What do fatherhood and corporate social responsibility have to do with one another? A lot, I have found.

Earlier this afternoon I picked my son and wife up at Logan Airport, having been separated from them for just over 8 days. Less than a month prior I was away for 18 days while traveling overseas. The time away from my family was very tough, especially given my son’s age. He is just shy of one year, and each day seems to bring a huge milestone or accomplishment. I feel like I missed so much of his life during the 26 days we were apart.

After saying hello and herding their luggage into the car, the three of us spent some time driving around and getting lost together. My son napped on and off, and my wife and I had a chance to catch up. Once home, we fed him, played a little, and then my wife gave him a bath (there is a point to all of this…) and I started his bedtime routine of gathering a bunch of books to read to him. Alone in his nursery, he seemed more interested in hanging out than checking out books and heading to bed. I let him play and explore, and occasionally picked him up, held him, or played a little. All the while, I was more happy than I have been in months, simply watching my son explore, enjoy himself, and learn new things.

As it turns out, I’m not the only person I know that finds happiness and fulfillment in raising their children or spending time with their family. Apparently, quite a few people are like that… The point being, at least in my life, being there for my son and wife is extremely important to me, and very fulfilling. And when I feel fulfilled, I am not only more happy, but also more energetic, productive, and ambitious.

…And happy, energetic, productive, and ambitious people make damn good employees and leaders (I have found).

An element of corporate social responsibility for many progressive companies is the duty to enhance and enrich the lives of their employees. Rather than just seeing them as cogs in a wheel, these companies view their employees as resources, individuals, stakeholders, and powerful members of their communities. In turn, these companies make an effort to provide great benefits, ample time off, flexible schedules, and other niceties that go beyond the norm.

There is always the element of giving away too much, or burning all of your capital trying to make employees happy (lavish lunches and daily massages anyone?), so a focus on ensuring that the extra benefits lead to increased returns is always a good policy. And if done well, and combined with good leadership, a greater focus on employee enrichment and happiness will certainly lead to increased returns.

TAGS: Father | CSR | Employee Benefits

If you have ever tried to put into words what makes a good leader and have struggled a bit, take a gander at The Magic of a Great Business Leader. Jeannine Bauer does a great job of introducing some of the qualities of a great leader and also touches on ethics:

“These leaders have one primary and broad-based goal — that is, to do the right thing for their organization. In general, this means to pursue the success of the organizations according to the goals set for it. But on a more subtle level, doing the right thing will also be reflected in how this leader treats customers, employees, and suppliers. This leader’s underlying sense will be that using a win-win approach with every level of stakeholders will always lead to greater net results for the organization. Thus, the daily life in such an organization, in both its internal and external interactions, will feel positive, ethical and satisfying to all involved.”

I think she is spot on in her overview of great leaders, but I would take the ethical angle a bit further even. In my idealistic world view, great leaders have to be the most ethical individuals you have ever met, whom are not willing to compromise on moral issues for the sake of making a few bucks. Further, they need to be consistent in their representation of their ethical framework and how it comes into play during the regular mix of daily business. Employees, peers, customers, and any other stakeholders, should all have a relatively strong certainty that the leader will or will not jive with a certain scenario based upon their ethical framework. Such consistency removes uncertainty and doubt, and also sets a good example for everyone.

As a practical example, imagine you are in the finance department of a company with a great leader, whose actions have established a clear precedent for what to do in questionable situations. You come across a journal entry that is an error but makes the company look more profitable. You realize that your boss is responsible for the error and know that correcting it, or pointing it out might negatively impact your career. However, you also know that the great leader whom has exemplified strong ethics (let’s assume he or she is the CEO or CFO in this situation) would unwaveringly expect you to correct the error and identify it to prevent future errors. Your ability as an employee to do the right thing is greatly increased by the ethical example set by the company’s great leader.

I would also argue that companies lead by great ethical leaders have a greater propensity for stronger overall business ethics and a desire to pursue corporate social responsibility initiatives than those lead by less ethical leaders.

TAGS: Leadership | Ethical | Business Ethics | Integrity | CSR

Check out a fantastic paper over at HBS Working Knowledge about ethics, CSR, South Africa, and the role of business in promoting positive change: A Gentler Capitalism: Black Business Leadership in the New South Africa

TAGS: Ethics | CSR | South Africa | Social Change | Entrepreneur

Chris MacDonald introduces a topic that I have long struggled with, mixing one’s faith and business. Though he focuses primarily on Christian businesses and a specific trade show, I think the topic is applicable to any faith.

The issue is obviously very relevant to business ethics (hence Chris’ post) but also a very relevant to every person whether they are a consumer or a business owner, and regardless of whether they follow a certain faith or not. There are just as many ethical issues with patronizing a religion-focused business as there are with targeting a religion-specific demographic as a business owner.

