Sunday, January 16, 2005
People who influence
The recent debate about current AIESEC direction, role of alumni in the org, and the difference between exchange and non-exchange change agents has made me want to post about one particular person.
Let me tell you about Joe.
Joe was my boss when I first came to the AIESEC traineeship here in Hong Kong. He was the Director of Procurement, Greater China at Emerson Electric, an American Fortune 500 company in manufacturing. (I'm not stating this fact about my company out of ego, but to give you a background of where Joe stands). Joe is an @OSU (Ohio State Univesrity in US) alumni, who went on an exchange to Germany during his student days. Joe was also a Peace Corps volunteer in the '90s under a business development program for a coal mining village in Chile. However, it is not his profile, but his way of thinking that intrigued me the most.
On the other hand, I cannot tell his story without tracing his path through AIESEC, the Peace Corps, and the corporate career he is leading today.
Joe was an active business student at OSU, and he was involved in ICX. Eventually, he decided to go to Germany for an exchange (this was when "raising a TN for sending an SN" was strictly followed) - which ended poorly, considering that his company shut down a couple weeks into his traineeship. So he decided to travel through Europe, making money off of dishwashing. He was quite excited about his experience and said that he had the best time, despite of what had happend with his TN.
After his traineeship, he signed up for the US Peace Corps (PC) and was assigned to go to Chile. When he first arrived, the organization he was supposed to be helping was a dud - it made no use of the volunteer, had no plans, and embezzled money out of its own funds. Joe complained to the PC office and was reassigned to a Catholic church that helped local businesses. He told me that one of the hardest things was choosing 5 good proposals to support the community while rejecting hundreds of others. But he knew that being able to support the 5 good business plans 100% was going to help the community more than scattered resources.
After his 2 years of PC service, he discovered opportunities within the PC network and received a full-ride scholarship to Thunderbird. This set him off to a good career, and he worked in 2 MNCs before coming to Emerson. Until recently, he was the Director of Procurement - Greater China, managing our Shanghai, Shenzhen and other small offices in China - roughly 100 employees in our Asia procurement organization. Today, he is in a director position at another electronics firm.
Over beer, he was telling me his experience in AIESEC and the Peace Corps. At one point, he paused and said, "I miss the good old days when I was doing work in the public sector and traveling around - more flexible days. But you know what? The position I am in today allows me to influence SO much. The engineers I train today, the people I hire, bringing our business to the Chinese factories - this equates to employment and conducting ethical and efficient business. It's a ripple effect. That's how I can feel good about what I do today."
It may be hard to read this without feeling a little skeptical, but I found that comment genuine because it is coming from Joe (I used to be belligerantly anti-sweatshop labor and pro-humanitarian treatment of workers - I still am, but have a newfound appreciation now that I am close to the global manufacturing scenery). For the last 16 months I have been at this company benchmarking manufacturing practices in Asia and understanding issues in low cost country manufacturing. I'll leave my comments on that for another day, but it's no longer "China = cheap labor, mass production, low quality" - there's interesting dynamics and progress that requires a positive relationship between a Western investor/company and the developing country supplier/market.
As a manager, Joe was very inspiring - he has an open door policy, genuinely cared about individual employee development and seeking promotional opportunities, followed through on every promise, actively learned Mandarin and Cantonese to speak with employees and customers, and went through all this with personal health issues. Nobody in my company fully understands nor appreciates AIESEC - but despite that, Joe helped raise this TN and sold the idea from within to mutually benefit AIESEC and Emerson. As a concerned alumni, he also complained to me several times that not enough AIESECers were going on exchanges themselves. He told me that hiring a trainee for my position was heavily based on the trainee's AIESEC involvement and understanding of the organization.
Ultimately, Joe is someone who has taken an interesting path in life and has made it to a position of influence. Both AIESEC and the Peace Corps experience contributed in making him who he is today and he's passionate about both organizations.
Just wanted to share that with you. These Joe's - they do exist (btw, his name is really Joe - I'm not making this up :)
Let me tell you about Joe.
Joe was my boss when I first came to the AIESEC traineeship here in Hong Kong. He was the Director of Procurement, Greater China at Emerson Electric, an American Fortune 500 company in manufacturing. (I'm not stating this fact about my company out of ego, but to give you a background of where Joe stands). Joe is an @OSU (Ohio State Univesrity in US) alumni, who went on an exchange to Germany during his student days. Joe was also a Peace Corps volunteer in the '90s under a business development program for a coal mining village in Chile. However, it is not his profile, but his way of thinking that intrigued me the most.
