Ranked #1 in the World
By Robert Moran, Ph.D.
Acclaimed physicist Albert Einstein shows a knack for global affairs in a 1919 letter to a friend. “One can be an internationalist without being indifferent to members of one’s tribe,” he writes. Einstein is right, of course. But balancing national identity with global perspective can be tricky for business leaders in a world that has grown increasingly interconnected since Einstein’s letter more than 90 years ago.
I tried hard to fit in when I first arrived in Japan in the 1960s as a young priest from Canada. I wanted to embrace the Japanese culture and thought I had to sacrifice my Canadian perspective to do so. Then I discovered a liberating concept. Like Einstein says, people can be global and still remain loyal to their native culture. I explore this concept in the eighth edition of my book, Managing Cultural Differences (McGraw-Hill, Nov. 25, 2010). What follows are excerpts from Chapter 1, reprinted with the publisher’s permission.
A Friendly Encounter
In our neighborhood, trash is picked up every Monday and Thursday. I was born and spent my early years in Canada, where everyone called the trash “garbage.” One of my early chores as a young boy was to take out the garbage.
I still take out the garbage, usually on a Sunday night for an early Monday morning pickup. One Sunday, as I left a full bucket on our street, I met a neighbor who was taking her dog for a walk. We exchanged pleasantries, and she asked about our adult children. She was genuinely interested.
“Elizabeth is still living and working in France,” I said, “and we are about to have a second American/French grandchild.” I told her that Sarah was working in Taiwan, Molly was in San Francisco working for the Gap, Rebecca was a volunteer bush pilot in Tanzania flying medical personnel to the Masaai, and Ben, our youngest, was in West Africa finishing his first year as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Our neighbor looked at me, and in a matter-of-fact way responded, “Well, at least you have one ‘normal’ one.”
We believe our five adult children are all “normal,” at least most of the time. Working and living in San Francisco — and working in Taiwan — are equally “normal” in today’s world.
You Can’t Trust the French
About 20 years before the above encounter, I took a sabbatical from Thunderbird. With two stuffed duffel bags each, my spouse and I left for France with our five young children. I was going to teach at a grande école — a French Ivy League university — in the suburbs of Paris. We wanted our children to learn another language and have a genuine experience of another culture.
For several weeks, we had not yet met any other foreigners as we tried to find an affordable used car, a house to rent, and schools for our children. We had only met French people who, without exception, helped us figure out how things worked in their sometimes-bureaucratic country.
Our youngest child, Ben, however, who was seven at the time, had met an American whose name was Jack, and he asked if Jack could come over and have dinner with us. We immediately agreed. As it was my turn to cook, with the help of my eldest daughter, we decided that fish — four trout from the local marché — would be the entree.
As Jack was our guest, I presented the fish on a platter to him first. As I did this, my daughter said, from across the table, “Be careful, everyone, there may be some small bones in the fish.” Jack, also seven years old, looked at me and responded, “Okay … (sigh) … You know, you just can’t trust the French.”
Surprised at his comment, I asked him where he had first heard it. “My mother says that all the time,” he responded.
Later that night, when I was dropping him off at his home, I met Jack’s mother. She told me that she hated living in Europe and wanted to go home to the United States. She was lonesome, missed her friends, and did not really like living in France.
Of course, there is nothing abnormal about being lonely and finding a new environment difficult to adapt to. But her feelings and attitudes clearly influenced Jack, who might have been less disparaging and closed to his new environment had she felt differently.
The All-American Girl
Last spring, as my work at Thunderbird slowed down, my spouse and I were able to spend a little more time together, and we were ready for a new adventure. So we rented a small house in the French countryside, thinking we would spend our time studying French, the first language of two of our grandchildren.
When my spouse told one of her friends that we were leaving for several weeks, her friend responded, “That’s not for me — I’m an all-American girl!”
But what is a global person? People with global perspective do not believe their nation is the best at everything and that everyone else wants to be just like them. Rather they understand that people from other cultures have lives and viewpoints different from their own.
People with a global perspective might not speak more than one language or have experience in other countries. They might not even own a passport. But they are aware of and interested in the issues of people around the world. They are empathetic and sensitive, and have skills in interacting with people who might not look like, talk like, smell like or act like themselves.
About 500 years ago, after the Earth was discovered to rotate around the sun, humanity had to give up the then-held belief that the earth was at the center of the universe. It simply wasn’t. Giving up old ideas or ideas that don’t work, or ideas that are inaccurate, are difficult.