I have struggled with both sides of the equation, not wanting to mix my faith (I’m a Christian) and business, and always having been a bit leery of businesses targeting specific faiths. I’d be interested to hear how other entrepreneurs and detail-oriented consumers have dealt with this very challenging topic.

TAGS: Ethics | Religion | Business | Faith | Christian | Christianity | God

I’ve been watching regional real estate, both residential and commercial, for several years now, and am continually baffled by the herd mentality that seems to cloud people’s judgment (much less so in the commercial sector).

On my recent trip to China, I saw very disturbing levels of development–there were skyscrapers shooting up from every available lot it seemed–yet witnessed little evidence that the demand for space will continue. In Shanghai, and perhaps a few other areas we visited, entire skyscrapers were being built on spec. That might not seem like such a big deal, but when there are 15-20 buildings being constructed (30-50 stories each) within your peripheral vision, it becomes less reasonable to take such a risk as a developer. Then throw into the mix rising wages, international trade issues, and the general stability of the global economy, and things become a bit more dicey.

The US market, depending on what area you look at, is finally showing consistent signs of a broader slowdown. The New York Times has an excellent article today that is well worth reading, covering the slowdown and its impact on the economy: Housing Slows, Taking Big Toll on the Economy .

TAGS: Real Estate | United States | China | Shanghai | Commercial Real Estate | Residential Real Estate | Skyscraper | Office Space | Real Estate Bubble

I suppose that I should have determined that my posting volume would be a bit light for the summer…

I’m now in Boston (Carlisle, MA actually — a bit west and north of Boston) having survived the trek across the US with my dog, despite the oppressive heat this past week. We took an interesting route through the top of the southern states over to the northwest corner of Arkansas, circled around for an afternoon, and ended up in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park just three days after leaving Southern California. We spent last night in Wilkes-Barre, PA and then arrived at our destination early this afternoon. 3400 miles later I’m quite tired and happy to be settled for a bit.

My blogging may continue to be light (or nonexistent) for a few days as I get situated here.

I have been back in California for about 20 days now, yet somehow have lingering feelings that I am still in China. I don’t know if it was the travel coupled with a general lack of time to unwind upon my return, or some other factor, but I have yet to feel settled. I think by the time the trip was most of the way through, I stopped thinking I was in a foreign country and became comfortable with my then familiar surroundings.

Perhaps a more logical explanation is that there was some consistency and structure to the trip, despite the million and one things we did and saw. I woke up every day and had breakfast in a hotel. The coffee, when served, was always sure to arrive just before I had to leave for the bus, and an egg, my main source of protein on the trip, could continually be counted on as part of the meal. I saw the same people on the bus, day in and day out, and with them, struggled through the same heat discomfort (save the ever temperate Mr. Beaton), cramped leg space, and mysterious stomach happenings. Seated naps and malfunctioning microphones became expected occurrences during almost every bus travel, and very late night attempts to contact my wife by IM or video conference bore a regularity that helped me cope with the ever shrinking amount of sleep I would manage to enjoy.

But all of these things simply helped me feel more comfortable, and helped tone down the reality that I was traveling through such an amazing country, each day seeing and experiencing more than my senses could absorb. The real symbolism of the trip, and perhaps what I am struggling with the most, is that it represents the closing of a major chapter in my life and the beginning of a new one.
. . .

The two and a half week trip was simply the capstone to the last ten months I had spent learning, growing, and laughing with the same individuals. Would an unforgettable business-oriented trip to China help me learn about international business and culture? Most certainly. But during my compacted time in the MBA program, as well as on the intense trip overseas, I learned more about life, myself, other people, and how much I don’t know — all lessons and experiences that will help shape me many, many, many years after I forget why it is that guanxi is important.

So I don’t really have any final thoughts about my time in China, just a mass of memories, some greater clarity about issues I am passionate about, and perhaps greater fuzziness about a few issues as well. If I were to have some organized, outlined, and well-prepared synopsis of what I learned, it is almost certain that the business climate would change fast enough to make my summation look outdated and visionless. What I am certain about, however, is that I was blessed to have been surrounded by such an awesome and powerful group of people, and that I will be forever changed (hopefully for the better) as a result.
. . .

Despite my feelings that it doesn’t make sense for me to attempt to put in writing my “final thoughts” on China, or on doing business in China, I am able to speak to several experiences or subjects which greatly impacted me during the trip. I don’t want to be redundant and make the same comments that I have in my “daily” posts regarding the trip (primarily in the image captions), so I will keep these topics brief.

Life.

The daily structure of life in China continually fascinated me during the trip. I met some very poor individuals as well as a few extremely wealth ones, and their respective daily realities couldn’t be more different. That observation could be made about any “wealth divide,” but the one in China is more pronounced and extreme than I have seen previously.

