Mid-Michigan readers can hear Rick Cole every Wednesday at approximately 6:35 a.m. on Lansing radio station WILS 1320’s “am Lansing” program hosted by Walt Sorg.

Good Guanxi

by Richard Cole
November 16, 2009

Guanxi seems to be missing from American politics and business. It’s a tough concept for an occidental like me to comprehend. Westerners think of business in terms of management policies and marketing tactics. The Eastern way — especially the Chinese way — seems to be all about guanxi.

The Western mind struggles to comprehend it. The shorthand definition is that guanxi means relationships. But it seems to me that at a deeper level, it’s some kind of an overarching ethic, a set of values that both governs and defines the most significant elements of Chinese culture. Sometimes, the Chinese describe someone as “having good guanxi.”

I asked “Gina,” a Chinese graduate student at MSU, to talk to my students in a seminar class on international public relations. Gina enlightened us with clear descriptions of the politics, economics and media in China. She became especially animated when I asked her to tell us what it means “to have good guanxi.” But I still didn’t quite get it.

After class, a young student, Meghan, in a bright “Go Green” sweatshirt waited for the room to empty. “I have a question,” she said.

I listened.

Meghan is an MSU senior who had fast-tracked herself through MSU. She graduates ahead of schedule this December. She needed help, she thought, getting an internship — but not just any internship. “I want an internship with my hometown team — the Angels of Anaheim. Do you know anyone there?”

What would make her even ask me that question?

As it turns out, one of my colleagues at the university had told her Professor Cole must know someone at the Angels. Why anyone would think that is beyond me. But resorting to my best stalling technique, I answered her question with a question. “Why Anaheim?”

Meghan’s not the stereotypical California girl — the stereotype you get watching “Orange County Housewives” anyway. Her mom is an independent accountant, and her dad’s a small town California cop. She says he’s trying to figure out what he’ll do in retirement and, along with Meghan’s mom, he teaches marriage encounter classes in the local parish. All the members of her family are Angels’ fans.

While Meghan was a high school senior, she had convinced her mom to use some of the family’s college savings to do a whirlwind visit to a half dozen campuses across the country — east coast, the Midwest, west coast.

When she returned to California, she received a nice thank you letter from Columbus. She received an invitation from MSU to attend a small reception with some Orange County alumni. While at the party, she mentioned that her dream was to get into sports marketing and management. Obviously, someone at the party picked up on that.

A week or so later, as Meghan relays the story, she and her dad were getting ready to leave the house when the home phone rang. “Meghan?” She described the voice as eerily familiar. “Meghan, this is Mario — Mario Impemba — of the Detroit Tigers.”

Mario, the Sterling Heights native, had been play-by-play announcer for the Anaheim Angels before moving home to take over the same duties for his beloved hometown Tigers in 2002. Meghan said she and her mom had grown to know Mario’s voice from listening to Angels’ games, and they both really missed him. I suspect she told him that on the call, but she didn’t say so.

Mario is also a Spartan. So, just as he’d been asked to do from an MSU Orange County alumnus, he engaged Meghan for the next 10 minutes or so talking about sports marketing, extolling the virtues of the campus he loved, and assuring her she would love East Lansing, too.

I gasped. Guanxi, I thought.

“For goodness sakes, Meghan — I don’t know Mario Impemba, and I’m not sure how to reach him. But don’t you think it might be a good idea for you to connect with him and thank him for recommending MSU? I’ll bet he has plenty of friends in Anaheim who would be able to help you get your internship.”

“Well, I do have his cell phone number,” Meghan said, “but I haven’t called him since freshman year. He seemed pleased that I called. But do you think it would be okay for me to call him again?”

Guanxi is more than relationships, and different than kismet or karma. I’m still not exactly sure how to define it. But I think I saw it that night.

I said goodbye to Meghan in the halls of the Engineering Building. And as I walked away, I had a deep sense of how proud the cop and the accountant must be of this special kid. It also occurred to me how likely it is that someday she will be in some baseball team’s front office.

And the cool breeze of that autumn night hit my face with the realization that someday Meghan may need a new announcer or a front office assistant for her team. It just might end up that she’ll call Mario once more, but this time she’ll call with an offer he can’t refuse.

Guanxi!

Richard Cole is professor and chairperson of the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing at Michigan State University. The opinions expressed reflect his individual viewpoint and not that of the university.