Battle Hymn of Tiger Mother….

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My mother-in-law gave the NFO a copy of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, but the NFO never got to read it.

I picked it up and read it first.

Then, as it turned out, I was invited to be the discussion leader for my synagogue’s roving book club about the book.

If you’ve read the book, chime in. If you haven’t, chime in, but at least say “I haven’t read the book, so I don’t have all the facts and am relying on the interpretation and lenses of others to make these comments.”

So, yes, Amy Chua is intense. She’s Type A and unapologetic about it.

I also felt bad for her husband, Jed. It just seems like with all of the focus that Amy had on raising her perfect Chinese daughters, combined with being an author and a Yale Law professor…I just wondered if, you know, he ever had sex with his wife?

(Sorry, but I did actually have that thought.)

Ok, now let’s move on to the meat of it.

Here’s what I admire about Amy and her approach.

• She instills a reverence for persistence, determination, and a work ethic. I love her for this.
• I am in awe of her never-ending source of energy. After a long day at work, I have had more than one occasion where I say, “I just need to get the kids to bed.” For her, the day just started and, as they say about some great football players, she “gets stronger in the 4th quarter.” I really admire that.
• I agree with her focus on discipline and accountability. Sooner or later, we all realize that life isn’t fair, that you have to deal with the fact that you screwed up, and that you are responsible for your actions. I’d rather have my kids learn that when they are in my house than on their own. It’s the difference between rock climbing with ropes and…without them.
• I also admire her as a marketer…She tells some great stories that get people riled up…and gets them to talk about her (and her book)…which leads to sales.

I think the biggest issue, for me, is how she determines what “success” is.

I get the fact that she wants the girls to have good grades and be the concertmaster, but to what end?

Is it to have a sense of accomplishment?

I doubt it, since you can get that in many ways.

I think (and I don’t know) that she thinks that this is the path to job security and wealth.

And that’s where I don’t agree with her…at least anymore.

20, 30, 40, 50 years ago? Sure.

You got a good degree and you were assured of, at least, a middle class lifestyle.

I don’t believe that’s true anymore as we move into the truly globalized economy.

What’s more, the piano and the violin seem to be (and getting good grades), succeeding within a system of rules and I think that innovation, being the driver, of the future economy/wealth is sometimes about creating your own rules (or at least, vision).

And, of course, there’s the question of “what’s the purpose/meaning of it all anyway?”

Am I a worse-off person because I had a friend sleepover (or vice versa) in 6th grade? Was that an unacceptable trade-off?

I was talking to the Rabbi of my synagogue about the book and one thing he mentioned that seemed ridiculous to him was the notion that there was no “day or rest” in her kids’ repertoire. The human body needs rest/recovery time.

In some respects, I felt bad for her.

She seemed to want to “be Chinese” so badly and felt guilty about being in America that she had to “out Chinese” the Chinese.

Call it China-envy?

Best part of it all is that when my kids are crossing the line now, I say, “you know, I can be the Tiger Mom, if you want.”

That scares them straight

On Competing with China…

It’s really not about just China, it’s about competing in a globalized world. My trip to China just being the impetus for the thought.
I read a book by Tom Peters a while ago called “ReImagine!” and he focused on the requirement for America to do just that…reinvent our approach to business.
Of course, the first person (for me) to recognize this was Dan Pink (client) in his book “A Whole New Mind” (required reading, by the way.)
With very few exceptions, it’s near impossible to out-manufacture China. They can throw people (cheaply) at pretty much any problem.
Our advantage is in the innovation and in creating the BRAND experience, the emotional connection to a company that cannot be replicated.
Apple is the classic example though I hate to use them since they are such an anomaly. Conceived and designed in California…manufactured in China.
Zappos, I suppose, is another one. I bet most of the shoes they sell are made in China.
Anyway, the big takeaway from the trip for me was the fact that we don’t have-but need-a real sense of urgency about America’s future.
I don’t have the answer, but I think that most of the current approaches are focused on “fighting the last war.”
It’s like we need a “Manhattan Project” for education, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
I sometimes wonder if the roots of the country as a “nation of immigrants” is where the strength lies…but to get there, we have to take away some of our entitlements and programs.
Not the best trade-off in the short-term, but like the recent debt ceiling issue showed us, we have to confront it sooner or later.

Related articles

• China's Path to Innovate (laf.ee)
• Creativity and Innovation Lacking in China (cash-bandit.com)
• Tom Silva: Made in America? (huffingtonpost.com)
• China - Saving Grace for World Economy! (trak.in)

China’s Underwater Turmoil…

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“It’s kind of like an ocean where the water is calm on the surface, but underneath, it’s quite dangerous.”