I didn’t struggle as much as I expected with the pollution we witnessed, but I also have never seen a situation quite as bad. The ugly days in Los Angeles where you are afraid to open your mouth, lest it get dirty, are actually pleasant days in some of the cities we visited. I am sure the state of China’s environment will improve with time, but I doubt it will be anytime soon.

At first, the seemingly lawless driving habits as well as the curious need to pretend that a line hadn’t been formed yet continually surprised me. By the end of the trip, however, I found that it was quite a bit more efficient to make yourself big and push to the very front of wherever you wanted to be. …I have been wasting much of my life waiting in lines indeed…

Money.

I didn’t expect to see Capitalism in full swing, but I saw that and much more. From the factories where human beings are “cheap” resources, to the blossoming debt-friendliness of China’s savvy teen demographic (well, the middle class coastal ones at least), money rules and consumerism is on the rise.

Investments from foreign sources, as well as increasingly from within China, have fueled a massive “growth” in real estate. I personally think the country’s growth is going to slow down abruptly, and when it does, I worry that the less fortunate Chinese citizens (which I think will most likely be about 3/4 of the population) will get hit very hard.

Happiness.

Similar to many of my trip-mates, I noticed that most of the people I came into contact with were very pleasant. Most smiled brightly and were quite friendly. However, I don’t remember seeing too many people really happy. I think you could say the same about most places, including the US, but for some reason, I noticed that most of the people I saw and interacted with had a kind of quietness about them, as if they were constantly in thought or preparation. I didn’t see much joy or passion — just politeness, determination, discipline, and routine.
. . .

I hope to return to China someday soon, ideally in the company of my wife and children, and imagine that my experiences there will stick with me for the rest of my life. To the individuals I had the pleasure of traveling with, as well as the strangers I didn’t have a chance to get to know better, Thank You.

TAGS: China | Cal Poly

[Note: Read a more chronological account of Day 17 on calpolymbatrip.com]

Day seventeen would be our final full day in China. Moreover, it would be the last time I would have to hang out with many of my classmates for some time, as most of us were spreading across California, the rest of the US, and internationally, upon our return home. I had become more melancholy as the trip started to come to a close, but the final day truly brought out the sentimentalist in me. I noticed that I took almost exclusively “people” photographs that day (street scenes as well as shots of my classmates), and spent quite a bit of time just thinking about things.

The highlight of the day for me was definitely our visit to an antique market, though I doubt most of the goods being sold would qualify as “antique.” I spent most of my time taking in the sights and sounds, photographing what I saw, attempting to find a gift for my wife, and generally reflecting on my time in China. I took a lot of photographs of the vendors sitting in their section of the market, waiting to engage customers. Despite the packed confines and massive number of stores and patrons, very few vendors were pushy. In fact, from a pleasantness standpoint, it was one of the best shopping experiences of the trip.

I didn’t buy much but spent a great deal of time at one individual’s booth. I was fascinated by a stack of vintage propoganda posters he had. As I leafed through each one, he would stop me and describe (in a mix of Mandarin and English) what was going on in each image. He also kept pointing to the dates on the prints, which were all 1966 (the beginning of the Cultural Revolution).

To say that he was both proud and attached to the prints would be an understatement. I ended up purchasing twelve, a first edition english version of Mao’s writings (also printed in 1966) and mini-versions of The Blue Lotus, the edition of the Adventures of Tintin where he visits China. After a quick search, I found out that the versions I purchased, which are small pocket-sized books with black and white pages on the inside, are pirated versions of the book (check out this BBC article), and that legal versions of the comic books were not allowed to be distributed in China until 2001. I bought them for purely nostalgic reasons, having read the comic book series as a child, but am glad to have the pirated twist as well — it makes them that much more eccentric.

TAGS: China | MBA | Cal Poly | Beijing | Antique Market | Silk Alley | Pearl Market

[Note: Read a more chronological account of Day 16 on calpolymbatrip.com]

Our trip was beginning to wind to a close — day 16 would be our last day of business trips, and our second to last day in China. Before the day closed, we would visit the Summer Palace, Tsinghua University, Sun Microsystems, and the English Corner at Renmin University.

The final two destinations for the day stick out in my mind as two of the more memorable and important experiences of the whole trip. Sun Microsystems at first appeared to be just another company visit where we would receive a host of information about the company and its strategy and operations in China. The meeting turned out, however, to be an incredibly frank and candid discussion (well, it followed a short info session…).

