East is East, West is West

In his "Ballad of East and West," Rudyard Kipling puts forward the argument, "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." This may have been true during his lifetime, when the British colonialism was at its peak. Today, however, East and West are not only meeting but embracing each other. The current meltdown in the financial world should leave no doubt in anyone's mind we are now living in an interdependent world, a world in which commerce has developed to the point of necessitating an early-morning conference call with people in India before they go to bed or, a late night call to Europe as they're just getting into work. We live in a 24 hour-a-day world in which political borders may still exist, but commercial borders are fast disappearing. We have to wear a mental cloak that is Indian in the morning, Chinese early evening, and European in the middle of the night as we rush to jump on conference calls and manage our business affairs throughout the day. For those of us living in the western part of the U.S., especially in Silicon Valley, managing this may not be so difficult. As one of British Airways' slogans says, Come to London and see the world, we in Silicon Valley can make this same claim. We are exposed to the cultures of the world in the work place to such an extent that in a major Silicon Valley company cafeteria you may see a menu that reads; Surinder's Special (Surinder is as common a name in India as Sue is in America). Or, you may be sitting with a colleague of Indian ancestry on one side of you and one with Chinese ancestry on the other side. Still, there are cultural differences that can lead to misunderstandings. So, the prospect of dealing with people in other countries, either in person or in conference calls or through email, can be quite a daunting one, especially for companies and their staffs in parts of the country not as fortunate as to have the cultural diversity of Silicon Valley. I remember one occasion when I was on a call with an Indian company, and we had neglected to introduce some of the members that had just joined the call. As the meeting began, one of the team members started to speak, and the Indian team member asked, "Sir, may I know your good name?" The stateside member was dumbfounded as to what his good name was. It sounds simple, but let me assure you, to someone who is used to hearing, "Hi, I'm Joe (not the plumber) and you are?" words like "sir" and "good" are real curveballs in this simple question. What does good mean? Does it mean I have to explain what good deeds are tied to my name or what title I hold? Such confusion can put a person on the defensive. Finally, I had to tell our stateside member he was being asked his full name. In such situations, act as normally as possible, and, if you don't know how to proceed, be polite and simply ask what it is that is being asked of you. Also, it's always good to begin your response in the same manner the question was presented. In this case, the question began with "Sir," so it's good to begin your response the same way. Such as, "Sir, I did not quite understand your request. Are you asking for my full name?" This simple technique has no cultural overtones and puts both of you on an equal footing. On another occasion, a friend whose wife worked for a major accounting firm put together a business proposal. His wife presented the proposal to the customer's team in India. She had traveled back and forth to India twice, and she thought she was doing what was required. However, she was confused, even frustrated, that the feedback sent to her boss was positive, yet it did not coincide with the reactions she noticed she was getting at the time she presented. So, my friend called me and said his wife thought Indians were chauvinistic and had a real issue with women in the business world. I told him I thought that was a pretty strong statement, as well as being untrue. I asked what brought his wife to this conclusion, and he said "Well, she said every time she presents to this team, they shake their heads from side to side. She thought they did not like her presenting at all." I explained to him she couldn't have been more wrong. When Indians shake their head from one side of the shoulder to the other, it actually means, "Wow!" and if the intensity picks up it means, "Really wow!" Try not to apply judgment to the situation because our judgments are filtered through the lens of our own cultures, and we will often draw wrong conclusions when we do this. Understand you are dealing with a different culture, and the rules of the game are going to be different. Leave all preconceptions at the door. On an airplane, when you hear the captain announce the plane will soon touch ground, and the local time is called out, you adjust your watch to the local time. You should also simultaneously reset your cultural clock in the same way. You are in a different place and time than you are used to, and certain changes must be made. I remember accompanying a CEO to China for one meeting. I told this executive he shouldn't expect to get in and get out quickly. It will take time, I said, to set the proper tone; work through the issues, and get to the final points to deal with. This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for people from the West when they deal with people from the East. We grow impatient things are not moving fast enough, while our counterparts on the other side think things are moving too fast. The solution lies in the way we communicate. In the West, we are deductive communicators; we put the topic on the table and then start the discussion. People in the East are inductive communicators; they will discuss how things arrived at the current state they're in until it almost seems as if that they are beating around the bush or, talking in riddles, but that's just the way people in the east are taught to go about these matters: to be polite, give reasons and explanations before making a request or statement regarding the actual point to be discussed. The key to success is to be in the moment. Be aware you are dealing with someone who has grown up in a different environment. His thinking and approach to life will no be the same as yours. After all, what is a culture but a set of experiences felt over time in a specific environment? These experiences are what separate us. Otherwise, we are the same breed. One would do well to read the rest of Kipling's stanza:

"Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth!"

In the end, remember, it is nothing more than two, strong, intelligent people standing face to face, having a discussion of mutual positivity. VentureOutsource.com, November 2008