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Sat, May 24, 2008 10:56 EDT

Talking to the Enemy

Topic: Personal Management

Blog: Doing Business in Real Time

Current Rating: 4 Comments: 5

I got an email from a Ph.D. student at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He said the professor he was working with on his doctoral dissertation was a leading expert in supply chain management in Iran and they were interested in translating my book, Essentials of Supply Chain Management, 2nd Edition into Persian (Farsi).

He went on to tell me that he was contacting me as a professional courtesy, but since there are no copyright agreements between his country and mine, there wouldn’t be any royalties coming to me from the translation. He then asked if I would assist them with the translation. He also said (politely, but still clearly enough) that they were going to do the translation anyway whether I assisted them or not. How would you respond to this?

I admit I was flattered that someone read my book and liked it; he said, “I have searched a lot and I think your book is one of the best ones in SCM subject.” I’m a sucker for flattery. But there’s no money here… And it’s Iran.

The translation will be used as a textbook in business and engineering courses and by Iranian companies to improve their supply chain operations. I did a search on the professor’s name and found he is a shareholder in a consulting company formed by a group of professors at Sharif University of Technology to “serve the national manufacturing as well as service industries.”

As I see it, here’s the crux of the whole thing: is working with this professor and his graduate student a political act or a personal statement? Am I unpatriotic if I help companies in Iran become more productive, or am I just doing a small thing to help people improve their economic well being?

Our current president has refused to talk to Iran and two of the candidates to be the next president have said they won’t talk to Iran either. But the other candidate has said he will talk to Iran. Hmmm, sounds like people want to see this as a political act.

As I thought about the pros and cons, what came to mind was a science fiction movie from the 80’s called Enemy Mine. It’s a corny B movie, yet it made an impression. It’s set in the midst of an interstellar war between humans and an alien race called the Dracs. The movie opens as a human pilot and a Drac pilot engage in a dogfight (Dennis Quaid plays the human and Louis Gossett, Jr. plays the Drac), and they damage each other’s spacecrafts so both wind up crash landing on a planet filled with dangerous creatures and constantly being bombarded by meteors.

They find each other on the planet and continue fighting. Then in the middle of their fight, Dennis Quaid gets attacked by one of the planet’s creatures and Louis Gossett saves him. They realize they need each other if they are going to survive; they start to learn each other’s language and history and culture.

I decided to work with the Iranian Ph.D. student and his professor and assist them with their translation. In return for my assistance, I asked them to include a short introduction from me in their Farsi edition; so that way I get a chance to talk directly to the people in Iran who read my book.

A few days ago a package arrived in the mail and in it there were two copies of the new Farsi edition of my supply chain book. In one

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Sat, May 24, 2008 22:31 EDT
Posted by: Mark Cummuta
Rating:

Michael,

I thought about what you said, and in the end, as a former US Marine, I came to the same conclusion I started with - I would have chosen differently.

I enjoy the movie "Enemy Mine", as well. And the clip you linked to is moving. It highlights beautifully your point that these two individuals of these battling races have chosen to work together for survival, and further, they are learning to respect each other. In the end of the movie, Quaid is not exactly beloved on Earth. But because of his risk in returning to the alien homeworld in order to finalize (in song) the young boy's heritage to the elders, they accept the boy and Quaid.

And I think that is where the similarities continue wtih your situation. Worlds, and nations, at or near at war walk a completely different path than individuals do.

Individuals have the luxury of meeting personally to discuss ideas and try to work to compromise when differences occur. Nations do not have that luxury, since there is far more at stake. I believe that was proved true in World War I and II, when too many nations thought they could simply play nice and Hitler would leave them alone.

Supply chains may have existed before large scale military actions, but these methods were certainly perfected when managing the huge machinations of militaries as they moved, bivouced, and attacked across agrarian societies. Whether you agree with the politics and/or necessities of war, they exist, and governments use them to try and improve and/or defend their own peoples.

In times of war, individuals need to consider the ramifications of who they speak to, what they discuss, and what new information can be used by the opposing government against our own people. Especially when those opposing governments have sworn to wipe our allies off the planet, and have identified our country as an evil that should be eradicated.

If you had not assisted, they would still have attempted to translate your book. Understood. But without your assistance they may have introduced translation errors, which may then have reduced the military benefit of this new information. Or they could have gotten another supply chain expert to help them translate, but then you would not have been involved.

Your intentions were obviously good, as it is apparent you are trying to open a door of communication with the Iranian scientists and businesspeople. It is also possible that your Iranian counterparts may also be well-intentioned.

The crux of the issue is that information, once available, is used. US supply chain knowledge and processes are top notch. By making your supply chain knowledge available to the Iranians in their own language, that barrier to market entry is removed, and they can begin using that information for ANY purpose. Including military purposes.

