I am spending a fascinating week in Hong Kong which is in many ways the epitome of the cultural and business meeting points of the East and West – of Europe and America with Asia and China.
In this time of seismic global political change, it is somewhat comforting and encouraging to see how effective and seamless this confluence is in Hong Kong. There is no cultural clash, rather a congruence where the two cultures sit side by side and complement each other. All the signs on the transport system, for example, are in Cantonese script and English. As a European I feel naturally quite at home here. I know this is partly because of the British historical connections, but Hong Kong has gone beyond this and is now a true global centre.
It makes me think that we should celebrate, build on and use these sorts of differences rather than being challenged by them or worse creating polarised positions. In a team or in a meeting having different types of people from a variety of backgrounds and approaches is a positive asset not a problem, as long as they all listen to and respect each other. There is well documented support for the dangers posed to businesses with a very strong leader whose ideas are not properly challenged because everybody else is a yes person afraid to put forward a contrary view. See this Harvard Business School article by way of example.
Different perspectives from around a business can by contrast solve problems. There is a great story from the Pacific Power and Light Company in the USA whose cross country electrical wires kept breaking in winter because of the weight of ice forming on them. They held brainstorming sessions to solve the problem with representatives from all parts of the company – even the mailroom. A linesman talked about brown bears and they tried to think how to get them to shake the telegraph poles – honeypots on top delivered by helicopters. Madness you might think. But then a secretary said why not just fly the helicopters low over the line and blow the ice off the wires? Problem solved.
Mahatma Gandhi said “No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive”. Like Hong Kong we should rather embrace the inclusive nature of different cultures and views.
In this time of seismic global political change, it is somewhat comforting and encouraging to see how effective and seamless this confluence is in Hong Kong. There is no cultural clash, rather a congruence where the two cultures sit side by side and complement each other. All the signs on the transport system, for example, are in Cantonese script and English. As a European I feel naturally quite at home here. I know this is partly because of the British historical connections, but Hong Kong has gone beyond this and is now a true global centre.
It makes me think that we should celebrate, build on and use these sorts of differences rather than being challenged by them or worse creating polarised positions. In a team or in a meeting having different types of people from a variety of backgrounds and approaches is a positive asset not a problem, as long as they all listen to and respect each other. There is well documented support for the dangers posed to businesses with a very strong leader whose ideas are not properly challenged because everybody else is a yes person afraid to put forward a contrary view. See this Harvard Business School article by way of example.
Different perspectives from around a business can by contrast solve problems. There is a great story from the Pacific Power and Light Company in the USA whose cross country electrical wires kept breaking in winter because of the weight of ice forming on them. They held brainstorming sessions to solve the problem with representatives from all parts of the company – even the mailroom. A linesman talked about brown bears and they tried to think how to get them to shake the telegraph poles – honeypots on top delivered by helicopters. Madness you might think. But then a secretary said why not just fly the helicopters low over the line and blow the ice off the wires? Problem solved.
Mahatma Gandhi said “No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive”. Like Hong Kong we should rather embrace the inclusive nature of different cultures and views.
RSS Feed
