Lessons
from Thailand, September 2014
I am at the
airport and in slightly less than an hour I take off from Thailand, lay over in
Hong Kong, then home in the morning, I hope. But I am thinking I have been so
blessed, so fortunate to be able to travel from time to time, as have many of
you…and so what are the five lessons from Thailand? This is not scientific,
it’s just the thoughts which have crossed my mind in the short time I have been
here and seen and interacted with the people. If I stay long enough reality
will hit and then I will probably be less biased, but maybe the lessons will
not be too useful then…
Here we go.
1. Be gentle
with the world. There is a discipline I see here in the people, their patience
with others on the train, even with their junta which staged a coup back in May,
their apparent tolerance with those that are different (Apart from a taxi
driver–cum–pimp harassing me about taking me to a place where I can have a body
to body massage, I felt very safe). Yes, the politics is not right and there is
now the “green” party (read military junta). But still people seem at peace. So
I am told that young men have to spend a year in a buddhist monastery after
finishing secondary school. This is their coming of age ritual; it is not
mutilating penile organs or sending them off to behead hapless journalists and “Westerners”,
it is training them in the ways of the founder of their religion. Imagine if we
could do this with our young people, encourage them to enter the service of
others when they are most receptive.
2. Play to
your strengths. Thailand has an amazing history, great exotic foods and it’s
the tailor to the world. In 24 hours I ordered and had three suits made, and
the stuff looks great. They have created the support systems for business to
thrive – infrastructure for tours; spas, hotels…but they have not pretended to
be something they are not…they have marketed their culture. While Cape Town
maybe a great place, it pretends too much; tries too much to suit it’s tastes
to the European palate. In Thailand, Thai food is everywhere and remains
authentically Thai (even Ronald MacDonald strikes the Buddha pose!); they have
been creative, making juices, ice creams and crisps from everything from watermelon,
dragon fruit to banana and jackfruit. In Africa we have all these things but we
just have not packaged them to give them to the world. When I go to Venda, I
always look at all the fruit going to waste and wonder how it can contribute to
economic development of villagers….I may have stumbled on the solution.
3. Be happy.
There are no angry young people here. Perhaps the Buddha mentality again helps…in
essence, this is what it says (or ta least how I understood it all those years
ago when my extra Maths teacher tried to explain it to me) – “this is all there
is folks; no after-life to enjoy after the misery of the present”...so be
happy. That seems in general to be the essence of Eastern religions. Thailand’s
national campaign is called “smile Thailand”; there is a sense that people are
pursuing happiness…(Note to self, I am going to try to be happy by hanging out
with happy people!).
4. Show up and
things will happen. This is my own learning. I was invited to Thailand to give
a talk because I had not turned down a request to give another talk earlier in
the year when the original speaker was double-booked. I was approached and I
said, I would do it. At that meeting I met Jenny and when she was looking for a
speaker for the Thailand conference (again the local speaker was not
available), and I was volunteered she immediately accepted because she had seen
me. So here I am far away from home and having made new networks and friends. I
have been invited back and also to Germany and the project which started off as
conversation in Pretoria 6 months ago is about to start-up. So, that is my
lesson, say yes, and you never know where it leads. This is contrarian to what
you read a lot about, “learn how to say no”, well if it’s borrowing money,
definitely!
5. Samsung
rules the world but they don’t trumpet it like Apple does. Is there a Samsung
product launch with all the starry-eyed geeks and all? (if there is then the newspapers
are not doing a good job of publicising it). Here in Asia, it’s not just the
smartphones, or the other well known gadgets, they are also getting into the
insurance business, at least from one billboard I happened upon. In the trains and
the airports, everyone is tapping away, swiping and wiping away on a smartphone
device of some sort, most of which are made by one company in not too far away
South Korea. How did that happen? And who is the smart brain behind Samsung?
So, unlike the Western model of having an in-your-face founder who is
identified with a brand (think Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Strive
Masiyiwa), these people hide in anonymity and just get on with it. And they
have quietly and decisively taken over the world. It is an Orwelliann truth
that he / she who controls information channels rules the world. But anonymity
also guarantees that companies do not suffer from founder’s syndrome and wilt
once Mr Founder dies. So whether the guy
dies or resigns, the company lives on
