WHAT'S the difference between rheumatism and gout? A physician cleverly answered: 'If you take a flat-nose plier, put a finger in-between, and turn until you can't stand it any longer, that's rheumatism. If you turn once more, that's gout.' I'm using that analogy to discover the best of both worlds between the Filipino and Japanese styles of management.

In a Japanese organization based in the Philippines, which is the dominant style of people management? The not-so-obvious answer comes from where you're getting your bread and butter, except that it doesn't have to be that way if it would result in a win-lose situation. Why not?