Thursday, May 15, 2008

The handling of the Chinese earthquake has made China more popular in the world

China has moved from a secretive, closed treatment of disasters to an open and human handling of the latest earthquake. This has contrasted to the Myannmar treatment which has viewed foreign aid workers with acute xenophobia. China has been open about showing what has happened and how it has tried hard to save lives. The human face this shows along with the suffering of the people has made China seem so much less foreign and so much more like all other people. It has gone a long way to defuse the harm which China's treatment of Tibet did earlier this year. This lesson also applies to companies. If there is a mistake or other disaster, be open about how you handle it. J&J showed this with Tylenol years ago, yet companies as well as countries continue to hide bad things even when they do not reflect blame on the leaders.

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