Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.
The saga of the Golden Tree travel agency was a memorable lesson in my college marketing class. As was the Chevy "Nova"'s entry into Latin-American markets ("No Va" means "doesn't go in Spanish). And Vicks cough syrup in Germany (Vicks is a dirty word there).
The lesson is simple: listen.
Ugly Sonic. Pic used under Fair Use Doctrine
How is it that companies put all the money and effort into building out a marketing strategy in a country and never think to talk to the people who live there and could easily warn them long before they created confusion (or offense)? It would be like a major movie studio taking a beloved video game character and creating a model of him that looked like a frumpy middle-aged resident of the deepest and most forgotten corner of the "uncanny valley" and then being surprised when there was severe public backlash.
It's honestly absurd and amateur to make these kinds of mistakes and each of them come from the same root cause: lack of a listening culture. You hire people because they're professionals at what they do so why wouldn't you listen to what they have to say? Why wouldn't you seek out their expertise before making a critical mistake that requires damage control from simple embarrassment to millions of dollars of wasted money?
Bottom line, companies are going to keep making these kinds of mistakes and we'll continue to laugh at them when they do, but if your goal is to be an effective and respected leader, not only hearing what your people are saying, but making proactive efforts to get their input is the basics of the basics. After all, how are you a leader if the only voice you hear is your own?
Part of our dysfunctional culture is that dissent too often is regarded as form of disloyalty, of not being a team player. Yet to say nothing is tacit consent. Those who desire deep and durable change in our “corporate” culture need to gain the mature understanding that sometimes one’s most harsh critic is one’s most sincere friend.
–E. Writer
Employees are allies, not the adversary
Inside the US’s most secretive spy agency, dedicated employees protect our national security interests while suffering a level of toxicity that could send nuclear lizards tap-dancing through downtown Tokyo. Whether granting multi-million-dollar boondoggle contracts or forcing adoption of therapy-inducing tools and processes, employees watched helplessly as posturing and promotion bullets drove decisions instead of collaboration with stakeholders and the literal world-class experts at hand.
In my book, Are You Listening? Lessons in Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement from the Agency that Doesn’t Listen, you will read the combined stories of nearly 700 employees whose vital feedback was met with blank stares, silence, or retaliation ranging from lost promotion to revocation of security clearance. Stories about trauma-inducing investigations; rampant unaddressed harassment; and soul-crushing politics.
In the world’s first (probably) leadership book from the perspective of what not to do, you will learn how a culture of deafness leads to morale chasmic enough to draw paying tourists and wasted dollars numerous enough to fill it back up. Most of all, you will learn how every attempt to express good intentions/authenticity or boost morale will fail if you shut down the single, most important channel of feedback you have: your own employees.
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Extended warranties are a ripoff some say, but there are times when it can be a very good idea to use them. Read all about warranties and how to use them to your advantage.
Gift cards are marketed as a great way to get a gift for someone when you don't know quite what to give them. But in many cases, all you're giving them is headache.
Store, online or off, are not known for being fair and helpful unless it benefits them to be so. Good deals exist, but many are bad deals in disguise. It's not in your best interests to be too trusting with any of them.
Part of our dysfunctional culture is that dissent too often is regarded as form of disloyalty, of not being a team player. Yet to say nothing is tacit consent. Those who desire deep and durable change in our “corporate” culture need to gain the mature understanding that sometimes one’s most harsh critic is one’s most sincere friend.
