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 [...]

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, [...]

One way to think of universalism is that it’s just another cultural characteristic; that, just as “specific” is different from “diffuse,” “universalist” is different from “particularist.” That’s all well and good. The problem is that universalism has some mischief hidden inside that can cause serious trouble if we’re not aware of it. Here’s what I [...]

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 [...]

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.