Global Dexterity. Andy Molinsky

information about cultural differences include: Mat Abramsky, Adedotun Adebiaye, Noor Al Jallaf, Michel Anteby, Murtala Bagana, Cicero Baggio, Mati Balan, Yoni Balan, João Banzato, Lilia Bikbaeva, Max Blythe, Neel Bungaroo, Andy Carter, Greg Chen, Lu Chen, Jose Chong, Nick Christ, George Chu, Harland Chun, Ilan Dee, Drew Denker, Faustine Ehringer, Markus Englhardt, Miguel Gonzalez, Barbara Guenther, Alice Gur-Arie, Karim el Quasri, Bob Green, Hideaki Hirata, Jenny Jiang, Zhenling Jiang, Boris Kapeller, Daniel Kim, Jay Kim, Phillippe Le Corre, Juan Lepe, Pedro Llamas, Yong-Taek Min, Gowri Nagaraj, Ije Nwokomah, Azuka Okofu, Paolo Orozco, Jane Pedersen, Claudia Peus, Dan Pfau, Ergys Prenika, Nan Qu, Bernhard Radtke, Kalpesh Ramwani, Steve Rochlin, Rami Sarafa, Christina Sevilla, Simon Sherrington, Sarah Stuart, Allan Tamen, Perry Teicher, Nils Tessier du Cros, Eric Teung, Jeff Thelen, Toby Uzo, and Michael Zakkour. I also want to thank the hundreds of foreign- and American-born MA and MBA students I have taught and worked with at Brandeis International Business School. You have provided me with tremendous insight into the dynamics of cultural adaptation and with a “living laboratory” for helping me develop and hone these ideas.

      There are many other important people who made this book possible. My editors at Harvard Business Review Press, Melinda Merino and Courtney Cashman, have provided insightful and encouraging feedback throughout the process and have truly been a pleasure to work with. I also want to thank Nihan Celiktas, Debi Choudhury, Jen Molinsky, Steve Molinsky, Beth Schinoff, and Jessy Wang for providing outstanding feedback on earlier drafts of the manuscript, and Bill Bliss for providing key insights into the book-writing process at just the right times.

      Finally, this book could never have been possible without the support and encouragement of my family—my mother and father, my brother and my sister-in-law, my in-laws, and my own family and children. My father in particular, given his own publishing expertise writing textbooks that teach English as a second language, has been a tremendous source of wisdom at all phases of this project, providing ongoing feedback about all sorts of issues and always willing to take time out of his own busy schedule to help me. My brother, Eric, who is an accomplished public radio producer and storyteller, has been a great resource as well, especially about how to tell a good story and connect with an audience. And, finally, my wife, Jen, has been the best partner a book-writing husband could ever ask for. She has supported and encouraged me throughout this process, provided insightful and encouraging feedback on countless versions of my ideas, and most important, always believed in me. I never could have written this book without her.

      To everyone who contributed to this book: I am forever grateful.

      PART ONE

      Why Global Dexterity Matters

      In this first section of the book, you’ll learn what global dexterity is and why it matters. You will meet Eric Rivers, the American-born CEO of an Indian technology firm in Mumbai, who is thoughtful, knowledgeable, and highly motivated to work effectively in India, but who struggles when switching his behavior to an Indian cultural style. You will meet Feng Li, a Chinese-born management consultant for a major American-based professional services firm in Chicago, who knows that he needs to participate in brainstorming sessions with partners in order to succeed, but who has trouble speaking up, despite the fact that he is highly knowledgeable and has many useful points to contribute. You will meet many others like Eric and Yu who struggle not with learning about cultural differences, but with the ability to actually translate this knowledge into effective behavior—what I call global dexterity. The first chapter explains why global dexterity is so critical in today’s global economy, and in the second chapter, I explain why, despite its great importance, global dexterity can be such a challenging skill to master.

      CHAPTER 1

      Introduction to Global Dexterity

      Eric Rivers was pacing back and forth in his office. He poured himself a cup of coffee but then immediately threw it out; the tea was much better in Mumbai. Eric asked his assistant to get him a cup of chai, then decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to clear his head. He passed by a brand-new school, a few businesses selling t-shirts and electronics, and a large open construction site where two elderly men were walking their cows the way Eric used to walk his dog back in Los Angeles. It had been three months since Eric had moved to Mumbai, and he was still getting used to it all.

      Eric had been hired six months earlier to lead the division of a global consulting firm offering strategic advice to technology firms in the fast-growing Indian market. He saw amazing possibilities for what he could achieve; that was why he decided to forgo more conventional work opportunities in the United States.

      Eric felt like he was doing everything right in his attempt to adapt to the Indian cultural environment. A seasoned leader with extensive management experience in the West, he was eager to bring his American management philosophy to this vibrant developing economy. His philosophy had two key elements. The first was empowerment, which Eric felt was a universal idea that transcended cultural boundaries. In the past, Eric had worked for many different bosses, and the ones he respected the most had worked hard to inspire their workers to succeed by giving them opportunities to develop skills, make decisions for themselves, and contribute to the firm. Eric also deeply believed in a flat hierarchy: in being highly collaborative and involving his employees in as much of the decision making process as possible.

      Eric put his philosophy into action as soon as he arrived in Mumbai. First, instead of taking an office with a door in the corner of the building as he noticed other managers in the building had done, he took a cubicle right in the “trenches” with his fellow employees. That way he would not be seen as an arm’s-length, unapproachable leader, but as someone who was willing to get his hands dirty and figure things out with the team. Eric also decided to engage his employees in the process of making key strategic decisions. One of Eric’s best managers in Los Angeles would always involve her employees in the strategic decision-making process. Rather than pretending that she had all the solutions, she would include employees as she herself was trying to work through challenging strategic issues. Her view was that employees who were often closest to the “action” also had very important ideas to contribute to the discussion. Also, by involving them in the process, she could help mentor employees in the process of how to make a decision, which she believed was a valuable skill to teach anyone. Thus, whenever his Indian employees came to Eric with a problem, Eric patterned his approach after his mentor’s. He would not pretend that he had all the answers; instead, he would invite them into the decision-making process.

      Eric was eager to put these powerful management techniques into action. He was passionate about engaging with his Indian workers, getting them thinking for themselves, and, most importantly, letting them know that they were part of the team.

      The only problem was that his vision didn’t work. In fact, it failed miserably. Unlike his former employees in the United States, who relished the chance to make their own decisions and who saw Eric as more of a colleague than a boss, Eric’s Indian workers interpreted this freedom as a lack of competence and confidence on Eric’s part as a manager. After all, why would a leader sit with his employees and keep asking their opinions about important leadership matters? He must lack the ability to do it himself. Rather than being energized and engaged by Eric’s empowerment initiatives, his workers were becoming increasingly demotivated. When Eric approached them for ideas, their interpretation was that it was because he did not know what he was doing. Rather than gaining his employees’ respect, Eric was starting to lose it.

      He overheard conversations in the mailroom and cafeteria about how the previous boss “knew what he was doing” much more than Eric did. Eric’s colleagues in other departments told him that the rumor was that he lacked confidence and decisiveness. He even heard through the grapevine that two of his star employees had already started to look around for other jobs.

      After discussing the matter with some of his closest colleagues and friends both in India and the United States, Eric came to the conclusion that to be successful in India, he would have to adapt his behavior to the more hierarchical Indian leadership style. He would have to take that corner office, begin to make more unilateral decisions, and also start communicating with his employees in