Crossing the Cultural Border

After three rewarding years in the El Paso plant and developing some lasting friendships, I received a visit from my boss and the Human Resources Executive Director. We sat down in my office, and they asked me if I was ready to “tackle” a new challenge. I responded that certainly, I would be open to explore new opportunities. Then the offer came, a promotion to Vice President of Device Manufacturing for Conexant. I must have become pale and expressionless. After I regained my guarded excitement and composure, they “dropped the next bomb”. My assignment would include a semiconductor wafer probe and test plant in San Diego; but my primary focus would be on a large semiconductor chip manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico. This plant was responsible for the final chip manufacturing, test, packaging, and shipment of product that supported 80-90% of the company’s revenue. Okay, I thought, this still sounds exciting since I knew that each site had a Plant Manager I could rely on to learn the business and execute the objectives. Then the next “bomb dropped”. The company was on the verge of losing their largest customer due to significant and lingering quality and delivery issues coming out of the Mexicali plant. Changes were needed and urgency was the order for the day. The current Plant Manager, who had been there for over 15 years, elected to retire; therefore, I was asked to show up in less than a week to act as interim Plant Manager until I could find a suitable replacement. The current Plant Manager packed up and left that following weekend; and I arrived on the following Monday morning with my new boss, the Corporate VP of Operations and the Executive Director of Human Resources. They called a meeting of the direct staff, announced the change, and introduced me as the new VP of Device Manufacturing and also as interim Plant Manager. The expectation was that we would begin heavily recruiting for the new Plant Manager and, within three months, he or she would be in place; and I would go back to my central office in Newport Beach, California. You can imagine how the staff took the news! They were totally wide-eyed and speechless. All of them spoke fair to good English, so the reaction was not the result of a language barrier, just pure shock. I spoke for a while about my experience, my values, and my expectations, which included the building of a strong team and the focus on two key priorities. I’m sure that most of this only felt like meaningless words at that time. Many of the staff members had “grown up within the plant walls” and working only for a Mexican national. They were no doubt worried about their jobs, their futures, and the destiny of the plant. We asked for questions, but mostly it was “heads down”. There were none that I can recall. We ended the meeting and went back to my office. My boss and the HR Director asked if I had any questions and offered all their support. An hour later, they departed for California and wished me the best.

I sat down for a while and tried to recover in my mind all that had just transpired and what I was going to do next. It all seemed like a dream. I was asking, What had I gotten myself into?

Later that evening, I got into my SUV, still in a daze, and drove to my hotel with the directions written out by my Assistant. That night, I ate in my room and quietly contemplated my next steps. I was alone in Mexico and responsible for a large semiconductor plant whose output controlled the majority of the company’s revenue. I was responsible for a plant that manufactured products with processes of which I had absolutely no knowledge or prior experience. I was responsible for a plant that was in serious operating trouble, a plant with no Plant Manager and a staff and over 2,000 employees that were 100% Mexican nationals. I could not speak Spanish and knew very little about the Mexican culture.

Other than that, I felt pretty good about what I was doing!