The life where discernment was lived and learned.
ABOUT LANCE
From childhood poverty
to global leadership
I was born in a jeepney in the Philippines. I lost my dad when I was seven.
Growing up in poverty, I learned to choose wisely. I got my scholarship, and eventually I worked for companies I never imagined as a child. My past shaped how I lead: resilience, compassion, and courage. Those same qualities carried me through my career and every significant life choice. You are not just where you started. You are who you choose to be.
Leading with discernment
across every market disruption
For over thirty years I led iconic brands across Disney, Google, Colgate, Levi's, and P&G, and built high-performing teams. I learned from remarkable leaders.
They had something the others did not. They could see clearly, they built trust, and they acted with integrity, even when it cost them something.
At Disney, I became the first VP of Corporate Brand Management in Asia Pacific. I led the first integrated five-year content strategy and presented it to CEO Bob Iger. Our global brand research influenced major investments, including theme park expansion and the acquisitions of Pixar and Marvel. I created Disney's Brand Stewardship Training and personally trained over 2,000 employees and partners internationally.
At Google, I served as Director of Brand and Creative Solutions, championing YouTube as a storytelling platform, where North Asia became our growth engine. I continue to serve on the Google Mastery Faculty with 99% satisfaction rating.
From a career of building brands
to a calling of building leaders
During a sabbatical, I volunteered across four continents.
One day, trekking to Everest Base Camp to raise money for a school in Nepal, a small boy walked up to me holding a flower. I knelt down and asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. His response? “I want to be kind, like my teacher." That cracked me open.
Success is not only what you accomplish. It is who you become, and what others become because of you.
I carried that home. At Google, I co-founded a coaching programme that became an award-winning global initiative. Later, I knew I wanted to serve something broader. And with discernment, I made the shift, from career to calling.
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How I work
Leaders tell me the work is serious but the room is light. That is on purpose. People think bigger when they are at ease, so I hold the balance between the things most people treat as opposites: warm and direct, calm and challenging, playful and rigorous. I call it the Lance Dance. It is just discernment in practice, reading the room, and choosing well in the moment.
We are all a work in progress. In six months I turn 60, and I am still growing with discernment.
I know the difference discernment makes because it changed the course of my life. The school principal who gave a poor kid a scholarship. The managers who hired me. The coach who mentored me.
Today I work as a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and executive coach.
My journey from a jeepney to some the world's most recognised brands is where discernment was lived and learned, and where it became my work.
If you are navigating a transformation, in your organisation or in yourself, let us talk.
Lead wisely. Live fully.