CHANGE IS A GOOD THING
Change is often perceived as a negative thing. Perhaps it's down to a fear of the unknown? I personally think Thailand fears change more than most, but I'm not alone in that perception. A survey at the end of last year by Grant Thornton showed Thailand had the highest percentage of business professionals who view increased globalization as a threat rather than an opportunity. That cannot be good for the competitive future of the Kingdom and makes introducing new ideas and creating new visions extremely difficult. So why am I talking about this now? We're making a big change to one of our publications and it's hard to reassure my colleagues that this change is actually an incredibly positive thing. It opens up a whole new world of opportunities and ideas. This change is happening to similar publications around the world - and if this was happening to a UK or US publication no one would worry. Yet this is Thailand and, sadly, a lot of people really aren't aware of what happens in their industry around the world.
2 comments:
From my experience, Thai's have a great need to see the result before taking the plunge. If what is being presented is not well visualized and a huge effort made at convincing everyone involved that this will be "a good thing", then there is a lot of resistance. This goes for little things as well as big, but the bigger the risk involved, then the bigger the effort to cajole.
Perhaps because of this "culture of doubt", rumors take root faster than a speeding news wire. As a result, efforts to convince are rebuffed with sometimes ridiculous stories that "someone" heard.
All I can say is present, over and over, how it will be done, what the results will be, and that it's something that you really want to see. Infect others with your enthusiasm.
Good luck!
David, thanks for your comments.
You're so right about the rumor mill. I met with a couple of pretty important people yesterday who'd been told that our publication is closing. Nothing is further from the truth, and that rumor could only have come from our own staff, either not understanding or not wanting to understand the developments we are making.
With our other more famous magazine I do have to keep telling my colleagues how we are different and better than other titles in the sector. Over and over and over and ....
Thanks for your words of support.
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