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Creating Global Leaders

November 25, 2018 by vvj5031 Leave a Comment

Living in Japan we decided to send our children to an international school rather than the American military base schools. The vision of the school that we send them to is “students will be internationally-minded, empathetic, global leaders who affect change through compassion and understanding.” The school instruction is all in English but they have also incorporated many Japanese lessons into the curriculum. I think that this combination is going to create students who are ready to be global leaders before they are even aware of what they are doing.

For starters the school has both Japanese and international students creating a cross-cultural experience for each and every child. Through this experience the children are becoming more broad-minded and tolerant of the differences we all possess. Additionally, in the school they go over a new set of countries every few weeks in order to continue to broaden the minds of the children in attendance. Discussing the different customs, languages, religions and struggles of the various countries.

One area where I found to be the most interesting was the first report card we received. Our children were not only graded on mathematics and language arts but also on “personal goals”. These personal goals include morality, cooperation, respect, adaptability, and thoughtfulness. This immediately made me think of the recent talks of ethical global leadership. “Leading in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of others” (Resick, et al., 2006, p. 2), is one definition of ethical leadership. Resick, et al, goes on to define six key attributes for ethical leadership, character and integrity, ethical awareness, community/people-orientation, motivating, encouraging and empowering, and manager ethical accountability. While the children’s reports are not using these exact key attributes many of the ones used cross over to these key attributes.

In Japanese schools’ moral education is part of the curriculum. It is required that throughout the daily lessons the children are taught orderliness, mindfulness, hard work, fairness and harmony. Many of these qualities you may notice cross over from Bushido, a series of values. Bushido values include justice, courage, benevolence, politeness, veracity/sincerity, honor, loyalty and self-control. These ethical commitments are part of the strategic thinking among those in Japan in addition to Western practices that have had influence as well. The combination of the western curriculum and the Japanese values have created a school with a vision of creating ethical, culturally aware global leaders.

https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/167166

Click to access Resick_20Hanges_20Dickson_20Mitchelson_202006_20Cross_20cultural_20examination_20of_20ethical_20leadership.pdf

Seeking a Better Life

October 21, 2018 by vvj5031 Leave a Comment

Honduras is the second poorest country in Central American and also has one of the world’s highest murder rates.
Image Source: http://statue.havefive.site/bring-me-your-tired-your-poor-statue-of-liberty/

Suffer an extraordinary unequal distribution of income, very high underemployment, a high crime rate and 29% of the population is below the poverty line. Honduras also suffers from bring a point for shipment of drugs and narcotics along with corruption. (CIA, n.d.) There are approximately 190,000 displaced people due to violence, extortion, threats and forced recruitment by urban gangs. (CIA, 2017)

Hofstede has Honduras with a power distance score of 80 showing that the people accept that there is a hierarchy to their lives and there is little that can change this. They are a “we” society where being part of the group is essential to their livelihood. This may also be seen in the recruitment to gangs for survival in the highly crime ridden country. (Hofstede, n.d.)

Currently there are “nearly 1,000 Central American migrants” seeking to enter the United States through Mexico. (Linthicum & McDonnell, 2018) Many are from Honduras, seeking a better life, seeking work. They are coming into Mexico by swimming, by raft and carrying their tired young children and their few possessions in plastic bags through the water. Neither Mexico nor the United States wants them to continue their journey to America. However, many are determined and vow to try again even if deported.

If they make it to America there are many differences they will experience in comparison to their home country. As stated earlier the power distance in Honduras is 80, in comparison to a power distance of 40 in America. Additionally, American has an individualist score of 91 where Honduras is only 20. (Hofstede, n.d.) The work and social experience of the new immigrants will reflect the views of America. Where it is okay to be an individual and look out for your own well being beyond the groups. Additionally, where there are many possibilities for you to move from where you are entering into in the American society to “live the American dream” of success and well-being.

These migrants stand at the gates on the border bridge desperately wanting to move forward with their lives, looking for a new beginning. They have lived in fear of violence, drugs and gangs their entire lives. As said before the underemployment rate is nearly one third for the population. However, the United States is uneasy to allow in people who may still have gang or drug connections. Washington does not see the violence in Honduras as a refugee issue and has rejected political asylum for these migrants.

We will have to wait to see what will come of this situation. If these migrants are able to come to America and begin work, there will be many areas in the culture that they will need to adapt to in order to be successful. It has been done by immigrants for many generations, adapting, overcoming and becoming successful, contributing members of the United States of America.

