Lesson from China

“What’s the weight of wind?”, a sparrow asked a squirrel while sitting next to it on the branch of tree, while a nice breeze embraced them.

?"Well…. Hmmm… nothing”, replied the squirrel.

?“Last week”, said the sparrow with much sorrow, “I was sitting with my young chicks on our nest. Then a strong wind hit us, tore the branch off, and destroyed our nest. None of my chicks survived”.

As leaders and entrepreneurs, how do you know when a gentle breeze turn into a fierce storm and changes your company’s fortune forever?

Lessons Learnt

?In 1976, a massive earthquake hit Tangshan, China. 300,000 people perished. The government and the city were caught off-guard – and casualties and damage to property were high. Rebuilding took years.

Since then, numerous quakes hit China. Casualties, however, are much lower than in 1976, as the Chinese have learned from the painful lessons, and have rebuilt homes with reinforced structure, and reorganised emergency response to react to country’s often difficult terrains. Preparedness and readiness clearly made a major difference between life and death.

One of China’s greatest novels – the Romance of the Three Kingdoms – began with these words: It is a universal truth that anything long divided will surely unite, and anything long united will surely divide?(話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分). The Chinese knew, even then, that nothing is permanent – what is great today, can collapse in an instant tomorrow.

It is such Chinese wisdoms, passed from generation to generation, that have helped ancient Chinese emperors to deal with the dynamic and complex society that was ancient China. Despite their high and mighty positions as ‘sons of the heaven’ and an almost divine authority to rule, Chinese emperors were generally schooled for years by the greatest teachers of their time, as preparations to rule.?

Every move, every decision made took into consideration the individual and collective impact such decisions had on the individual, on the society and on the entire empire. Constant feedback in the form of advisors and ministers were sought, which resulted not just in sustainable progress, but also in co-operation and acceptance by the ruling elite and the general society.

We know of course, that some emperors did fail – and new empires emerged. Thrones were usurped, and rulers were overthrowned. Often, is because the emperor became arrogant and stopped listening to what was going on in their empire. When he only dealt with parts of the empire. When he only considered his own personal well being. And, when he allowed his warriors, advisors and civil servants to do likewise, or relax, simply administer and avoid the risks involved with decicion making. If you think about it, that is exactly why leaders and consequently their companies fail today.

As such, as leaders of your respective companies, it is vital that we learn to listen, and learn to look at the bigger picture in every decision. And to prepare for the worse, even in the most prosperous of times. Let’s not allow that gentle breeze turn into a fierce storm that will carry our companies along with it.?

When I was in a subway in Shanghai before the pandemic, I saw a father pushing his young son ahead, even as hundreds of commuters rushed out from the train and headed to the exit. He told his son this: “remember son, he who gets out first, gets the most to eat."