With the Iranian government's stated intent of eliminating The Great Satan and our Israeli allies, and their obvious disdain for the international community's concern about their nuclear ambitions, adding to that government's knowledge in any capacity that can aid them in their goals creates too great a risk for me. I would have chosen differently.

Semper Fi!
Mark Cummuta

 
Mon, May 26, 2008 14:13 EDT
Posted by: MPatel
Rating:

Hi Michael,

Congrutulations on your book. Great post and equally great question.

We cannot ignore the reality that if our foreign policy continues to be the way it has been in the past years; regardless of who becomes next president, we will continue to be "in the time of war" (may be for next 100 years)!!! And unless you are actively engaged in influencing what white house does, there are limited things that an individual can do about it

So then the question becomes, whether as individuals, when we are approached by other individuals ... do we take the approach of "you are with us or against us", start classifying them into "axis of evil" ... or do we respond otherwise. Luckily, as individuals, we DO have the luxury of making this choice.

If your research about them had resulted into anything questionable, then your assistance to them could have been questioned from patriotism angle. However, when the best and the largest government in the world is unable to determine reality without its large share of mistakes (think WMD), there are also limitations on what an individual can research and ascertain.

So in day to day situations, we can continue to treat other / different people with complete distrust who can be remotely linked by any strech of imagination to anything that can be even vaguely threatening ... or make best judgement call, after doing reasonable due diligence without having to worry about being painted as unpatriotic.

I guess, you made your own (and IMHO, appropriate) choice.

Regards,
- Manish

 
Mon, May 26, 2008 17:18 EDT
Posted by: Mark Cummuta
Rating:

Manish,

You bring up some good points about the errors made in this, and in fact all governing leaderships. None are perfect, and "the good 'ol days" of prior politicians doesn't stand up to careful scrutiny of facts.

You also made a great point about doing your due diligence in situations when potential adversarial conditions are or might arise. And that I believe is the difference in our opinions.

I perform due diligence of key individuals as I would any key business relationship.

I do not distrust others simply because of the color of their skin, their religion, education, the monetary worth, or any other categorical qualifier. Rather, I give all the benefit of the doubt, and start all relationships from the standpoint of, "we may be friends". I don't go to the extreme either, and foolishly throw open my arms uncautiously.

However, I do take into account what a person, organization or country says and does to me, my partners and allies, and my way of life. If a person or the organization they represent treats me with disdain, threatens me and my family and friends, and works to prevent me from caring for my family and way of life .... well, then I tend to get alot more cautious.

In the situation presented, that was how I perceived the larger picture. Further, when the invitation was presented, recall it was with a "we're going to do this with or without your help", which again, to my perception, not an atmosphere of open and honest communications.

Now, we're only seeing the tip of the entire situation. We don't know what transpired throughout the conversion process, how he was treated, and if any thoughts or intentions were conveyed that indicated that these information would not be handed directly to the military.

I was simply noting that when new information is available, and that information can provide a military benefit of any kind, then military personnel are trained to use that information to its greatest advantage.

I can not and will not say that he made the wrong decision, since we have and likely will not have any facts that demonstrate misuse of that information. After careful due diligence of the facts as presented and available, I would not have taken the same risk.

But thank you for sharing this! It definitely got me thinking of how information is and can be used to improve any organization.

 
Tue, May 27, 2008 16:12 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Mike Edwards
Rating:

Michael,
I can empathize with your dilemma. I had to read your article and think what I might do if faced with the same challenge. I believe, contrary to Mark's position that I would make the same decision as you.

My first thought was actually, who is the enemy here. I believe I might suggest the enemies are the governments more so than that citizens of each country. I also understand that the government of Iran may in fact be contributing directly to the death of Americans in Iraq, but that still does not make your PhD candidate connection your enemy either.

I believe that non-military cooperation between countries, aka trade, has a better chance of creating peace between those countries than some of the other methods that have been tried throughout history.

I commend you on your decision, and hope I exercise the same courage when it is my turn.

Take care,

Mike Edwards - mike@directyourcareer.com

http://www.directyourcareer.com

 
Wed, May 28, 2008 3:14 EDT
Posted by: Mark Cummuta
Rating:

Like Mike Edwards, I did not consider these individuals to be "enemies". Further, I agree with Michael, Manish and Mike that individuals can and should look for opportunities to build bridges to peace.

However, individuals must also recognize that we are part of a larger, more complex world. We must therefore remain cautiously optimistic, blinded neither by naivety nor fear.

Recall I noted that militaries are trained to use any available information to their benefit. Militaries can gather information from battlefields and ivory towers alike. So despite the good intentions of a good PhD candidate and a good citizen to work together for cooperative trade-relations, information has been made more readily accessible to a government that has repeatedly misused information to threaten and indeed harm the United States and our allies.

In the balance of my own decision, I felt that there is a greater risk that this new information would be misused in the hands of that government, than the potential for the intended civilian benefits.

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