Linthicum, K., & McDonnell, P. (2018). Hundreds of Central Americans in caravan cross into Mexico. LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mexico-migrant-caravan20181020-story.html

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/honduras/

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/

Image Source: http://statue.havefive.site/bring-me-your-tired-your-poor-statue-of-liberty/

Honduras is the second poorest country in Central American and also has one of the world’s highest murder rates.

Linthicum, K., & McDonnell, P. (2018). Hundreds of Central Americans in caravan cross into Mexico. LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mexico-migrant-caravan20181020-story.html

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/honduras/

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/

Children in Tin Homes

October 15, 2018 by vvj5031 Leave a Comment

I remember the first time I noticed the children living in what I saw as trash heaps on the sides of the roads while we drove from the airport to my grandparent’s home. My father is from Lima, Peru and came to the states in college. When I was young we would return every couple of years to visit the family, typically over the Christmas holidays. I had been there several times before that particular year, but for some reason at age twelve was when I really started to notice and put everything together. My grandparent’s house was on a charming street and there was a high privacy wall that surrounded the courtyard. Behind that wall for years I had been being kissing cheeks and being fattened by the cook as I was becoming a “skinny American”. I never noticed beyond those walls, beyond the turtle in the courtyard, the birds in their cages, the late-night parties with costumes, food and drink.

That year I during one party I recalled a memory of a party a couple years earlier. It was a celebration for the birthdays of December and January. There were so many people there spilling from the house into the courtyard. As my mother would say, “everyone is coming”, this really does mean everyone! After nightfall I was running and playing with the other children as the toddlers and babies slept on couches or piles of blankets nearby by when suddenly the ground shook, there was a loud boom and the lights flickered and then went out. Children screamed and people started lighting candles and holding lighters up to help everyone see. Some men in the courtyard turned the car headlights on and shown them into the house. I couldn’t understand a lot of the words the grownups were using and I remember being confused while they just kept reassuring the children everything was fine. Radios and televisions were being turned on and everyone hushing each other so they could listen. The party ended on that note and slowly people started picking up their children and heading home. I later learned that the loud boom was an explosion. A group of, at the time they called them rebels, named the Shining Path had set a bomb at electricity towers.

This trip when I was twelve started to connect many dots of memories for me as it seemed I was coming into an age of reason. The children living in tin houses as I drove from their airport were just like me, but they lived in poverty. Poverty at a level that I had never seen in the City of Chicago where I was growing up. Other instances started connecting for me. My mother took me to a mall to purchase a dress for yet another party and there, standing at the doors, were guards dressed in fatigues with rifles. There were tanks parked outside residential homes with guards on each corner. Whenever I would try to ask why, my mother would just hush me and tell me to stop speaking English. She feared that if someone realized we were American, we would be kidnapped. We had a driver who went with us everywhere. He would give us sweets and mind us while our parents shopped or had long conversations. I later wondered if he lived in one of those tiny tin houses.

The experiences that I was able to have going to Lima every couple of years gave me a great appreciation for America. My father was in the upper class in Lima but he still had to worry about things like bombings, kidnapping, car bombs, assassinations and just straight violence on the street unlike what we see in America. I understood deeply why my parents worked so hard to come to America.

Doing Business in the Middle East

October 9, 2018 by vvj5031 Leave a Comment

The discussion of the Middle East in our household is one that I often try to avoid. However, with some recent readings the topic of doing business in the Middle East came up and was discussed. There are a lot of feelings involved when it comes to this topic of discussion. My husband is a Marine and has come home from 4 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. His views on the Middle East are not the same as mine and this can complicate having a discussion about how one could conduct business in the Middle East.

Where I see areas that would need to be adjusted, he sees areas where they are hypocrites. Of course he is thinking in terms of the Muslims that he met while at war. I think so often we use that view of those extremists to frame our minds on what and who and entire faith and way of life is. I, personally, find there qualities of a good manager to be some of the best principles of great managers I have known. While we may not say that our work is “an act of worship”, the satisfaction ones receives from providing can be immense. So much so, that we see when a parent loses a job they can go into a depression as they feel worthless, unable to provide to their family and children.

