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SMT-Oct2016

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October 2016 • SMT Magazine 67 vention systems for homes and buildings, med- ical diagnostic devices for wireless monitoring of vital signs, and dosimeters for measuring ex- posure to ionizing radiation, among other prod- ucts that address social and environmental con- cerns. The company hopes to do more of these types of products; proactively, it can develop platforms for such products by leveraging ex- ternal expertise and funding like those provid- ed by universities and foreign and local govern- ment institutions. Imagine that six of 10 Filipinos who suc- cumb to sickness die without ever seeing a doc- tor because of expensive medical services. At the same time, in India, electronics giants like GE Healthcare and Medtronic have developed more affordable yet effective medical equip- ment like ECG testing machines and hemodi- alysis systems for deployment to rural areas, bringing down the costs of medical services. IMI is reaching out to Filipino universities to co- develop with IMI engineers platforms for medi- cal devices or equipment in the hope that these can help Filipinos have access to improved and affordable medical care. Perhaps we could all take a leaf from the life of commitment led by the newly minted saint, Mother Teresa. Shane Claiborne, a Christian activist and writer, recalls how, while working with the charity in the '90s, he had been struck by the sight of the missionary's terribly mis- shapen feet. One of the sisters explained that because there were just enough donated shoes to go around for everyone, Mother Teresa took the worst pair of shoes for herself. Years of wear- ing the worst pair thus deformed her feet. Clai- borne goes on to challenge our culture's raging narcissism and materialism, proposing an alter- native—what might the world look like if we lit- erally loved our neighbor as we loved ourselves? What if we really did "honor the needs of oth- ers above our own"? We can take heart that today's effective private-sector leaders (social entrepreneurs or CEOs) have been showing the way toward greater significance through innovation and shared-value creation for a wider base of stake- holders—the others, the neighbors—rather than simply making profuse shareholder val- ue. These emerging leaders are distinguished by their ability to collaborate with different sectors in imagining and implementing pro- grams that address their social mission. This is the leadership mindset that is certain to take its place up there with the timeless qualities of great leadership, such as integrity, passion, courage, and vision. SMT References 1. Beer, M and Norrgren, F. (2011). Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Econom- ic and Social Value. Harvard Business Review Press. 2. British Council (2015). A Review of Social Enterprise Activity in the Philippines. 3. Cheriakova, A. (2013). "The Emerging So- cial Enterprise. Framing the Concept of Social Entrepreneurship." 4. Elkington, J. and P. Hartigan. 2008. The Power of Unreasonable People. How Social En- trepreneurs Create Markets that Change the World. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. 5. Habibova, Z., & Zeynalova, E. (2015). Hu- man potential of communities and social en- trepreneurship as a factor of sustainable inno- vative development in Azerbaijan. Proceedings of the Multidisciplinary Academic Conference, 221-227. 6. Kramer, M. R. 2005. 'Measuring Innova- tion: Evaluation in the Field of Social Entrepre- neurship.' Skoll Foundation, Palo Alto, Califor- nia. 7. Mort, G. S., Weerawardena, J. & Carne- gie, K. (2003). Social entrepreneurship: Towards conceptualisation. International Journal of Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Marketing, 8, 76– 89. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from EBSCO On- line Database Business Source Complete. 8. Porter, M.E. and Kramer, M.R. (2013). How to reinvent capitalism- and unleash a wave of innovation and growth. The Big Idea: Cre- ativing Shared Value.Pages: 4-17 Frederick Blancas is the Sustain- ability Manager of Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI). He is grateful to Danielle Afuang, a student-intern, for helping him with his research for this article. LEADERSHIP TOWARD GREATER MEANING

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