When students or working professionals come to Thunderbird, as faculty we try to influence them. We certainly want them to become sophisticated in understanding key aspects of global business today.
But we also hope to convince them it is OK to be American, Canadian, Brazilian, German or Saudi. Like Einstein said, they can be internationalists and still be loyal to their own tribe. A global manager from the United States can be an “all-American girl” with passion for diversity, quest for adventure and self-assurance in cross-cultural encounters.
Helping global managers find this balance has been part of the Thunderbird mission for many years, and the success of our graduates in complex global environments is a good indicator we are succeeding.
Robert T. Moran, Ph.D., is an organizational and management consultant with specialties in cross-cultural training, organizational development and international human resource management. He is an emeritus professor of international management and former interim chair of the International Studies Department at Thunderbird School of Global Management. Moran received his graduate degrees from the University of Minnesota. He was also a coach and adviser of the Japanese National Hockey Team and, as an adviser, attended the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, and the 1972 Games in Sapporo, Japan. He is the co-author of “Managing Global Differences” and “Leading Global Projects.”
| A Tribal Internationalist: Robert Moran discusses Einstein’s view of globalism. View the video on YouTube or on China’s www.tudou.com (4:46). | High and Low-context Languages: Robert Moran discusses a key concept in cross-cultural communication. View the video on YouTube or on China’s www.tudou.com (4:44). |
| Global Parenting: Robert Moran talks about raising children with a global mindset. View the video on YouTube or on China’s www.tudou.com (1:34). | Why Thunderbird: Robert Moran talks about what makes Thunderbird special. View the video on YouTube or on China’s www.tudou.com (3:59). |
Managing Cultural Differences, Eighth Edition
The international nature of modern Business means that individual and organizational success is no longer dependent solely on business acumen- our ability to understand, communicate and work with people in different countries and cultures around the world is more important than ever as more companies rely on their global reach to achieve the best profit and performance. For this reason, international business and cross-cultural management are key topics in undergraduate business, MBA and executive education programs worldwide as companies and institutions prepare current and future business leaders for the global marketplace.
Co-authors: Robert T. Moran, Philip R. Harris and Sarah V. Moran
Price: $67.45
ISBN: 978-1856179232
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann; 8 edition (November 25, 2010)
Description: Paperback, 586 pages
Information: www.amazon.com
Audio podcast: Thunderbird Emeritus Professor Robert Moran, Ph.D., tried hard to be Japanese when he arrived from Canada as a young Catholic priest in the 1960s. Then he discovered a liberating concept. He could be Canadian and still have a global perspective. Acclaimed physicist Albert Einstein reached a similar conclusion. In a 1919 letter to a friend, Einstein wrote: “One can be an internationalist without being indifferent to members of one’s tribe.” Moran explores the concept in the eighth edition of his book, Managing Cultural Differences (McGraw-Hill, Nov. 25, 2010). He shares additional insights in this Dec. 9, 2010, conversation with the Thunderbird Knowledge Network. | Audio Podcast: An internationalist? And still loyal to one’s tribe? (10:13)
January 24th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
I think it’s interesting that he says that one doesn’t have to speak other languages or have traveled abroad to have a global mindset. It really is a mindset, an attitude. I especially like the idea that it is possible to respect other cultures without sacrificing any loyalty to one’s home country.
January 28th, 2011 at 7:27 am
I agree that “People with global perspective do not believe their nation is the best at everything and that everyone else wants to be just like them.” However, I feel as though I am not expected to believe anything about my home country is better than the country I am living in. I understand there are times and places to announce these differences but I cannot and will not pretend that the country I am living in is “the best at everything” either.
January 29th, 2011 at 9:52 am
Hi Sara and Angela:
I think the idea…being global and still being loyal to one’s tribe is new, at least as it is expressed and worth discussing. I hear business people saying they “are global,” but when I ask them what does that mean for them, many aren’t quite sure.
I sometimes sense travelers “in awe” of another culture. The reality, I think, is that we can all learn from each other and no society or culture is “the best at everything.”
All the best,
Bob
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Hello,
I was born in France. I moved to the US on my own in my early twenties knowing very little English. I married an American citizen, studied at Thunderbird (I took Professor Moran’s class) and then worked in banking. After a few years, I moved with my family to France where we stayed for seven years before settling in Canada where I now live (I became a Canadian citizen also). While in Europe, both my husband and I worked in the German part of Switzerland where we had to use our German (we were “frontaliers” that is cross-border workers as we lived in France). At work in Switzerland, I used English, French, German and Spanish (which I had learned at Thunderbird). My daughter went to an American International School and at the French school on Saturday. What surprised me the most is how many potential employers dismissed completely my international experience as being irrelevant to their needs! These were people in fairly high position. So a lot of work remains to be done. For many people, being global means bringing THEIR know-how to the natives and ignoring how much they would learn from the natives.
