Note: This is Part 5 in a series of articles and cases on Asian Conglomerates. Read Part 4 here. You may read more about the Asian Conglomerate Series here, or view all the published cases here.
I’m enjoying and learning a lot from this series. I know so little about business in Asia, and feel like I have fallen prey to all of the stereotypes and biases. Your careful breakdowns of the case studies are helpful. There is a way that this only makes sense to an outsider like me if you provide a lot of context and walk through it step by step. Looking forward to the next installment.
Thank you for writing this comment, @james! It sometimes feels like I’m writing into the void with this series — it’s incredibly interesting to me, and my entire team is fired up to research and produce the cases because we feel like we’re representing our lives here … but it’s sometimes difficult to tell how folks who aren’t from Asia are receiving it.
- Provide advice privately
- Build trust first
- Wait at least a year before making recommendations
- Make sure advice is free of conflicts of interest, and is win-win
- For God’s sake, don’t call it governance or activism
I was reading this tweet from Cedric and said to myself, “My God, these first four points are so relatable.” I bet that you could package this into a short “career tips” post and give it a title “How to Build A Thriving Career: Asia Edition” or something ha 
Maybe a fun anecdote that I can share when applying these “principles”. As a data person, I sometimes go out of my way to handle “bad news” for stakeholders before I share it to broader audience in the weekly meeting. I share the insights with them first so they come prepared, while also trying to find a “good” angle (“But not all of this is bad. In fact, we also found…”) to support them in front of everyone.
Basically, I try to show while I remain a neutral person (the data shows what it shows and I won’t lie), I genuinely want them to succeed.
And the result? I quickly became their trusted advisor and kept getting “Huh? Okay that’s an interesting finding” instead of defensive reactions “No, you did this wrong! There’s a mistake in your analysis!”
This post articulated why I use this approach and (I believe) how it works particularly well in an Asian context, where saving face and building relationships are often prioritized. However, I wonder if others also find success with similar strategies, even in non-Asian settings?
You should definitely keep at it!
Seconded!
I expect to continue to be quiet in these threads while I absorb a lot that is new to me
On a very local note:
Production at TSMC Arizona’s first semiconductor fabrication plant (20 KM from where I sit) started in Q4 2024, and TSMC says that yields are ‘comparable’ to those at their fabs in Taiwan
For folks here who have had a reason to follow developments in the semiconductor industry, that’s excellent news
However, TSMC doesn’t have the local name recognition of Intel (which has a long running fab and a research facility in the area) so there’s a bit of uncertainty in the public discourse
The case description of Richard Lawrence’s interactions with Morris Chang may prove useful in conversation, so I’m putting it in my back pocket