One of my Chinese associates was telling me about the massive changes to Chinese society and culture brought about by the dynamic growth.

It gets all the attention, of course, but the consequences for the average Chinese, in his opinion:

• rapidly rising housing and automobile costs
• an aging population (consequence of the 1 Child policy)
• growing gap between rich and poor

There’s no social safety net, so you are very much on your own and, as is traditional, it is expected that children will take care of their parents.

But, with the One Child policy, you have a situation where two children (a husband and a wife) are responsible for 4 people (their parents) and because costs have skyrocketed, more and more of the income generated by the working couple is devoted to their own lifestyles.

That leaves less money for their parents.

In his opinion, it’s not sustainable (and, in fact, he told me that the government is reconsidering the One Child policy in part because of this).

What’s more…and this SHOCKED me…he shared that many of his friends (educated, English-speaking) are emigrating to US, Canada, NZ, Australia, UK, etc. and that (according to him), China now has one of its highest emigration rates ever.

I’m a bit dubious of that statistic, but the perception-in his mind-that economic security is in jeopardy in his future in China is real…and that’s quite astounding, given how so many people view China as the new “land of opportunity.”

Guess you can’t judge a book by its cover, eh?

Marketing Lessons from China….

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I had the opportunity to go to Beijing to teach a class on Digital and Social Marketing.

I took it, not just because I am passionate about the topic and wanted to see modern China though.

The reason I elected to go (going for 3 days in total is not that glamorous, btw) is because it forced me out of my comfort zone.

It’s (relatively) easy for me to talk about marketing to a US audience. The slang, the jokes, the ideas…the come naturally.

Going to China and immersing myself in a foreign culture meant that I had to think…REALLY THINK about how effectively I was communicating.

I had to be aware of cultural sensitivities. I had to think and ask-rather than assume-what the motivations, aspirations, and interests of my audience was.

Now, of course, this is just marketing best practice. We should always do it.

But, sometimes we forget. Sometimes we don’t.

There’s a reason why Steven Covey tells us in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that Habit #7 is “Sharpen the Saw.”

It’s because that’s precisely what we have to do.

Was I scared that my message and presentation would flop?

You betcha.

But, it’s about overcoming that fear and saying “I’m going to do it anyway because the primary objective here is ‘forcing the change.’”

It’s like saying, “I’m going to take the toughest course possible and even if I get a B or a C instead of an A, it’s going to be worth it in the end.”

The Takeaway:

Find (relatively) low-risk opportunities-on a regular basis- that make you feel uncomfortable and will force you to “get back to basics” in whatever your field. You may not enjoy the actual experience (although I did), but your long-term performance is worth it.

China and the Education Imperative…

As I sat at breakfast in Beijing, I read an insightful and scary blog (Back to Wrong School) post by Seth Godin about the challenges associated with American education.

It was spot on, in my opinion, and I forwarded it to my the guy in my network who thinks more about the need to revamp education in America more than anyone else…Daniel Lipstein.

A lawyer by day, Daniel has penned some thoughtful ideas including “Superwoman Was Already Here” about Dr. Maria Montessori and shared an article by Steve Denning about the dangers of the factory model of education as well as another piece from the WSJ (subscription required ) by Jonah Lehrer.

Now, why is all of this important and how does it relate to China?

Well, the reason, in my mind, is that as I see the impact of globalization, technology, and others on the rest of the world, it just reinforces what I already know…that the ONLY way to sustained growth for the US is to recognize that our competitive advantage is a culture of innovation.

It’s in teaching people how to be entrepreneurs and innovators.

By complete coincidence, that same day, my mom forwarded me an email from our friend, Saul Singer, author of Start-up Nation and a leading authority on innovation.

The email was quoting Tom Friedman from the 9/4 Meet the Press (see the 12.50 point in the video)

And what we did [for new book] was actually interview four employers, four major employers, one of whom actually is the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey. And we interviewed him when he was head of the Army Education Corps, and--which is just very recently. And here's what employers will tell you, David. They'll tell you that they're all looking for the same kind of employee now, someone who can do critical reasoning thinking, dot, dot, dot, in order to get an interview. That's not table stakes. What they're actually looking for are people who can adapt, invent, and reinvent the job because, in this hyperconnected world, change is happening so fast.

You know, there are companies now in Silicon Valley that do quarterly employee reviews now because their product cycle's changing so fast. You can't wait till the end of the year to find out you have a bad team manager. Now, that's got to work back toward education. What we argue in the book, basically going forward, is there are really just two kind of countries in the world, HIEs and LIEs, high imagination enabling countries and low imagination enabling countries.

