Last December, I was heavily involved reading “how to” books and websites on interviewing, struggling for a spot at a consulting firm. One of the questions that I spent a lot of time on was “What adjectives best describe you?” and “What characteristics make for a successful person?” My journeys through both China and India have brought these questions back to the surface and shed new light on what they were really asking. It forced me to look inward and identify whether I really embodied the traits I wanted—the traits that would help me to be successful in whatever I do. We traveled across countries, down toboggans, over miles of train tracks and flew over some of the highest mountains in the world. We met founders of now well-established companies, entrepreneurs just setting up factories, and people from every stage in between. And we saw poverty, heartache, and felt a true human connection to people halfway around the world. There were many things that I took away from the trip, but the best way to describe them is to answer those two questions I spent so much time thinking over only six months ago—yet strangely now they are so easy to answer.
Creative.
Creativity is one element that is essential and yet seems both elusive and hard to teach. It is an ability to be confronted by an “or” situation and make it an “and” instead. With a heavy governmental hand in China, it seems difficult—some would use impossible—to get what you want done in order to succeed. But one of the most powerful quotes from the trip came during a small dinner in the hutongs near Beijing.
“In China, nothing is allowed but everything is possible.”
It is not possible or advisable to always follow the rule book. A necessary skill is to be able to think of alternatives that others do not. A great example of this was our bus driver in China. Roadblock due to heavy traffic? No problem, just turn a fifty foot bus around in the middle of the freeway and drive off the on-ramp to a better, faster freeway. Most people wouldn’t think to do this (I’ll be the first to admit there may be safety issues as to why this would be a bad idea but it did save us a lot of time).
A similar story is true in India, yet it is because the government has such a weak hand. It is up to businesses to decide where they want to be and what they want to do, and this sometimes requires gathering enough companies together to do the same in order to convince the government to build out infrastructure into the desired area. Or in the case of the hospitals, setting up separate floors and offering jet door to jet door treatment in order to bring foreigners into the country for travel medicine. In strategy, competitive advantage and differentiation is constantly stressed. One of the best ways to achieve both of these is through creativity. But things don’t always go as planned, which brings me to my next adjective.
Flexible.
Creativity is good for planning and strategizing, but not everything always works to plan. That is why flexibility is so important. An example of this is the difference in how people from different countries approach electronics and the internet. In the United States, email is used often and instant messaging is used less frequently. A plan that revolved around email would not work in a country like China where instant messaging is the dominant method of communication and email is not used nearly as much. We experienced a great example of the value of flexibility when checking into our first hotel in Dubai. What seemed to be a pretty nice hotel on the website was actually less than most expected and for some was “inadequate”. Being flexible about hotel conditions led many of us to actually enjoy the hotel and the surrounding area. When comparing US businesspeople with those in India, most from the US request to stay in nicer hotels while Indian businesspeople are willing to stay in cheaper alternatives. This can help to reduce costs and can lead to a competitive advantage.
Passionate.
Passion is my final adjective because above all else, you must be passionate about your life or you will never be able to achieve something truly great. Above all else, the common thread throughout our presenters in China was their passion—for children’s libraries, for marketing, for leading others, for travel. Passion is what brings creativity, flexibility, and all the other hiccups together to form a successful attempt. Passion is seen in Chinese and Indian companies’ willingness to go the extra mile for clients and guests. It is normal for a company to pick a visitor up from the airport and rent conference rooms from top hotels just to make guests more comfortable. I feel that this effort of going the extra mile is something that US businesses can learn from, from the executive office down to customer service. Essentially, passion is trying your hardest and still messing things up, but putting your head down and a smile on your face to keep working and try even harder. One of the great things about the trip was the chance to test this ability to smile through challenging situations, and I felt that I was able to and even improved along the trip.
I have described the three adjectives that I feel describe the characteristics of a successful person. I feel that I now embody many of these characteristics and am always working to improve myself. The trip was a great way to learn about different cultures but one of the most powerful things I took away from the trip was a better ability to learn about my own culture. We were given two other viewpoints with which we could look at the world and ourselves and I hope I am able to maintain those perspectives far into the future.
Thank you to everyone that was a part of the trip, both in our group and who we met along the journey. It was because of you that this trip was so great. I hope to see you all again soon and wish you all the best for the future.
Author: Jeff Mohr
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