Over the last ten days I had the good fortune to visit
Shanghai and Tokyo. Now that I am working with different companies; logistics
dictate that I stay in hotels close to their offices so I no longer tread my
old, familiar paths in either city.
While I am enjoying working with new faces and seeing new
areas of the two cities; my old relationships are still important to me. In
Shanghai, dinner was arranged with my former team. A colleague agreed to pick
me up but as he had to travel across the city, a traffic jam forced a change in
plans. My phone rang and Philip (my often mentioned former driver) was on the
line; “Sir, I am picking you, please be out front in 5 minutes, OK”. A few
minutes later, a small blue car pulled up with headlights flashing and a
smiling face behind the wheel. As usual, Philip was in a good mood and had
plenty to say: “how did you pick this hotel?”, are you a VIP here? “which card
did you use?”. Philip always had a keen interest with my status with various
airlines and hotel chains.
On one occasion I was flying back to China from the US via
Frankfurt on Lufthansa. I had to bring back several items we couldn’t get in
Shanghai so I had to check a bag which I rarely do. The bag didn’t make it and I wasn’t sure I
understood what the baggage agent was telling me. I called Philip, who was
waiting outside customs, to straighten things out. A couple minutes later I had
a lost bag claim in hand and made my way to the exit. Philip greeted me and
wondered out loud why I checked a bag in the first place. He drove me to the
departures area instead of the highway. “Philip, why are we here?” He replied; “you
need to go to check-in with the paper they gave you”. Knowing better than to
challenge Philip, I went to check-in and explained the situation to an agent
who, thankfully, was fluent in English. She apologized for the inconvenience,
promised my bag would be delivered to my home the following day and handed me
an envelope. I got in the car and opened the envelope which contained 2,500 RMB (over $300 at the time). Philip wanted to know what was going on. “You
mean the Germans (Philip tends to view everything from a national perspective)
gave you RMB 2500 instead of your bag” he said in an angry tone. “No Philip, my
bag is coming tomorrow”. Philip considered the situation for a nano second and
then said, “you are really a VIP, the Germans lost my ex-bosses’ bag more than
once but they never paid him and he was a German”.
We arrived at the restaurant – it was great seeing everyone
from my old team – I left Shanghai 26 months ago and the company 4 months ago
yet, it was as if nothing had changed except Philip was drinking beer. He said
he was happy he could drink with me for the first time ever because his wife
was with him and could drive them home. It was also the first time Philip had
seen the old team since his departure from our former company in November.
After a few days in China, I moved on to Tokyo. Prior to
leaving on this trip, I was invited to attend an “OB dinner” on my second night
in Tokyo. My only understanding of the term “OB” in Japan was out of bounds on
the golf course. Apparently this was another gap in my English or at least my
Japanese English (Japanglish). By return
email, I asked about the term “OB Party” which means a gathering of people who
had retired from a company – aka “old boys party”. In this case, the oldest of
the old boys was my first mentor in Japan. He turns 80 later this month. Murai
san has been retired for a few years. I never miss a chance to eat, drink or
play golf with him. His current focus is shooting his age on the golf course.
He has a good chance. The average age at the dinner was about 75. An incredible
amount of knowledge and experience sitting at one table, I was honored to be
there.
During my days in Tokyo, I attended a “Green Energy Expo” at
the largest venue for such events in Tokyo. It was a great chance to catch up
with industry contacts from Japan and the rest of Asia. Many people I hadn’t
seen since my job transition, were eager to know what I am doing. One old friend
who speaks very limited English listened to me explain that I was working as a
consultant to multiple companies. I explained again in Japanese and he smiled
and said in English with a big laugh: “you are the lithium fixer”. I knew it
was a compliment even if the movie origins were questionable.
The next night, I had dinner with another retiring mentor
who started explaining doing business in Japan to me when we met in New York
almost twenty years ago. He was with a man 30 years his junior who will take
over the company within a few years. I have always been impressed by their
relationship which to me is the definition of the mutual respect between older and younger workers - one of the many things that makes
Japan such an enjoyable place to do business. I mentioned having seen my 80 year old
mentor the night before and the reply was “Oh, you went to an OB Party” – the gap
in my Japanglish vocabulary rearing its ugly head again. As we said goodnight,
I mentioned that I was looking forward to losing another golf bet with him on
Saturday which is exactly what happened.
While I settled my bet, my mentor reminded me that this was the last time
we would playing while he was still with the company. I got his personal
contact info and invited to my home course when he comes to the US. Our goodbye
handshake was longer than normal and the bow was deeper. The younger gentlemen
took me to the airport. Although currently I am not doing business with his
company, the relationship transcends commercial gaps. We set another golf date
for when he visits the US in May and a tentative dinner appointment for my next
trip to Tokyo in April.
Although I come to Japan now under different circumstances than
before; the balance of new relationships and old make the “next chapter” richer
than the last.
