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 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.

Leaders face all manner of obstacles in culturally complex environments. Our home cultures provide us with many resources for overcoming obstacles — including a sense of self, born of belief in the values of the culture. When confronted with different values, though, that sense of self can feel under threat. Humility is a powerful antidote, [...]

Today we begin taking a look at the qualities of what I’ve come to call the culture-savvy leader. Success in China depends on many factors. “Leadership,” broadly defined, is one of them — but not just any kind of leadership. Success in China requires culture-savvy leadership.

So you’ve laid them bare, all the “shameful” thoughts. Now what? The first instinct is often to reject, to wish the thoughts away. “That’s not really me,” we think. Or, a common response to some of the milder thoughts is to believe them, to reaffirm them: “Well, Chinese really are [insert stereotype].” Neither of these responses will [...]

Building on the last post: One aspect of China life that keeps me going back is how it pits my highest and basest selves against each other. For anyone, an honest engagement in that struggle cannot help but yield rewards: for your organization and for yourself.

These past two weeks in Beijing, charged with guiding Americans with little or no exposure to China through their initial, often strong reactions, I was reminded so many times of my own initial struggles almost 18 years ago. Time had dimmed for me the power of my own reactions. As a hot-headed and very American [...]