The magic of underground ‘cable connections’

The magic of underground ‘cable connections’

In the fast-moving world we currently live in, it is often a challenge to create magical 'underground cable connections'. We hear you thinking, underground cable connections? Well, connecting us, humans, with each other in the right place, at the right moment through invisible wires. These invisible wires represent the relationship between us and the way we do things that reflect our identity, mission, ambitions, values, experiences, attitude, and last but not least our behavior. The question is whether we are actually doing the right things in the right way. (Paul Ingram and Yoonjin Choi, HBR November-December 2022). Perhaps a provoking question that we would like to answer always with a big YES, especially organizations. However, reality has shown us often enough that staying on track requires a reset, a reinvention, a reframing, or a reconnection of some sort of human wires. And sometimes we need to do this more often than we think.

Let me share some stories with you about magical ‘underground cable connections’ I have experienced throughout my life where I was keen to break through dysfunctional cultural patterns. I would like to leave you with some inspiration to set the tone for a magical 2023 in your own way

The Story

I walked into the auditorium of a brand-new university in New Delhi. A crowd of more than 250 students of different nationalities stood up and greeted me with a perfect ‘Good morning, Professor’ in a choir. It was almost as if they’d been practicing it. I smiled from cheek to cheek and kindly requested to sit back and relax for a couple Professor in Change Management & Consultant of minutes before kicking off the two-week change program called Embracing Change. I gazed toward my right and caught a few sweating and stressed IT professionals eagerly trying to connect cables for a proper sound. Over the years, I got used to last-minute stress in India and I have managed to unlearn my Western approach to be perfectly prepared for everything upfront.

In the end, everything will turn out just fine. The pile of wires only got bigger and bigger trying to connect almost 10 loudspeakers including 8 microphones, yet still, there was no result. Time was short, so I moved onto the stage and requested the audience if a techsavvy human could stand up to help fix the sound. Many heads turned right and left, and after a minute or so a skinny, tall Indian student wearing a white t-shirt with ‘I LOVE NY’ in bright red approached me and said, ‘let me try, ma’am’.

He stared at the pile of wires for a few seconds and started unplugging wires, reconnecting wires, downloading an app, spoke to the IT team, and suddenly grabbed the mic to say, ‘Hi guys, it’s working, isn’t it?’ The audience burst into applause and the student went back to his seat. The ‘show’ could begin.

The show could indeed begin with the famous Indian Classical violin player Sharat Chandra Srivastava and his tabla player, both of whom are part of the band Mrigya

Sharat had a quick glimpse at the cables, smirked, and said to the audience ‘well done, folks’. He had brought a Norwegian Jazz band along even though they met for the first time in India, right then and there, and were about to do their first performance together. Despite the novelty of their encounter, they shared grand hugs and somehow came up with the idea for an unexpected jam session. There was laughter, some more hugs and they looked at me as if to say ‘well, when can we start?’ I nodded. They exchanged some ideas, tuned their instruments, and had great fun while anticipating the first tune to start the mini-concert for the students. I noticed a magical familiarity between creative human beings who have the ability to create music and establish new underground cable connections. During my pep talk, I had only one assignment for Sharat and his band members: to uplift the students’ hearts, whatever it takes. Without any more words (9), the first tune set in, and everybody unaware of how it would end.

After 35 minutes, the musicians stopped playing. The audience was quiet. You could hear a pin drop. I approached the student with the 'I LOVE NY’ t-shirt to ask him what just happened and how he felt about the performance. He was clearly touched and with tears in his eyes he grabbed the mic and said

'...I was able to help with the actual cable connections, but I feel you, as musicians, help connect diverse, human hearts and wires magically. I just decided that I want to become the best sound engineer in India enabling more musical cable connections. For the last 35 minutes, I felt I'm not the only one who can fix complex things. We all can do it, provided we are connected and that's magical...'

'...Ma'am, you are going to travel for more than 24 hours with one suitcase only?' ...'Yes Sari, that's what I'm going to do. Now, you go back home, it's already late and the sun will rise soon again.' I replied. ‘Sure Ma'am, however, I'll wait for your text message that you reached the gate safely.’

This kick-off program with enthusiastic students and musicians reminded me of an interview that I had read with the well-known Indian economist Mr. Raghuram Rajan. In his opinion, the responsibility for knowledge institutions and their core businesses are to teach students how to think. (Chennai Deccan Chronicle, 'Education should teach us how to think', 30 March 2019). However, in my opinion, it is more than how to think. Triggering hidden competences in students of different backgrounds requires emotional experiences, not just thinking (6, 7, 8).

