dispatches from the new world of work

Exhausted But Happy ...

In the last two weeks I've been to Australia and back and to South Korea (I head to Vermont in about five hours). My 3-seminar stay in Seoul ended with a Bang. I spoke in the Olympic wrestling venue to 3,000+ folks. That was great ... but the real "out of the park" treat was that two-thirds were under 30, and about 50% under 25 (or so my rather practiced eye says). It is sooooooooooooooooo great to speak to "tomorrow" instead of "yesterday." The obligation is enormous, of course. I think we had a great exchange—and we also had a lot of laughs. (You must laugh a lot when you're being serious.)

The "laughs" are the byproduct of at least three things, all important. First and foremost, BRILLIANT interpreters!!! If you are "playing with" humor in somebody else's culture the nuance and timing must be EXACTLY right. (On top of that, no matter how hard I try to do otherwise, I talk fast. Though I am pretty good at purging the American colloquialisms.)

The second thing is a slap at conventional wisdom concerning an age-old issue. I totally believe in "sensitivity" (to the extreme) concerning "cultural differences." On the other hand, I fervently believe that the first 99% of "effective cross-cultural communication" is all about one's humanity. I do pretty well, or even better than that. And that seems to be as true in Saudi and Siberia as in Seoul. I am sure it is mostly because I "get off on people." I just love hanging out with folks at home and away—and trying to connect my passions with their lives and issues. If you truly love people, then the "cross-cultural conundrums" will mostly disappear. (Among many other things, there's a Great Big Message here concerning the selection of people for "foreign" assignments.)

Third, an old saw that is true, you must be comfortable with yourself! This young group, for instance, energized (at least for three hours) an exhausted carcass (me). Though the crowd was 3,000 and "foreign"—I felt (I do not exaggerate) engaged, as fully engaged a human being as in an energetic one-on-one discussion in my Vermont farmhouse. I felt among friends—and we acted accordingly. We laughed and wept (metaphorically) as we talked about the Crazy Old World—and how valuable and joyful our life's work might be. Simply put, you can't do that if you are constantly "looking over your shoulder" at various gremlins and "how to behave" stuff. (Frankly, I feel that my "foreign" "work" gets better the more I forget that I'm "away from home" and the more I remember that we're all wrestling with pretty much the same issues.

Also, you'll belatedly find my PowerPoint.

Happy weekend!

(NB: The vibrancy and optimism in Korea is a delight to behold—and the smog I expected has long been mostly erased. The only big complaint by one and all is that, as usual, a primary byproduct of sustained success is sustained traffic mess.)

Tom Peters posted this on 09/15/06.

Comments

Tom I couldn't agree with you more. Although I have only a tiny fraction of your international time, I find that people are people. If you are sensitive, respectful, and genuinely enjoy people's company, they will know it. Sure, you might say the wrong word or use the wrong phrase, or do something they just "don't do", but they will usually forgive you for it!

I was reading about Bob Sutton's "No Assole Rule" again. I belive that every culture has them, everyone at one point or another is one, but mostly, you get back what you give - and you seem to give sincere engagement.

http://managetochange.typepad.com/main/2006/08/are_americans_r.html

Posted by ann michael at September 15, 2006 5:18 PM

Dear Mr. Tom Peters:

In simple words: Bravo!!

When we are humble we are more appreciated by others because we try to understand them.

In this times Managers and people in general have lost principles that don't change in time.

Today we don't hear nothing about: "How to develop Habits and forget vices?" and "How to develop virtues?".

This will change a lot businesses and also people.

It just like the excellent example You gave to us: if you are humble, therefore you become patient, and when you are patient you have the hability to understand problems and find great solutions.

With best regards

Juan Miguel Robles
COO
Deisa
Guadalajara, Mexico

Posted by Juan Miguel Robles at September 15, 2006 6:18 PM

Tom & others,

Talking about speeches and seminars ...Here is a link to Kings "I have a dream" speech...One of the best speeches in American history! I found it on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAKnMLPus1M

Posted by Namith at September 16, 2006 1:12 AM

Tom, Having done some public speaking myself I am in awe of your Korea speech because it broke so many barriers:

- Cultural gap (I thought presenting in Italy was tough till I presented in Japan with a live interpreter)
- Generation gap (last time I presented to 8th graders, half were doodling or dreaming)
- Joke taboo line (as I have been told, don't give up my day job)
- Audience size (my comfort zone is 10 in the room!)
- Bladder barrier (I could do, oh maybe, one fifth of your 175 slides)

All I can say is WOW.

Forget Toastmasters. You are defining Toastwizards!

Posted by vinnie mirchandani at September 16, 2006 8:03 AM

THE SOUTH MUST CRUSH THE NORTH into Free Enterprise PEACE-land!

Posted by sean at September 16, 2006 12:03 PM

I watched a sci-fi flick titled Serenity last night, and in the final scene, the Captain of the spaceship is explaining to a passenger (and new pilot) that Rule #1 in piloting a spaceship is: Love. If you don't love the ship you're flying, you've got no business flying it.

Got me thinking about work, project management and leadership. Same principle applies. If you don't love the ship (project, team, etc) you're flying, you've got no business flying it.

Driving in to work this morning with the radio turned off, I was still thinking about love and recalled a line from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet: "Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."

Then your post about "if you truly love people." Coincidence or not, it's definitely got me thinking differently.

Posted by Dan Ward at September 18, 2006 7:31 AM