Refugee from Bhutan and What's the matter with Kansas

I met a young man yesterday who came to the US in 2008 as a refugee from Bhutan. He loves America and the opportunities it has brought him. He is actually going to college studying to be a physician’s assistant (admittedly a long way from refugee status in 9 years). I asked him what he thought of our current political climate. He told me that Americans have been too comfortable and complacent. He thinks that in the past Americans have not had to risk socioeconomic consequences for non-involvement (including voting). Our jobs and income have been safe. He saw hope in what is going on now as many people are seeing real effect on their lives and liberty and see concrete future negative ramifications with the current political environment.  Seeing real negative effects on their own lives, citizens, more than ever, have motivation to be involved and that can only make things better, he espoused. Maybe we have hit the apathetic bottom so real change can be driven by the people that are tired of corruption and being ignored and walked on by the lobbyists and political elite. However, it is going to take a tremendous effort and passion to overcome the money power of the lobbyist propaganda. 

Unfortunately, there are still too many people that are naive and may not know or ignore the fact they are being manipulated. There was a book published in 2004 by Thomas Frank – the title “What’s the matter with Kansas”. According to Frank, in the late 19th century Kansas was known as a hotbed of the left-wing Populist movement, but in recent decades, it has become overwhelmingly conservative. According to the book, the political discourse of recent decades has dramatically shifted from social and economic equality to the use of "explosive" cultural issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, which are used to redirect anger toward "liberal elites."

Against this backdrop, Frank describes the rise of political conservatism in the social and political landscape of Kansas, which he says espouses economic policies that do not benefit the majority of people in the state.*

Not long ago, Kansas would have responded to the current situation by making the bastards pay. This would have been a political certainty, as predictable as what happens when you touch a match to a puddle of gasoline. When business screwed the farmers and the workers – when it implemented monopoly strategies invasive beyond the Populists' furthest imaginings – when it ripped off shareholders and casually tossed thousands out of work – you could be damned sure about what would follow.

Not these days. Out here the gravity of discontent pulls in only one direction: to the right, to the right, further to the right. Strip today's Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they're protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there's a good chance they'll join the John Birch Society. But ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower.

(Frank, T. 2004 "What's the Matter with Kansas?", pp. 67-68) (via Wikipedia)

This book, if I remember correctly was mainly stating how the republicans gained control of Middle America. But I believe it goes one step further in the control of the republicans by the lobbyists. BTW – lobbyist influence in no way is just a republican thing but I do believe it is more prevalent.

Building relationships despite cultural differences

At OpenText, we have had a bit of personnel turn-over in our APJ team (since we were acquired from HP), so due to my extensive time I spent in business development in Asia, I have once again been asked to manage a myriad of issues and partners in Asia. I have spent more than 10 years going to Asia 3 or 4 times a year and for about 6-7 years I spent about 50% of my time on the other side of the world in Japan, China, and SouthEast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places). I loved my experiences there even though the travel was brutal and I was perpetually jet lagged for months at a time.

 I loved the food and the places I got to see but my favorite part was the people and the cultural nuances. My goal when I was traveling outside of the US was not to come across as a crass, culturally ignorant American. I witnessed huge cultural blunders from my colleagues (American, British and Aussy mainly) and I frequently had to apologize. Of course, I did make mistakes but I also read as much as I could about cultural approaches. One of my favorite books was “When Cultures Collide” by Richard Lewis. This link has a summary of some of the cool things from the book.

 Reading was not enough, I wanted to understand more. So, in my dealings with people from other cultures, I frequently apologized a head of time for being direct (explaining that direct was the American Way), and then asked about cultural traditions and nuances. I am not, nor will ever be an expert but my acquaintances opened up to me and taught me some basics about where to sit, when to talk, how to order food, how to eat, how to give and accept gifts, how to show respect (and not) and dozens of other subtle rules and communication styles. Culture and local traditions became my favorite dinner time conversation topics.