The Challenge

Covid forced us to view the world in a different way where it is a sine qua non to focus on intercultural aspects to manage and sustain successful international businesses (15). This is for instance highlighted in an interview (18) by Greg Foran, CEO of Air New Zealand, where he elaborates on the fact that ‘...we are living in a completely new normal. Customers are not looking for things to come back exactly as they were or expecting to...'. Despite the post-covid challenges, Greg Foran had the guts to reinvent the culture of Air New Zealand, knowing that an airline company can only survive by creating a magical journey for its passengers while meeting the many culturally different expectations up in the air. These cultural differences can best be managed on the level of ‘underground cable connections’ between humans, in this case, the passengers. Differences only can be 'seen' on the underground cable connection level (16).

Apart from Greg Foran, another example that comes to mind is that of Roz Brewer, the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. In a recent article in the Economist, she shares that '...recent upheavals provide a chance to rethink corporate culture (5). Years ago, company culture was viewed as light and fluffy stuff. But the facts and data show that a healthy company culture delivers results, and this has never been clearer to me than right now...' (The Economist, 'The World Ahead 2022', December 2022)

Melinda French Gates also elaborates on how the main condition to manage the different THE CORRIDOR PAGE 38 foundations she owns is a spectrum of international partners

'...While supporting all those international stakeholders, the vision of a collaborative becomes bigger than its individual parts and has the potential to improve the lives of millions'

Here we see that Melinda Gates can see beyond the differences in the short term to achieve the vision and mission in the long run. That means reconnecting, rewiring, and resetting the current underground cable connections of individual partners to create that magic to save the lives of others. Imagine the impact that her vision can have globally and not only in the non-profit sector. An exchange of learning will constantly be key from the perspective of reconnecting human ‘wires’ (5, 13, 14).

Toto Wolff, one of the most successful principals in the Formula One Motor racing competition is very clear about the culture including the behaviors of his team consisting of 1800 people during the interview with Professor Anita Elberse (Harvard Business School, November 2022): '...When they make a mistake, I want our people to know they don't need to lie in order to retain their jobs. We live by the mantra: see it, say it, fix it.’ This reminds me of another story in which ‘see it’ wasn’t the problem, however 'say it and fix it' was (16).

Vicious Patterns

During the process of a friendly takeover in the renewable energy sector, four round table sessions were organized in Paris and New Delhi within a record time of around 12 months. I moderated these sessions. The headquarters in Paris decided to explore 'the things we do around here' (2, 3, 4). The director, in his forties, understood the risk of ignoring cultural differences between the French and the Indian way of doing business very well. The sensitive R&D professionals needed extra attention and care. Therefore, before rewiring and reconnecting any underground cable system present in the company, the director started conducting dialogues and listened carefully to all the stories and experiences of each individual. Taking over an Indian family business needs a human approach.

In the third session, one of the French directors asked a mid-level Indian manager to share his opinion and sought his personal feedback about his behavior as a leader and how to tackle some market opportunities. The Indian manager got shy and decided to focus on sharing his factual and vast market knowledge ignoring the personal feedback question. After a second request for feedback, the Indian manager remained silent. I, as the moderator of the session, requested a time-out with the Indian team to find out the root of the problem. '...It is not done in India to share my personal opinion or feedback to our superior or senior managers, ma’am...' was the reply. I instantly changed the workshop program in order to create an opportunity for both teams to discuss ‘underground cable connections’. We had to create an atmosphere to re-evaluate the way we do things around here and, to grasp how they do things around there. The ambition was to create an overall new way of doing things together in the same location. With chai and a marigold biscuit, the French director re-opened the session by sharing his personal experiences regarding habits in cultures, and his observations about the take-over process so far. His openness about his hurdles in the process supported new cable connections between members of the audience (10). Breaking through stubborn vicious circles of existing patterns and finding new ways to connect to create a new common culture was key during the rest of the afternoon. The saying and fixing part was tackled.

The Approach

We can ask ourselves whether there is a single approach or perhaps a uniform methodology to reset cultural differences in the field of human underground cable connections. Is McKinsey correct in their opinion that a single approach may not fit all (11, 15, 17)? My answer to this question is both yes and no. The approach depends on whether the cables need to be transformed entirely where we should distinguish the content (the 'what' of the business we are in) from the process (the 'how' we are doing the business). The content perspective always needs a tailor-made approach, often multiple approaches, to reset cables, irrespective of the core business of the organization and its units and partners. A process-oriented approach (keep in mind the French take-over process in the energy sector) can be more uniform and used as a single methodology while trying to rewire connections. In general, the technical and more engineeringoriented minds feel it is a challenge to become aware, understand, approach, manage, and rewire the way we do things around here. Focusing on business content (facts and figures) is rewarding for these minds. Focusing on how to transform the business in which rewiring cables is a precondition is not (yet) a habit in organizations.

Rewiring cables

You must have heard about Philip's turnaround process in the ‘90s. The shift was from an electronically driven company to a life-science and health-driven company. For almost a decade, Philips had to reset all its technical and human underground cable connections. I was supporting this transformation and I still remember a tough conversation with one of the responsible managers on KPIs to 'reset the human cable'. R&D, technology, finance, and culture had to be measured with KPIs during the Planning and Control (P&C) process. Endless pilots, tryouts, and long discussions later we were – despite the tough resistance – able to break through dysfunctional and vicious patterns in order to turn the ship around.

