When I was in China in March, I was discussing books over dinner with a good friend of mine you will meet in Beijing, John Wu. We both love to read. He asked me if I had read Jung Chang’s famous autobiographical book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.

I said, “no, but tell me about it.” He did, and I noted that I it sounded interesting but was not sure I would like it because it sounded too much like a chick book for my liking. He said I should still check it out.

I did. I loved it. Every single word of its 508 small print paperback pages. Without question, one of the best books I have read on China to date.

I strongly recommend you consider it for your Spring quarter book review. While I would also normally alternatively recommend that you bring it with you to China to read during your down time there, I can’t/won’t do so, as the book is (still) banned in China.

What is it about? The true life story of a grandmother who was a concubine to a warlord in China, the mother who went through and survived the Cultural Revolution, and the daughter (Chang) who grew up in China and then became the first Chinese women to be allowed to study in Britain and receive her PhD.

The following reviews from the book’s back cover are dead on in my view:

Wild Swans is riveting. It’s blindly good: a mad adventure story, a fairy tale of courage, and a tale of atrocities. You can’t as they say, put it down. –Newsday

[Chang's] family chronicle resembles a popular novel that stars strong, beautiful women and provides cameo roles for famous men. But Wild Swans is no romance. It’s a story …. about the survival of a Chinese family through a century of disaster. — The New Yorker

Here are my five take-aways from the book:

1. I had to re-define the term “strong person” after reading this book. I thought I was strong. I am not, and I can’t hold a candle to the three women who are the subject of this book. I am and will always remain a girlie man in comparison to these three amazing women.

2. I learned some interesting things about foot-binding. Ouch. Amelia and Scout (my two young daughters), you are safe.

3. I (finally) know more about and better understand the Cultural Revolution in China, how it destroyed lives, how its deleterious effects still linger today in Chinese society.

4. Mao Zedung — Okay so he may have started off a decent guy. And yes, he did a few good things for China and the CCP. But he also appears to have over time turned into one of the biggest a******* of the 20th century. He has often been described at 30 percent wrong and 70 percent right. But my goodness, I would argue that his 30 percent wrong is a big under valued 30 perecent and what, oh, only 30 million people (probably more) starved because of this fellow’s ego? His wife, Madame Mao, appeared to be even more of a nutcase that did even more damage to China and its people than Mao. These folks flat out destroyed people and families and did not lose a wink of sleep over it. I wish I could be more diplomatic and respectful in my language about this fellow and his wife, but after reading this book, I can’t.

5. Re: No. 4 above, Chang’s Wild Swans was so good my next book to read will be her 800 page plus, Mao: The Unknown Story that she co-wrote with her husband (a British historian). Normally I stay away from such treatises as I can’t find the time or sustain the interest to make it through them, but I find myself wanting to learn more about what made this guy tick. This book by Chang is also banned in China. It has received mixed reviews from the academic crowd. It sounds like the book will be a bit of a biased screed against Mao, but at least a screed on the side of the angels so I will give it a go.

As I read Wild Swans I learned that my wife read the book years ago. She too, loved it.

Like I said …’Swans‘ rocks. This is a book that will pull you in at page one and not let you go.

Submitted By: Adib Assassi

While doing some Internet surfing, I came across this article on academic corruption at Chinese Universities. Academic dishonesty is a very foreign concept for me so my curiosity was peaked and I read on. The article talks about how distinguished faculty members and deans at universities were caught accepting bribes and being involved in textbook purchase corruption schemes among other things. Furthermore, the consequences of the activities are pretty severe, 13 years in prison for certain offenders.

This only proves the point that every day China is becoming more and more capitalistic. People there are looking to exploit every opportunity just as people here do. I wouldn’t be surprised if this happened in the states, but for some reason, I didn’t expect this kind of unethical behavior from the Chinese. But hey, I guess everyone’s trying to make a buck, and the Chinese aren’t as different from us as we may think they are.

Professor Carr Addendum: Good post, Adib. This post reminded me of a recent controversy at Ohio University involving foreign graduate students there — one of the issues being do students who come from other countries/cultures have the same concept of “copying” as American students? Click here and here to read more … If there is a cultural difference or socialization process re:  how such an issue is viewed, what issues does this raise for you as future managers who will be leading a diverse work force, whether you go abroad or stay in California?? 

