Missed the Plane

I woke at 4am to the sound of "increasing melody" on my cell phone. I actually was semi-coherent and everything was on schedule; then I proceeded to miss a flight for the first time ever in my life. I would explain here how you can miss a flight when you stay at a hotel 5 minutes from the airport, you wake up on time, and the airport has one terminal...but it's more fun to describe it in person. The good folks at Montrose airport fixed me up with new tix and I'm ready to go. I land in Hong Kong a day later than planned but I asked myself what the real difference is between a 14 day trip and a 13 day trip. It's serendipitous really because I have an overnight in Denver. My Dad is picking me up at DIA where he will wisk me away to home cooking and a good night's sleep burried in quilts.

My once a quarter cross-cultural experience has come. I'm off to China. I actually am feeling very little stress about this trip. I'm tired of beating the factory up over price, lead time, and delivery. I'm going to play nice, be fair, and just get stuff done. I'm tired of cultural extraction. I'm also looking forward to it in some ways. It's in the upper 70's in S. China (need some warmth after this epic winter); I feel that there is some established trust in the relationships; and I get to visit old PI friends. I also feel myself moving into a new depth of 'guan zee'. I'm almost hesitant to talk about guan zee because it's become a bit of a cliche with too many Western sociologists claiming to know what it is and how to negotiate it. Here's the basics....in a communist system there is no governmental protection of personal rights and business interesests. People form social networks based on favors (and maybe status? can't figure that out). Honor plays into it and it's really how things get done. Supposedly it's so ingrained in the culture that people don't realize that it exists...that's where those Western sociologists come in. So, I have a guan zee network. I didn't know it was happening until someone told me. Now I'm tangled in a web of favors, honor, and fierce loyalty. I even have a Chinese friend there who calls people at the factory to make sure everything is going alright and to let the new factory people know they can trust me. I'm not entirely comfortable with this, but here I am. It may sound very similar to what we do here, but living it makes it feel very different. Business decisions are often made not on what's best for a brand or product, but based on what favors are owed or who the preferred vendor is. My level of involvement has felt quite benign, but the favor anty is getting upped on each trip. This is where one of the more serious cultural disconnects comes into play. If you change your mind or try to take control of the direction of your manufacturing you aren't just hurting feelings, you're potentially causing dishonor and havoc...one of the reasons we're known as loud, stinky, bumbling North American Scum. You have to let things play out. I've taken two strategies in the past for this...force my will out of fear of letting the home office down, or just sit back and let it all play out. I hope to land somewhere in the middle on this trip...pro-active but respectful. The cultural navigation is exhausting...but the experience is also pretty amazing too. I think it's going to take several generations to arrive at an understanding. It's all much too foriegn for both sides to take. I certainly don't get it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieT_lf9wK28

I'm enjoying my last mountain views for a few weeks, packing my mind with images of snow-capped peaks, and sprawling mesas. I'll likely need to tap those memories for motivation. Here we go.