After seven trips to China and researching what makes for effective leadership and management practices in China, I am struck by the universal need to first create a “safe environment” for individual expression as well as experimentation, risk taking, and initiative.

In Jim Collins book “From Good to Great” where he explores what accounted for the ability of some companies to reverse their declines and build sustainable success (while there industry peers could not), and in Larry Bossidy’s and Ram Charan’s book “Execution” where they cite fundamental practices for sustaining business success, both best selling books speak to the importance of a “safe environment” ..the ability of people to “say it like it is” without fear of being mis-interpreted or their intentions questioned. These were mostly USA companies being talked about.

In China the need is the same but perhaps for slightly different reasons. Today’s Chinese workers are said to suffer from the “4x2x1 syndrome” as a result of being born and raised in under the one-child policy (four grand parents and two parents to the one-child). These Chinese are said to be spoiled materially while also being harshly criticized whenever their performance if anything less than perfect in their highly competitive environment (“You only got 98 on the exam, why not 100!”), leading to an adversity to taking initiative, standing out among one’s peers, and speaking one’s mind, especially to the face of people in authority.

Thus, a “safe environment” might be the first requirement of good leadership … all around this shrinking world of ours!