Business is often about making connections − between people and ideas. I find that my natural curiosity and inclination to talk with others gives me the ability to make these crucial connections and ask some hard questions.
On a recent plane trip from Detroit, I had the opportunity to speak with a Chinese foreign exchange student headed for graduate studies in Virginia. Although this was his first trip to the US, he was fluent in English and eager to answer questions about China. I immediately established an easy rapport. I asked Young (his American name) to stay in touch and send me his impressions of how America compares with his home in Hong Kong, and this is the response he sent me:
“The culture here are more open and straightforward. I like it and I would like to stay longer here! The weather here is also nice and the working pace is not as fast as Hong Kong. I think Hong Kong is a still a developing place so people are working hard to get a better life while at US people cares more about things other than career and money itself, like friendship, leisure, family etc. I think it’s natural and never mean to judge anything by its cover, I thought it’s always interesting and fruitful to think of different culture and compares them. I think the US trip gives me a different perspective on that and happy to accept some of the cultures here, which I believe are more sustainable. “
Young’s insightful impressions mirror those I came across in a recent article by New York Times’ columnist Thomas Friedman. Friedman sought to explain why America has slipped down in the “Best Countries in the World” ranking. You may be surprised to learn that we are not first and even more shocking, America is ranked at number eleven. Friedman suggests that America’s dominance has waned largely because students have lost their motivation and because we as a nation have suffered a values breakdown. “Wall Street may have been dealing the dope, but our lawmakers encourage it. And far too many of us were happy to buy the dot-com and subprime crack for quick prosperity highs.” Thomas Friedman, “We’re No. 1(1)!!” New York Times, September 11, 2010.
Have we, as Friedman suggests, become a lazy nation that is only interested in get-rich-quick schemes and in getting something-for-nothing? Are our children able to tell us who the “American Idol” winners are but completely unable to name the founding fathers? Are we too quick to assign blame and too slow to take responsibility for ourselves and our flagging economy? Or, have we instead become, as Young suggests, a nation of people who value friendship, leisure time and family more than the bottom line?
I believe there is truth in what each of our observers see. America is a country who seems to have lost its way when it comes to doing business. But we are also still a country with an open, straightforward culture, a country that values important ideals like friendship and, perhaps most importantly, a country that many foreigners still want to come to, for school and for business.
Tags: connections, cultures, friendships
So, depending on one’s perspective, the glass is either half full or half empty?
In the sixties, anything was possible in the United States (Woodstock), cynicism began to gain a foothold in the seventies (Watergate), the eighties were scary (Iran-Contra), the nineties brought optimism back (President Clinton’s attitude) and at the same time made us look weird in the world (President Clinton’s impeachment; on a business trip to Italy, Switzerland and France in 1999, the question I was most frequently asked by business associates and friends was: “Have you Americans all gone mad?” ). Then our society entered the 21st century and went off the rails.
The key to economic success is education. How well the Chinese understand this! Not to mention the Indians (I do not think I know any Indians who do not have at least two graduate degrees!) We, in the United States, do not. And it’s not just “the unions” who are to blame. Much of the responsibility rests on parents’ shoulders. We still admire athletic prowess more than academic achievement, and we are glad our children have all their electronic games and gadgets, so that we do not have to spend much time with them (we are already too busy, right?).
Mayberry does not exist any more (if it ever did . . .), but many parents today believe their children can grow up the way they did themselves. At a conference earlier this year, where education in Georgia was discussed, a highly successful, politically well-connected business man from down-state was quoted as having said that he did not see a need for his son to go to college, because he, himself, had done just fine without a college education. “I went to work at the local gas station right out of high school,” was attributed to him, “and I worked my way up to own half a dozen businesses that all make money; my son can do that, too.” Oh, really?
Good topic, Gail; keep shining the light on it.