Follow up from our April 26 meeting ….

1. Read all articles in the reader I handed out yesterday by the time you get on the plane (and bring it with you on the trip).

2. Review company web sites noted *** in your draft schedule at pages 17-21, and post on your own blog your short summary of what the firm does with 2 to 3 quality questions for each firm. For the small number of Chinese web sites, I appreciate we can’t read them. But, you can still likely glean what the company does from my draft schedule, and still post a few questions. Do your best.

3. Teams need to email me, by Friday, May 4, which firms they want to focus on and take the lead on these firms during the trip. EACH TEAM NEEDS TO PICK FOUR OF THE FIRMS/VISITS NOTED *** IN YOUR DRAFT SCHEDULE, AND I WILL IN TURN ASSIGN EACH TEAM TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR 2-3 OF THEM.

The idea is that these teams will take the lead in China re: getting the Q and A going at the beginning of the visit, and handle any lulls that come up; yet, the discussion is still intended to be free flowing (don’t become wedded to a script!) and all other students are still welcome, and expected, to join in with their own questions.

4. Victoria W. to email me which 3 industries you would like to meet managers from during our 21Manager visit.

5. If you are uncomfortable with us kicking in $5 to $6 dollars, per person, out of our budget for the donation for book bags with your names on them to school children in western China, not a problem and no pressure; but please email me and let me know.

6. Joe C. to bring CDs for the “SS Minnow” Grand Canal trip. Britney S., Nelly F, Justin T, preferred by Prof. Carr. Kidding.

See the following Wall Street Journal articles [subscription may be required]:

The Most Praised Generation Goes to Work and Blame It on Mr. Rogers: Why Young Adults Feel So Entitled and The Entitlement Epidemic: Who’s Really to Blame? and Welcoming the New (MBA) Millennials.

And if you can access it, watch this CBS 60 Minutes feature, “The Millennials“. A must watch (click on the different segments).

Then read the following CNN article:

Little Emperors

And, read this other link and article I came across:

Children Face Employment Discrimination in China

My question to you …

You will soon graduate. How do you plan to lead, manage and motivate the “most praised generation” after you graduate? And as work teams around the globe continue to diversify, you may see some “little emperors” be on the teams you must manage. How will you be an effective leader and manager in this environment?

Also, think of the above as a possible line of questioning for firms we meet with in China — how will/do they lead, motivate and manage their “little emperors”? Are there any best practices you can learn from the Chinese in this regard?

Don’t just say, “I will draw a line in the sand quickly and just fire them if they don’t meet my expectations.” In my view that is short sighted, and who else, pray tell, will you then hire to do the work you so desperately need done and where will you find those replacement employees?

Prof. Carr October 21, 2008 addendum: Another article just appeared in todays’ WSJ on this very topic, The Trophy Kids Go To Work. Check it out.

One of the best business speakers I have ever heard present is Mike McBreen, formerly of Nike and now with Furniture Brands International based in St. Louis. I was fortunate to be invited to a lunch on campus where Mike spoke to us about himself and his work at Nike, and we could ask him questions. A very humble man you could not help but like and respect. Mike also spoke at our winter undergraduate Orfalea College of Business graduation ceremony and did a great job.

One of his points during that lunch that resonated with me and still sticks in my mind … successful corporate strategy, at least in his industry, is becoming more and more tied to the supply chain and how quickly and efficiently goods can be moved from creation to the customer.

As one of his examples, he indicated that the retail “shelf life” of a T-shirt is/was about 33 days. Yet, it takes 28 days just to ship a shirt from a port in China to Nike’s intake facility on the US East Coast. Thus, if consumer taste takes a big swing while the ship carrying your T-shirt is going through the Panama Canal, you are not in a terribly enviable position. Future victory, then, at least for those in the T-shirt or other textile sales business, may hinge more and more on who can cut that 28 days down to, for example, 10 days — and Mike talked about how he is seeing some T-shirt production starting to move back to the US from abroad.

If so, does this make one of the books that a number of you read to help prepare you for the China trip, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, outdated? Just a thought.

