Fall is always my favorite season. It is colorful, mellow and relaxing. A good year’s efforts would give you the sense of accomplishment. People like results and celebrations. And they like to share. Share their stories, their feelings and their opinions. This is the beginning of the season of celebrations and giving. We give our compliments, write the over due congratulation notes or simply say thank you to everyone around us. It makes the difference.
Recently I read about “China’s Me Generation” in the Time magazine. “Young Chinese are the drivers and chief beneficiaries of the country’s current boom: according to a recent survey by Credit Suisse, the incomes of 20- to 29-year-olds grew 34% in the past three years, by far the biggest of any age group. And because of their self-interested, apolitical pragmatism, they could turn out to be the salvation of the ruling Communist Party – so long as it keeps delivering the economic goods. Survey young, urban Chinese today, and you will find them drinking Starbucks, wearing Nikes and blogging obsessively”. This is hardly anything we could have imagined 16 years ago when I left China. But somehow, we have contributed to this, at least for me by working for American consumer companies who have the mission to penetrate the Chinese markets. Now these 300 million adults in China under age 30, noticeably about the total population of the United States, are growing into the main force of production and consumption. The impact is to be global.
Now I personally have transitioned from marketing products to providing services, specifically executive consulting and coaching. The question is how to make global best practice relevant to the Chinese markets. A year and a half ago, at LeapFrog, we worked with a local Chinese partner to localize software titles. This relationship ended. And I am no longer at the company. But the processes and development know-how stayed. The Chinese software developer learned the best practice by striving to meet higher standard set by LeapFrog. They would not have got that far if their goal was just to make it good enough for their local customers. They were forced to change old habits and established better processes through the working relationship with LeapFrog producers. I wonder whether they would have paid for the training instead of having been paid for completing the job. Learning by doing has been the best practice in China.
Benefiting from the inflow of direct investments, technology and talents, Chinese economy has been growing like no other. And we somehow are all contributing to it by pursuing opportunities, which we believe will pay off. I was told during my last visit in Beijing at a university “There is money everywhere here. It is just a matter how you pick it up”. Sounds exciting! And look at the list of companies gone public or waiting in the pipeline, you cannot help thinking it is just incredible. Specifically, I am happy for Perfect World (NASDAQ: PWRD) and Acorn (NYSE: ATV) since I had the pleasure knowing their leaders in the past.
There are gaps to be filled with more talents needed to sustain the growth and move the economy up the supply chain with more innovation, better quality and less waste. Taking a long path away from home and learning many lessons in different places, I wonder where the life journey will take me next. Somehow if I can be helpful to bring soft skills to the new leaders and workforce in China, it would be a great thrill. But you never know whether you are just a little too early for the market when you see what others don’t see. The basic principle of demand and supply presents a challenge to be where you are needed at the right time.
Now taking a break from work, I want to say thank you to all the old friends and new ones. It is Thanksgiving time. Although it is a very American centric holiday, I do feel it is a good tradition to express gratitude to others and be thanked for whatever. I am grateful for the positive energy I possessed and shared in my life, and for my two darling children David and Lily. I am happy for the lucky “Golden Pig” babies that joined us this year, Jake Wang and Daoyuan Chi, just to name two. Two family weddings in May, Jody and Chris respectively got married! And I am most thankful for Jeff’s job at the Alameda County because he is so happy there…
