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 [...]

Over Labor Day weekend I got together with an old friend — a fellow I once taught Chinese to, who for a couple years made a quasi-career out of advising Western leaders on the ground in China about how to do business. I asked him to tell me a few stories. He told me of [...]

In some earlier posts on the business of culture, I’ve referred to three precious resources that are hard to come by and easy to squander in China: time, money and goodwill. The third one may be a bit of a puzzler. To the American eye it may look out of place alongside the twin kings [...]

I was thinking about the qualities of the culture-savvy leader as I read this piece on Dan Harris’s always insightful China Law Blog. At one point Mr. Harris quotes an earlier essay of his:

Any leader needs to be mindful of resources. Leaders are often evaluated on how they use an organization’s resources. The twist here is that in China the stakes are raised to a level that at times approaches the absurd. One small-seeming cultural snafu here or there can cost an enormous amount of time, money and [...]

In any organizational setting, leaders are best off keeping their cool and avoiding big swings — in mood and in direction. This goes tenfold for the Western leader in China, where there’s much more than the standard fare to knock you off your game.

If curiosity and humility are “head” qualities of the culture-savvy leader, empathy is all about the heart. Empathy toward whom? Everybody: peers from your culture, superiors “back home,” direct reports from both cultures…everybody.