The best comment ever (not) made about China

I apologize in advance for not being able to source this comment. It was aired on a TV show about media and education to a Wharton School audience. I got into the show after it started and I don't know who made this comment. But it was great and can be applied specifically to China.

"It is very easy to believe in what you think even though you may actually be out of touch with reality."

So it got me thinking. How do I get in touch with the reality of my Chinese manufacturing situation? I don’t know if I’m “right” or if I’m out in left field while the world goes by, but I did come up with a couple of ideas that I use to at least confirm what I think is really what’s happening around me.First, seeing is believing. If you don’t see everything (check it off a list) it may not have happened. This is important for almost all parts of all products (molds, assembly, packaging, printing) but most important if you are making products that have a functioning component or a specific standard that must be met.Second, QC, QC and more QC. You should be testing and monitoring and reporting on every step of the process. I’ve heard the guys from BV say that products should be tested (not just QC’d) anywhere from six to nine times in the production cycle to be safe and sure. I don’t test that many times personally, but we certainly QC more than a few times per project.Third, “their” reality. You need to know that there may be contradictory forces working against your projects success. Whether it's politics, money, face or any number of other issues it behooves you (I always want to say that phrase) to find out what’s “really” going on. Sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Other times, you’ll be glad you found problems sooner than later.Fourth, have someone do QC on your QC. This is usually me, for our company. It’s not a lack of trust, I really have great QC guys, but it is a double check that standards are being followed all the time.Fifth, some parts of the project you just have to do yourself. I do all our printing. Nothing ruins months of work on a project like poor package printing—it’s relatively cheap and just not worth having something that isn’t even part of the product ruin a job.This concept of checking up on the relationship of your beliefs and your reality works in other areas too. Here are a couple of other things related to working in China.Learn from North Korea, or at least the UN’s position with NK: Trust but Verify. You have to trust other people. It’ll kill you to doubt and worry about everyone. It’s just not worth it. You have to, at some point, trust both the people around you and organizations you are working with. So confirm everything before you spend money. Then confirm everything after you spend money. But let them do their job. Be upfront and make sure they know that your job is specifically to check up on their job performance.Now a few less practical thoughts on the subject of “reality” in China. See? I told you it really got me thinking.In Asia, fate and cycles are much more important than you or I probably will ever really understand. If you grew up in the west you were educated/indoctrinated in the theology of self-determination; e.g. you have the ability to choose your own future. And even if “the gods” have predetermined your future you at least can affect it to a (large) degree. For many people here, this just isn’t the “reality.”This isn’t an East vs. West, or a right or wrong proposition. It’s just that what you believe my not be the actionable reality for your Chinese counter parts. This certainly affects the wiliness of employees to innovate, take initiative and think outside the box.Finally, I think that it’s really hard to be Chinese—your environment both physically and socially is changing quickly, not to mention you have to manage the rules about face, fate, guanxi, and all within the massive and rapid changes of the last thirty years and in increasingly westernized business context to boot.Think about this Chinese “reality”:• Just about everyone over 50 in China never had more than some primary education. But today, you can’t work at McDonalds without a college degree.• 20 years ago they still weren’t using cash in most of the economy—they were still using coupons from their work units.• If your primary education is from the Chinese system and your MBA is from the West you have two completely different concepts of how the world works competing within your head.• As a factory, probably most of your supply chain is working in a solely cash system while most of your customers are certainly working in a credit and terms system.• If you save face by hiding and personally solving problems but your foreign client wants to know-all and see-all when push comes to shove what do you sacrifice? Your own personal face or your professional relationship?• Are time and experiences linier or cyclical?• If your boss is foreign and rewards individuality but your manager is Chinese and punishes anyone out of step with the system, who do you work for?I’d love some reality checks—anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?