Simple items like keeping promises, loyalty, building trust and being truthful are almost like the Golden Rule. These are the things we all strive to instill in our children and hope of ourselves. In certain area I can see no kickbacks being an issue in the Western World or in China where they are very common, but I think that it is a good act to not have kickbacks involved in business. It can start to gray the lines of where favors can begin from. “Aim for excellence”, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to aim for anything less.

All these amazing qualities, all these positive, uplifting words. The idea that it’s not about what you can do for yourself, but what you can do for others, how one can help to give back to society. While my husband can’t see these qualities, I hope that one day we all can. I hope that the day will come where we don’t immediately presume that an entire faith is our to get us because of a few extremists.

Living in a High-Synergy Society

October 8, 2018 by vvj5031 Leave a Comment

Living in Japan provides you with an opportunity that most Americans are not afforded. We have been given the gift of experiencing another culture not for just a week or two while on vacation, but for years. For my family it will be at least 4 years (we have contemplated staying longer). When arriving in Japan my husband was very concerned that the family would experience culture shock. While he had traveled extensively with his career, the family had not. We were moving from a low-synergy society in the United States, plus we lived in a military community to a high synergy society and not everyone wants us here.

After 2 years in Japan I can say that this is one of the most wonderful places I have ever lived. Everything from the food to the people is absolutely amazing. On the very long trip over, with 3 children in tow, we were treated with nothing but kindness. The flight attendants were “benevolent, helpful, friendly and generous” (Moran, Anderson & Moran, 2014, p. 267) to everyone. To the point where we observed a mother who was traveling alone with her baby, the attendants went as far to hold the baby while she ate, provide a special meal for the child before the main meal was served and even hold him while she used the restroom.

After arriving we chose to enroll our youngest in an International school off the military base instead of the base schools. The fostering of team work and that those of all levels will perform the same task for the greater good is evident in the school as well as in our observations during our drive to work and school each day. The school system has an hour and a half lunch, which by American standards is absurd. The base run school here have a 20-minute lunch and a 20-minute recess. We loved the idea of our children actually being able to enjoy eating their lunch, what we learned about lunch time in Japan was even more exhilarating. During their hour and a half lunch the children first have lunch, followed by a period of cleaning the school. Once they have ALL completed their assigned cleaning tasks then they are able to spend the remainder of the lunch period on “break”. Thankfully, we had already fostered the children joining us in housework at home so this wasn’t too alien to them, however, I can imagine for many children of ages 6 or 7, it would be.

You also see this amazing team leadership as you drive to work each morning. Drive by the construction workers and you see them doing a morning stretch or warm up followed by a morning meeting. Watching them all in unison following their leader’s direction (“lead by example” (Moran, Anderson, & Moran, 2014, p. 290)), smiles on their faces and plastic flowers in pots by the door steps. Drive by the bank and you will see the employees, often in full suits, out with a broom and a dustpan sweeping up, or watering the flower beds. Everyone working together with one common goal, one vision in mind.

Another factor that will make it so difficult to leave Japan is the low crime rate. There are no guns in citizen hands in Japan. The police officers carry a small hand gun, which is very rarely used. Children as young as 6 years of age walk themselves to school, picking up classmates along the way. The roadways are marked with a green stripe along the routes that are frequented by many children walking. There are even volunteers in yellow vests (typically retirees) who assist with ensuring the younger children safely cross the street, some are placed as far as 7 blocks from the school.

We have become almost terrified of the culture shock that our children will have when we do return to the United States. At this point they are so accustomed to a high-synergy society we are unsure how they will react to our first few weeks in the United States. Even I struggled during just a two-week trip back. When leaving the plane for a transfer in San Francisco I inquired to an airport employee asking which direction the international terminal was. I was brashly informed, “Can’t you read, the sign is right above you!”. I was so taken aback and quickly reminded myself, I was no longer in Japan.

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). London: Routledge.

It’s His Rank That Matters

September 9, 2018 by vvj5031 3 Comments

The Marine Officer’s Spouse Club is an organization made up of, exactly as it sounds, spouses of Marine Officers. There are a few exceptions to that, where one could be an “equivalent” as a Navy Officer spouse or a GS employee spouse of a certain “level”. This club started an amazing non-profit which provides scholarships and charitable giving to local (overseas station) and American charities. They do this by the sale of gift and household items in a gift shop on base. All the net profits are given to the club to be distributed as they see fit. This gift shop is operated by a staff of 4-5 employees and many volunteers. For 40 years in order to be a staff member or volunteer it was a requirement that you also be an officer’s spouse (or equivalent). While Moran, et.al. state that “Human diversity is popularly understood to refer to differences of color, ethnic origin, gender, sexual or religious preferences, age and disabilities” (2009) there are more encompassing definitions within organizations. Within this particular organization the one area that lacked was that no wife of an enlisted military person could be employed or volunteer. They could have a graduate in fundraising and years of experience, the ability to bring the charitable giving to all time highs, but could not apply.

