My 50 Year Leadership Journey in Asia – Growth through Success and Failure
By Michael J Griffin
5-minute read
This week, 50 years ago, I began my Asian Leadership Journey as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia and here I am today in Kuala Lumpur still traveling the journey of Leadership Growth with the many friends, colleagues and family I have found. Read on about my insights, successes and failures hoping you glean some learning.
The reason I am still in Asia is the wonderful time I had with Malaysians. Their graciousness, hospitality and teachable spirits inspired me to take the risk to have a life long career in Asia. Thank you Malaysia!
My first two leaders were Mok Sian Tuan and Stephan Andel who were the leaders of an UNDP FAO forestry project. They taught me about having integrity in a somewhat corrupt environment. Secondly, they hired me for potential and gave me a chance to be a leader. When hiring look for potential and teachability. As an employee only work for managers who will grow and develop you and have good coaching skills.
In 1994, I read the book “Riding the Waves of Culture” by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner. This book was a big eye opener that totally changed the way I led Asian teams or did B2B sales in the Asian marketplace. Fons regularly invested his time to grow me as a cross cultural leader to apply his Seven Dimensions of Culture across the 20 cultures I have worked in. This has helped me to be a more open minded, curious leader to learn from the diverse people I interact with. The icing on the cake or the curry with the roti is he taught me how to reconcile culture differences making the world in my circle of influence a better place.
Leadership is a journey of increasing humility. I first learned this when I had to lead forestry teams in the forest of Kelantan and swamp forests of Sumatra. My suburban culture leadership was useless. I learned from lower class forest laborers who were kind enough to help me “survive” in the jungle. Continue to be humble and teachable in new cultures and environments to grow as an adaptable global leader.
In the mid-eighties, I got greedy and joined a company where I thought I would make a lot of money. What a mistake! Four years later, I was a bankrupt. I did though eventually pay the banks back. From this failure, I learned two things, take one work that is in your talent and strength zone. Secondly, I have become an “expert” of managing company cash flow. For SME’s like my company, cash flow is king/queen, not paper profit. This failure also led me to be more humble and accept gracious help from the Asians that stayed with me through this crisis.
At every point of change in my life there has been a senior man to mentor and guide me to walk through doors of success and avoid the failure found in point five. A senior director of Esso Malaysia got me started in training, a Navigator helped me get over the bitterness I had towards my father. An EQUIP Director mentored me on how to run a non profit training project across 21 nations with 40 volunteer trainers. This same man introduced me to John Maxwell that led to a 23 year learning path of leadership with John and his team.
A seasoned global training director opened the door for me to have global training franchises in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Singapore and later Malaysia. I am blessed abundantly by these gracious leaders. Find that senior gracious man or woman to mentor and coach you!
“Guanxi” and Relationships are crucial in leading Asian teams and selling to Asian decision makers. Trust me and let’s get to work – doesn’t work. As a leader or sales person you have to earn the right to be trusted, so have patience and walk the integrity talk when building relationships. The flip side of this is your team is too harmonious and quiet, this can be a sign of lower trust and fear to take risk. The skills of asking respectful questions and listening well are part of Asian culture.
Joyce and I were friends and “party partners” in our younger days. We both loved dancing, disco and sports – running and cycling. We dated for 8 years and were married for 27 until Joyce wanted a divorce. Raising two daughters in Singapore and when they both went to college, the cover was “blown.” We had drifted apart and our motivations in life were in two completely different orbits. Divorce in 2019. Painful. May I warn all you married people that love till we part takes work and proactiveness. Keep dating your spouse, keep active not transactional communication, and accept each other warts and all. No spouse is perfect and your spouse is not your “change management project.” Joyce contracted cancer and before she died, I went to her and apologized and asked for forgiveness for the mistakes I made in the marriage. We reconciled and then she died about 2 weeks later in 2023.
Research shows that most men in Malaysia or USA have a major debilitating health event sometime between ages 66 to 69 and then have on average 11 years of bad chronically ill health then die. Many a man or woman may give up their health to chase wealth, and in old age, use their wealth to chase their health. The message is clear – have a long life of consistent exercise and healthy living. That way you can age well and enjoy the lovely grandchildren you love and care for.
Knowing your DISC behavioral communication style with your life motivators, Gallup 5 strength finders with teachability and good Emotional Intelligence can give you direction into a life long career path that is enjoyable, productive to prevent disappointment and burnout. Doing this also makes it easier to say “no.”
Tim Elmore taught me the Life Sentence Habitude. You are writing your life sentence every day. If you were to die today, who would be crying at your funeral? Who will be jumping for joy, saying “good riddance!” What legacy will you leave behind? Who are the people in your journey of life who can say this about you? “You cared for me, you made me a better person, thank you.” So what will be your legacy that you will leave in people after you are gone?
These are 11 insights from my life, both of success and failure. I hope and pray at age 73, that you can learn from a few of these insights to have a more meaningful life of significance.
Michael J Griffin
CEO and Founder of ELAvate
Thankful for a Great Life in Asia!
One Who Fails Forward