Start Here If You Are New to This Blog
This blog is essentially a working platform for a book that I am writing since August 2017. When this book is finally finished, it will probably be one of the few books in the world that actually tells you in plain language and yet practical ways how to communicate a change in Asia Pacific, especially for the multinational companies here. And this page gives you a basic background about this book to help you get started. If you need a larger background, please visit Welcome to an Ambitious Book in the Making.
Who is the Author?
I am a Singaporean and I have been in marketing, communication and change management roles for multinational companies in Asia Pacific for 22 years, both on the ground as well as in strategic communication functions. More importantly, having roots myself and living in Asia, I have a fairly good understanding of some of the local cultures in this region as well as of some of the corporate cultures and mindsets of some the foreign multinational companies operating here.
What Does “Asia Pacific Region” and “Multinational Companies” Mean in this Book?
By saying the Asia Pacific region, I am referring to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Australia. Unfortunately, I have very limited working experience in Korea, Japan and India. By saying multinational companies operating in the Asia Pacific region, I am referring to predominantly German companies for whom I have worked for about 18 years.
Why I am Writing this Book?
During all these years, I have met a lot of good people with no prior experience whatsoever being charged with tough communication and/or change projects and also often with insufficient resources. In most situations, I have supported them officially or unofficially by sharing best practices and useful tips to help them make it through. [More here at Change is About People].
But after a while, I found myself repeating the same best practices and tips again and again and that’s when I thought it might be a good idea to put everything into a book. This book is therefore in a way, born out of a frustration of repeating myself too often as well as out of a hope that I may be able to reach out to more people who need support in communicating a change in multinational companies in Asia Pacific.
Who is this Book Actually for?
For the untrained. Engineering, production, sourcing, finance, IT, HR, administration, training etc professionals charged with leading or supporting communication and/or change projects in multinational companies in the Asia Pacific region with no prior training or experience in communication or change.
For the expatriates. Expatriate executives in multinational companies operating in Asia Pacific who would like to understand better the culture of the Asian colleagues that they work with and also to have a bit of an awareness and understanding of some of their common challenges when faced with a change and how they as their expatriate bosses and colleagues can support to overcome that.
For the professionals. Communication professionals who would like to transition into change management professionals roles as well as change management professionals who would like to enhance their skill sets with communication best practices and know-how.
For the interns. Fresh university graduates, contract workers and interns who would like a quick ramp-up in communication or change topics to support their organisations better.
What is this Book NOT?
This is a not a book about change management or communication strategy. And it certainly does not belong to the ranks of world famous books with the latest thoughts on leadership or strategy or entrepreneurship coming out of the US or the Europe. What this book is, is a practical approach on how to enable change using communication techniques in the Asia Pacific region, especially for multinational companies.
How is this Book Organised?
I am currently with the BMW Group in China working full-time as a change management consultant and I write whenever I have the time or according to my motivation. However, it is not often that I write in a structured order. I might write the first chapter as the last blog entry and the last chapter as the first one. I know this will be not very helpful for you if you want to read in a sequential order. However, in order to help you see the blog entries in the right perspective within a big picture, I have given an overview of the structure of this book at The Structure of this Book .
Why is this Book in a Blog Form?
The reason why I am putting it into a blog first before publishing it into a real book is because the blog encourages me to write and publish content on a regular basis and this has been a great motivation. I publish once per week and if I am really awesome sometimes twice per week. At the same time, it also allows me to get feedback from all friends and readers who come to this blog thereby helping me to write a better book.
How Can You Support?
If you have a specific local example from your experience in your own country that is related to the topics in this book and would like to share it with others, please write to me at raavenan@icloud.com and I would be happy to quote your example in the blog as well as in the book with an attribution to you. So if you are here and now – take your time to look at the topics and more importantly leave me your comment!
Thank-you!
Best regards,
Raavenan Jayaraman (JR)
For Those In-Charge of Change 