About 10 years ago, due to a lack of applicants, they club decided to allow spouses of all military members and their equivalents apply. The lack of applicants was due to a variety of other opportunities that had started to be available for spouses at this station. So, even though they didn’t want to, they accepted the fact that they would have no choice but to hire someone who was not an officer’s spouse. Many spouses scoffed at this new policy and required that at a minimum the Director continue to be required to be an officer’s spouse. The spouses who were against it were unsure if the enlisted wives could deal with the differences between themselves and the other spouses they would be working with. Just as the Moran, et.al. describes “strategies and interventions had to be put in place for the interactions” between the spouses, not only for the enlisted staff member but for the officer spouse volunteer as well (2009). The staff has the authority to direct the volunteers, some officer spouses were not willing to take direction from someone they did not think should be there.

This continued for many years where staff could be enlisted spouses but the Director and all volunteers were required to be officer spouses or equivalent. Until the day came where they could not fill the role of the director. They had to accept someone who was not an officer’s spouse. Now, she wasn’t an enlisted spouse either, she was a contractor’s spouse, but they questioned whether she would be able to relate to all the military spouses she would be working with. They made a one-time exception to the rule in order to fill the position. As time went on and the world around them changed more and more, they held tightly to their beliefs that this company could only and should only be run by officer spouses. That if they brought in others they just would not be able to relate to each other and it would cause chaos and break the system they had so carefully built.

The day came when they had to face the cold hard truth. They had been limiting themselves by not accepting others to volunteer in the company. The day came when they had so few volunteers that the staff was burning out and becoming jaded. Where other similar companies that they competed with were surpassing them, even though they were the first, the oldest. They finally folded and accepted that they needed more volunteers and they were not able to, after many campaigns, get those volunteers from their officer spouse club. They opened up the volunteering to everyone who was 18 and up. Fortunately, the company did not crumble and now has plenty of volunteers to man the shop and can continue to give to charity.

The fact that it took them so long to accept that by adding diversity to their ranks they would excel is unfortunate. I am thankful that they finally did realize that there was no other way to continue to serve their mission. I am hopeful that they will continue to diversify within the company. They next step would be to allow someone who is not an officer’s spouse to be on the Board of Supervisors. I don’t think I’ll see that in my time here, but I will keep an eye out for when it will happen. They day must come when a spouse is chosen not for the rank her husband wears, but for her own education and experience.

Moran, R. T., Harris, P. R., & Moran, S. V. (2009). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for the 21st century. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Intro Veronica Johnessee

August 22, 2018 by vvj5031 1 Comment

My name is Veronica, I go by Veronica. I am currently the Director of Operations for a non-profit, the Marine Gift Shop. We travel four locations throughout Asia in order to provide home decor furniture and gift items to those stationed here in Okinawa, Japan. All of our profits above operating costs are distributed to Okinawan and American charities and to military dependent scholarships.
Please provide brief responses to the following questions:
- I am located in Okinawa, Japan. ( a smaller island, off the small island of Japan)
- I love my position as the Director of Operations and hope that through my experience here and my degree when we return stateside I will find another non-profit that I can commit to.
- Currently working on my last two semesters and working hard to leave my current position automated better to endure the constant and frequent turnover we experience as our employees are always related to the military moves.
- This is the third company I have worked for in the past ten years where I have supervised staff, it is also the most challenging as while I have 3 staff members I also have about 20 volunteers.
- I do not have a favorite leadership quote. I can say I have an answer that I receive from people that bothers me, “that’s how we’ve always done it”. It bothers me because it means that there has been little or no innovation or even thought about how possible changes or improvements could benefits the stakeholders of the company/place.
- Optional: Post something interesting about yourself:
  - I have 3 children. Two who are starting school off base this year, which we are super excited about having more local friends and experiences.
  - I don’t have time to have special interests! But if I did, it would be gardening.
  - I used to play roller derby. Unfortunately, my position and school does not allow for that at the moment.
- This photo is of me and my husband at the peak of Mt Fuji.