Forget developed and developing. Why is it? Because if I have a spark of an idea now I can go to Delta in Taiwan, they'll design it; skip over to Alibaba in Hangzhou, they'll give me a cheap Chinese manufacturer; and make a jump over to amazon.com, they'll do my fulfillment and delivery; go to Craigslist and get an accountant; and freelancer.com will do my logo. They're all commodities now. What isn't a commodity is this (snapping fingers). And the countries, actually, that are thriving today, look at Israel, start-up nation. We--we're not going to bail our way out of this crisis. We're not going to stimulate our way out of this crisis. We are only going to educate, ultimately, and imagine and invent our way out of this crisis. 

And Saul adds his own analysis:

What Friedman is saying is what economists have known for many years but many seem to have forgotten: economic growth comes from increasing productivity, most increases in productivity come from innovation, and start-ups and entrepreneurship are the main engine of innovation.

That’s what I’ve seen on my trip to China (and India, Brazil, Russia…). As a nation, we have to just make our peace with the fact that the easy street we had for so long is over and just make a clean break and seriously double-down on this question of re-inventing education.

I certainly don’t have the answers, but I know it’s a huge problem. I also know that people like Daniel are seriously concerned and thinking about it.

We’ve got to raise the alarm before it’s too late and make it a top priority.

Beijing, Incense, and the Social Safety Net…

Day 2 in Beijing took me to the Yonghegang Temple, a fairly large complex that was full with multiple and ENORMOUS statues of the Buddha.

As I walked through, the thing that really hit me, that brought me back to 1997 when I lived in Japan and traveled around Asia was the smell…of incense.

Now, I happen to like the smell, so it works for me, but when I think of “sights, sounds, smells of Asia,” it is the smell of incense which I think connects me most with this continent.

One thing that I’ve noticed…at least in the areas where I’ve been which, admittedly, isn’t all that many, is how clean things are. I mean, some of them are tourist areas, but the subway is pretty darn immaculate.

Of course, with 1.3 billion people, you have a lot of labor to keep things organized.

One thing I did wonder about was, as the country grows is how does it provide for a social safety net for the millions(!) “left behind.”

On three consecutive subway rides, I saw (and gave money to) 3 different beggars who were in horrific shape. One had no legs and was crawling on the floor (I’d seen something like this in India). One was an amputee and blind. I don’t recall the 3rd at the moment.

IT was interesting (admittedly unscientific), but the guy crawling on the floor was the one who got money from almost everybody and the other 2 were ignored.

Just an observation.

Beijing-14 Years Hence

 

Last time I was here was 1997 and suffice it to say, the city is VERY different now.

Sure, there are a ton of people and I got the full experience of being cramped in the subway, but while we were there, pretty much every single person was using a smartphone.

Yep, China is mobile.

Oh, and when it comes to fashion…America has won that trade war at least.

Last time I was here, the airport was old, dilapidated, and chaotic. Now, it’s stremalined, efficient, HUGE, well lit, and as modern as they get. So, too, for the subway system

I’m sure a lot had to do with the Olympics, but a lot has to do with the growth in general.

One thing that I did notice…and perhaps this is a testament to the modernization ofChina-I don’t know-is that whereas in Japan and India, I was often the subject of starest, being the only Caucasina around, in China, no one seemed to notice or care.

Well, that’s not entirely true, I was often approached by people either trying to sell something (Capitalism has arrived!) of trying to practice their English.

Still, the mass affluence has certainly arrived en masse (intended) in China.

The mall next to the hotel where I sam staying, granted not the greatest data point, is full of luxury Western goods.

Like when I was in Moscow and the mall next to Red Square was full of high-end Western brands, China seems to have plenty of that as well.

Now, the fact that I couldn’t log into Facebook or Twitter from my hotel room (I had to directly remotely access my home PC and do it from there) reminds you that this isn’t quite a “normal” country, but in so many respects, China is like everywhere else…at least on the survace, after my first two hours

One incident that caught my attention was a non-violent protester across the street from Tianamen Square. He was limp and not willing to walk with the police. A crowd gathered and the policeman stayed calm, aware of the phones with camersa and the tourists. Soon, a van came up and the guy was put unceremoniously in it…who knows what happened then?

Stil, I suppose that is progress?

Sorry for the typos. I had typing this via my home PC while in China and the latency leads to errors…It’s cumbersome to fix them all,so I trust you’ll figure it out

More to come on this. Of course.

Oh yeah, one more thing…I was VERY surprised to see how orderly people were in the subway, forming nice lines. I definitely did not expect that.

Oh…another bonus, I saw a Chinese bride all deck out in red taking pictures in front of a temple. Nice throwback to another era.

I was thinking that some of the older generation, who had lived through Mao and the Cultural Revolution…they must be so confused!