Man, the world of business changes at light speed and that is one of the things I love about it. I hope you do too. No day is the same or boring in business.

For more information on the supply chain issue, check out MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics web site, where the techies there go nuts over this supply chain stuff.

This issue also relates to the Port (or a similar one) we may possibly visit in China (depends on our ultimate travel plan and details).

Professor Carr March 13, 2008 addendum: See this related post I just made, Gone Baby, Gone … Even From Mexico.

As I advised at last week’s session, during one of our stops in China we will stay at a well known hotel (see your syllabus for the name — I won’t post its name on the Internet). While staying at this hotel I can’t guarantee it, but I suspect you may see a number of Western couples who have just adopted Chinese babies. Talk to them. Learn what you can about them and their situation.   Also visit with some of the Chinese students who will show you around this city while we are there and who will travel with us for part of our trip, and ask them for their perspectives on the subject.

Here are some NY Times articles to get you thinking about this important opportunity to learn about a fascinating subject:

• China Tightens Adoption Rules for Foreigners

• Chinese Orphan’s Journey to Jewish Rite of Passage

And let me pose the politically incorrect question:  As an MBA what current business opportunities are being served by this activity, and, what future business opportunities do you see arising from this supply and demand issue?  Anything you might be interested in jumping in on?   Is the buying and selling of babies (i.e., adoption) ethical?  What restrictions are reasonable to put on such economic activity that clearly has social, religious, ethical, cultural and public policy dimensions?

Discuss.

When do you do it? How do you do it?  Do you do it?

See this WSJ article, Not Even Politicians Can Out-Campaign Office Grandstanders, for some good advice. I agree that it’s a big mistake to toot your own horn with people or peers who are already familiar with your accomplishments. But, as uncomfortable as it may be you need to be open and learn to (deftly, of course) do so where appropriate with those who are not familiar with your credentials, or the “office grandstanders” out there may eat you alive. And here is a related blog comment from Dan Harris of the CLB re: the interview process which follows up on the recent posting I made about a the NY Times article, Answering the Unanswerable, that I could not agree with more (see Dan’s comment to the article):

I realize now that my 9 year old daughter has rendered me better prepared to interview than back when I was actually interviewing. She asks me questions like these just about every day when I drive her to school: how many garbage trucks are there in Seattle? Do the drivers drive the same route every week, or do they rotate?

Best interview I ever had was when I walked into an office filled with Cub memorabilia. I told him I was a Cub fan and he was very skeptical, being as how I was from Michigan. So he started quizzing me on what the Cubs needed to do to improve the next year and we ended up going through their entire 25 man roster discussing each player, whether he belonged on the team or not and if so, what his role should be next year. I even remember this person loving my assessment that one of the starting outfielders is a great sub outfielder but lacked the power to be a starter. I got the job.

What students need to understand is that interviewers are incredibly busy and if your paper were not good enough you would not be there and really the ONLY thing they want to see in the interview is who you really are. I had never heard of the “airport test” until now, but that’s exactly what it is. It’s can you go out to dinner with the client and the client’s spouse and talk about more than just work and not be viewed as an ass.

Relatedly, a number of you have asked me, “How do/should I describe the China trip on my CV?”

There is no black and white answer and you need to adopt your own style of presentation, but if it was me, I would likely type the following into my own CV (the below relates to the trip when we visited just China and India had not yet become a part of the trip):

California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA

M.B.A. (July 2007)

• International Business Tour to the People’s Republic of China —A three week global business practices study of the PRC, with visits to small, medium and large companies in key Chinese cities (Guangzhou, Macau, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Beijing), studying global business practices of American, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and European firms (June-July 2007).

Each of you has made a significant capital investment in your education and professional future by taking this elective course and traveling to China. Don’t be shy. Be proud of it. Now is not the time for humility. Consider “blowing your own horn” to help move you forward with prospective employers. It’s business — differentiate yourself from others.

May 24, 2007 addendum: Thanks for Zach and Kim Frederick and LeeAnne Haworth for a great session today. As they highlighted, in your resume you might also consider adding or working in a bullet that is even more specific than the above. For example, list some attributes of a factory you visited (size, sales, product capacity, customers, etc.). If/when we visit the Wal-Mart in Guanzhou, plug in a bullet about that as everyone can relate to that Wal-Mart and what it does. Or list a firm we visited who is a competitor of the firm you now want a job with.

