We had the chance to have short “Kwentuhan with Carlo” just this week, and it was really insightful getting to know our big boss on a personal level.
A graduate of B.S. Management Engineering from Ateneo de Manila University, Katigbak started out as a financial analyst before moving to SkyCable in 1994. “My first job was to bring Sky outside Metro Manila. Sky’s cable TV operation was predominantly Metro Manila, so I did that for five years, opened in all the key cities in the country.” He recalls: “I moved to ABS in 1999. I was asked to build our online business. So we started a company called ABS-CBN Interactive, and it evolved over time, we didn’t just end up doing stuff on the web, we started pioneering a lot of things on mobile.”
Probably one of the hardest part in his career was when they had to lay off employees during the ABS-CBN Interactive days. ABS-CBN subsidiaries are given 3 years to make it profitable, and it was already the 2nd year and still revenue was not that good. The only way for them to have a positive revenue is cut cost. It was a tough decision but after that incident they regrouped they made sure this won’t happen again. Luckily it was the boom for SMS, they were able to find an opportunity through the text promos which led ABS-CBN interactive to it’s success.
Lessons from Carlo Katigbak:
1. Chase you dreams
Make sure you have a goal and keep in mind the steps you need to take to achieve your goal. Don’t be distracted with the high salaries, promotions, politics and others. So when tough times come, you won’t feel disheartened and still have the motivation to get to work.
2. Work Life balance
When asked what he would prioritize between family and work, the obvious answer would be family, but not in the case of CLK. With his current position, we all know the responsibility hanging on his shoulder. Every decision he makes affects millions of people. It’s always a case to case basis. Carlo mentioned that he is lucky to have a supportive and understanding wife.
3. Nothing is impossible – trust your leaders
With Carlo getting different demands from Eugenio Lopez III (EL3), he always thought of how unreasonable the demands are. From building subsidiaries for ABS-CBN, getting Sky Cable back in shape and others. But for some reason, EL3 would always have a good vision of how things would fall in to place.
4. Make every challenge a learning
When he started with Sky Cable, it was to expand the cable business to provincial areas. One day management called him out, they said to him, you’re just using all the profits from Metro Manila. It was one of the most embarrassing moments as CLK would say. After that he told to the team, that they will work hard and make provincial revenues bigger than Metro Manila, which they were able to achieve.
Trivia:
- If there’s anything Katigbak may possibly owe the company, it’s the fact that he met his wife at SkyCable, observing proper office decorum by not pursuing her—until she quit one year into her job there.
- He used to be a scuba instructor
- Favorite sport: Tennis
