The Snitch

Too much has been said about America’s 44th president Barack Obama, but there is no denying that he is inheriting a truckload of problems (Iraq & Afghanistan war, the dismal economy, climate change, a government deficit) . No doubt that if there is anything Obama needs to pull the country through, it’s leadership skills.

And for any current (and aspiring) leader and change agent, I daresay there is a lot that can be garnered from Obama’s presidential race.

Be inspirational: It’s no doubt that Obama has top-notch oratory skills, as evident in his stump speeches. But more importantly, Obama represents change – a change from failed Bush policies, a change from political families such as the Bush and the Clintons – and a change in the hope that there can one day be a president who isn’t white and male.

But I don’t think it’s just based on his background alone.

While McCain pandered to his base by alluding to the fact that Obama hung around with William Ayers, or was somehow a secret Muslim, Arab and Socialist all rolled into one, Obama would talk about reaching out across partisan lines and working together on issues that the country faced. In one interview that he conducted, I remember Obama saying that there is no way to succeed on climate change if he kept lobbing republicans, as that was an issue which required all hands on the deck.

Don’t stray from your main focus: Even in the last month of campaigning when his opponents were accusing him of “palling” around with terrorists, Obama kept to his talking points – the economy, job creations, tax cuts.

In fact, when Larry King asked Michelle Obama how they felt with all the accusations of being a terrorist, Michelle Obama simply said:  I think there are two conversations that have been going on throughout this whole election. There’s the conversation that’s been happening with the pundits … and then there’s the conversation that’s been happening on the ground. They don’t care about the back and forth between the candidates. … They want real answers about how we’re going to fix this economy and get the health care benefits on track so, you know, this is part of politics

The future is in technology: Obama managed to harness the power of the internet, and use it to his benefit – with votes and fundraising. He started his official Facebook, Twitter and SMS campaigns really early on in the primaries, and really got connected to the young votes. Even after he won, his campaign texted supporters thanking them for their votes. This, compared to McCain who admitted that he doesn’t really read emails.

Have a sense of humour: With less than 10 days before election day, Obama goes on political satire show, The Daily Show, to laugh at how his white half might not want to vote for him in the election.  The same goes for John McCain and Sarah Palin, who were game enough to go on Saturday Night Live on different occasions and poke fun of themselves. It’s nice to know that even with the looming election, it’s still cool to break into a laugh and crack jokes every once in a while.

Here’s food for thought.

In an article by Reuters, it puts across an idea that companies in Asia aren’t retrenching as many staff as the West because “it’s a culture thing”. Companies in Asia are more likely to bite the bullet and take a cut on pay rather than sack employees, compared to Western countries that simply axe employees clean and good.

Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian firms try harder to preserve jobs in difficult times, which will stem unemployment and may help keep Asian economies afloat at a time of slowing exports.

The more paternalistic East Asian attitude may also make it easier for firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, leaving some experts predicting a Western shift to Eastern flexibility.

“In the Confucian mindset, the right thing to do is to share the burden. There’s that sense of collective responsibility whereas in the West, it’s more about individual survival,” said Michael Benoliel, associate professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University (SMU).

But cultural differences may not be all of it. Mark Ellewood, head of Robert Walters for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand says a lot of it could also be due to the labour laws in the West – which generally favour the employee – and could lead to litigation lawsuits against the company.

Most people would agree that they would rather work for a lower pay than have no job at all. But this article makes me wonder – are there other factors that come into play which we don’t know about? For one, you could argue that companies in the West have to lay more people off because they are suffering from a greater impact of the economic downturn.  Or it could be a “kiasu” (colloquial term for ’scared to lose’) effect, where companies don’t want to let people go because they want as many hands on the deck in order to keep the business going.

What do you think? Can it be boiled down to a mere “culture” thing?