A Similar Problem in American Companies as in Asian MLM companies

The boss speaks and all the subordinates keep quiet. Not too long ago, I visited a management consulting company in the US who have been serving the American fortune 500 companies for the past 25 years. They came out with a best selling book entitled 'Crucial Conversations.' Now I had read their previous book which was more about management strategies but was surprised that they suddenly came out with a book on communication. It really took me by surprise and I had thought that this company had change tracks so quickly for the purposes of following a popular title than sticking to its belief in management strategies as was the theme to their previous book.

In a short meeting with one of the executives, I realized I had misjudged the company due to my wrong assumption of American companies. They didn't come out with a book merely to be popular but as I had thought. The executive explained to me that their years of management consulting experience with American companies made them realize that no management strategy can be applied if a company did not have an environment for a 'Crucial Conversation' to take place. This is defined as when the Stakes are high should the conversation fail and the emotions of the two parties being strong with opinions that vary or differ! The senior executive revealed to me that in American management, the boss speaks and the subordinates keep quiet! Wow!... that was an 'Aha' revelation to me as I had always thought Americans are always vocal, free and independent from all the TV shows I had watched. All the while I had thought only Asian companies had dominating bosses who push their opinions and make everyone accept them. The same was true also in America????

Suddenly my experience in the former company I was with rushed through my mind. In the early days of the company, my hand would always be up in a top level management meeting in the US with all the corporate staff when the VP for Sales would announce a market launch that affected my area. I would politely give what I thought was positive feedback on how the plan could be improved. To my surprise one day, the Chairman of the company came up to the front and politely uttered a few words, stating how experienced this VP was and that we should all just let the man carry on without interruption. I was glad this VP was not overseeing my territory but soon after I had surpassed the RM100 million sales in one year, changes occurred in senior management and he became overall in charge of all the countries including Malaysia. There were the unique Asian problems occurring in the market place and every time I was sent to the US to corporate management meetings, I could not raise these problems nor my solutions to be discussed because he was controlling the conversations. I found it strange that after a few smooth presentations of his that took up the early part of the morning, we would all then take a break and golf the rest of the day! Needless to say, most of the Asian markets came tumbling down and I believe the other markets of the world were declining too as a new man was called to take his position. A positive note for American companies is at least they can remove the head by vote whereas in Asia, the head of a country could hog a position for many many years whether he was effective or not! The important truth I had learnt that day was that American or Asian bosses have the same problem, they always think they are right and the rest are too afraid of their jobs to voice out otherwise. (See Group Intelligence)