Silence in Work
I had a number of amazing meetings over the last week in Brasilia and Belo Horizonte. As with past meetings we discussed what types of FDI efforts work, and wherein we both have challenges, but this week an interesting theme emerged. As in the past the conversation turned to "brand" (of the country of Brazil as well as states and cities, along with that of the US, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia) but this time we gradually found ourselves looking into our cultures and those aspects of our persona that have perhaps limited our brands from developing their full potential.
A State Secretary in Minas Gerais (a very successful Brazilian state roughly the size of France) kicked off this discussion with a quote, "silence in work". It is an expression in Minas Gerais that she said summarizes their character. You keep your head down and do your work well but don't brag about it. The Secretary was concerned hat this attitude was stifling their advancement. We discussed how this attitude likely came from their roots as a mining state (Minas Gerais means General Mines and was the home of the Brazilian gold rush and to this day produces large quantities of topaz, aquamarine and emeralds). I was immediately reminded of some past theories that surmised that Philadelphia's Quaker roots and the Quaker belief in humility and hard work were the reasons for many of its modern successes and failures. The similarities didn't end there. Minas had a historical capital (Ouro Preto) that was one time larger than NYC but today is more known for its historical buildings. In the north of the state they have what is thought to be the largest shale gas reserve in South America. Sounding familiar? The commonalities went on and on.
When the State Secretary took office, she felt the first thing she had to do was change that emphasis on silence. As a result, her first action was to have a video made (with no speaking but only print over video so it could easily and cheaply be updated and translated) and she put it on YouTube. They also distribute copies when they meet with potential investors or foreign government officials etc. A copy is available here: http://youtu.be/lzaJzXvXRSY. She insisted that there be nothing historical in the video, but rather that it focus on current day achievements. There are many. 65% of all Brazilian exports are from this state, but they also have a thriving life science sector (including the only Biotech platform in Brazil) and outstanding educational institutions including 5 of the 10 best universities in Brazil and a business school the Financial Times named in the top 10 in the world.
We talked about the struggles our regions share from having multiple organizations attracting FDI and the Secretary acknowledged that she no longer shares any information locally until the last possible minute because they have lost too many opportunities because over zealous local politicians "couldn't keep their mouth shut". I don't know that this would be an improvement for our region, but she felt strongly it was important to their success in attracting FDI to have it centralized at that level, only bringing in the locality at the last minute.
The next area they worked on were materials for all sectors they wanted to attract - packages of statistics and information any potential would want to know specific to their industry when considering Minas Gerais. The government then set parameters for what they wanted, and what they were willing to do to get it, and started to say "go" to some investors if they didn't see value in an opportunity for their state. This is not something done easily, but they continue to beleve that they required discipline to attract the right FDI and to build their brand effectively.
As I've mentioned in prior postings, in the last decade, major multinationals have recognized that perhaps the best way to build one's brand is by significantly pleasing current customers. Most customers are neutral, some will promote your brand if particularly pleased, and some will detract from a brand if displeased. Unfortunately these displeased individuals are more like to publicly detract than the promoters are to attract, and they can be more powerful. Yet when one builds a cadre of promoters, it's incredibly powerful - think Apple, Amazon or viral videos.
I made a realization over this week, particularly emphasized in a discussion with a high ranking member of the US embassy in Brasilia, that regions and even nations are still stuck in old fashion brand promotion. They have not made the transition that large business has to focusing on existing "customers". In meeting with this foreign service officer I learned that there are nearly 15,000 Brazilians in the US on a special government scholarship provided they go to a designated school. Philadelphia was a huge winner among the handful of schools selected with not 1 but 3 schools on the approved list (Drexel, Temple and Penn). I had to admit that as a Philadelphian active in the international community, even I had no idea. I was asked if I'd heard of any special receptions or recognition of these scholars. I had not and fear we may be losing an opportunity to move some neutral or passive promoters of Philadelphia to be active promoters of our region. That said, it's more than just grad students, major companies in the US are now owned by Brazilian companies (e.g.AmBev and Swift meats) but are we wooing them? How many Philadelphians know we have a Brazilian population in the northeast big enough to support a local churrasceria and Brazilian bakery among other businesses? Of the Brazilian professionals and students in Philadelphia (or those of any nationality) how much of our FDI work is spent making sure the current investors are not merely satisfied but are active promoters of our region. Perhaps we need to shift some of our focus from keeping our heads down and working to get FDI, to looking at what we have done, singing our own praises and using those as opportunities to create exponentially more promoters of the Philadelphia region. In other words, rather than showing silence in work or Quaker humility, perhaps we need to be loud and proud.
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