Category: Cross culture

Cross-cultural tête-à-tête over noodles

I recently had lunch with a Hong Kong Chinese friend, a seasoned executive who’s worked in MNC’s for a number of years, we caught up on a new job he’d recently taken. He’s settled into the role well enough, and I asked how he and his new [Western] boss get along. He said it was…
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Diversity ∝ Leadership

Diversity and Inclusion departments work extremely hard on equitable and balanced hiring, a highly perused process today. There is diversity of gender, ethnicity, language, pedigree, and perspective. A corporation’s goal-as a profit-maximising entity- is not simply to have ‘check-the box’ diversity, but to utilise ir in order to become better. Multiple perspectives nearly always create…
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Cross-cultural cantatas and chorales

A client once got hold of me a few years ago to ask if I did coaching for communication. One of his ‘high-po’s’ in Tokyo was having difficulty communicating on conference calls. He asked if that was something I did. I asked him whether it was her lack of English fluency, or knowing what to say but getting…
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Why should we not hire you?

One of my clients was an American Fortune 100 Company. They often promoted internally, but did go outside for certain senior hires, for which I worked with them in various Asian markets. It was paramount that candidates could fit into their [very American] culture, with its own distinct culture and language–senior management would often engage…
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FYI to Boss? Boss says ANW

Many people I coach have challenges communicating effectively with their boss. They often think the boss automatically understands them, and that what worked previously will work again with a new company or boss. I had coffee with one such person last week. He explained that he greatly respects his boss–thinks he’s smart, experienced, knowledgeable, someone…
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Social media cross-culturally: US ≠ ROW…

I recently read an[other] article in the New York Times/IHT about social media, how too much online information is shared within a business context. Written by an executive coach(!), she touches upon the corporate challenges of too much openness, and has even created an acronym, which she calls OSD, Obsessive Sharing Disorder(!!). Click here for…
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