dispatches from the new world of work

Right as Rain!

Well, it rarely rains in the desert, but several of my new Saudi friends nailed me dead-to-rights. As usual (Saudi or at home), I was on a hit & run mission. In this case 36 hours; my only free time was spent in prep or sleeping off the jet lag. One, CEO of an IS firm who is incidentally busy founding a University (as I said, intriguing folk), said, not with rancor, "I'd love to be your host. You should spend a week, get to know us, learn about our traditions."

Yes! I should, and so should so many of my countrymen. I/we still might find there are points of difference (there are between SF & LA in my adopted state of California), but "getting to know you" is always more than a "good idea" ... an Imperative!

So, will I? Only time will tell. But I do buy the idea, which is a small start.

Tom Peters posted this on 05/17/05.

Comments

I have a theory that as the velocity of your travel increases, so does the propensity to fall back on the familiar. When you want to get off the highway eat and get right back on the golden arches look pretty good, but when you've got time to go over the hill and around the corner you find the great pie shop next door the craftsman whose been making fabulous furniture more than a generation.

This is not just true in travel. Look inside companies...how many times does corporate do something different than the plant, New York different from Chicago. It all falls back to taking the time to listen, understand and learn -- the "OO" of the OODA loop.

Posted by Justin Sullivan at May 17, 2005 11:52 AM

Nice, Justin.

Posted by tom peters at May 17, 2005 1:42 PM

I agree with you Tom.

Staying in a country for a while certainly lets you realise what the components of the "country-specific-groupthink" of that country are all about. So perhaps you should take up your Saudi host's offer to put you up for a while in his country!

Living for longer periods of time certainly allows you to see similarities between your own culture and that of the host country, and analyse why there are differences in the way people think, the different priorities, and the different attitude to life.

I've been lucky enough to live in Asia, the Middle East and Europe; and certainly hope to one day live in other continents as well.

Here's a take:
I found out that countries in the gulf make capital investment decisions based on "how many barrels of oil will this cost". Any comments?

Cheers, Arun

Posted by Arun Sadhashivan at May 18, 2005 1:47 AM