An Intel Leader Discusses His Lessons in the China Game Region Co-Manager Yang Works to Meld U.S. Ideas To a Very Different Culture
Ian Yang, the Beijing-based co-general manager for Asia Pacific for Intel Corp., spends most of his time steering one of the world's biggest tech companies through one of its most exciting -- and complicated -- markets.
When Intel first came to China 21 years ago, the country was a tiny market for the microprocessors and other computer chips Intel makes. But that certainly has changed. While Intel doesn't break down its revenue by country, Asia outside Japan now accounts for half of its total sales. A big part of that is China, the world's second-biggest market for personal computers after the U.S., and the place where most of the laptop PCs sold elsewhere in the world are made.
Mr. Yang, 41 years old, joined Intel in 1986 when he was studying in the U.S. at what is now called Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, as one of its first mainland Chinese employees. He returned to China in the mid-1990s to head up a small sales and marketing team, which helped developing Intel's relationship with a then little-known company called Legend. That company is now called Lenovo Group Ltd., and is the world's third-biggest PC vendor by sales.
Mr. Yang was promoted to country manager in 2000 and rose to his current job helping to oversee sales and marketing throughout the region in July, 2005. He sat down with Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Dean in Beijing to talk about his experience as a global manager.
WSJ: What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
Mr. Yang: My first job was a co-op job [a training job that is part of a college program] at Intel. The first day I reported to work I saw this little sign behind reception that said "The customer is our No. 1 asset." I thought, "Wow." I just came from China and had no concept of this customer orientation. So I thought, well, if I keep doing all the right things for the customer at this company, then I'll probably do OK.
WSJ: What advice would you give someone starting out today who wanted to get into your field?
Mr. Yang: These days, not a lot of students really have any sort of internship or co-op kind of work experience. It'd be great if the education system here could mirror some of the U.S. cooperative programs where college kids could gain some work experience.
WSJ: What's your favorite business book?
Mr. Yang: There are a lot of generic management books. But about six months ago, a book caught my attention called "It's Your Ship" ["It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy," by Michael Abrashoff]. It was written by the former commander of the USS Benfold, a high-tech destroyer in the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
In the Navy they always have this ceremony to send off the old guy and welcome the new guy. At the ceremony, the old guy was booed. [Abrashoff, who taking over,] was totally shocked at how happy the crew was to see the previous guy go. And he said there's no way I want that to happen.
The big concept was that when he talked to everybody, he said "I'm committed as the commander of this ship to do my part to fix it. But as a sailor of this ship, you have as much obligation or responsibility as I do. It's your ship, as well."
WSJ: What is the one thing you wish all new hires knew?
Mr. Yang: I would say, for any new hire, the most important thing is assuming responsibility. That means you have to think out of the box sometimes, and you have to really initiate things rather than just receiving orders. You have to follow your own mind and do your own thinking.
WSJ: It seems like one of the challenges in your position is trying to marry this very distinct corporate culture rooted in America with a distinct business culture and educational culture in China.
Mr. Yang: You're absolutely right. That is the challenge. In the U.S., people tend to think longer term and strategically. They are very open and fast on their feet. I think a lot of time their challenge is in executing in a disciplined way.
In my last 10 years here [in China], my observation is that there are a lot of very hard-working, devoted employees. But they don't very openly share their ideas or thinking. It's not like they don't have it. But if they don't share it, a lot of times people will have the perception that "these people are not strategic."
But if you talk to them in their own language, a lot of times you're surprised about how much they know about the industry, the market, the issues facing the company, and what the company should be doing.
WSJ: What was the most satisfying decision you've made as a manager?
Mr. Yang: [When I first came back], the local computer companies were so small. But some of my customers told me: Watch the consumer electronics market in China.
So I started influencing the management of Intel. I said we've got to put some longer-term strategy behind growing the local guys. I truly believed in it. I said even though these guys are small, if they take off, we can grow with them.
WSJ: Intel recently announced a major global restructuring. What is it important to tell employees at a time like this?
Mr. Yang: We're going through a very turbulent time. I can just feel that people have a lot of questions on their minds. The last thing you want to do is not share anything with them and keep a closed door. Even without a lot of perfect answers, as a manager you have to try to help people understand why we're going through this, calm them down, continue to focus on their jobs, don't get panicked, and we'll get through this as quickly as we can. But six months from now, once Intel has really sorted out its problems and once we get to a level where we are a lot more efficient again and people are a lot more clear on why we're doing this -- here's our strategy, and you guys have every bit as much to do with it as I do -- then you'll look back and say I'm glad Intel did it.