This highlights that your resume should be tailored for each firm you interview with — blanket and boilerplate resumes are dangerous to send out en masse and not as effective as they could otherwise be.

Finally, at a recent College Dean’s Advisory Council meeting I ask some of our members how, from their industry prospective, students might best market the China trip on there resume. The following suggestions were offered:

• Focus on key lessons gained from experience.
• Concentrate on a particular focus for the trip.
• Discuss as a key life experience.
• Use as a topic for discussion during interviews.
• Highlight the interaction with Chinese citizens, the mixture of viewpoints, culture, religion, etc.

Okay, this post is meant to have some fun and show that even professors who lead trips to China have a sense of humor and don’t talk about work all the time, or they at least try.

Last weekend I rented and watched The Curse of the Golden Flower  – a subtitled Chinese film, and loved it.  Loved it, loved it, loved it.  Great script, story and incredible costumes and scenery, and it had Chow Yun Fat in it to boot as the Emperor, one of my favorite actors (except when he appears in royal busts like Bullet Proof Monk or Anna and the King).  Then a few days later a friend sent me this  animated YouTube video on Supermonks (3 minutes) which in turn reminded me of a number of the tongue-in-cheek ”ninja” scenes in Curse of the Golden Flower.  Warning:  You may find this animated YouTube video juvenile and offensive as it has some ultra-violence snippets and a cover song from Ace-Out, whose lyriccal ability appear t be about as advanced as a Paris Hilton poem and their cover song contains an offensive word, so if this is not your cup of tea please take personal responsibility and make the voluntary choice to not watch this video.   Ironically, this video also made me think of Mel, my Buddhist monk pacifist friend, who is definitely not bulletproof.  Mel now lives in LA and works as a registered nurse.  He previously studied Buddhism in Ladakh (near Tibet) and raises funds to send Lakakhi children to school.  Mel, I know you check in on this blog every now and then.   If there was ever a “Super Monk,” you are it.   You have done wonderful work to make the world a better place.   Now back to The Curse of the Golden Flower …   I highly recommend it.  One of the better foreign films I have seen in awhile.  The director, Ang Lee, also directed Eat Drink Man Woman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (also with Chow Yun Fat in it), The Wedding Banquet, and Brokeback Mountain (which Chow Yun Fat was not in … but he shoulda been … just kidding).

My recent posts on the Paul Wolfowitz and his girlfriend’s pay raise debacle, Wolfowitz … He Be … Blitzed? and Help Not Wanted, asks the basic question of “Dude, what were you thinking?”

The question still stands, and his answer can only credibly be, “I wasn’t”, but today I will drop the other shoe for him in order to be fair.

See today’s Wall Street Journal guest Op-Ed piece “The Real World Bank Scandal” by Robert Holland who served on the WB’s Board of Executive Directors from 2002-2006.

Two points:

I disclose that I have never been nor will I ever be a Wolfowitz fan.

Knowing bureaucracies as I do, I have little doubt that most, if not all, of what is written in this Op-Ed piece is true; and that folks at the WB are making his life difficult purely because they are pissed off about things he has done that threatens their turf, but the girlfriend issue was fortuitously served up to them as the subterfuge to attack.  They must be reading up on Sun Tzu’s classic, The Art of War.

Wolfman, on this one, I feel your pain ….

This post has nothing to do with China, but has everything to do with life.

Read this NY Times article, “Answering the Unanswerable: Tips for the First Interview.”

Outstanding article. Should be mandatory reading for all undergraduate and MBA students in the entire world. But the title of the article should be changed to read, “Tips for ALL Interviews.”

The two questions discussed in the article — “What’s the most controversial belief you hold?” and “Are you interviewing outside of [field x]?” …. priceless.

I gotta work the themes of these two questions into our MBA application process …

What is a question similar to the questions noted in this article that you have been asked during an interview, and what did you say in response? Did you hit a home run with the question given to you, or a foul ball? Share and discuss!