Chenggong - "Success"

I am back to Normal... literally. I arrived Saturday evening at the Bloomington airport to my lovely bride, Pamela's, smiling face and perfectly clear blue skies that I really had not seen in weeks. It is wonderful to be back to the simple life. It is good to be back where people really understand me. No translation needed.  I found that the most difficult headache in my 28 day trip was not knowing the Chinese language.  While the Chinese are making a very big step to improve their English skills, they are a long way from really being able to speak English so almost all conversations had to be translated.  Not that I blame them for not knowing English.  After all, if they came to America, how many Americans could speak a lick of Chinese?  It was still difficult, though, when we were trying to communicate difficult subjects, particularly technical ideas, and leadership ideas.

Culture

The cultures are very different.  The government policies are different.  Everything is different except the hearts of the people who as Dean Kuroff from my team mentioned in one of the meetings.  We all want the same things... quality of life and pursuit of happiness.  Liberty?  Maybe not, but the government seems to be able to keep their economy rolling at an 8.1% growth rate for GDP so they have the freedom to pursue enterprise.  The people are being fed and that keeps revolution away and the government in tact.  There is no such thing as outsourcing when you have 1.6 billion people.  People generally seem to be satisfied and the government does seem to really try to attend to the people's needs.  Jobs are job 1.

It was an amazing experience.  I respect many aspects of the Chinese way of life.  They are very orderly except when it comes to traffic.  When their government decides to do something, they do it.  There is very little wrangling among the leadership.  So when I say that I think our Executive Service Corps recommendations will be carried out, I can say, "Shoulda or Yes",  I think they will.

Final  Banquet at the Secluded Purple Palace

We were successful.  In Pinyin (Western Alphabet of Chinese) success is spelled "Chenggong." The Fab 5, as we jokingly called ourselves, delivered a very complete 140 page Powerpoint report and our recommendations were well received.  Mayor Ji and his Directors and Vice Mayors seemed genuinely excited to receive the results.  We feel pretty good about the work that we did in 3 short weeks.  We are confident that it will provide ample opportunity for both the City of Nanjing and the local IBM team who covers the public sector in China to make considerable progress on all 4 of the objectives laid out for us:  Smarter City, Software Development, Industry Transformation, and Social Media.

Final Charter

We had a very aggressive scope of work and realistically we could have taken anyone of them and gone deeper more effectively.  You do what you must, however, and we were chartered by the Mayor on these 4 areas so we worked to deliver something of value in all 4.  I think we did it.  It was a marvelous experience and team effort.

Let's put it this way.  They want us all back in mid-October to carry out the recommendations and do a deeper dive in each of the areas.  The major focus they want us back for is the Smarter City objective.  They have some serious problems in implementing a Smarter City, particularly with traffic control.

It was something that everyone should do in their lifetime.... take a sabbatical to another country for a bit. Of course, if you can get someone to put you up in a 4 star hotel, drive you wherever you need to go, and treat you like royalty, leap at the chance.  IBM's ESC program is a great for developing leaders and kicking off major new efforts in the emerging countries.  I can't say that this is a truly humanitarian effort, but I can say that "we came, we saw, and we made a difference."  It is all related to to pursuit of happiness which we were told by one official, is what matters.  To know that you made a difference contributes to well being.

I think I can speak for my team that this was a unique and wonderful experience.  I went with a little trepidation and being away from family was certainly a challenge.  But, I wouldn't have changed anything.  I leave you with a saying from Confucius:  Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.  You will be well rewarded.  Thanks, IBM, and the City of Nanjing (who will never see this behind the Great Chinese Firewall) for the opportunity to do something will all of my heart.