When I began my Asian forays, the culture I had the most difficulty working with was with the Japanese. Working in Japan and with my Japanese business partners was very difficult. The subtle and indirect communication styles left me completely baffled where I stood after the completion of meetings. As many of you have heard, yes does not mean yes (necessarily). After a couple years, I did finally establish a good rapport and understanding (at least some of the time) with my partners and customers. One fond memory I have is spending some time over some sake (perhaps more than some) requesting that one of my business partners be a bit more American when there were issues or problems that required urgent attention. I wanted them to know they had permission to be direct and that direct loud complaining was effective for us. I actually got an ear full at our next meeting and had to smile.

 In my travels, I developed deep friendships and respectful fruitful business relationships. I don’t think it was because I was culturally skillful, it was because I recognized and appreciated the differences and made the effort to understand and build relationships. It takes time to build these types of relationships but once built, there is trust and where there is trust there is friendship and cooperation. The world is an interesting place with lots of fascinating good people. Getting the opportunity to travel and get to know different people from all over the world has been the greatest joy and privileges of my professional career.

Will Technological Advances Widen the Socioeconomic Chasm

The acceleration of technology is a cool and exciting thing and we are privileged that we will get to see unfathomable advances in our lifetime. We will see advances in cancer research, space travel, energy, robotics, agricultural, computational and many other fields. The fastest advances will occur where the most money can be made. This trend may make it difficult for the socioeconomically challenged to get access to life enhancing technology. For instance, if you look at cars and the safety features that have been added to vehicles in the last several years. I have a car with ABS, 7 airbags, anti-collision features, lane departure warnings and back up cameras. About 70% of the cars on the road do have airbags but that means about 70 million vehicles don't. Deaths in frontal crashes are reduced by about 30% when using airbags. Therefore, if you are poor and don't have airbags you have a much higher chance of dying in a car crash. Auto-pilot cars will be incredibly safe for those who can afford them. Technology advances will have the potential to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, global warming, world hunger & poverty, human trafficking, education & medical access to the destitute. The message of hope is that many companies do contribute to the world communities and philanthropic causes. There are also some companies (not nearly enough) that are using technology to solve global social justice problems. http://www.goodnet.org/articles/4-innovations-that-use-technology-to-solve-social-issues. However, is a big enough slice of technical innovation going to be used for good? If not, technology advances will widen the socioeconomic gap. People with access to the best technology will receive the most benefit, and not just monetarily. Health, safety, quality of life will be hugely impacted by technology but you may only benefit if you can afford it.

February 2, 2017 - Will Technological Advances Widen the Socioeconomic Chasm The acceleration of technology is a cool and exciting thing and we are privileged that we will get to see unfathomable advances in our lifetime. We will see advances in cancer research, space travel, energy, robotics, agricultural, computational and many other fields. The fastest advances will occur where the most money can be made. This trend may make it difficult for the socioeconomically challenged to get access to life enhancing technology. For instance, if you look at cars and the safety features that have been added to vehicles in the last several years. I have a car with ABS, 7 airbags, anti-collision features, lane departure warnings and back up cameras. About 70% of the cars on the road do have airbags but that means about 70 million vehicles don't. Deaths in frontal crashes are reduced by about 30% when using airbags. Therefore, if you are poor and don't have airbags you have a much higher chance of dying in a car crash. Auto-pilot cars will be incredibly safe for those who can afford them. Technology advances will have the potential to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, global warming, world hunger & poverty, human trafficking, education & medical access to the destitute. The message of hope is that many companies do contribute to the world communities and philanthropic causes. There are also some companies (not nearly enough) that are using technology to solve global social justice problems. http://www.goodnet.org/articles/4-innovations-that-use-technology-to-solve-social-issues. However, is a big enough slice of technical innovation going to be used for good? If not, technology advances will widen the socioeconomic gap. People with access to the best technology will receive the most benefit, and not just monetarily. Health, safety, quality of life will be hugely impacted by technology but you may only benefit if you can afford it.