Asia is pivotal
to the future of the globe, and could have as much influence on the course of
globalization as what happens in the United States and Europe.
Globalization
can reinforce and multiply positive trends, but it can just as easily
accelerate the spread of highly damaging developments too.
Globalization is
about a growing connection among people of different nationalities. Globalization
is about transmission of ideas across borders.
It is about common vulnerability,
be it climate change, public health emergencies, or recession. It is, in short,
about goods, services, ideas, peaceful movements, and aggressive and
destructive forces all coursing through the channels that have been opening and
growing for centuries. Globalization is also a mind-set, focused on confidence
that open societies that let in foreign influences are good, or, alternatively,
reflecting convictions that national go-it-alone policies are a better way. The
McKinsey Global Institute has said that the transformation of society is
“happening ten times as fast and at 300 times the scale, or roughly 3,000 times
the impact” of the Industrial Revolution. In the end, though, the world has
always moved in the direction of more integration. History shows that the
deep-seated problems that we confront today are not only challenges but
opportunities.
INTRODUCTION
Every day we
experience the ups and downs, the benefits and threats of a more interconnected
world. In From Silk to Silicon I selected nine men and one woman who met
several criteria. First, they had to be transformational leaders. I also
identified people who could be characterized as “first movers,” those who
initiated or were in on the ground floor of a powerful, fundamental trend or
movement that had an outsize impact on the world. My subjects also had to be
“doers” and not just thinkers, people who rolled up their sleeves and made
something of global significance happen. None of my characters are saints, to
be sure, and several in particular had dark sides and created considerable
suffering in their wake.
1.
GENGHIS KHAN
The Accidental Empire Builder 1162–1227
The Silk Road
was also a transmission belt for the extensive interchange of culture and
religion. The threat to this prospering global crossroads was political:
centrifugal forces were breaking apart the power centers of Europe, the Islamic
world, and China. The Mongols revolutionized warfare, which made their
conquests possible, but the empire lasted so long because of the expansion of
trade, transportation, and communication; the intermixing of people, ideas, and
culture; and the unification of administrative procedures.
They did not
impose political ideology or cultural or religious ideas on others but rather
created an environment of extreme tolerance, so long as the basic governing
regime wasn’t fundamentally challenged and so long as the booty flowed smoothly
from the far-flung territories to the Mongolian center. Indifferent to
controlling matters of religion or culture, the Mongols focused on building
commerce and the physical, administrative, and legal infrastructure to help it
flow freely.
Although the
Mongols never occupied eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries, they
stimulated a revolution in productivity in these regions by exposing the West
to specialized tools, new blast furnace technology, new crops that required
less work to plant, and to new concepts such as paper money, primacy of state
over church, and freedom of religion.
Asia is again
ascending. It now accounts for nearly 50 percent of the global GDP. Its share
of production of resources, trade, and investment has also reached levels
critical to the global economy. It has the bulk of the world’s population. We
are coming full circle. And it is a good bet that a new Silk Road, stretching
from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean in both spirit and modern physical form,
will continue to unfold throughout this century, increasing global
interdependence by huge orders of magnitude.
2.
PRINCE HENRY
The Explorer Who Made a Science of Discovery 1394–1460
Henry had led
the way in turning a nation of peasant farmers and coastal fishermen into an
empire built on oceanic discovery and overseas settlements. He had transformed
Lisbon into a cosmopolitan hub for the increasingly international culture of
seafaring business.
In the century
after Prince Henry, continuous trade among all key regions of the earth was
established for the first time, and the world was becoming a single network. An
ever-expanding array of commodities and finished products were being
interchanged—sugar, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, grain, wine, timber,
gold, silver, silks, textiles, porcelain, horses, to name but a few. At the
same time these vessels carried parasites and insects that would transplant
malaria and smallpox from Eurasia to the Americas, and syphilis from the
Western Hemisphere to Eurasia.
3.
ROBERT CLIVE
The Rogue Who Captured India for the British Empire 1725–1774
The Company was
becoming the embodiment of European mercantilism, a doctrine that justified the
use of any measures, commercial or military, necessary to dominate global
economic competition. Sometime around 1600, Sir Walter Raleigh encapsulated the
mercantile view that would drive European leaders when he said, “Whosoever
commands the trade of the world, commands the riches of the world and
consequently the world itself.”
