Global Mindset Leadership: Navigating China and U.S. Business Cultures

Marshall Goldsmith Foreword: Global Mindset Leadership: Navigating China and US Business Cultures is a book written by three very skilled professionals. It goes deeper than the surface level of cultural differences and talks about historical and generational factors that come into play when working in China. If you come from a Western culture, it will help you understand the Chinese ways of doing business and to see the world from their point of view. It can help you successfully navigate in your journey to build a global enterprise. It can also help you develop transferrable skills that go beyond China and apply to any international assignment. I invite you to read this book and to apply what you learn. A wise person learns from experience. An even wiser person learns from someone else s experience! China is becoming increasingly relevant to everyone in the West. It is becoming more relevant every day. Learning how to work across cultures will become one of the most important qualities for the leader of the future. Gary Ranker Preface: We define global mindset as the willingness and ability to step outside one s own base culture, and to respectfully understand there is no universally correct way to do things. From that perspective, some interesting observations can be made. Certainly there are great differences between Chinese and U.S. cultures. There are also many similarities. Surprisingly, going beyond surface appearances, we find that some things which seem to make us different, are actually quite similar. And some things which seem similar on the surface may have very different connotations within each culture. For instance, both cultures have within their traditions the concept of a dragon. To the Westerner, a dragon conjures up images of a fearful creature that needs to be conquered. By contrast, Chinese embrace the dragon as a benevolent creature that symbolizes strength, wisdom, good luck and power. We invite you, within the pages of this book, to set aside any preconceived notions of either the U.S. or Chinese culture, and learn from our exploration of each other s ways. From the vantage point of the other culture, you may even learn some new things about your own. The payoff of having a global mindset is greater awareness that will help you navigate more effectively through business interactions and strategies on your way to a successful initiative with the other culture. Developing a global mindset means accepting that our values and our ways of doing business don t have the same meaning, or perhaps even work, for our counterparts in other cultures. To have a global mindset is to get beyond the trap of believing that what has worked for us and our organization in our country, will work to the same degree in another country. It may or may not. But it won t work to start with the assumption that we will be successful forcing our ways onto the other culture. Positive reviews by 39 CEOs, senior managers and professionals in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai China, California, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, Illinois and Phoenix, United States, Singapore, Sydney, Australia, Tokyo, Japan, Dubai U.A.E, Bangkok, Thailand, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and India. Chapter 1: Understanding Global Mindset Chapter 2: Tracing History Chapter 3: Confucian Ethics and Politics Chapter 4: Generational Differences in Chinese Society Chapter 5: Cultural Dimensions Chapter 6: Context and Rules Chapter 7: Developing Cultural Competence Chapter 8: Merging Business Cultures Chapter 9: Joint Ventures in China Chapter 10: Global Mindset Applied Resources: Assessment Tools: Global Mindset Inventory, Relationship Strategy Tool