My Colleagues

The very best thing about China is the people. Once you have been formally introduced, they are kind, thoughtful and believe it is their mission to make your stay in China a pleasant one. I have had the good fortune to travel to the home towns of two of my colleagues. On each occasion, I stayed with the colleague’s family, and I was able to experience a side of China closed to the transient tourist or businessman. It is easily my favorite side of China. It is large Chinese dinners with family and friends in ornate hotel party rooms. It is more food that you can imagine consuming in a week; it is free flowing beer and liquor; it is lots of cigarette smoke. It is beautiful countrysides and adventures in bamboo boats down rivers. I’ve ridden ponies, fished, hiked up mountains and toured monasteries. I learned to make dumplings on Chinese New Year and play mahjong badly. I had a really bad massage in a house of prostitution – the nature of the premises somehow escaped the attention of my colleague until the 18 year old scantily clad masseuse made it clear her skill set did not include massages – and stayed in one of the most charming hotels surrounded by magnificent rock formations and fantastic legends.

In both cases I was treated as an honored guest and as family. My colleagues served as my translators and for the most part were the only English speakers I would encounter during my stay.

Working with them has been enlightening. They are exceedingly intelligent, hardworking and committed. They put most Americans with whom I have worked to shame. They take ownership of projects from the time the project lands on their desks and return phone calls and emails to clients within minutes of receiving them. Clients trust them implicitly.

Working with western clients and meeting western expectations was initially difficult for them. Not because my colleagues lacked sophistication or intelligence, but western companies have an entirely different set of expectations than Chinese clients and play by a different set of rules. We have the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Sarbanes Oxley. Most countries do not face the same limitations. Chinese clients want to get the job done for an exceedingly low price. They are well aware that many things cannot be accomplished in China legally. They don’t like to pay taxes. They don’t worry about audits. They are familiar with the territory and the rules and have a much higher risk tolerance than western companies.

Western companies need to stay between the lines, play by the rules and minimize risk. It is one thing to analyze shades of gray in the US; it is an entirely different thing in China when confronted with an undeveloped, unpredictable legal system.

It has amazed me to watch my colleagues process this information quickly and efficiently. To have CEOs, CFOs and other high level officers of major US MNCs ask them to quaint dinners for high level discussions. And I am thankful that I work with them.