Clive laid the
foundation for the East India Company to become an industrial powerhouse and
for the Company to be the instrument with which Britain conquered India. As
Oxford professor John Darwin writes, the British Empire was a global system
connected by extensive links on all continents fostered by the British navy,
which controlled the seas and was available to protect Britain’s colonies; by
extensive diplomatic ties among the same participants; by deep cultural and
educational exchanges; and, of course, by commercial and financial
interdependencies—all intersecting in the government corridors in London.
This world
system was strongly supported by a complex network of mail services, telegraph
wires, undersea cables, passenger steamers, and eventually imperial air routes.
The Company had advanced globalization in a number of ways. It responded to the
massive increase in consumer demand in England by importing goods such as
pepper, silk, tea, and opium from all over the world. It also exported goods
from England.
The Company
invested heavily in boats, ports, warehouses, and roads in dozens of its
colonies, and in new trade and financial arrangements, such as insurance, that
allowed trade to flourish among its territorial possessions. In this regard it
not only facilitated trade to and from England but it made deals between other
countries, as well—between China and India, for example. Furthermore, the East
India Company showed how government and commercial enterprises of the same
nation can make common cause in expanding commerce and culture across borders.
4.
MAYER
AMSCHEL ROTHSCHILD The Godfather of Global Banking 1744–1812
What the
Rothschilds did at a minimum was to serve their highly placed clients—extremely
wealthy individuals, influential government officials, industrial titans,
almost all operating across borders—by offering them the latest financial
products, tailored for them, in large amounts, and in the most discreet or
confidential manner that the client preferred.
The Rothschilds
were among the first banks to allow people to deposit money in their home
country, which could be withdrawn by a client or representative in a second
country, in local currency. The House of Rothschild constituted a clearinghouse
for international finance that began with three money centers—London,
Frankfurt, and Paris—and was eventually extended to Vienna and Naples in the
1820s, with one of the five brothers residing in each city. The Rothschilds
used this clearinghouse to pioneer advances in the international bond market,
with significant financial, political, and social implications.
One reason the
Rothschilds were able to make this system work was the resources that the
family had amassed, but another was the level of trust they had built up by
cultivating personal ties to public officials across the Continent. That’s how
finance works. The close links among the brothers and the five branches allowed
them to capture more information quicker than their competitors could, and
therefore to obtain the best interest rates and the best currency values
throughout Europe.
The Rothschilds
led the development of a sophisticated international bond market not because no
one had thought about doing it before but because no one had the capacity—the
internal coordination, the logistical capability, the relationships, and the
trust among all partners—to make it work in such volumes and with such
reliability. Gathering news became a Rothschild obsession, and it drew the
father and brothers closer to the inner circles of power; the closer they got,
the better their insights became. By the early 1800s, the House of Rothschild
was constantly upgrading its internal courier service to make it faster and
more secure. They built redundancy into the system, using pigeons and
stagecoaches to deliver copies of the same message on different routes.
The titans of
banking shape the political and social structure because they decide who gets
money and at what price. The global financial system allows the world to grow
faster because it channels savings—excess money—into places where the money is
needed, to facilitate trade, for example, or to build roads, ports, bridges, or
new companies. Global finance is also precarious because problems in one part
of the world can spread like a contagious disease.
5.
CYRUS FIELD
The Tycoon Who Wired the Atlantic 1819–1892
The telegraph
not only linked the world in real time but became a bridge to subsequent
international communications breakthroughs—the radio in the 1920s, the
telephone in the 1950s, the Internet in the 1990s.
The
transatlantic cable would eventually have been built without Field, but it is
hard to imagine how it could have been done as early as it was, when the
technology was so underdeveloped, without someone like him to lead, inspire,
and organize the financing, the technology, the wide array of talent, and, of
course, the design and execution of the entire project.
Since
communication is perhaps the most powerful force accelerating globalization,
Field’s accomplishment was critical to furthering all that Genghis Khan, Prince
Henry, and Mayer Amschel Rothschild began. Field’s transatlantic cable, and the
cables that quickly followed it in other parts of the world, shrank time and
space, making the world smaller and the spread of international influences of
all kinds infinitely faster.
6.
JOHN D.
ROCKEFELLER The Titan Who Built the Energy Industry and Also Launched Global
Philanthropy 1839–1937
And beyond that,
he used his astounding wealth to establish another industry—global
philanthropy, a business that filled the vacuum between the international
activities of governments and those of multinational corporations, and focused
on challenges such as health and education around the world. Without oil wealth
he would not have had the wherewithal to transform global health and education.
