Culture
Here is a funny story about 'being in charge' that came about on a multinational project's ski trip a few years ago. A group of about 20 engineers and managers from different companies (Japanese, and American) went skiing together in Salt Lake City. We were all
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I have observed that there can be difficulties when working with people from other cultures. Occasionally though 'culture' gets blamed for things that it shouldn't. Just as there are difficult people in your own culture, be aware that there are difficult or 'different' people
Culture
In the context of international engineering projects... A coworker of mine who has worked with people from many different cultures was recently observing how impressed he was with the German engineers that he has encountered in his career. He glowed about how thorough their documentation was and about how smoothly
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I recently responded to a question on LinkedIn that I wanted to share on my blog -- this is a tough nut to crack, and lies at the core of many organization's success or failure. Question Details: Quickly scaling Software Engineering organizations - what is the best way?
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I love LinkedIn. In the US, lots of people do. This is a recognition that our relationships with people are important, and something worth keeping track of as we move through our careers. In Japan, it can be argued that relationships are even more critical to success than in the
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What does it take to 'get ahead' in Japan? More than anything it means that you graduated from the right university. At the top of the pack is Tokyo University (東大 pr./tow-dai/ -- short for 東京大学 pr. /Tow-kyou Dai-gaku/). If you have aspirations to work as a
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When working with my colleagues the most useful tool in my communication arsenal (besides my mouth) is my whiteboard. I had originally intended to write this post in reference to working with my Japanese co-workers, but on reflection it is equally applicable to working with fellow Americans. Whether we are
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Many times when working with international groups there can be confusion on people's names. Seeing "Jin Hu" on an email can be confusing to people who don't know if it is Mr. (Mrs?) Jin, or is it Mr. (Mrs?) Hu?. Which is the first
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I work with many Japanese engineers. They have varying levels of language fluency, but most can communicate fairly well. I recently had a conversation with one engineer, who has made great strides in grammar and vocabulary while working in the United States. I suggested to her that she might want
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What is the psychological contract? For Americans, I believe that there are 2 basic types of employee, and two basic types of psychological contract. Short-timers who are happy to be paid until they move to the next job, and long-timers who want to dedicate themselves to their organizations. I am