Every Spring, all of the second year Executive MBA students go on a foreign business excursion. Typically one business professor takes a group of about 30 students to Asia and another Professor takes a group of about 30 to Europe. This Spring Howard Barnes, with help from Laurie Peterson, led a tour of 32 EMBA students along with faculty members Phil Bryson and me on a two week tour of businesses and sites in Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Cambodia. The trip was, by any standard, an educational, social, and cultural success. Educational because of the interesting business tours and interactions with Asian managers and diplomats. Social because all of the tour members got along beautifully and enjoyed each others’ company as well as our conversations with Asian people of all walks of life. Cultural because of our visits to fascinating historical sites and museums as well as our enjoyment of traditional dance and acrobatic shows. There were many highlights, such as watching automobiles, seemingly built without hands, roll off an assembly line in Japan every 90 seconds, being nearly run over by a tidal wave of bicyclists in the Shanghai commute, watching thousands in Hong Kong protest the Tiananmen square massacre just two weeks before the handover to China, and witnessing a troupe of young Cambodians with pride and professionalism perform the traditional dances of the Khmer people. Since I can’t report on all the highlights, I will give a few illustrations of the educational, social, and cultural insights I gained into what, in the grand scheme of life, really matters.

Educational

In Shanghai we learned much about human nature, economics, and operations by contrasting the radically different observations at Shanghai Aviation and Polaroid Shanghai, Ltd. Through an offset agreement negotiated by the Chinese government, Shanghai Aviation is supposed to build 40 McDonnell Douglas airplanes. Shanghai Aviation is run by the government, uses conscripted workers, and is not responsible to shareholders. The majority of the buildings we toured were empty, and the majority of the people we saw were not working. In the one building which did have some activity, a few people were reworking, again, a wing section with hand tools; a project that had consumed several months. In contrast, Polaroid Shanghai is a joint venture with both U.S. and Asian stockholders, has a well compensated work force, and an energetic vivacious factory. The manager at Polaroid (American) seemed to have a sincere appreciation for his workers and, at their request, had arranged for a modern medical and dental clinic at the factory. The workers responded with a loyalty that was reflected in their dress, smiles, and the volume and quality of output. Many of us on the tour would love to buy a Polaroid camera made in Shanghai; however, I would rather take the proverbial slow boat than ever fly in a plane made by Shanghai Aviation. We all now appreciate the great potential for China as political and economic changes release and channel the energy, hard work, and entrepreneurial spirit of the people. Economic systems matter.

Social

Also in Shanghai, we had an informal “fireside” with one of Professor Barnes’ former Chinese students who goes by the name of Charles. Charles told his story of growing up in China, including details about his internment for three years in a camp during the cultural revolution. His only crime apparently was that his father had owned a business. In the name of communist progress, student thugs and neighborhood watch groups ransacked and looted Charles’ home and beat and locked up family members. In the camp Charles learned how to make shoes and focused any free time on educating himself. After the revolution, through divine intervention and the kindness of strangers (including several BYU professors) Charles was able to move to Macau, join the church, and attend BYU. After his MBA at BYU, Charles went to work as a business manager for NIKE in Shanghai (more shoes). Charles bore a strong testimony of the restored gospel. NIKE, BYU, and the LDS church are all in good hands in Shanghai. Men and women of faith, character, and professional ability are sorely needed in the world. People matter.

Cultural

We visited many temples and palaces typically visited by tourists in Asia. Two visits in Cambodia, however, stand out for two very different reasons: the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh because it is a witness to the depths to which humanity can fall, and Angkor Wat in the jungle out side of Siem Reap because it is a witness to heights to which we can rise. Between 1975 and 1979 the Khmer Rouge, lead by Pol Pot, conducted one of the worst and most brutal reigns of terror in modern history. Their first act was to push Mao’s cultural revolution to its irrational limits by emptying every city, torturing and killing intellectuals, prior officials, and the wealthy (loosely defined) in an effort to cleanse the society and begin a new pure agricultural order. Well over a million people died on the collectivized farms known as the Killing Fields. The Genocide Museum does not house an exhibit in the traditional sense; rather, the building itself is the exhibit. The Tuol Sleng is the actual former school Pol Pot turned into a prison and torture chamber. We quietly walked into the cells and chambers and saw the instruments of terror. The last two rooms we visited housed some of the Khmer Rouge’s own documentation--the most striking was the thousands of pictures taken of the victims. As we left the Museum we walked by a 20 foot high map of Cambodia; the map was made from human skulls. As I witnessed this map, I thought of something our Cambodian guide had said when he recounted the death of family members and his own life under the Khmer Rouge. (All of the Cambodians we met were very open about their history and seemed willing to tell of their personal struggles during the Pol Pot years). Our guide said that two of the first institutions destroyed by the Khmer Rouge were the family and religion.

In stark contrast was Angkor Wat, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Angkor is an ancient city built by the Khmer people from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. During this time the Khmer Empire ruled most of Southeast Asia. Each King built a new “Wat” or temple/palace compound and over time a huge city was created. The city is gone but all of the Wats remain in various states of decay. However, the Wat built by King Suryavarman II, called Angkor Wat, was never abandoned (Buddhist monks took over from their Hindu predecessors) and is very well preserved. Angkor Wat remains the world’s largest religious building and is still in use. We were able to watch a small religious ceremony complete with live music, incense, and other offerings. Our group was very impressed not only with the size of the complex but also with the quality of the craftsmanship and the art work on huge murals depicting religious scenes. I was also interested to learn that, not unlike modern LDS temples, the physical layout of the buildings had religious meaning. For example the 200 feet tall central tower symbolized Mount Meru (Hinduism’s home of the Gods) and the bridge we used to cross over a moat represented the path between earth and heaven. The contrast between the Khmer Rouge prison and Khmer empire temples vividly renewed a deeply felt personal conviction. Religion matters. Family matters.

Howard Barnes

Howard Barnes was an outstanding tour guide. His seemingly endless knowledge of Asian history, politics, culture, and business was matched by the never-ending stream of his personal Asian friends and former students that showed up to greet, entertain, and educate us. I will never know how Howard picked the only spring in over forty years when the political climate was stable enough to take students to Cambodia (only weeks after our trip, fighting broke out as the Second Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh). Howard’s retirement is a great loss to BYU. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that Howard and his wife are currently in India, volunteering a year of their lives to work and teach in Tibetan refugee camps. Howard Barnes matters.

I had a great trip and learned a lot. Many of the Executive MBA students on the trip ranked our two weeks in Asia as one of the most educational and pivotal experiences in their lives.

Pictures of: Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Cambodia