Lessons from the falls of Obama Secret Service agents & Bo Xilai

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

—Machiavelli

CHONGQING CITY, Southwest China — It has always been my belief that we — whether entrepreneurs, professionals, students, housewives, tycoons or other leaders — can learn so many valuable lessons from the downfalls or failures of people, organizations and businesses than from those that are successes. Two examples include China’s once fast-rising political star Bo Xilai, and also the Secret Service agents protecting United States President Barack Obama.

Here are some lessons for all of us to ponder:

• Do not outshine your boss or bosses. This lesson is important not only in business or politics but in any culture or society. I believe this was the one fatal error of the talented, charismatic, populist and hardworking politician Bo Xilai, whose tragic fall from power has intrigued Chinese, East Asian and Western media.

On the day I arrived in the booming mountain city of Chongqing, all the English-language and Chinese media published front-page headline news of the former Chongqing chief losing all his political positions and that his lawyer wife Gu Kailai is being investigated for a connection to the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood late last year.

Unlike his bosses in Beijing, led by President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and others who are generally emotionless in public, reticent and banker-like in demeanor, Bo Xilai not only was more personable but he also basked in the media spotlight. I believe not a few of Bo’s Beijing bosses are not so happy with his style of personal aggrandizement, or his overzealous promotions of himself, which some have compared to the style of the late Mao Zedong. Bo Xilai’s strategic error of outshining his bosses is similar to the shortcomings of the greatest military leader in American history, who wanted to become US president but failed: General Douglas MacArthur. In contrast, the less egoistical but also less brilliant Dwight Eisenhower — who coincidentally was only MacArthur’s underling during their stints in Manila before the Japanese military invasion — was the guy who made it to the US presidency.

In his quest to join the top ranks of China’s leadership late this year, Bo Xilai in the past few years had effectively promoted the famous Chongqing Model of socio-economic development. He boosted high economic growth with the successful wooing of investors, with strong state interventions, also balancing economic prosperity with socialist programs to benefit the masses in terms of public housing and others.

• Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. This quote from the Hollywood movie The Godfather 2, uttered by Mafia boss Michael Corleone, who attributed it to his dad Vito, is often mistakenly attributed to my idol, the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu. But the quote is actually by Niccolo Machiavelli in his book The Prince.

One fatal error of Bo Xilai was his demoting and punishing his former trusted aide, Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun, who then fled to the US Consulate in Chengdu to spill the beans on his boss regarding the mysterious death of the British businessman. He should have kept Wang close to shut him up, perhaps kick him upstairs to a harmless government post?

Fall from grace: China’s once fast-rising political star Bo Xilai

Last but not least, thanks to faithful Philippine STAR subscriber and steel manufacturer Robin Tong for sending me a delightful piece from The Washington Post on the perils of excessive and unreasonable penny-pinching. Look at how it has led to the downfall of Obama’s Secret Service agents, who were assigned to guard him in Colombia. “As no doubt you have heard, the US Secret Service is investigating allegations that some of its agents brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of President Obama’s arrival for an economic summit,” wrote Michelle Singletary in her article “Skimping Secret Service agent.” “Prostitution is legal in Colombia, but soliciting women for paid sexual favors is against Secret Service policy.”

One of the prostitutes allegedly got angry when the agent wouldn’t pay her the $800 he had agreed to but instead offered the woman about $30. So, really, it comes down to this: The agents’ misdeeds got them into deep trouble. And one man’s alleged penny-pinching ensured that the whole world would know about it.

We should all remind ourselves that being frugal is good and we should try to save on costs, but don’t be unreasonably crazy!

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