CEO Insights Magazine

The role of a COO has evolved significantly in the past decade; it has changed to become bigger, bolder, and more transformative than ever. Along with ensuring a smooth operational process, today’s COOs are also focused on being the leadership partner to the CEO and helping drive the company’s objectives and execution of its priorities.

CEO Insights Asia's exclusive team engages in a conversation with one such seasoned veteran and transformation champion, Joseph Nelson Mendoza Ladaban, COO, Lifeline 16911 Medical, who is handling all the traditional operational and commercial responsibilities of being a COO while parallelly leading the company's most important strategic initiatives instrumentally during the recent Covid-19 era.

Joseph or Jonel to his peers, has more than three decades of leadership experience in the business areas of Operations, Risk and Business Development gained from the Telco, Banking, and Healthcare industries. With his unique knowledge gained from hands-on management of how everything works together, Jonel has been successful in showcasing exponential growth in every sector that he has worked in while acquiring personal promotions, recognitions, and awards for making impactful management and business contributions.

At Lifeline 16911 Medical, he is bringing leadership, vision, and interpersonal skills to the table to steer employees and the entire company toward an ultimate vision of the future. He is flawlessly counterbalancing the CEO and jointly shaping & executing the direction of the organization.  Let’s hear it from Jonel as he talks about his journey and more.

Describe Lifeline 16911 Medical as an organization and its position in the market.

Lifeline 16911 Medical is a 27-year-old biggest pre-hospital, private ambulance company in the Philippines. We have the largest number of ambulance fleets which has enabled us to serve both individual and corporate accounts excellently. We are the acknowledged industry leader as the most reliable, most trusted, and best-prepared ambulance service company in the country. And all the accolades and customer anecdotes that we received through the years are proof that we have been successful in executing our corporate vision of 'Saving Lives'. Our most impactful service includes our Emergency Quick Response which allows us to respond within 20 minutes of any emergency.

Describe your leadership approach. What is your success mantra?

I believe I am an extremely hands-on team leader to the point that sometimes I sweat the small stuff. I believe that by doing so I am preparing myself for all eventualities and leaving little things to chance. That’s why maybe one favorite success mantras of mine is a quote by Seneca, a Roman philosopher.  that says – ‘Luck is where opportunity meets preparation’. I am very meticulous about constantly improving because in the event that an opportunity arises, I believe that luck favors only the prepared minds.

I am similarly an advocate of hard work – but there’s more. One should also be a smart worker. For me, what matters most is being able to prioritize things and do the things that will move the needle. Working hard and smart ensures there is productivity in activity – we don’t become like the hamster in the cage pedaling all day and yet are still in the same spot in the cage.

Lastly, I love leading teams. Throughout my professional journey, I have been assigned a lot of people to manage and I make sure we all understand the tasks ahead. I emphasize the importance of being on the same page with the team and pulling their weights individually to achieve our targeted goals. We float and win together, or we all sink and lose together.

What are the factors you look into to ensure the smooth running of business processes?

My experience has taught me that the most common point of failure is the failure of communication. This is why roles, expectations, and relationships of things and people need to be clear in the  team member’s heads in order to have seamless operations and minimal mistakes. Every handoff is a potential point of failure that needs to be tightened. Process points that can be automated or skipped due to irrelevance are constant lookouts. This is my role across the critical business functions of sales, finance, and customer service or operational process improvements for the company.

What is the future destination you are heading towards?

Our immediate goal as a company is to expand our services nationwide. The need for healthcare services transcends geographic areas. We are looking at key partnerships and franchising models to be the engine of this growth. Growing into other areas will have different financial challenges, operational dynamics, and customer expectations. My role is to help key partners and franchisees stabilize their startup operations by sharing best practices, maintaining operational standards, and preserving brand equity and image across the other regions of the Philippines.

What is your advice to upcoming industry leaders who are striving to create benchmarks in this domain?

The healthcare industry globally is a huge, wide market that does not have enough competent players. Sadly, there are very few companies that have lasted as much as Lifeline’s 27 years. Budding industry players must find a real passion for healthcare service as it will never be easy at first and challenging to sustain. Only passion coupled with the excellence of execution will help build their legacy and sustain them, hopefully through profitability over the years.

Joseph Nelson Mendoza Ladaban, COO, Lifeline 16911 Medical

With 36 years of experience in business management, Joseph is currently leading Lifeline 16911 Medical as its COO where he is offering extraordinary insights to the leadership team and helping the organization refine its processes for long-term success.

Quick Facts:

• Hobbies: Reading Books

• Favorite Kinds of Books: Biographies & Selfimprovement Books

• Favorite Cuisine: Chinese, Japanese

• Favorite Travel Destinations: Japan and the U.S.

• Awards & Recognition: Chairman’s Service Excellence Award by Citibank, promoted Group Chief Credit Officer of the PLDT Group of companies