After seeing the volume and nature of the responses my three guest posts generated, Dan Harris, gracious host of the China Law Blog, invited me to respond. You can read the responses here, or below. Audiences are often polarized by the claims I make about differences between Chinese and Western mindsets. It’s been no different [...]

Here is the last of my three guest blog posts on the China Law Blog. Again, I recommend scrolling down to see the comments if you read it on the China Law Blog site. Human beings stereotype. It’s part of our wiring. There’s no getting around it. In China you will be dealing with your [...]

Here is the second of my three China Law Blog guest posts. If you read it on the China Law Blog site, I recommend scrolling down to the comments section — there seem to be some strong opinions about my claims. Here’s the post: A favorite critique by Westerners of China is that “the Chinese [...]

Today, esteemed colleague and China Law guru Dan Harris posted the first of three guest posts by me on his multiple-award-winning China Law Blog. Please check it out, as he gives a nice introduction. For archival purposes, I’m putting the post here as well. Imagine for a moment that you’re going to set up a [...]

If you have 3 1/2 minutes to spare, please check out this short video, featuring myself, Janet Carmosky (Founder and CEO of The China Business Network), and Dr. Ian Hau (Founder and CEO of Orchestrall). It’s from a recent event we (Orchestrall) sponsored, put on by Janet and The China Business Network. The video quality [...]

A few days ago I co-led a training to a roomful of 20- and 30-something nuclear engineers from China, in the U.S. on a job-shadow program. They had been in the U.S. for about a week. The first thing we had them do, after brief introductions, was, in small groups, to list out on a [...]

A recent post on Dan Harris’s China Law Blog referred back to a 2008 post entitled “Chinese Cultural Awareness Simplified: Don’t Be an Asshole“. As a believer in, and blogger about, the business value of cultural consulting and training, I was intrigued. Essentially the post argues that as long as you avoid being an asshole, [...]

Back from a week of consulting in China. The organization is a new company looking to implement a new model of outsourcing. For many reasons I’m optimistic about the company’s prospects, not least of which is that the leadership combines experience from the Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S. The multiple perspectives will play [...]

In earlier posts I’ve quoted from Jack Perkowski’s Managing the Dragon: How I’m Building a Billion-Dollar Business in China. I haven’t yet finished the book. I’m enjoying it a lot, because it’s chock full of wisdom for the Westerner who wants to make a go of it in China, and much of what he writes [...]

When doing business in China, sometimes the most “obvious” things can trip us up the worst. In his classic book Beijing Jeep, Jim Mann tells the long tale of American Motors Corporation’s Jeep-building joint venture in Beijing, including many an anecdote with cultural lessons. One such lesson involved Ed Schulze, head of production and maintenance [...]