HQAsia: As a European working in a Chinese company, do you see a distinctive approach to business management at Lenovo?

Milko van Duijl: Yes, definitely. The Chinese company that I know well – Lenovo - really differentiates itself from Western companies by its emphasis on strategic thinking. There is not one meeting that I’ve been to that we don’t talk about strategy. Of course as a publicly listed company, we have to also look at our quarterly performance. But our focus is on long-term strategy. For example, our executive committee – the top 7 leaders in our company - meets every month, and 80% of our discussion is about strategy. Where do we want to be three years from now? And then we work backwards, knowing where we are now and knowing where we aspire to be, how do make it happen?

We also conduct a lot of benchmarking and market testing. Our executive committee meetings very often happen in our key markets, and not just our headquarters. We hold meetings in places like Brazil, Russia and India as it’s important to really understand and learn from the markets, from our customers and partners. People often ask me how I handle the strain of all this travelling. I remind them I don’t actually the pilot the plane. I just sit at the back of the plane. This focus on strategy – as well as standing with your team on the ground with your feet in the mud – is different from what I’m used to in the West.

Secondly, the DNA of Chinese management thinking is all about growth. How can we continue to grow and what must we do to continue to grow? In contrast – many Western companies adopt a more defensive thinking. How do we protect ourselves from external factors? For the Chinese, it’s more about how do we embrace these external factors, and incorporate them into our growth strategy? The Chinese play to win. All too often, western companies play not to lose.

How would you describe Lenovo’s culture? How important is culture to your company?

It is critically important – it’s the glue that unites people. When IBM and Lenovo came together it was crucial for all of us to have a common culture. We call this the ‘Lenovo Way’ or ‘The 4 ‘P’s’, which we live by. We recently added a fifth ‘P’, which shows you the evolution in our thinking. The first ‘P’ is ‘planning’ – everything we do is related to our strategic plan. Two, is ‘performing’, which is really about executing on our plan.

The third element is ‘prioritisation’. In our business you can choose to do a thousand things. Or you can choose to focus on doing a few things really well. And the fourth ‘P’ is ‘practicing’. For us, it’s ok to make mistakes. I’ve been in meetings with my CEO where we have had open discussions about what went well and what went wrong. The fact that things did not go to plan is not the issue – the point is to ensure we learn from these experiences and strengthen our ability to execute in the future. Recently, we have added fifth P – ‘pioneering’. Pioneering has everything to do with Innovation. When you look at the business we are in, innovation is a key characteristic that defines sustainable companies.

On the topic of innovation, there is a widely-held perception that Chinese companies are not as innovative as western companies. What is your take?

There are different dimensions to innovation. There is the dimension of innovative thinking, where you don’t accept the constraints of the current reality, where you open your mind to new ideas, new technology, new ways of operating. Then there is the dimension that we are more familiar in the western world, which is dimension of inventing things and creating intellectual property rights to protect our inventions. On the first dimension, China has been innovating well for centuries – many centuries actually. On the second dimension, that is where many Western companies are ahead.

How do you drive a culture of innovation at Lenovo?

A big part of this is an emphasis on diversity. One of the things we live by is that our management team, and the way we run our business, has to be a reflection of the markets we operate in. If you operate in a diverse world, then your management team has to have diversity embedded in it. To leverage diversity, you need to pull people together with a common culture – hence our emphasis on the five Ps. You also need to build trust. And one of the best ways we have built trust and understanding is our commitment to sharing of best practices. For example, our Chinese business is extremely good in the consumer segment. We felt their best practices were also exportable to outside China. So we got them to share their best practices. We ran workshops like that every month. It’s not about telling others what to do, but actually doing things together, working hand-in-hand. Success builds morale, and morale builds trust and success.

Lenovo is one of the best known brands in Asia. What advice can you share with other Asian companies looking to build their brands?

