Riza Fortuna

I met with two young engineers I recently hired to vacant roles in our China organization. Talking with them and being able to confirm that we made the right decision to hire them has been a great source of joy to me this past week. I only read their resumes and interviewed on phone prior to this meeting and so talking with them face to face has been a critical indicator to me.

I have been so pleased to see the passion, talent, and good hearts of these two new people. I am amazed on the fact that given there are two of them with so much different personalities, they have been placed into jobs that I believe are respectively fitting each of them most. Given I didn’t see them in person and I decided to put them into their respective roles which call for different profiles and skills, I feel so blessed that all fell into place.

This part of my job is very fulfilling. Maybe because I have been born a builder. I love to build people and teams. Doing anything that help another person or a group discover their talents, bring out the best in them, and accomplish something significant with them is truly a source of pleasure. I just see myself being so much into it and very passionate about teaching, coaching, and helping others become their best.

I praise and thank God for giving me a job, or better yet, a vocation that allows me to make use of my natural gifts and give me the chance to just truly be myself. Truly great to be paid for something that keeps the passion in me alive and allow me to make a difference! I give back the glory and honor to God, and I offer all of these work to Him.

When I was in the US last month, I got sick and was on the verge of being dehydrated. It was also very hot as summer was in full swing. So, I was drinking fluids as often as I can.

My  hotel has a rack of food and drinks near the front desk which one can pick up and either pay in cash or charge to one’s room. I got drinks several times and have those all charged to my room. However, upon reviewing my statement of account (for express checkout), I found that the latest drinks I got - a Gatorade and bottled water have not been charged. I called the front desk and asked for a new statement of account to include the missed charges.

The reply of the front desk person was "Wow, this is very refreshing! You don’t know what some people do in this hotel. I truly appreciate your honesty and for that the bill is on me; you don’t need to pay for those. And tell your mom that she did a very good job in raising you up!"

Ahh, I was refreshed by those drinks. But it turned out an incident related to them would refresh a hotel person. I was refreshed to hear her comment too. I left the hotel smiling not because I had free drinks but because I feel blessed that indeed my parents raised me well and I have been given the grace to be honest even in little things that can easily be overlooked.

I have not written anything in my blogs for over two months now. It does not mean there is nothing worth noting or sharing; in fact I have been through a lot. Only, I am in a midst of a major transition which is taking most of my time and spared me from sitting down to capture my experiences on writing.

Anyway, I will try my best to sit down from time to time and write. I feel it’s such a loss not being able to write my experiences, much more the reflections and learning’s I find in them. I gather strength as I count my blessings; I grow as I learn from my experiences. It is also my hope that others gain something whenever they read my sharing’s, that they may be blessed one way or another.

So, here’s looking forward that I find the discipline to sit down and write!