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6:04 a.m.: My wife needs the car, so I am using Uber today. As we traverse the 17-kilometer route, I chat briefly with Michael, who is driving me to Makati today. He is surprised with his designation to pick me up, considering he was a good four kilometers away from the pickup point. Apparently, this is only one of his concerns as a partner-driver; he is also concerned that his service rate is plummeting. I don’t empathize with him much because, at this point, all I want to do is take a nap.

In the same way the flight attendant instructs passengers to “put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others” in case of an emergency on board a plane, so should top management take the lead and be good role models of fitness, wellness and health.

From the several job fairs and student conventions I attended, I knew that it has become a norm for students to ask: “What is your company’s competitive advantage over the other players in the industry?” Whenever this is asked, I notice that the audience holds its collective breath to hear every word that comes from the mouth of a resource speaker or a company representative, much like the way they wait for a Miss Universe bet to answer her clincher question.

While the current administration is trying to rebuild the nation through its war on drugs,truce with rebel groups, eradication of corruption in government, and improvement of government services, among others, businesspeople like mecan also contribute in this rebuilding process through our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This is the perfect time for businesses torethink their CSR efforts and ride the wave of change that is in ourmidst.

I recall that 30 years ago, you could count all the television channels with your fingers in one hand. So a typical family usually watched one chosen program every evening. That was the era of limited options via limited media, i.e., print, radio and TV.

Every time I am asked to give an advice to new hires in our Firm, I never failed to mention to them: “Read books!” Also, I usually make a random survey of new hires who are habitual readers by a show of hands, and sadly, those who read are less than 10 percent of the batch. In this age of YouTube, mobile gaming, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, books, indeed, have a formidable competition. The youth find it easier to surf than to read. Nowadays, reading is likely seen by the youth as a chore and, to some, even geeky; not realizing the many benefits of reading. How do we, indeed, entice the young to read and see the benefits of reading?

How do I value my company, a client recently asked me. The client’s company has been in the red, losing money for years, but a buyer is still interested. Many of the entrepreneurs have been asking the same question: how does one figure out the value of a business? For a famous example, how did Jollibee come up with a P3 billion price for a 70 percent stake in Mang Inasal way back in 2010?

At a conference recently held by professional accountants where the key features of the House Bill (HB) No. 4774, also known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAI), were presented, the participants elicited the strongest reaction to the proposed changes in bookkeeping rules. The reaction is understandable, considering that these professional accountants know firsthand the challenges taxpayers face in their businesses, which include, among others, complying with complex tax rules and time-consuming bookkeeping requirements.