Daily Lessons from Life 23 Janurary 2012 - Foxconn apologises over boss's 'animal' comment: report

"Foxconn apologises over boss's 'animal' comment: report - AFP 23 January 2012

TAIPEI: Taiwan technology giant Foxconn has apologised over comments by chief Terry Gou allegedly comparing workers to animals, according to a report.

Gou drew criticism on online news forums and discussion sites after he was quoted by Taiwanese media as saying "I have a headache how to manage one million animals" at the company's year-end party in Taipei Zoo earlier this month.

Foxconn is the largest maker of computer components and assembles products for Apple -- including the iPhone -- plus Sony and Nokia. It employs about one million workers in China.

The company issued a statement over the weekend to apologise to "anyone who feels offended" but stressed that Gou's remarks were taken out of context by the media, according to the Taipei-based Now News website.

"Gou is aware that the media reports are misleading and offensive and he apologises to anyone who feels offended. However, Gou did not deliberately slander the workers as some media described," it quoted Foxconn as saying."

Poor Terry. Or more correctly Mr Terry Gou. Based on this little headliner, I would said he was careless instead of being deliberately insulting to his one million workers in China. Why did I come to this conclusion? Simple. He was talking about his company and his workers at the year-end party in Taipei Zoo!! He is known to be a quick witted businessman with a flair for using the nearest materials to make his points!

Lessons for me are:

1. the strength can sometimes be a cause for concern or bother! e.g. Terry's use of the Shengzhen-Guangzhou High-Speed Toll Road (i.e. Highway) (Strategies must go DEEP (Sheng), WIDE (Guang), from a HIGH vantage point (High), and to be executed with SPEED in Chinese to explain his strategy was briliant. Unfortunately, despite comparing the challenges and difficulties of pairing or grouping different animals in his factories or teams, it SIMPLY does not compute well!!;

2. when one realized someone is picking a bone with you. Especially when it is the media, and probably the unfriendly ones, the best strategy to handle it is to: apologize sincerely and unresevedly to the people who may be hurt. It is alright to accompanied the apology with the reason for comparing the workers animals as he was in a zoo then THOUGH some will advise to LEAVE this alone as it may trigger or remind the 'hostile' people or those who did not know about the history of this episode!;

3. this incident once again shows how POWERFUL the media and the internet 'gossip' or 'truth' can be. Yet, it also drive home the ritical cpoint of being media savvy and taking quick actions to defuse a potential tricky situation. No more. No less.

May Mr Terry Gou and his million of workers have a Meaningful (will be challenging) and Prosperous (depending on whose perspectives) Year of the Water Dragon ahead!