In blog #10 of this series, I wrote about Micro Messages and their impact at an organisational level. We discussed the concept of ‘micro-inequities’, a term coined by Dr. Mary Rowe of MIT’s Sloan School of Management which refers to the subtle messages that devalue and discourage performance.
This past week at the China Communist Party Congress, something happened that will be discussed for decades and will likely have an impact for generations. I am not referring to President Xi’s life term as president being approved which was already expected, nor to the changes in his leadership team. I am referring to how he dealt with one of his predecessors, the 79 year old ex-President Hu Jin Tao.
To give this analysis appropriate weighting, it is necessary to first recognise two strong characteristics of Chinese culture. The first is that Chinese culture is non-confrontational. Rather than showing emotions externally or making a public scene, Chinese will prefer to hide their emotions and adopt a long-term plan, often catching their opponents off guard because they thought there was no issue. This partially explains the position of dominance by stealth that China is achieving through the ‘Belt and Road’ project.
The second strong characteristic of Chinese culture is that of “losing face”. When someone causes the other to look bad in front of others, it is tantamount to a declaration of war between individuals that if not quickly rectified, can spiral quickly out of control. In my 25 years living in Asia and dealing with China colleagues, I have seen deals that should succeed if based on commercial considerations fail because of a perception of loss of face between the parties. This would be far less likely to happen in Western society where the commercial considerations would take priority over personal matters.
In the attached photo which many of you will have already seen, President Xi is making no attempt to hide his micro messages, indeed these are not micro, they are very evident. To eject an ex-President so publicly and in such a manner is unprecedented in Chinese culture and sends a chillingly clear signal of intent and a warning for any internal faction that dares to confront him.
Amongst other things, our use of facial expressions can communicate our intent. When that intent is something unexpected and contrary to expectations (in this case cultural), the impact is magnified. President Xi is a very intelligent man, he plans meticulously and I believe he understands the impact of his facial expressions and how the world will respond to them very well. I doubt he will ever read this blog, and if by some means it ever did find its way to him, he wouldn’t pen a comment. In the absence of an official comment therefore, I’ll be happy to receive yours :-)
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