It takes generations for a culture to change. Culture, as I understand
it, is the common understanding of social norms and uniform behavior of a
group of people. This behavior is based on the mindset that evolves over
time; and is based on stories told by your parents, your teachers, your
social contacts, and your own observations and experiences.
In order for this to change, events must take place to influence these
deep seeded beliefs/assumptions. But events alone will not do the job,
either. Events, in conjuction with permission from the majority in the
group, over time, will change the culture. My understanding of this
concept came last year when I went home after twenty years abroad. Before
I share my learning, here is a little historical/political background In
1954, my country (Viet Nam) was divided into two parts: The communist
took over the North, and a Democratically elected government ruled the
South. For twenty years, the two sides fought. Over ONE million of my
people were killed during this mindless war. At the end, however, on
April 30, 1975, the communist marched into the Capitol of the South,
Saigon, closing one book, in the hope of opening another. Well, another
book did open, but the stories from the old book live on in the lives of
our generation. My generation grew up during that war, and we despised
the communists. How can children learn to dislike and fear? By stories
being told, in the school yards, at church, at dinner. And then events
after events that we witnessed, that stick in our memory like velcro.
Those events confirmed the stories, hence the mindset that dictates the
behavior.
When I came home, I thought that the people who lived under the communist
for more than twenty years would have changed to adapt to the new regime.
After all, the new regime has the force that can take away their very
existence...I was amazed to observe that the old book was never
closed...as a matter of fact, new chapters have been added. Why? This is
my observations/learning based on what I've seen, the people I've talked
to during my visit:
1) the people have never bought into the idea... it was not their idea...
it was not invented here in their space. It was forced upon them. The
book of change states that "those obtained by force, will have to be kept
by force". Thus the people never gave permission to change.
2) the events that took place following the take-over contradicted the
advertizing put forth by the government. This validated the beliefs even
more, re-enforcing the culture.
3) the culture is more RESILIENT than any force: the people never gave
up, they continue to oppose, to protest knowing that they risk their lives
by doing so. My sister was put into jail at age 28. For years, every
morning, at three am, while she was in her deepest sleep, they would wake
her up and lecture her for an hour. Then at five am, they would come over
to her tiny cell, take her outside, place her in one of those old oil
barrells with one tiny hole for air, and let her sit through the day in
that hell hole. Keep in mind that the heat in my country is somewhere
between 100-120 degrees at any given time. My sister told me that her
nose and her ear bled almost every day because of the heat. So what did
she do once she got released? (she was in for ten years)... did she get
reformed? does she obey the new rules? does she shut her mouth? NO.
Why? because she believes in freedom, and when push comes to shove, that
belief is stronger than her desire to breath the air.
People must believe in their leader or their cause for things to happen.
4) external sources will not add value to the solution, only make it worse.
Change must be from within, and only then, that change will be PERMANENT,
and become part of the culture. External forces can only bring TEMPORARY
changes, those changes will disappear the moment the force is no longer in
place. The only way that external sources can help, is NOT BY
INTERVENTION, but by providing support to the people. It's the people's
culture, their domain, they know the map as well as the terrain, let them
drive their own vehicle. Support by providing them with gas and food, but
let them find their way. They will risk their lives to find the right way
for them, because ingrained in their hearts is their destination, and from
the outside looking in, you will never know. Those kind of battles can
only be fought by the locals.
5) cultural change is an evolution, not a revolution, as described above.
6) revolution creates heroes, but only evolution proves who are the real
leaders. For this, I mean: heroes are people that are in the right
place, at the right time, and will be forgotten as time goes by . Leaders
are those who visions and actions live in the lives of the people, long
after the leaders are gone. During my visit, I've heard so many stories
that confirmed this definition.
7) I found that the real leaders create the framework, which carries
his/her values/desires/beliefs/hopes. During my fight back, based on what
I've heard and seen, I thought of this metaphor of leadership: I call it
"the dollar bill metaphor". The government creates ONE dollar bill, which
carries the value of the sum of 100 cents (leader's value). Once the bill
is out there, it will always carry the value of a dollar bill that was
intended by the government, and is reccognized by everyone for its
original intent (shared value). However, the dollar bill carries another
value: the value to the person who possessed that bill at a given moment.
The bill changes hands frequently, during which its original value
remains the same, only the personal value has changed. Throughout these
exchanges, the definition of that dollar bill to its owner is not the
interpretation of the value it carries, but IS the worth of that dollar
bill to that person.
What something is worth, is not equated to its own value. Case in point,
if i'm unemployed, that bill is worth much more to me, than to some
consultants who charge 250 per hour for their services. This does not
change the face of the dollar bill, nor its value to the governement, who
produced it in the first place. Now inflation is another story
altogether. The above describes the circumstancial factor. Then there is
the time factor, which has to do with present value. The face value of
one dollar will change the next decade. It still is a ONE dollar bill,
which is what it was intented for, but the face value has changed over
time. Depending on inflation, it can increase (doubt it) or decrease
(more likely). In this metaphor, the leader created the currency, but it
is the people that generate the usage and meaning out of the currency.
Without the usage, the currency is meaningless. Real leaders do two
things: they create the currency, and provide a strong economy to which
the original value of the currency survive through time.
8) I also found that real leaders are those that once the task is done,
the people will say " we could not have done it without him/her". That is
what set leaders apart from visionaries. (I state this, fully aware of
Lao Tsu's famous quote " with the best of leaders, when the work is done,
the people all say we did it ourselves ").
Phuoc-Chau Nguyen
(chau@corp.sgi.com)
--chau@rhonin.corp.sgi.com (Chau Nguyen)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>