Dressed for success
The always stylish TV5 president and Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes knows how to get the most out of his teams…on the hardcourt and in the boardroom
Chot Reyes
Best known to most Filipinos as the fervent, fabulous multi-titled Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) tactician firmly associated with helming the country’s national basketball team, Chot Reyes laudably personifies the hashtag “Puso” spirit of the Smart Gilas basketball program.
But there is more to this man’s famed capability to turn himself into essentially a winner.
For one, he valuably projects that corporate swag vocally and fashionably, yes, albeit in his own inimitable ways. In fact, he has neatly kept for sentimental value the apparel he donned during championship-clinching victories.
“I used to wear long sleeves and neck ties in my early years as PBA coach,” recalled Coach Chot who won the first of his eight PBA crowns at record-setting age 29 and in just his first stint.
“Then I took a sabbatical to help run the MBA (Metropolitan Basketball Association) before I came back personally rebranded, still fiery and passionate but more relaxed in the way I dress up,” he said.
When Coach Chot and his wife Cherry, practically the woman behind his amiable fashion sense, brought to the country the UK-based up-market salon Toni&Guy, the influence of London fashion became apparent in his get-up, most prominently through that red long sleeve shirt soaked with celebratory champagne right after he won another PBA championship on Christmas Day in 2002.
A rarity even among his elite circle of achievers, the multi-faceted figure reached the pinnacle of his corporate life when two years ago he was awarded the president and CEO post for the Kapatid Network TV5 (now stylized as simply 5), a position he holds dear with his winning touch.
While observers may think Coach Chot must be coming into the office a differently dressed dude, he himself will point out he is the same gentleman. What works for him on the court likewise runs effectively while he is at work in a corporate office. Currently he goes to one he liked to describe as sporty, with a basketball court and track oval. Besides, TV5 is now primarily a sports and news channel.
He shared with a winsome smile, “In the office I employ MBWA or Management By Walking Around. One of the pitfalls of corporate life is too much sitting. So I encourage everyone to move around regularly.”
He added, “But it’s hard to walk in high heels or suits, thus, I urge them to be more casual yet appear still presentable.”
As a top honcho, Chot takes pride in interacting with rank and file employees and giving them encouragement as needed. He believes that the “less wall between and among employees, the better they work together.”
Like in basketball, he prefers creating a team that gets things done with effective role players in the lineup, even if it meant sacrificing strong individual talents in the name of team chemistry. “The hardest,” he noted, “is letting go of someone with superb skill because the team is no longer going his way.”
By numbers, the family man-network executive is happy to notify that the Kapatid channel had already cut its losses by 80 percent from the time he got in about five years back. He declared, “We are beating our numbers from the same period last year. We’re doing better after we triumphantly made our bets in sports, news, and in the digital platform.”
His longstanding approach in sports which he carefully applies in the corporate world: “Don’t fight the other teams in their areas of strength.”
It is no surprise then that Coach Chot is likewise fast-gaining a reputation as good motivational speaker. Against the toughest athletic opponents here and abroad, he needed to pump up the spirits of some of the finest ballers in PBA history, from “Captain Lionheart” Alvin Patrimonio to “The Blur” Jayson Castro. The coach is also a major source of inspiration to his free-spirited, achievers-in-their-own-right children Josh, Isaiah, and Rebekah.
Reflecting on his strength as a man with a plan, every move he makes, whether as basketball leader or as company boss is, in his own words, “calculated borne mainly from the lessons of the past.”
Ultimately, Coach Chot is the type who will take the last credit for something that he himself is known to have initiated. He actively pioneered the eight-second rule in crossing the half court when he was in the MBA —something that is now instituted in international basketball. For the full-on recovery of TV5, he’d rather acknowledge those, as he described them, “putting in the hours and embracing the repositioning of our network with open heart.”
Well, the beloved, sometimes controversial, five-time, PBA Coach of the Year is not one to brag about his exploits. He’d rather dress for success.
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