Thomas D. Gorman: You talked a moment ago about -- in the context of finding the right people character traits.
Jim Collins: Yep.
Thomas D. Gorman: And recruiting people that have the right character traits even though they might lack the specialized knowledge. Now, one of the elements that is not in that list that struck me, because it's the subject of some discussion in China, and that is teamwork, the ability to work in teams. Sometimes I think in the American context we take that for granted a little bit. Because starting in primary school our kids get exposed to working in teams. And I think some people would say, that's not a particular strength of the Chinese education system at this point of time.You've made the point, which I think is clear, that character traits are very hard to teach, probably impossible. What about things like teamwork, is that somewhere beyond the realm of character traits, is that something people can teach, companies can teach?
Jim Collins: I do believe that the sense of people really depending on each other can be taught, and we see that.
One of my favorite company foundings, start-ups is Federal Express, and who I greatly admire is, Fred Smith. Fred Smith, and I understand that Federal Express is fairly substantial in China now as well. But many people don't know that in the early days of this company,. when Fred Smith came back from serving with the Marine Corps in Vietnam. And he came back from Vietnam and what he learned in the Corps reinforced, is that you can only get through the worst situations together.
I had an interesting conversation with a Marine Corps General, and I asked, what's the purpose of boot camp? He said, boot camp isn't designed to find the toughest people; it's to teach people that under the worst circumstances everyone will break. So, the only way you get through is by helping each other. That's what it's really about.
