China has given the U.S. a lot over the past few years: loans, computer parts and one of the NBA’s most elite players. Yet China is looking to the U.S. and the rest of the West for something it desperately needs: people with critical thinking skills.
In a recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Randy Pollock wrote about his experiences teaching MBA classes in China. By sharply focusing its studies on math and science, Pollock concludes that China has created a problem:
Highways, dams, bridges and airports have been built, every conceivable product manufactured and sold, but so few sophisticated marketing and management minds have been cultivated that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand.
China’s need for Western talent
In order to rectify this problem, China is becoming more open to working with Western forces. Pollock names Chinese partnerships with schools such as the University of Southern California, Johns Hopkins, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as an initiative called “The Thousand Talent Scheme” courting top foreign-trained scientists to work for the country.
As more and more U.S. businesses forge relationships with China, it’s a good idea to keep in mind some cultural differences that may affect business relations. Pollock wrote of several distinctions he observed while teaching Chinese MBA students, many who were successful middle managers, analysts and marketers from multi-national companies and government institutions:
- Innovating vs. copying. In the U.S., we prize bold, original ideas. The Chinese put more emphasis on copying strategies that have already proven effective.
- Analyzing vs. summarizing. Whereas the ability to interpret and critique other’s ideas is a valuable skill in the U.S., the capacity to memorize key facts is more important in China.
- Relationship between politics and business. We have the freedom in the U.S. to talk all we want about how the government affects business. In China, this topic is off limits.
In order to boost the country’s critical thinking skills, Pollock would like to see China start with its young minds: “The Chinese don’t need expensive free-agent scientists,” he writes. “They need … about 10 million liberal arts professors.”
Flags image courtesy of Flickr user U.S. Department of State, CC 2.0
