered
that I have a hidden power that I just found out recently, and that was the ability to influence the
decision of other people. I still remember when we created a poll on the questions that each of us
had made, the goal was to choose which questions should be included in the interview guide
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questions (IGQ). I noticed that whenever I have spoken out to say the questions I prefer to be
included in IGQ, I noticed that my groupmates were also choosing the same.
Through this activity, I also realized how important to establish a good relationship towards
followers is. Not only in my own experience but also during the interview with John Robert Ginez,
our chosen respondent for this activity. He mentioned a lot about his experience as a business
owner of Mukbang Kmart, as well as the business leader himself who has plenty of experience in
his professional life.
John Robert Ginez mentioned that he always maintained a good relationship with his
employees. In fact, whenever he feels that he is not in the mood, he always hides it so that it would
not be obvious, as this will affect the mood of his employees or influence them to feel the same
way. He believed that when his employees feel that he has negative energy, it will be the starting
point for them to feel the same, which he doesn’t want to. In addition, he makes sure that he
maintains a good relationship with his followers by guiding them whenever they commit a mistake
instead of blaming and shaming them.
This mindset and attitude that John Robert Ginez possessed towards his employee is the
element that I did not have prior to this activity. But since I heard his story about the journey of
his successful career as a leader, it made me realize that the missing puzzle for my leadership style
was the “ability to establish good relationship with followers.”
• Garrido, Fritz Rionne M.
Our group, named the "Power Rangers", was created for accomplishing our final
requirement in the course of Leadership and Decision Making. Our aim is to find a business leader
whom which, is going to be the respondent for the interview in order for us further understand the
3 core elements of Leadership. Accomplishing this group task is based on a step by step process.
Searching for a respondent is prioritized, next is formally sending a consent form to the respondent
as to have proof of consent that the chosen respondent agrees to take part of the said interview.
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The construction of guided questions for the interview, our group held a brainstorm
meeting to suggest questions for the respondent, the criteria for the questions includes; being
transparent, relevant, and not in any way offensive personally to the respondent. We submitted the
questions for possible revision along with the approval form to be signed by our Professor, Sir
Leonardo Cada Jr. As our formulated questions had been sent back to us, it is now in our greatest
interest to choose for the schedule of the interview, it is taken into account the availability of the
respondent above all else. Our group had conducted an interview with the respondent on the 9th
day of November, 2021. Our respondent, Mr. Ginez is a business leader specifically in the area of
food-related businesses. We had welcomed him to our session with the warmest of greetings and
appreciation for his acceptance to our invitation. Our group had learned on what he expects out of
an employee and what qualifications needed such as; practical skills are more considered than
college degrees, both work and positive attitude needs to be instilled amongst every member of his
business entity. Mr. Ginez also shared his experience on how he handled and sustained his business
during the first wave of COVID-19, he took advantage of social media, take outs and no-touch
deliveries, and he promotes the concept of enjoying quality korean delicacies in the comfort of
one's home. He also shared what factor he thinks is the advantage his business has among the
competitors in the food-related business, he told us it was his marketing factor. Through the use
of Facebook advertisements, hiring professional marketers, are what made his business "Mukbang
Kmart" popular and formidable among its competitors. As for the tips and advice to other aspiring
leaders, Mr. Ginez shared a short but fruitful advice, "just be yourself", doing something you love
and combine it with passion, it will certainly help you reach success both on and off work. Such
beautiful words to live by, words that we will definitely apply to our goals in life. As we had
reached the end of the interview, our group asked the respondent if he could spare a moment for
the picture taking as purposes of photo ops and proof that the interview was conducted with the
correct participants.
We had wished Mr. Ginez for the continuous success of his business and told him we will
be of aid in further promoting his business as a support. Each content of the final requirement was
distributed evenly to each members and some gradually help the part of the other to further increase
productivity. Cooperation between members is truly an essential in finishing this final requirement.
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• Lampa, Angela Faye S.
Since the start of the pandemic, businesses were one of the industries that were highly
affected. Many shut down due to a lack of income. However, the quarantine also allowed
entrepreneurs and business owners to innovate and produce new plans and techniques for
enterprises to grow and rise amid challenges. As stated in the study of Bartolome et al. (2021),
many small businesses and enterprises adopted new socially engaging strategies, like utilizing
social media platforms and discount promotion, to meet their objectives. Mukbang Kmart is a
mini-Korean store and unlimited Korean BBQ restaurant established in 2020 owned and managed
by Mr. John Robert Ginez. Despite the pandemic, his restaurant became known and well-loved by
people from different towns of Pangasinan. This success is evidence that Mukbang Kmart has
effective leadership. Through the conducted virtual interview with Mr. Ginez, I have learned
several points that I can utilize as an individual, student, and entering the business industry in the
future.