一位英特尔公司经理人的人生感悟
作为英特尔公司(Intel Corp.)的亚太区联席总裁，杨旭(Ian Yang)最重要的工作就是引领这家世界最大的高科技公司在中国这一最激动人心也最复杂的市场上乘风破浪。
但英特尔21年前刚刚进入中国市场时，它生产的微处理器和其他电脑芯片在这一市场上几乎没有什么用武之地。但如今的情况已完全不同了。虽然英特尔公司不单独公布在每个国家获得的收入，但它目前一半的销售收入都来自日本以外的亚洲地区，中国市场在这一地区处于举足轻重的地位，中国是仅次于美国的世界第二大个人电脑市场，全球各地销售的笔记本电脑大多是在中国制造的。
现年41岁的杨旭是1986年在美国凯特林大学(Kettering University )学习时加入英特尔公司的，他是该公司首批来自中国大陆的员工之一。杨旭于上世纪90年代中期返回中国，负责领导英特尔在那里的一个小型销售和营销团队，这一团队帮助英特尔与当时名不见经传的联想公司(Legend)建立起了业务关系。这家公司现在的名称是联想集团有限公司(Lenovo Group Ltd.)，已成为世界第三大个人电脑生产商。
杨旭于2000年时被提升为英特尔的中国区总经理，并于2005年7月出任现职，协助管理英特尔在整个亚太区的销售和营销工作。他日前在北京接受了《华尔街日报》记者丁杰生(Jason Dean)的采访，谈了他作为一位跨国公司经理人的人生经历。
记者：你的第一份工作是什么？你从中学到了些什么？
杨旭：我的第一份工作是在英特尔公司作实习生(这是学校组织的一个培训项目)。上班第一天我在公司前台后边看到了一个小牌子，上面写着：顾客是我们第一位的资产。我当时刚从中国来美国不久，对以客户为导向还没有什么概念。当时我想，好吧，只要我为这家公司的客户服好务，就不会有什么问题了。
记者：你会给今天想投身于你工作领域的人什么建议？
杨旭：目前真正有过实习经历的人并不多。如果中国的教育系统能够借鉴一下美国大学的学生实习项目就太好了。
记者：你最喜欢的财经类书籍是什么？
杨旭：普通的管理类读物有很多。但是大概是在半年前，一本叫《这是你的船》(It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy)的书吸引了我。这本书的作者是前美军太平洋舰队本福德号驱逐舰(USS Benfold)舰长迈克尔?艾伯拉萧夫。
美国海军中有惯例，每当舰长易人时，总要举行欢送老舰长、欢迎新舰长的仪式。在（艾伯拉萧夫接任舰长的）仪式上，舰上官兵对老舰长发出了一片嘘声。艾伯拉萧夫看到船员们对老舰长离舰如此兴高采烈大感惊讶。他说绝不希望这样的事情发生在自己身上。
正如他对舰上所有官兵发表讲话时所言，他的理念是：“作为舰长，我会刻尽职守管好这艘船，但作为船员，你们与我有同样的义务和责任。这也是你们的船。”
记者：你希望所有新员工都知道的一件事是什么？
杨旭：我会说，对所有新员工来说，最重要的事情就是承担起责任。这意味着你有时候必须越位思考，你必须真正主动去做事情，而不仅仅是接受命令。你必须用自己的头脑去思考。
记者：处在你的职位上，如何将根植于美国的一种企业文化与中国的商业文化和教育文化结合起来可能是你面临的一项挑战。
杨旭：你说的没错。这是一种挑战。在美国，人们倾向于进行长期性和战略性思考。他们非常开诚布公，行动非常快。我认为很多时候美国人面临的挑战是如何以有条不紊地行事。
我从自己过去10年的在华工作中发现，这里有许多工作非常努力、敬业的员工。但他们在与人分享自己的想法方面做得不够好。他们并不是没有自己的想法，但如果他们不能与人分享这些想法，人们就往往会认为“这些人不够战略性。”
但如果你用他们的语言与之交流，你往往会惊诧于他们对这个行业、市场、公司面临的问题以及应做的工作是多么了解。
记者：作为经理人你对自己所作的哪项决定最感满意？
杨旭：当我刚刚回到中国时这里的电脑公司规模还非常小。 但我的一些客户告诉我：请关注中国的消费电子产品市场。
所以我开始影响英特尔公司的管理层。我说我们必须制定一些扶植本地电脑公司成长的长期战略。我真的相信这一点。我当时说，尽管它们还是些小公司，但如果它们实现腾飞，你就能同它们一起成长。
记者：英特尔公司最近宣布了一项全球性的大规模重组计划。在这类情形下重要的是告诉员工些什么？
杨旭：我们将经历一个人心非常浮动的阶段。我能感觉到人们心中会有很多问题。这个时候一定要去与他们沟通，而不能将他们拒之门外。即使没有令人满意的答案，作为经理人你也必须帮助人们理解公司为什么要进行重组，使他们平静下来，继续专注于自己的工作，不要惊慌失措，我们将尽可能快地度过这一阶段。但从现在起的6个月内，一旦英特尔真的找到了自己的问题，一旦我们再度大大提高了效率，人们对我们进行重组的目的也有了更清楚的了解──这是我们的战略，你们大家在推进这一战略方面的责任与我一样大──那么回过头看你就会说很高兴英特尔做出了这样的决定。
Jason Dean
