A delegation from one of our large Japanese clients was coming to town. Our GM for Southeast Asia, an Australian married to a Malaysian Chinese, sent us a long email with background on the client relationship and a brief description on each of the senior managers that were going to join us in New York for two days of meetings. The most senior executive, who is also the son of the chairman of the board, apparently did not drink and hated raw fish. So much for the classic sushi dinner with sake to make it all go down…Our GM also sent some cross-cultural instructions, on handing over business cards with two hands, dressing salary-man style in navy blue suits and ties and all the other tips that sound so familiar. That advice on the dress code was pretty important, since our company could be classified as an Internet start-up, so most business meetings are held in jeans and a blazer. Nobody ever wears a ties in our industry, except for maybe investment bankers and interview candidates with an MBA, who wonder why they didn’t get hired.
Our Chief Solutions Officer and I went to meet the Japanese crew at one of our top clients’ corporate headquarter, a nice building in midtown Manhattan. Of course we wore our navy blues, nice shirts, ties, polished shoes. Our clients came in stylish shirts, nice suit jackets, two of them in designer jeans. Nobody wore a tie. They brought an interpreter, more a business advisor, who has been living in Seattle for many years, but still speaks English with a thick accent. The Japanese didn’t really speak English, according to our GM, so it made sense for them to bring help.
They came to New York to check out this hot small company that has been very successful in the past couple of years, but is still a speck of dust compared to their billions in revenue and 150 years of company history. We took them to a couple of our clients, first to an international business data specialist, later to one of America’s foremost publishers from the Midwest. We topped it off with a presentation of how one of the largest global CPG companies is using our technology. In the second meeting, our client’s top executive surprised the entire meeting room by welcoming our friends in pretty fluent Japanese. Five seconds of merry mayhem ensued, setting this meeting up for goodwill and success. My CSO and I had long shed our ties dove right into a great business conversation.
My presentation the next day was a great success. I had noticed that the Japanese definitely understood some English and mainly used their interpreter to gain some time to think things over. I talked slowly and tried to tone it down on the complicated words. The biggest problem turned out to be the word “stewardship”. Apparently, there is no Japanese concept close to it. We were able to agree to mutual misunderstanding after a lively discussion in English.
At the end of the second day we were ready for some entertainment, joined by our CRO. Our young Marketing Manager booked us a trendy steak house that came with a DJ. Eight of us crowded into a booth for six, the personal space was similar to the subway in Tokyo, not a Japanese boardroom. The leader of the delegation preferred a steak, but also ordered a glass of wine, contrary to preconceived notions. We had a great dinner, plenty of conversation, and roundly rejected desert. The Japanese went on to visit the Saphire lounge, we politely declined insistent invitations. Some cultural habits are easier to mend or abolish than others...
Our Chief Solutions Officer and I went to meet the Japanese crew at one of our top clients’ corporate headquarter, a nice building in midtown Manhattan. Of course we wore our navy blues, nice shirts, ties, polished shoes. Our clients came in stylish shirts, nice suit jackets, two of them in designer jeans. Nobody wore a tie. They brought an interpreter, more a business advisor, who has been living in Seattle for many years, but still speaks English with a thick accent. The Japanese didn’t really speak English, according to our GM, so it made sense for them to bring help.
They came to New York to check out this hot small company that has been very successful in the past couple of years, but is still a speck of dust compared to their billions in revenue and 150 years of company history. We took them to a couple of our clients, first to an international business data specialist, later to one of America’s foremost publishers from the Midwest. We topped it off with a presentation of how one of the largest global CPG companies is using our technology. In the second meeting, our client’s top executive surprised the entire meeting room by welcoming our friends in pretty fluent Japanese. Five seconds of merry mayhem ensued, setting this meeting up for goodwill and success. My CSO and I had long shed our ties dove right into a great business conversation.
My presentation the next day was a great success. I had noticed that the Japanese definitely understood some English and mainly used their interpreter to gain some time to think things over. I talked slowly and tried to tone it down on the complicated words. The biggest problem turned out to be the word “stewardship”. Apparently, there is no Japanese concept close to it. We were able to agree to mutual misunderstanding after a lively discussion in English.
At the end of the second day we were ready for some entertainment, joined by our CRO. Our young Marketing Manager booked us a trendy steak house that came with a DJ. Eight of us crowded into a booth for six, the personal space was similar to the subway in Tokyo, not a Japanese boardroom. The leader of the delegation preferred a steak, but also ordered a glass of wine, contrary to preconceived notions. We had a great dinner, plenty of conversation, and roundly rejected desert. The Japanese went on to visit the Saphire lounge, we politely declined insistent invitations. Some cultural habits are easier to mend or abolish than others...