My desire is to be an amazing communicator and challenging people to do the right thing.

In 2009, we saw some pretty great examples of good and bad communications. I will never forget the Miss America winner on Larry King. Although she was clearly shafted for standing up for what she believed in, her performance on Larry King’s show was very awkward and strange. I will not forget that. There are a lot of other great memories from 2009. Check out the Ten Best (and Worst) Communicators of 2009 on the Decker blog here.

What do you think? Spot on or completely off?

Living, caring for others, challenging yourself, could these be the secrets to life?

Check out this article.

As a long time member of the international community in Japan, we have the pleasure of meeting many people from many countries. I have always enjoyed Australians and have many friends that hail from the country.

A few years back, an Australian couple I knew introduced a young lady who had just returned from University in Australia (Wollongong). She worked as my secretary for three years, working hard and smart. I have spent all of my professional life in Japan and have a bit of a Japanese business ethic. On top of that, I have a great Dad, who is a very smart and hard worker. He has always been a great example to me.

I asked my secretary at lunch about the difference between Japanese and Australians. Her response shocked me. She flat out said, “In general, Aussies are lazy.” I had never heard anything like that, so I checked with her to make sure of what she had just said. (I knew that Americans can be seen as pretty ignorant, but lazy is not a word I had heard lobbed at a whole nation before). She confirmed.

I really like Australia and the land. One of my favorite bands is from Australia. They’re a fun loving people but evidently there is a stereotype to break here. Of course, we hear about the crooked cops in the news, the high crime rates (3 cars were stolen at a conference I attended in Melbourne in 1994), and other drawbacks. Every country has got them.

I called a 58 -year old Aussie buddy in Tokyo and asked him about this stereotype. He said, laziness is indeed a problem and holding the country back as a whole. I was disappointed to hear him confirm in his opinion that the majority of the time, this generalization is true. I thought that was a horrible stereotype but how what can you can you when someone from that country tells you a similar thing.

This experience got me thinking about how important it is to stay out of stereotypes. We’ve all got to be careful about the images we present What other stereo-types are out there?

Americans- Loud and pushy

Canadians- Oversensitive about being called American

French- Arrogant

Singaporean- Self-centered

Korean- Emotional

Chinese- Money Hungry

Swedish- Technocratic, gullible

German- Over-Detailed

Japanese- Perfectionists

Finnish- Stoic, silent

British- Dull

Brazilian- Playful, lazy

Arabs Violent

South Asian (Indians) Cheap

All of these words have come directly from people who have lived in the country. There are so many others that we missed. Of course, these stereotypes are just on the national level. There is whole set of regional stereotypes. In my travels, I found New Yorkers generally to be pushy and don’t give much information while Washingtonians are friendly, but probably talk too much.

There are a whole boatload of stereo types out there. We all have to work on demonstrating that we are honorable people. Let’s break the stereotypical molds and show the world that each and every on of us is important and can make a difference regardless of our nationality.

How do you break a stereotype?

1) Though consistency

2) Working through the members of the group to the whole

3) Educating our children with a good work ethic and teaching a sense of responsibility (ownership) of our actions.

4) Teach honor and dedication to completing the task.

The world is certainly changing. Some change is a bit scary as what is was once abnormal is later considered normal. However, we are of the opinion that most change is good. Change in an enterprise (or corporate environment) should be founded on the facts of the current business process and making it better. For example, if you service hundreds of customers per day (like AINEO), then how can you make life easier for both the customer and your team? That is what win-win business is all about. Looking at both sides of the coin, and making sure something makes sense for both your customer and yourself. People respect.

With the advent of technology, the internet is forcing people to be more transparent. In the old days, companies could say things and no one would notice. There days, you can’t be a hypocrite (thank God!) by saying one thing and doing another. You will be found out. A large public relations (PR) firm was caught this year doing a fake web log (blog) for a fake customer of Walmart. They were quickly found out. The executive of that company (Edelman), quickly apologized and talked about how bad that was(link). Not shortly there after, the same president was apologizing for doing the exact same thing.

Thanks to the business AINEO is doing, people can no longer blur the truth. CEOs from large firms are now maintaining blogs that tell you exactly how things are. The president of General Motors (GM), who is going through major difficulty is telling people in his blog that ‘its not been an easy year’. This type of transparency was unheard of 5 or 6 years ago.

I recently purchased a book that my teenager wanted. It was a book on how to study and do well in school. I flipped through it an say one statement that said, ‘Honor is doing what is right when no one is looking’. Of course, there are some dishonest people out there. We do our best to avoid them like the plague. But it is also important to do what is right when no one even knows. The word is going to get out, so why bother compromising or even lying when you can do the right thing and look your customer in the face and say you’ve delivered the best product or solution for their needs.

Working hard and working smart is honorable. Honor pays because we all like to work with people who do the right thing whether or not we are looking.

Let’s do the right thing. The world will be a better place for us all.

© 2006 AINEO Corporation, Patrick Wolfe