Alex的Blog與東南西北都列出了報紙的頭版，讓大家看看各份報章如何「看」這次的冠軍生死戰。有趣！ 外國也有Blogger做類似的工作，專門比較意、法報章。其中一些報章與Alex列出來的也有重複。...
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The Story of the Mason
Three years ago, I re-modeled my apartment. I hired a mason, who helped me to install floor tiles and wall tiles in the kitchen.
The guy was a 40-year-old skillful mason. We couldn't get along very well. He didn't show any respect to me, was rude when talking with me. He did crazy things like laughing at me when I asked about the schedule, or using my room as it was his.
"How can you behave like this!" I didn't understand at all. "How can someone in the service industry survive without knowing anything about 'service', and 'respect'?" I complained to Wendy: "This guy knows nothing about how the world works".
I tried to educate him about what is customer service. Obviously, the attempt failed miserably.
I didn't want to continue to hire him, and he didn't want to work for me. Finally, the guy who introduced him to me asked him to stay and suggested me not to change a mason in the middle of the work - for quality purpose.
The argument continued, until one day, I found the secret.
The Secret
I consulted with my friend. He suggested me that his behavior indicated one thing - "He needs some money".
I talked with the mason the second day, and gave him 50 RMB. I said: "Thanks for the good work. Here is the 'red bag'".
He smiled.
After that day, he changed to another person - polite to me, worked harder, and seemed to be very considerate to me. The good relationship continued to the end of completion of the project.
His Rule or My Rule
This experience is still vivid in my mind after 3 years.
It was me who didn't understand the rule - the mason's rule. I adopted the mason's rule and got what I wanted.
What I didn't understand at the very beginning was, the mason had his rule, just as I had mine: "Pay me the extra money, and I work harder for you." The rule was simple and straight forward. The challenge was, no one except my friend told me about the rule.
I Follow Your Rules, or You Follow Mine?
When there is a conflict, there is a choice. Choice is on both sides.
If I insist my rule (a mason should be good to his customer), I could go to B&Q, and pay 4 times higher than directly hiring him. This way, I feel good, but in terms of $$$, I lose.
At the same time, if the mason insists his rule, and doesn't follow the customer's rule, he remains a poor mason for ever.
I am still smarter than the mason, right? I got what I want with little money, but he gave up his future just for small money.
Rules in China
When foreign companies come to China, they find "unreasonable" local business partners or business practices.
If people in the foreign company think their supplier must follow their rule, they can find the suppliers, but with much higher price than needed, because suppliers who know the "international rules" are rare resources in current China. Many companies did choose this approach and suffered from high cost, and finally failed.
On the other side, if companies in China change themselves to follow the international rules, they are more competitive in international world.
Smart people make the right choice, and not-so-smart people complain about rules, or "lack of rules".
Typical Dialog
Mr. Smith: "China does NOT have rules!"
Mr. Zhang: "China does NOT have rules that you can understand."
Not to follow the written rules is a rule in China. Believe it or not.
That is the Reality
My observation is, China needs to change smartly to adopt widely accepted rules to be more competitive in the world economy. Local businesses that move faster than average get bigger benefit.
For companies coming to China, to wait for the change (this may takes decades) or to follow the local rules is a choice. Smarter guys make the right choice.
Which is the Right Rule
Controversial about which rules is the right rule will continue, and I expect it to continue for ever. The difference of rules is a universal matter.
The whole world is made up of smaller worlds running by different rules. There is not always be the right rule or the wrong rule.
It is all about the difference. In a modern word, it is called "diversity".
Kee Hong is my good friend and elder. I knew him in Junior Achievement ... we both are volunteers teaching "success skill" (now named "career go") class in universities. He is a wise Singapore man with full of passion, and systematic methodologies. I did not only enjoy working with him, but also learn a lot personally. :-)
Recently he published an article on "Singapore Accountant" named "The 7e Way of the Leader". It's really a thoughtful article. With his permission, I paste the document image here for your interest. He said “Knowledge kept is of no value. I will be most happy that more people find the article and the approach to developing leadership using the The 7e Way of the Leaders make it easier and systematic for them."
Here you go.
明天回国了， 为了躲避暑期暴贵到平时两三倍的飞机票， 将第一次坐海船。 从李鸿章签马关条约的地方经由美丽的青岛回到伟大首都北京。 没有什么别的希望， 只是祈祷路上能遇到三米以上的海浪， 让我体验一下晕船的快感。 然后我要冲到甲板的最前面那个杰克和罗丝恶心人的地方， 对老天爷大喊： 让暴风雨来得更猛烈些吧！
但是， 朝鲜的导弹就拜托您不要再来了。
这个故事告诉我们， 一个生下来到现在这么多年都没有晕车晕船晕飞机的人心里的欲望是什么样子的。
PS： 回去后要出一趟远门， 所以大概有一个月左右的时间无法规律更新了。 但是我会努力寻找网吧之类的地方的！ ；-）
