4 April
2011
Written by Brian Martin
Flexibility is an important aspect of success!
One conversation in my life, which I will not forget and was, on reflection, a life defining event for me, took place in Hong Kong between myself and the President of Levi Strauss International. I was a country manager for Levi’s and although I did not think so at the time, I was fairly inexperienced in international business. I had been requested/instructed to go on a visit to several Asian countries with the CEO of Asia and the President of the International Group.
The President and I were staying at the Sheraton Hotel and at about 10pm, we went to our rooms. My room was the first to be reached and we stood outside my door until 2am, talking. The message I got loud and clear was that if I wanted to be a successful businessman, I needed to be FLEXIBLE and if I was flexible to him, he would take care of me. In my naivety, I am not sure I really understood the last bit, until several months later when I was assigned to Levi’s Japan, the only country ever at that time to have lost money. Japan was NOT the sophisticated and mature market it is today. It was in fact, the very opposite and myself, along with a bunch of other CEO’s trying to establish their brand in Japan, were in fact ‘pioneers’.
I could not read, write, or speak Japanese. I was illiterate! It was hard work, although I loved the challenge. I continually remembered ‘flexibility’ and I adopted a philosophy, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." It was clear the Japanese in these days were un-Westernized and did most things different to what was Western practice and behavior. I realised people do things much better if they do it their way. So I got off my need to control the how-to’s and focused on the outcomes, the result I wanted. I was clear with our team about the purpose of what we were doing and we agreed on deadlines for implementation of tasks.
Those three things did it, plus ‘flexibility’ and consistent ‘communication’. Levi’s Japan became profitable in 11 months. It gained much positive media attention. Over time, they became the number one jeans brand in Japan and the biggest business internationally for Levi’s. I was promoted to CEO of Levi’s Asia and three years later, my Japan experience earned me a million dollar CEO job.