Swimming with Asian Sharks - Business Secrets from the Pacific Rim

Don't Make Decisions on Tilt

Ultimately, I rejected the idea of working with Mr. Telcom completely in any way or form. On that same note, I realized that I could no longer work in the partnership structure we had for the big data company.

I foolishly decided to create an ultimatum for the partners. I proposed that either they buy me out, or I would buy them out. I drafted a lengthy email explaining the situation, and decided on a value for the company—something each of the partners had within their financial means to perform.

Again, Mr. Data and Mr. Princeton seemed to be open to the idea, but they could tell I was on tilt, meaning at this point I was letting my emotions dictate my actions. This is the worst state in which to make decisions because it clouds your judgment and limits your ability to seek a win-win scenario. We set a date to meet up face to face with Mr. Princeton and resolve this issue once and for all.

When I got back to Hong Kong, I prepared a USB stick with all the data and documents that I had created for the company over the previous six months. I withdrew the money that was needed to buy out the shares from Mr. Princeton. The following day, I went to Mr. Princeton's office and sat waiting for an opportunity to talk to him one on one.

At this point, it had been a few days since I had sent out the email ultimatum. Mr. Princeton was continually flying in and out of meetings, and I finally caught hold of him to ask him for five minutes to resolve this issue.

He finally had a few minutes to spare, and I sat across from him at this desk. We had a friendly bit of conversation about my trip and the fact that I would be returning to Canada in a few days. This kind of chitchat is good for gaging the other person's emotional level. If they are unable even to have a simple conversation, it is unlikely you will get what you want.

After our brief conversation, I pulled the USB out of my pocket and laid it on the table to the left, and put the stack of money I had withdrawn and put it down on the right. Mr. Princeton seemed surprised that I had decided to do this in such a dramatic fashion. He nodded, inspected the USB, and then proceeded to count the money. He then went on to say that he was sure the meeting we scheduled had been for the coming Monday. I insisted that we could make the decision today as it should be a simple thing. He surprised me by pulling out an even bigger stack of money that represented my shares. At this point I actually applauded as despite his claim we should wait until Monday, he had a stack of cash ready to transact.

We then went into full negotiation mode. I told him that he had taught me this approach when he took over his family business. He was a bit upset that I mentioned this, and he responded that he did not paint his relatives into a corner as I had him in this case. I immediately rebutted that this was not a painting him into a corner, that it was a very fair offer, and that the money on the table was chump change compared to that which he usually dealt. He then went on to say I had no right to force this action, as it was possible that I would buy it for this low cost, and turn around and sell the company to Mr. Telcom. I was a bit shocked that he would suggest I would do something like that, but at the same time my action of going to Shanghai did point to this conclusion. I quickly informed him that I was not going to sell the company, I was simply not happy with the arrangement, and believed that we were at odds with the direction of the company.

Mr. Princeton then went on to ask how we were at odds. I informed him that I had tried to illustrate the direction I felt we should head toward, but time and time again I was being distracted by being pulled into meetings like that with Mr. Telcom. He became defensive because he was clearly not going to take blame for the current state of things. I realized that his firm stance on not taking blame was correct. We had gotten to this state because of my actions and choices. I decided to level with him and shift all blame to myself. As a leader, I had grown tired of leading this charge and would like to exit. This opened him up, and I started to become a bit emotional as I told him I was tired of the long hours working alone on the project, and that nothing I worked on was even reviewed by this partnership.

Mr. Princeton then shifted the topic back to the ability for me to buy him out. He went on that this was not legal, and as a shareholder there was no way I could force him to sell. I was prepared, and informed him that he was right, but as the majority shareholder, I could vote to dilute the shares or do other actions to effectively eliminate his shares. He then moved on to say he could not make this decision, and that Mr. Data being the 30% shareholder should also be present, that Mr. Data would see his actions of acquiring my shares as hostile because he would suddenly have 70% of the company. I went on to inform him that I had talked to Mr. Data and that this action would not be taken this way. He said he didn't believe me, that I could not possibly represent his thoughts and that I would damage any working relationship he and Mr. Data would have. At this point I realized that Mr. Data did not have physical shares. This was due to the fact that when I was issuing the shares, he had asked me not to issue his until he asked his accountant about the tax implications. As it stood, only Mr. Princeton and I had shares, so the matter could therefore be resolved on the spot.

Upon hearing this information, Mr. Princeton immediately bought my shares of the company. We shook on it, and he expressed his displeasure with Mr. Telcom. I sympathized with him but I was glad the transaction was over.

Despite the stressful situation I put myself into because of being on tilt, what I did was not the best action, and it was not very grateful of me after all Mr. Princeton had helped me to learn during my time. Generally speaking, before you make such a big jump, make sure you talk it through with someone without any stake in the decision. This will help you work out the issues at hand.

If the decision has too many factors, create a weighted decision matrix, WDM. A WDM compares the two outcomes of your decision using math. Each positive and negative attribute is given a weight, a number, which is used to multiply the score for or against the decision. I won't go into the exact details here, but if you want to create your own, check out