First, employees are essential people that will help one’s business to operate; hence,
choosing the right people is a must. Likewise, I have concluded that values and attitude are just as
important as knowledge and practical skills. During the interview, Mr. Ginez mentioned that a
working student, college dropout, and a single mom works for his restaurant. This scenario
portrays that obstacles in life do not bombard productivity if one has the willingness to learn and
serve others through their work. Second, working in the foodservice industry can be pressuring,
particularly with competitions and when unexpected or unfortunate situations happen. Thus, being
quick and creative in handling such scenarios is vital. As an illustration by our chosen leader, when
his employee committed a mistake in serving their customers, they communicated about what
happened and corrected themselves immediately. Likewise, developing new and original strategies
for your business will give you an advantage compared to other competitors in attracting new
customers. Our interviewed respondent also mentioned that knowledge he gained from his
academic years became beneficial in establishing his business. Lastly, I have learned that a leader
should not only direct their followers in a situation, but they should be an example, engaging, and
empathetic towards them. Furthermore, in uncertainties, never be afraid to take risks and create
changes. One should have a definite vision and be dynamic to achieve their goals in the
organization.
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As an introvert, interacting with other people can be challenging; however, this output
pushed me to have initiative towards the tasks and enhanced my openness, patience, listening, and
organization capabilities for the performance of our group. The entire process of this activity gave
me new understandings of operating a business effectively. More importantly, it improved my
attitude, character, and skills in communication, teamwork and collaboration, and leadership which
trains me to become a better individual and maybe, a leader in the succeeding years.
• Mangoba, Sylvia Nicole M.
Our interview with Mr. Ginez was very productive. We've learned a lot from him. He's
very polite, humble, and easy to get with while talking to him. I've also noticed that as a leader
he's very kind, a helping hand to his employees. He's a real leader with a golden heart to be precise
because he wants to help those unemployed people who's willing to learn and to work for him. He
wants those working hard person that has a lot of practical skills that he required the most. His
answer in our third question is what I’ve liked the most. He's right in every angle. A person's
attitude and their work should really come together. We should value our work in every possible
way we value our attitudes. His experiences were very encouraging as well. He's a very responsible
leader, a straight to the point person and a hands-on one as well. Based on his story that he told us,
he's very patient when it comes to his employees. The way he admits that he's a human that makes
mistakes was very admirable. As a human, we sometimes feel vulnerable in emotions, but we
should keep in mind that it doesn't define us as a person. It's okay not to be okay sometimes. He
looks so professional the way he said "as a businessman, we should stay positive enough, but not
faking it. It is our responsibility to spread the positive vibes among our employees or inside the
working environment that we've working into. We should stay casual every time. And keep in
mind that negative vibes happened all the time but don't stay there for too long".
He's battle strategies in battling with his competitors in the business world were splendid.
To the fact that he battles them with his own knowledge in the marketing side of business.
Marketing is what he prioritizes the most. For me his very competitive enough to handle his
business all too well. Mr. Ginez is a true entrepreneur. He has been in the food business for over a
year. As a business owner, Mr. Ginez also manages the day-to-day operations of his business,
which also includes managing his employees. During the interview, he shared that he had a rough
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start. In spite of the hardships in the early stages of his business, he was able to work his way
through the challenges. All in all, Mr. Ginez is an admirable and a passionate entrepreneur.
• Reodique, Diosalene V.
A leader has an ability to lead his follower as what he thinks about nor what he thinks the
right for all individuals. We can be a leader from our own different doings or from our many
ways of experiences but being a leader is difficult because there is a lot of circumstances that needs
to face fearlessly and that is the leader would do for the sake of it is company as well as for those
people who believe in his managements.
We encounter a lot of varied situations in which could handle eventually if the leader
passionate about what this person doings, as what stated the respondent in our interview for our
activity; he even said that if you did not love your doing or job then it would not have a great
outcome because it might be failed even you tried but opposed to your wants and I admit that I
agreed onto it because if you do not love what you’re doing then don’t expect a great outcome or
result to your business. It is important having your willingness to work and learn from what you
are doing because as a respondent said having this kind of qualification in his business is precious;
especially he is in the food industry in which needs to serve the customer with the heart as well as
the willingness to learn because there would nothing happens if he just accepts the employee that
is no interest of what he looking for. If there is a chance that I am in his situation, I am glad to do
that as well because I need an employee with the ability to prepare themselves from what I need
to my business because other than to help me from growing, the purpose of their willingness is to
help them fortunately to become the best version of themselves. Moreover, he also looks to the
person who has a practical skill, not just a graduate college degree. It is not important for him if
someone not be able to go to a college nor not have a degree or not align to his business; as much
as this person has a practical skill that would be a matter for him. As (Baumann, 2017) there are
reasons why skills are more important or matter than a college degree. To begin with, skills is the
better way to show your own personality, value and of course your goals because being an educated
person did not talk much about yourself as a person, as well as your degree, cannot show how you
completing the job task. Aside from that, the degree of a person can help you to get a job but skill
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can advance you through your ability to do such responsibility. In addition, skills have
a capacity to show the experience because education cannot do it since your degree cannot relate
to the challenges or experience of a person had. Furthermore, having a degree is precious but
focusing on the degree is not because you cannot just focus on your graduate degree since as time
flies it would not always be clear where the degree lines up in the workplace. I much agree with
the respondents said and yes, we need education but this education would not help us in
experiencing the actual working than to your degree since I knew somebody who does graduated
but not aligns to their workplace into a college degree.
