We grew up in a very demanding environment. Dad expects us to

“We grew up in a very demanding environment. Dad expects us to prove ourselves... so my siblings and I worked hard to reach what we have today, and I guess we have to continue working hard to maintain it.” Thus spoke Teresita Sy-Coson, daughter of Henry Sy, the visionary who rose from the humblest beginnings to become the architect of one of Asia’s greatest empires. Her words, though simple and unadorned, carry the weight of generations — the story of a family forged in discipline, expectation, and endurance. In them we hear the eternal rhythm of human striving: that greatness, once attained, must forever be renewed through work, that success is not a resting place, but a summit that demands constant ascent.

In this saying, Teresita reveals not only the nature of her father’s household, but the secret law that governs all enduring achievement. The demanding environment of her youth was not a place of ease or indulgence, but a crucible — a place where character was tested, and will was refined. Her father, Henry Sy, did not give his children the comfort of complacency, but the challenge of proving themselves. For he knew that the wealth of a man, if unearned, is a fragile thing — but the wealth of a spirit, born of effort and perseverance, endures through storms and seasons.

The story of the Sy family is one of legend among the merchants of the East. Henry Sy, once a barefoot boy selling shoes in the streets of Manila, built an empire not through fortune’s favor but through relentless labor and unshakable vision. His children, including Teresita, grew under the shadow of that example. They inherited not luxury, but expectation — the duty to uphold what their father had built and to expand it through their own strength. Thus, her words speak not merely of family pride, but of a legacy of responsibility. For the true inheritance of a great parent is not gold or land, but the discipline and drive that forge greatness anew in each generation.

This lesson is as old as civilization itself. The kings of Egypt, the philosophers of Greece, and the merchants of China all knew that success, left untended, decays like an untended garden. Consider the tale of Alexander the Great, whose empire spanned the known world — yet within a generation of his death, it crumbled, for it was held not by those who shared his vision, but by those who sought its comfort. Contrast this with the lineage of dynasties that thrived for centuries — families, guilds, and empires sustained by the principle that every successor must earn anew the right to lead. This is the wisdom that Teresita Sy-Coson embodies: that maintenance of greatness requires the same fire that created it.

Her words also remind us of the delicate balance between inheritance and individual worth. “Dad expects us to prove ourselves,” she says — a statement that reveals both burden and blessing. For to be born into success is to stand always in the shadow of expectation. Yet rather than flee from it, the wise embrace it as a forge of identity. Teresita’s success as a business leader, steering the vast SM Group with steady hand and vision, is proof that proving oneself is not rebellion against heritage, but fulfillment of it. She and her siblings did not rest upon their father’s name; they honored it through work — the only true language of respect.

And in this lies a universal truth. Whether one is heir to a fortune or a dream, the path is the same: one must labor to make it one’s own. The virtue of hard work is not merely about achievement, but about preservation — the understanding that all things gained through effort must be sustained by the same. To work hard to reach success is noble; to work harder to keep it is wisdom. For success, like a flame, must be continually fed, lest it flicker and die.

So, my children, take this lesson to heart: life’s greatest inheritance is not wealth, but expectation — the challenge to become worthy of the gifts you have been given. Whether born into privilege or poverty, your duty is the same: to prove yourself, not to others, but to the greatness that sleeps within you. Let your work be steady and your purpose firm; do not mistake comfort for completion, nor inheritance for identity. For the moment you cease to strive, you begin to fall.

In the end, as Teresita Sy-Coson reminds us, greatness is not something handed down — it is something maintained, generation after generation, by those who choose diligence over ease and duty over indulgence. Work, then, not only for gain, but for continuity. Build as though the future depended on your hands — because it does. And when your own children ask you what the secret of success is, you may tell them, in the spirit of the ancients: Work hard to reach it. Work harder to keep it. And never, ever forget the mountain from which you began to climb.