The most satisfying for me was to see the tremendous impact living in different countries had on my daughter.
Annick
February 2nd, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Hello Annick:
Your experience of employers dismissing your international experience is not unusual but I don’t believe it is the norm now. I think the second thing you said namely ” being global means bringing THEIR know-how to the natives and ignoring how much they would learn..” is more typical.
A few years ago, I asked the Managing Director of a large global company this question..” you have worked in China now for over two years, could you give me one example of something you have learned from the Chinese that you can use in your organization?” He thought for a minute and responded ” to be honest, I really can’t think of anything.” A bit sad I think.
Bravo as a global family Annick.
Best regards,
Bob
February 3rd, 2011 at 10:26 am
Dr. Moran,
having been at Thunderbird for many years and speaking French, would you know what happen or where can I contact Robert Laugier? I lost track of him when we moved to Brazil and he went to France.
Thanks
Quela
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:39 pm
I am sorry but I don’t know how to contact Robert. You might try writing to Thunderbird’s human resource department and they may know but I think it is unlikely.
Facebook?
I wish you success.
Best,
Bob
February 5th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Thank you for the insights into this topic. The comments are interesting and thought provoking. Seeing oneself as an internationalist, a national (member of a tribe or nation)or somehow both is ultimately an aspect of ego, the person we project beyond the being we are.
In one perspective, to be a global person suggests moving beyond seeing oneself and others as members of a nation or culture to seeing each of us as simply one of the human species. It suggests that we are interested in all outcomes that elevate the human condition wherever they take place. That we “compete” in business is merely the methodology for improvement in the human condition. There are no individual gains or losses of importance, only those that relate to the species and its planet. It is that we each have a home (place, faith, ethnicity)where we return for particular comforts while we live our lives among the rest of the species where ever. When all nations and nationals move beyond the focus of conditions at home to minding the conditions for all will globalization have moved the species and the planet forward.
February 6th, 2011 at 12:51 am
I was undignifiably elated to see your use of the word ‘tribal’.
After working in Mainland China for the last 15 years I have concluded that common characterizations of Chinese life such as face and guanxi were more matters of degree than concepts unfathomable to foreigners. What is least understood, especially by those coming from immigrant countries like America or Australia, is the importance of tribe.
I am a mixed-blood, third generation American raised to be color-blind and tolerant. I never used or heard the word ‘foreigner’ before moving to China. What was my tribe? Membership in the American tribe was historically by choice (immigration) and by and large through citizenship, not ethnicity (some kind of DNA test for genuine American blood!) or centuries or millenniums of residency.
American citizenship for (most) Chinese is just a passport, a useful certification. It does not change their tribe at least in the minds of non-American Chinese. Did I have some tribe or people that I came from – beyond my citizenship?
Chinese customers visiting a factory in America will refer to all non-Chinese looking persons as foreigners. They laugh if it is suggested that in that place they are the foreigners. Foreigner relates to your tribe, not where you are standing or living.
Chinese-Americans are often or usually ineffective in China when they come over as negotiator or translator for their American company. Their tribe expects loyalty, to sell out the other side.
The U.S. Olympic womens’ volleyball coach (Chinese ethnicity, American citizen) who helped her team beat the China team was labeled a traitor in internet blogs and even in newspapers
You can never become 100% like another tribe even in 100 years. Differences are what make 1+1=3 possible in a business sense. If I cannot effect some change (not conversion to my tribe’s culture but towards new global best work practices) then what am I doing here?
It is amusing to see Chinese and Americans bowing to each other. Each group bowing because they mistakenly think that is what the other group does. Who bowed first I wonder?
In a typical JV discussion the local partner inundates the foreign partner with all sorts of initiations. When all are complied with and with no countervailing initiations the local partner assumes the foreign partner has been whipped into shape. Are these rites necessary? If the discussions took place in your tribe’s country then such rites for them would for the most part just be rejected.
Once early in my time in China I was wrestling with a chicken drumstick using chopsticks. Believing that no matter what, one does not touch their food with their fingers. Across the table was a 20 something who in a quite non-traditional manner (I was twice his age, a manager and a foreigner) offered me advice, “It’s easier if you use your fingers”.
If you are trying to be so much like the ‘old’ them then you are of little use for discovering a new you (plural).
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