It’s a good question - we too are working on building our brand globally. In China, we are one of the best known and trusted brands. I genuinely believe that if we were to go into the toothpaste business, we would do decently well. Over the years, the company has built up a strong reputation in China. In business, your reputation is sacred. You don’t mess around with your reputation at whatever cost. You have to stay true to your brand.

What is your personal definition of leadership? How did you adapt your leadership style from developed markets to emerging markets?

To me, leadership is about “getting things done through and with people, while inspiring them”. I believe the basic principles of leadership apply anywhere. One, you must have a strategy – that is incredibly important. Two, you have to have a relentless execution engine. You need a business management system that can help you track execution – almost on a daily basis. Three, you have to be very focused on the culture you want to drive.

Now, the culture can be different for each company, but the same principle of fostering a common culture exists. Fourth, you need a structure that does away with bureaucracy. The world moves so fast nowadays that your speed of execution is a critical success factor. When you look at emerging markets versus mature markets, the angles with which you look at these four things may differ, but the fundamental principles are the same. That said, you have to be culturally adept. There is tremendous diversity in Asia, and between Asia and the western world. I’m Dutch, and in our culture, everyone is seen as equal, and we are very direct communicators. This is different in many parts of Asia. This is one reason why I’m glad that my assistant is from Hong Kong. She helps manage me, and to ensure that I don’t go overboard with some of my Dutch characteristics here in Asia. But you can also leverage cultural differences constructively – as long as you are aware of it. My Asian colleagues would expect me to be more direct, even though it is not consistent with their culture. I can help the company by sometimes acting as a devil’s advocate, and by raising issues directly.

More and more, the world will need leaders who can manage diversity, and actually make diversity work for you. Culture also impacts decision making style. In the Netherlands, people want to have a say, and the leader has to facilitate a group consensus. If I go to Italy with the same management style people will think I am a softie. They want a macho leader who makes the call. In Germany, you have to go through many precise deliberations as a leader. In China, I would say the leader has to solicit enough information from his people, but at the end of the day - in a subtle way - the leader makes the final decision.

Our research suggests that leaders learn most from their mistakes. What have been your biggest mistakes, and what have you learnt from them.

I could not agree more with you. The advantage of being on an airplane a lot is that you have time to think and reflect on this question. I have realised is that I have not been quick enough in making some business decisions. I realise now that I could have made the same decisions with 90 % of the information I wanted. I lost valuable execution time waiting for the additional 10 % that I did not really need. Likewise, I’ve learnt that if you feel you need to make a call on talent, or upgrade talent, then do it. People often have a tendency to wait too long before making talent decisions.

What advice can you give to companies and leaders looking to protect time for reflection and learning?

To be in control of your time is one of the most difficult challenges for business executives. The most mature thing a leader can do is to know what not to do. I don’t believe in trying to do everything at the same time. That may have worked 50 years ago, but not today. When you try to do a hundred things at once, you can’t get anything done well. Reflection is important, but not just when things go wrong. It’s easy to reflect when things go wrong. I’m a big fan of doing the same, when things go well. From a position of luxury, when people are relaxed and more innovative in their thinking, you can ask “Why did things go well?”, “Is this success sustainable?”, “What can we do even better?”. The previous Chairman, Chairman Liu, propagated the concept of ‘Fu Pan’ (‘复盘’ or ‘replaying the chessboard’). It’s the concept of frequently reflecting on how things went from different angles. We have institutionalised this as an organisation, rather than rely on an individual’s ability to reflect.

We understand you were previously with the famous Dutch football club, Ajax, as a teenager. What lessons can business people learn from the world of sports?

I think leadership in business and sports are very much the same. When I was in sports, I made the national team in Netherlands, which is not too bad an achievement. But I knew I was not good enough to make a real career out of this. You have to be aware of your own weaknesses, and how you can compensate your weaknesses by leveraging the strengths of others around you. In sports – like business – it’s all about having a game plan or strategy.