Of course, not only that we can just look for the physical attributes of a person has, as we
are a leader. The situation in our surroundings is particularly important in which tend to pull us
from ups or downs depending on the leaders and what he/she does. As the respondents said,
orienting the employee to your business is important for them, to know how they act, move, and
even position themselves in the business surroundings. He also shared his experience in this part
of being a leader and yes, he admits that he also does a wrong decision to his employee in which
he would not orient them properly wherein in the first day of their business was chaotic but he
manages to solve it eventually. This is the one reason I look up him in this part because he was
able to share his wrong decision in which give me an idea about it and of course, enlighten me as
a young individual who planning to have a business someday. I admire him indeed for sharing his
experience; he was not able to orient them properly that result in a chaotic surrounding in which
he solves from that day eventually. Yes, we need an appropriate orientation in which we informed
the employee how, why, do and do not in the business surrounding depends what the industry it
is. For example, since this respondent is in the food industry, he orients the employee to the actual
workplace in which he guides them and says what they do and do not to the workplace, he also has
a formal orientation but he said that he more goes to straight on the kitchen or workplace to teach
the employee well and for them to understand more how the business operates. For me, we do
really need orientation to inform them, guide and specially to have an organized workplace
because your employee helps it to have an idea of what to do in the surroundings. Nevertheless,
there are times that we cannot just control the situation so the leader must prepare themselves in a
situation whereby would not be able to avoid. This is not new for the business owner because they
always encounter it from time to time depends on the situation. Challenges are always affiliated
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with the business and the best example from that is what our facing today, in which the respondents
said, it is difficult for him for the first three months of running a business because people get scared
to go outside due to the virus was spreading. It is challenging for him because of the pandemic
doing to our society but this challenge or virus was not a hindrance for him and I really do applaud
him for being strong and a positive thinker as a leader since he takes a risk even, we are in the
amid of the pandemic situation. In the business there are difficulties in which we; as a leader from
our own lives, we cannot predict what would next happen because we are human beings whereby
feel hurt even by a single thing. In the business, we need to have a positive thinker as respondents
said because the leader is responsible for spreading positive energy not negativity to his employee
since there is a chance that you would carry it from time to time because if the employee feels that
you had negative energy there is a possibility that you would not be a success in every aspect of
your business as what the respondent said. He did not mean by always think positive even you are
a human being that sometimes felt a little down or something who do feel hurt but to understand
that we need to think positive in every decision that we made and I believe that we need to trust
the process for us to know what is the really be the outcomes of our business is and also to learn
to the experience because as the respondent stated it is really fine if we fail and felt a little down
but don’t forget to be positive in all the times because it would lead us to the great outcomes that
we want to be and yes, as a small business owner I really relate on him, from taking a risk, to face
fearlessly the situation and to be a positive thinker. I am aware of that and that is why I admire
him because he was not thinking about downfall but to enhance more his business and to be the
best version of his business is. He really does not care about the pandemic to become a reason
why he would not be able to continue his business and affiliated onto that is a marketing strategy
in which the reasons why his business reaches the highest sales in amid of pandemic. In this scene
I was awe because even we experiencing difficulties in our society today, he was able to sustain
his business and aside from that, he was able to manage the pandemic even if it is difficult for him
in this situation. He even mentions the SWOT strategy in which I did not expect to come that from
him. As he said. He engages in the SWOT analysis in which he did not regret because there is
called blockbuster in their house (working place) in which look like in the cinema that always
every day they have a longing customer to try and to eat what offered to his food business. With
this, I’m inspired to work well because of what he shared about to his business; who would not
want to look like a cinema his business is, after all you have capabilities to do that as well and I
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think If he was able to do that, then it would have a chance that everyone can do that as well
because as what he said, being passionate to your what doing is really important because you
cannot have a great outcome if you would not and I definitely agree onto it based from my
experience in a different situation but I was able to learn how to love what I am doing and I did
not expect to love it more than I think now.