To stay ahead of the competition in a world consisting of critical consumers, stakeholders, and a young yet mature generation of future leaders, rewiring cables has become a main condition to sustain the business.

Young leaders

In this day and age, we have a different profile of leaders born with a set of multi-colored wires. They are not afraid to reflect on themselves and ask the question 'Am I doing the right thing?' or 'Am I doing things right?' We talk of leaders who are also not afraid to support others on how to rewrite processes, or leaders that learned to take the first step in rewiring connections even if the cables are completely tangled and full of old habits. These leaders have experienced overcoming cultural differences or respecting these differences while finding newer and fresher connections. These are leaders that feel confident to share personal stories about their weaknesses and strengths, about losing and winning within a business context. Leaders who feel comfortable connecting with the magical mantra: if you don't change in time, time will change you.

We all know that in international business, it is key to focus more and more on the cultural aspects of the organization (12), amplified by many international reports talking about global trends. Businesses need to step up on societal issues, societal leadership is now a core function of business, distrust is now societies' default emotion and business must lead in breaking the cycle of distrust, just to name a few (Edelman Trust Survey 2022 www.edelman.com/trust). Are you one of those new (young) leaders that can make this happen?

Reference

1. Indian Classic Violin player Sharat Chandra Srivastava and his tabla team (New Delhi India 2010); [https://youtu.be/PhwI7kKBX4M]
2. Jeffrey Schwartz, Pablo Gaito and Doug Lennick, ‘That's the way we (used to) do things around here’, Leadership Spring 2011 Issue 62; [www.strategy-business.com/article/11109]
3. Dr. B. K. Mukhopadhyaya Organizational Culture is ‘That's the way we do the things around here’, University of Sussex, April 2021; [www.researchgate.net/publication/350847443_Organisation al_Culture_is_'The_Way_We_Do_Things_Around_Here]
4. M. Jason Martin, ‘That's the way we do things around here - An overview of Organizational Culture’, University of Central Florida, Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship, volume 7 no 1, spring 2006; [https://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v07n01/marti n_m01.htm]
5. Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, ‘Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life’, 1982. [www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRyRtnoGulU]
6. Narayana Murthy, ‘No single Indian Institute of higher learning in the top 250 of the world University Global ranking 2020’,15 November 2022; [www.livemint.com/news/india/narayana-murthy-oncoaching-centres-even-our-iits-have-become/amp11668522814089.html]
7. Raghuram Rajan, ‘Need Revolution in Education skill building’, Future Global Digital Summit Kerela, March 2018; [www.zeebiz.com/india/news-raghuram-rajan-needrevolution-in-education-skill-building-40346]
8. Raghuram Rajan, ‘Education should teach us how to think’, Chennai Krea University, March 2019; [www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/currentaffairs/300319/education-should-teach-us-how-to-think-saysraghuram-rajan.html]
9. Edward T. Hall, ‘Beyond Culture’, 7 December 1976, p. 57
10. John N. Hooker, ‘Cultural Differences in Business Communication’, Carnegie Mellon University, 2012; [www.researchgate.net/publication/260898153_Cultural_differ ences_in_business_communication]
11. Erin Meyer, ‘When Culture doesn't translate’, October 2015; [https://hbr.org/2015/10/when-culture-doesnt-translate]
12. Modern Management Forum, ‘The influence of Cultural Values on International Business and related activities’, Volume 4 Issue 2, 2020, p. 50/51; [www.researchgate.net/publication/342710591_The_Influence_ of_Cultural_Values_on_International_Business_Management_ and_Related_Activities]
13. Neil Thomas, ‘How KFC changed China and How China changed KFC’, Marco Polo, 31 August 2018; [https://macropolo.org/analysis/how-kfc-changed-china-andhow-china-changed-kfc/]
14. Emily Field, Elizabeth Pears and Bill Schaninger, ‘A single approach to culture transformation may not fit all’, MacKinsey, June 2022; [https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/peopleand-organizational-performance/our-insights/a-singleapproach-to-culture-transformation-may-not-fit-all?cid=emlapp]
15. Peter Bakker, ‘A mindset shift to transform everything’, WBCSD Vision 2050; [www.wbcsd.org/contentwbc/download/11765/177145]
16. Edgar Schein, ‘Cultural model’, October 2021; [https://youtu.be/HM89E6ltVOg]
17. Emily Field, Elizabeth Pears, and Bill Schaninger, ‘A single approach to culture transformation may not fit all’, McKinsey, June 2022; [www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-andorganizational-performance/our-insights/a-single-approachto-culture-transformation-may-not-fit-all?cid=eml-app]
18. Dirk Singer, ‘In conversation: Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran’, The airline passenger experience association, 27 October 2022; [https://apex.aero/articles/airnewzealand-gregforan/]