Tony Blair in Manila

My dad and I went to Tony Blair's speech on the Leader as Principled Negotiator. Too bad my camera has a poor zoom function that's why Tony Blair cannot be seen clearly. One of the main sponsors was DLSU and they gave him an appreciation award and a school jacket. They probably heard the news that ADMU also gave an Ateneo jacket to Mr. Blair during his earlier speech at the Irwin Theater (ha ha). His talk in Ateneo was supposed to be an "invitation only" event but there were more of students than faculty, staff and alumni guests combined... so who were the lucky bastards who got invited? The ticket in Sofitel costs P1000 each but despite the crowd and traffic, it was all worth it. But of course it still feels different (and probably better) watching the event from your own alma mater (and it was probably free!)

Moving on to more important matters... Tony Blair's talk is about negotiation as the primary tool for leadership. Surprisingly, this kind of leadership is not limited to politics but also in business, social activities and the like. He said that problems are not solved through conflict or force but through dialogue and conversations (yes this comes from a man that declared war on Iraq). One must always be willing to engage in open conversation and negotiations with another party. Once dialogue is closed, how can a compromise be reached? With such topics being pointed out, I couldn't help but remember the Rorty's philosophy echoing in my memory. He said the same thing about continuous dialogue, a willingness to negotiate and reaching compromises. Tony Blair's description of leadership can be summarized in one word - courage. It is to have the courage to listen to the views of the opposition, the courage to question or even abandon your own stand and, yes, even the courage to continuously find resolutions despite the possibilities of failure. With this, I like to end with a line in his speech that struck me the most:

"What is forgivable is to fail but what is unforgivable is to not try at all" - Tony Blair