I admit that during the interview I have various feelings; there was a time that I am amazed
from what he does; from what he acts, move, and especially to thinks. I admire him from what
kind of leader he is because based on what I observe he is a considerate person, he is hambled,
kind and capable to lead the team of him and I think, if he is my mentor or boss, I learn a lot from
him because in the interview I already learn new things like, orienting properly your employee,
always be a positive person, always take a risk if you want to learn, always give the customers
wants and feel them that they are part of your family, how to market your business and especially
apply SWOT analysis when leading a team or running a business and etc. I have a lot of learning
from him and I indeed enjoy his company because he is a talkative person and I feel that every
word that he does speak have a substance in which this substance can be able to enlighten me from
other aspect of being a leader. Also, I am inspired by what kind of leader he is. So, as a young
entrepreneur even I am aware of the responsibility as a leader I know to myself that I need a lot of
learning in which he even fulfills some of those. That is why I look up on him and I am inspired
for what kind of leader he is.
• Roldan, Marigold S.
In a business industry life is not really easy just like in this world challenges, hardships or
ups and downs are normal, it just depends on how you will handle it but the question is, do we
really need to be ready before we come up into a business? Especially in this time of pandemic.
As one of the speaker/interviewee in our project that we conducted I can say that I actually
learned a lot regarding the Business Industry, like you need to be confident enough in entering this
world not just to prepare the logo, the name of your brand, your business outline, tagline or goal,
the customer, your profit, the place but also yourself I learned that this is one of the most important
to prepare and it is “yourself” because there will always be a lot of challenges and risk along the
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way. In business risk is really not new it is normal for example the pandemic, like in our respondent
he was really problematic in this “New Normal” setting that we have right now most especially
when the first lockdown came because as an entrepreneur you should think creatively, wisely and
quickly for an alternative job or business since people cannot be able to go outside and the one that
he created is the “Samgyup at Home” since everyone is at home and knowing that in this pandemic,
delivery food is one of the easiest way to earn money, that’s why I am really amazed with our
respondent because despite of uncertainty or the pandemic he still managed his business and did
not give up, just like me I myself I am also an online seller so I can still be able to earn money
even if I’m at home. In addition, I also learned in the entire interview that output or the works of
a specific employee and his/her attitude should be both implied in a company, because if you will
not value these things or if you have a bad attitude it can affect your work and vice versa that’s
why both of these are important.
To sum it up all doing an interview is actually interesting because with this, I can be able to
know the insights and perspective of other business owner and those learnings can have a big
impact in my business, since I myself I have my own business and my realizations here in this
whole project can be my guide, I can be able to know the things that I need to accomplish, that I
need to prepare on how I should communicate with my employee if ever they did something wrong
in their workplace, like on how I should handle it and of course on how to think practically, wisely
and creatively as an entrepreneur especially when uncertainty cam
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Conclusion
Experience can powerfully produce new insights and perspectives even for the things and scenarios
we commonly see and engage daily. The whole process of this final output gave the members a
better understanding of what leadership is and how a leader, followers, and situations affect and
influence each other. Through the conducted interview, the group further appreciates the efforts of
business owners and entrepreneurs, especially with the adversities we face through the pandemic.
Just as any other businessman, our hand-picked leader adapts and innovates with what we are
currently facing. Furthermore, he imposed skills, knowledge, and a character that one must take
note of and utilize as an individual cooperating with other people in handling various scenarios.
Each step of this activity unfolds a trait and view contributing to developing our character as a
leader and followers at the same time.
Acknowledgment
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mr. John Robert Ginez for giving his time and
support for us. The remarkable knowledge and experiences he shared produced enlightenment for
us, students, to use in the future. We take this opportunity to show our appreciation for him in
conducting and completing our final requirement in MGT 1101- Leadership and Decision Making
course.
References
Bartolome, R., Gado, S., Austria, D., De Jesus, S., Cinco, B. O., & Tus, J. (2021). A Qualitative
Exploration on the Lived Experiences of the Computer Shop Owners Amidst the COVID-19
Pandemic in the Philippines. International Journal Of Advance Research And Innovative
Ideas In Education, 7(1).
Baumann, K. (2017, January 19). Why skill matter that college degree. Campus to career.
https://campus-to-career.com/2017/01/19/why-skills-matter-more-than-your-degree/
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Appendices
Appendix A
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Appendix B
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Appendix C
Related Literatures
A Qualitative Exploration on the Lived Experiences of the Computer Shop Owners Amidst the COVID-19
Pandemic in the Philippines.
Why skill matter that college degree
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