On the other hand, I cannot tell his story without tracing his path through AIESEC, the Peace Corps, and the corporate career he is leading today.
Joe was an active business student at OSU, and he was involved in ICX. Eventually, he decided to go to Germany for an exchange (this was when "raising a TN for sending an SN" was strictly followed) - which ended poorly, considering that his company shut down a couple weeks into his traineeship. So he decided to travel through Europe, making money off of dishwashing. He was quite excited about his experience and said that he had the best time, despite of what had happend with his TN.
After his traineeship, he signed up for the US Peace Corps (PC) and was assigned to go to Chile. When he first arrived, the organization he was supposed to be helping was a dud - it made no use of the volunteer, had no plans, and embezzled money out of its own funds. Joe complained to the PC office and was reassigned to a Catholic church that helped local businesses. He told me that one of the hardest things was choosing 5 good proposals to support the community while rejecting hundreds of others. But he knew that being able to support the 5 good business plans 100% was going to help the community more than scattered resources.
After his 2 years of PC service, he discovered opportunities within the PC network and received a full-ride scholarship to Thunderbird. This set him off to a good career, and he worked in 2 MNCs before coming to Emerson. Until recently, he was the Director of Procurement - Greater China, managing our Shanghai, Shenzhen and other small offices in China - roughly 100 employees in our Asia procurement organization. Today, he is in a director position at another electronics firm.
Over beer, he was telling me his experience in AIESEC and the Peace Corps. At one point, he paused and said, "I miss the good old days when I was doing work in the public sector and traveling around - more flexible days. But you know what? The position I am in today allows me to influence SO much. The engineers I train today, the people I hire, bringing our business to the Chinese factories - this equates to employment and conducting ethical and efficient business. It's a ripple effect. That's how I can feel good about what I do today."
It may be hard to read this without feeling a little skeptical, but I found that comment genuine because it is coming from Joe (I used to be belligerantly anti-sweatshop labor and pro-humanitarian treatment of workers - I still am, but have a newfound appreciation now that I am close to the global manufacturing scenery). For the last 16 months I have been at this company benchmarking manufacturing practices in Asia and understanding issues in low cost country manufacturing. I'll leave my comments on that for another day, but it's no longer "China = cheap labor, mass production, low quality" - there's interesting dynamics and progress that requires a positive relationship between a Western investor/company and the developing country supplier/market.
As a manager, Joe was very inspiring - he has an open door policy, genuinely cared about individual employee development and seeking promotional opportunities, followed through on every promise, actively learned Mandarin and Cantonese to speak with employees and customers, and went through all this with personal health issues. Nobody in my company fully understands nor appreciates AIESEC - but despite that, Joe helped raise this TN and sold the idea from within to mutually benefit AIESEC and Emerson. As a concerned alumni, he also complained to me several times that not enough AIESECers were going on exchanges themselves. He told me that hiring a trainee for my position was heavily based on the trainee's AIESEC involvement and understanding of the organization.
Ultimately, Joe is someone who has taken an interesting path in life and has made it to a position of influence. Both AIESEC and the Peace Corps experience contributed in making him who he is today and he's passionate about both organizations.
Just wanted to share that with you. These Joe's - they do exist (btw, his name is really Joe - I'm not making this up :)
// posted by sakit @ 9:22 PM 
Comments:
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I hope reallydon't mind all of my posting...I just find some of your idea refreshing....Maybe people like myself, or people like Joe lie to themselves. Sure, the low wage jobs help to create a stable economy over time. But, I sound like a Nazi saying, "Arbeit ist Freiheit" (work is freedom).
Maybe people with influence should push for higher wages. But, we don't out fear or maybe even greed. We lie to our selves saying, "Who am I to make a difference?".
Of course that’s not going to happen. It’s the culture that we have. It is that GYWYC (Get yours while you can) mind set that is part of the cause of poverty in our society. Let everyone else figure out the how or social consequences.
I can't speak for Joe, but maybe my values have changed...Or if you you ask my friends they might always say I been a GYWYC type guy....
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Maybe people with influence should push for higher wages. But, we don't out fear or maybe even greed. We lie to our selves saying, "Who am I to make a difference?".
Of course that’s not going to happen. It’s the culture that we have. It is that GYWYC (Get yours while you can) mind set that is part of the cause of poverty in our society. Let everyone else figure out the how or social consequences.
I can't speak for Joe, but maybe my values have changed...Or if you you ask my friends they might always say I been a GYWYC type guy....
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