Mr. Wang, VP of Software Global Engineering (Greater China), led the presentation and Q & A session, and will remain in my mind as one of the more forthright executives I have had the pleasure of interacting with. If you happen to chance by this post, Mr. Wang, Thank You again for your incredible generosity, in both the time you spent with us, and the honesty and openness your answers contained. Mr. Wang handled and responded to some pretty tough questions with excellent advice and wisdom — providing a valuable and fitting end to our score of business visits (the calpolymba.com link at the beginning of this post provides a great overview of the session with Mr. Wang).

My experience at English Corner was phenomenal, which was the sentiment shared by all of my trip-mates as well (er, that it was phenomenal for them as well, not just for me…). For the uninitiated, English Corner is a regular gathering at universities all throughout China. Students and locals get together to practice their English and socialize.

I was initially a bit hesitant about the experience, as a pack of 30 or so MBAs from California might rub some of the regulars the wrong way. Evidently our presence there was welcome as nearly everyone from our group could be seen surrounded by throngs of people — students and locals — within 5-10 minutes of our arrival.

I spent much of the first 15 minutes trying to take photographs but was constantly pulled into conversations. At first the questions were primarily conversational covering topics such as the weather or from where I came. After a while, though, the conversations started to turn a bit more meaty, due to an effort by the students and professionals I was talking to as much as my own. We talked about politics, religion, life in the US, life in China, their stereotypes about the US and Americans and much more (the US stereotype conversation was unsolicited, very much appreciated, and quite eye-opening for me).

I noticed that after a while I found myself talking to the same 4 or 5 individuals, but there seemed to be a fluctuating crowd of another 5-10 people listening in at any given moment. During one of the more casual points of the conversation, I embarrassed myself (but hopefully did not offend anyone) when the conversation turned to film. I asked if anyone was familiar with the work of the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, who is one of my favorite directors. None of them had heard of Kurosawa, though a few indicated that they had heard of a few of the films that I rattled off which he directed. Reciprocating, they quickly asked if I had heard of any of their favorite Chinese directors. Unfortunately, none of them sounded familiar, and I even confused one with a Korean director that I like. Looking back it was a casual and fun conversation about film and personal tastes, but taken into context (Japanese/Chinese relations, the political and cultural environment of Beijing, my naiveness about some of the things they were fairly proud of, etc.) I regret having not exercised greater sensitivity.

The conversation quickly moved on, and we were able to touch on a number of more serious topics such as the Cultural Revolution (Tibet came up during that portion for about 45 seconds but then never resurfaced), the current economic climate, and how they perceived American’s freedom (this was mostly centered on my ability to “effortlessly” travel, as one of my new friends put it). The emotional high I had when heading back to the bus, and well into the evening, was unforgettable. Similarly, the mass of questions I have about the experience as well as what life is really like for the individuals I got to know that evening, will gnaw at me for a while.

*(Here is the link to Gary’s post that I referenced in the images above.)

As an interesting side note, I had considered giving out my email or website to a few of the individuals I met at English Corner. I realized, though, that it would be pointless for me to do so since my website was blocked in every city that I visited. It was a strange hiccup that made the experience all the more surreal. I had this sense the whole time that the conversation could shift dangerously into controversial territory and government censors would swoop in from all sides and slap a gag on me and put ear plugs in the ears of the individuals I was conversing with. I was unsure as to whether I was being paranoid, or if the students and citizens I was talking to are even aware of the suppression of information, or if they did know, and were desperately trying to glean information from us by the most subtle methods possible. At times, internally, I wanted to start screaming or making a scene about some politically taboo subject, just to see if my paranoia was valid. I have looked back at the situation many times since my return, and still feel unsettled and unreconciled about this subject.

TAGS: China | MBA | Cal Poly | Beijing | Sun Microsystems | English Corner | Freedom

[Note: Read a more chronological account of Day 15 on calpolymbatrip.com]

Day 15 holds some of the more memorable highlights of the trip. We headed out into the morning mist from our hotel, walking for about fifteen to twenty minutes, and ended up at the gates of the Forbidden City. The several story wall that stood at the entrance to the city, sporting another several story structure on its shoulders, was quite formidable and worth the visit in its own right. After passing through the gates, however, I continued to reach courtyard after courtyard after courtyard of amazing views. The city within Beijing seemed to go on forever, and offered as many nooks and crannies as massive courtyards and buildings.

A moderately long bus ride, segmented by a somewhat surreal stop at a tourist lunch compound in the middle of nowhere, took us to our second highlight, the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall. The trek to the top of the western section (I think it was the western side) was quite a hike — I was very grateful that the weather was far more temperate that day than we had previously experienced. Periodically during the hike up, I would turn around and check my progress, and found myself continually in awe of the structure. It was hard to imagine what life would have been like patrolling any of the sections I had walked up, let alone what it was like to have built the wall in the first place, stone by stone.

TAGS: China | MBA | Cal Poly | Beijing | Forbidden City | Imperial Palace | Tiananmen Square | Great Wall of China