With a drive for innovation coupled with the core values of Service and Empathy, Philippine College of Criminology (PCCR) hosted internationally renowned CEO and business mentor Chris Peralta as he presented a seminar entitled “Ikigai: Unlock Your Inner Superpower so you can Help Others.” Held at the JFAB Gym, the seminar was a hybrid event which was broadcast simultaneously on the FELX Learning Management System and PCCR’s social media pages to cater to the online population of the Batang 641 community.

Since 2015, Chris has been an advocate of helping Filipino start-ups and entrepreneurs succeed in their purpose and mission. Though born in the Philippines, Chris grew up in Australia, and spent most of his corporate life between Singapore, New York, and Silicon Valley in California. Despite having international success in business, Chris’ cultural roots have always fueled his desire to help Filipinos. 

With the advent of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and blockchain technology powering the internet as Web 3.0, Chris and his partners have developed an app that serves to unleash potential greatness in all its users. Aptly named “Ikigai Superpowers”, the app borrows a concept from the Tom Cruise-starred film “Jerry Maguire”, urging the users to “help me (the app/developers) help you”. Through the use of the app, everyone becomes a superhero in their own right, as they apply the concept of “Ikigai”.

An inherent part of Japanese Culture, Ikigai is a concept of balance and finding purpose. Taken from the Japanese words iki (life) and gai/kai (reason/worth/value), the concept takes the interception of the Venn diagram of four aspects of one’s life: What you do well, What you like doing, What you can do to make money, and what you can do to help people. Though the intersection of two or three of these aspects can be rewarding in themselves, it is in ikigai where one finds balance and purpose.

In developing the Ikigai Superpowers app, Chris and his team want to optimize technology for its use and not just for profit. He wants to veer away from the trend of using blockchain and NFTs for flipping, or the quick exchange/trade of buying and selling products for significant profit. Though he acknowledges that money is needed to be able to run your business properly, Chris wants to focus more on having the app help people to help others as well. In this, it starts a chain of paying it forward toward everyone’s benefit.

In his seminar to the Batang 641 community, Chris talked about three points that he hopes the app and the ikigai concept would inspire in PCCR. First is to be authentic, as one should be the best version of himself or herself. He hopes that as that happens, it will ignite or spark something in everyone that will help the world. The second point is to think big. He encouraged everyone to go beyond their comfort zone and physical limits to benefit not only themselves, but the community as well. And finally, the last point is about execution. He explained that “if you want to help people, then help people”. To quote the famous Nike slogan: “Just do it.”