Without his far-reaching philanthropic achievements he would not have been a
role model for many millionaires and billionaires after him who made an impact
on the world well beyond the commercial enterprises they ran. He lent money to
his son at commercial rates of interest and often demanded the loan be repaid
ahead of time, thereby compelling John to develop the habit of maintaining
protective reserves.
Rockefeller
consolidated his control over refining, storing, shipping, sales, and
eventually the extraction of oil in the United States and abroad. He combined
ruthlessly aggressive tactics with innovative organizational moves to enhance
and streamline the management of Standard Oil, the corporate name under which
all his oil-related interests operated. The rise of Standard Oil is
attributable not only to Rockefeller’s aggressive tactics but also to his
management acumen. His company was better managed than the others. He practiced
extreme cost control. He pushed his company to innovate,
For his entire
career, Rockefeller understood the value of surrounding himself with
exceptional talent, which he did by identifying and acquiring experienced
managers with every new takeover. It is also hard to exaggerate how hands-on he
was. He kept the broader picture, the long-term vision and strategy, in clear
view at the same time.
Rockefeller was
also a great delegator. He would often implore his colleagues that neither he
nor they should do anything that someone else could do. He deeply understood
internal communications, coordination, and motivation.
His language was
“we,” not “I.” He ruled, yes, but as the center of a circle of powerful
colleagues. He strove to make decisions by consensus, and he would postpone
most decisions until there was near-unanimous agreement. He believed in
treating workers exceptionally well. He paid high wages, encouraged shorter
hours, and showed great consideration for his staff. He favored a nation run by
big industrial monopolies. He looked favorably on new ways for companies in
distinct industries to “cooperate”—pools, consortiums, monopolies, and other
arrangements that created a more stable and predictable environment.
As a preeminent
American company, Standard Oil received extensive assistance from US embassies
and consulates abroad. These new companies became the embodiment of modern
multinational corporations, straddling continents with their global
transportation and communications systems. They negotiated with, and often
dominated, governments. They created highly sophisticated management systems to
rebuild what Rockefeller had envisioned: vertical integration from exploration,
to refining, to sales at the corner retail station; systems to mobilize finance
on a massive scale; systems to oversee a multinational and multiethnic
workforce.
Rockefeller
wasn’t alone in this kind of endeavor; in fact, Andrew Carnegie’s investment in
libraries around the world preceded Rockefeller’s first major gifts. But
looking at the entire picture—the scope, the philosophy, the strategy, the
organization—the oil baron became the father of modern global philanthropy.
Dispensing
Rockefeller’s escalating fortune in an organized way required some clear
principles. Among them: Surround yourself with the most impressive experts in
the field and carefully identify the avenues of research that would add most to
existing knowledge. Focus on the roots of the problem, aiming for prevention
rather than just mitigating the symptoms. Standard Oil and the companies that
grew out of it epitomize the influence that multinational companies have had on
globalization. But few men in history have done more to power the world’s
growth and development, to address some of its most pressing social problems,
and to make the world more economically integrated.
7.
JEAN MONNET
The Diplomat Who Reinvented Europe 1888–1979
He could not
only envision big things but execute them. In June 1947, worried about the
potential for a Communist takeover in war-weakened Europe, Washington announced
a financial rescue operation in the form of the Marshall Plan, named for US
secretary of state George Marshall. The plan asked Europe to come together to
list its needs for recovery and reconstruction. At a conference of European
governments the next month it was clear that, thanks to Monnet, France was
better organized than other countries to apply aid effectively, and that its
internally coordinated modernization plans should serve as a model for Europe.
France received the lion’s share of American aid, fully funding Monnet’s plan
for French modernization.
The United
States also wanted a united Europe to share the burdens of global diplomacy and
defense and to become a prosperous market for American exports. Monnet became
the personification of the High Authority, a leader who saw the world through
European eyes, not French eyes, or German eyes, or Italian eyes. He recruited a
staff from throughout Europe that became the first cadre of “Eurocrats.” Monnet’s
strength was his vision, not managerial detail.
Dwight Morrow:
“There are two kinds of people—those who want to be someone and those who want
to do something.”
8.
