To BE or not to BE a Mekonger
By: Hac Tran
Tags: Private Equity, Mekong Capital, Corporate Culture, Reinventing Organizations, Ontology

by Rachel Davis, Director of Transformation, Mekong Capital

18 December 2020

Rachel (on the far right) and Mekong Capital team

I fully chose to join Mekong Capital. In fact, even before my first day, it was clear that my commitment was long-term. But four weeks later, I discovered that no matter what I knew or thought I knew before my first day, being successful at Mekong Capital was going to require something beyond what I learned from my past, not just for me, but for all newcomers.

When I joined in March 2020, there were 5 of us, the “newcomers,” amid our first ‘3-month-probation’. Then Minh Giang asked me to facilitate a series of meetings during this time for newcomers on each Core Value. I said: “Sure, I will be happy to share what I know”. I thought, “No problem, I have been living a close version of these core values for 20 years.”

My initial understanding was I would lead a session on each Core Value, go word by word, and phrase by phrase, give each of them a full picture of each core value, then answer their questions, and invite them to share how they could apply it.

Four weeks in, I realized that the RESULT to be caused was that each of us would BE the Core Values, NOT just understand or know them. What I was currently doing was NOT going to produce that result. Thus, I had to shift my understanding of my goal to all newcomers to experience for themselves what it was like to BE these core values, not just understand them.

How could all the newcomers powerfully choose to BE a Mekonger at the end of their first 3 months, unless they had actually experienced BEING them (not to mention the breakthroughs they would go through to fully experience BEING each one)?

The goal, and the stakes, just got a LOT bigger in my mind, AND I didn’t have many weeks left! I was a newcomer too, so I didn’t know the other newcomers” their roles or accountabilities, what results they needed to produce, what they were really dealing with, or even what else they had been told. I also didn’t know if they had the same understanding as me. Perhaps, they thought, just as I had, that they only needed to learn or practice the core values vs. BE them.

For a moment, a world of doubts, questions, concerns arose: It looked impossible, and there was so much I still didn’t know!

My past experience told me that something was going wrong. I caught myself being at the effect of the situation. No power. Not GENESIS. And I immediately realized that who I was being was the most significant barrier to success! I needed to generate breakthroughs in who I was being, to even have a shot at reaching the ultimate goal:

I had to BE BIGGER. I had to BE a bigger, more complete version of the Core Values, using them to empower me to cause the result for all of us. And I need to BE that now!

Generating a breakthrough for myself in being GENESIS, I created my stand for the future where 5 of us experience the power that: BEING our Core Values gives for causing the results we are committed to.

Suddenly those previous doubts and considerations were irrelevant. They disappeared from my mind. A new pathway began to get more lucid as I took on being each of the Core Values at the next level.

I assessed where we were and what we had accomplished. Each of us had already gained an appreciation for the Core Values. We had begun to see how they worked together like different notes in a symphony to produce a great environment to work in.

Whenever I discovered our internal experience was at the effect of something (just like I had been), or our “stuckness” was regarding some incompletion with another, or something unclear about a task, we brought them to our meetings and shared with each other.

Our sharing was even more powerful when we shifted from understanding to actual experiences of breakdowns and breakthroughs in applying the Core Values to their work and life. Our conversations were about the results they were committed to and what they were dealing with. It then became easier and easier to apply and access the experience of power in each Core Value.

Once again, I discovered that knowing something doesn’t make the difference, but BEING can, and does, alter reality. BEING our Core Values makes anything possible.

BEING a Mekonger is not for everyone. It is a mountain with no top. It is an ongoing internal struggle to Victorance, and an extraordinary commitment to BE/BECOME a bigger, better, more powerful version of yourself…to ultimately realize your fullest potential.

Thus, to all future newcomers, we will support you in your struggle to BE, and EM-BODY the Core Values so that you have the full EXPERIENCE of their power so you can fully and powerfully CHOOSE “To BE, or not to BE a Mekonger.”

Our individual and collective struggles as Mekongers to attain the next breakthrough in power, freedom, and self-expression for ourselves will create an extraordinary environment to cause breakthroughs in performance and results for others and make a positive impact in the world.