MARGARET
THATCHER The Iron Lady Who Revived Free Markets 1925–2013
Margaret Roberts
would one day become Margaret Thatcher, the first woman ever to become prime
minister of Great Britain or leader of any major industrial democracy. She
would go on to exceed this distinction by becoming the world’s most important
advocate for freeing trade and investment from government control, selling off
state-owned companies to the private sector, weakening labor unions, and, in
general, allowing markets to link with one another to cross borders and build a
web of connections that became—and remains—the motor force of globalization.
“Thatcherism” resulted in the decimation of
many communities, the impoverishment of many people, sharply rising inequality
in an already class-ridden nation, and a society that favored the rich, the
educated, and the connected over the rest.
some quotes from
Abraham Lincoln: You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You
cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot help the
wage-earner by pulling down the wage payer.
“Don’t Tell Me What to Do, Because I Know
That. Just Tell Me How.”
She hated the
very notion of consensus, calling it “the process of abandoning all beliefs,
principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one
believes, but to which no one objects.” In relying so heavily on market forces
to generate growth, Thatcher opened the floodgates to a version of
winner-take-all globalization in which those lacking advantages in education,
skills, or social connections suffer greatly.
Thatcher was not
an originator of ideas; her gift was an ability to grasp important concepts
and, above all, to simplify them in language that could mobilize an entire
society to try radical reform. The future of globalization belongs to a
judicious balance between the private and the public, between competition and
collaboration, between the market and the state, between what nations can do on
their own and what they must do together—in other words, between Thatcher and
Monnet.
9.
ANDREW GROVE
The Man behind the Third Industrial Revolution 1936–2016
If Noyce and
Moore led the way toward a nonhierarchical management culture in Silicon
Valley—the opposite of the corporate environment of the East Coast and a major
factor in the creativity of the US technology industry—that alone would not
have been enough. What was also required was decisive and highly disciplined
management. Andy Grove’s great and distinctive contribution was to achieve
both. Grove was inventing the management process that would make Moore’s law
work in the real world.
Grove underlined
the idea of an “inflection point”—a moment, or a period of time, when a set of
forces are so overwhelming that they compel a fundamental change in the rules
of the game for a company or an industry. This happened in banking, he writes,
when cash machines replaced human tellers. “Allow chaos,” he advised, “then rein it in.” The
concept of inflection points is one of Grove’s most profound contributions to
the theory of management in the unpredictable environment wrought by technology
and globalization.
He was not just
a visionary CEO, he was a leader who created an organization set up to
anticipate change and respond quickly to inflection points. He thus captured
the essence of what it takes for a high-technology company—or perhaps any
ambitious company—to succeed in our era of extraordinary change and volatility.
He showed the world what speed was, what precision was, what risk taking was,
what take-no-prisoners competition was, how you should use recessions to your
advantage by accelerating investments, how to learn from your mistakes and
bounce back even stronger, how to rapidly scale up, and how to spread your
presence to the corners of the earth. He gave us a vivid picture of how to
survive and thrive in business when the only constant is mind-bending change.
Like the other
leaders in this book, Grove did not create the forces that shaped his era, but
he did exploit them with exceptional effectiveness. He is thus a pioneer of the
modern communications age.
10. DENG XIAOPING The Pragmatist Who Relaunched
China 1904–1997
In joining China
to the world and vice versa, Deng made globalization larger and deeper than
ever, and he unleashed new forces that will move the center of global commerce
and political influence from the West toward the East. Perfecting the Socialist
ideal—a society without profits and greed—would come only gradually, in his
view, and change would come through effective organization and management.
“It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or
white, so long as it catches the mouse it is a good cat,” Deng told the party.
Deng put
economic development at the heart of all his efforts, with an emphasis on
achieving a high rate of growth. “When
you open the windows for fresh air,” he once said, “some flies get in.” Deng
was obsessed with science, technology, and education.
The dichotomy
between his openness to experimenting with capitalism and his determination to
maintain disciplined rule under an all-powerful Communist Party was perhaps the
single most important feature of his philosophy and his manner of ruling. Deng
led China out of the wilderness. He rescued it from being an isolated, backward
nation in a world moving quickly toward advanced technological modernization
and unprecedented prosperity, and he gave it the opportunity to become a
central and vibrant part of a globalized society.
He wasn’t the
only official in China who wanted to break with Mao and change direction, but
he was the leader who commanded the influence, respect, experience, relationships,
and political skills to do it. Deng initiated reforms that led to thirty years
of growth averaging more than 9 percent annually—twice the average of other
developing countries, and three times the average of developed nations.
Under Deng,
China had accomplished in two decades what took other nations a century or more
to do.
