Testing "Out"

When my family arrived in Shanghai in August, 2005 I was firmly planted in the third quarter of both my expat and work life. China was in the midst of its historic rise to economic might and I was wondering what I was doing there. Per standard operating procedure, my wife assessed our situation and made a “to do” list. She got on with the task of getting our home life up and running. At least one of us understood what they were doing. I had a “big picture” idea of my goals but seemed to need a lot more help than my better half. The devil is, as they say, in the details.

My first office was rented from a serviced office company which meant that I was, for the most part, surrounded by people who had come to Shanghai to work on a short term project, start their own business or, like me, worked for a division of a large foreign company that was just beginning operations in Shanghai.

On my third day in Shanghai a smiling middle aged American woman appeared at my door and introduced herself. As it turned out, she worked for a testing company that wanted to introduce their personality testing products in the Chinese market. I became her first customer. Actually, she tested me for free in the hopes that I would use her service to help assess my local hires. I took the rather lengthy test that afternoon. I would get the results later in the week when I was back in the office.

The test I took was a little more complicated

Personality test results were not high on my mental list of concerns as the days passed. The life I had in systematic Japan was a memory in the “wild-west” environment of China. Rules were more like “nice ideas” but not necessarily something you needed to follow. For a foreigner, the first test was figuring out which rules needed to be followed and which were “conceptual”. It would more than six months before I would be chastised by my driver Philip for stopping at a red light the day I got my China driving license and decided to get behind the wheel. “Why are you stopping?” said an eye rolling Philip. “The light is red” was my reply. “So what, nobody is here, just slow down but no need to stop – it’s a waste of time”. Our first three months in China would have been much easier if Philip had been with us from the beginning to provide his unique perspective on how the locals behaved.

One benefit from life in Japan that did transfer to China was that I had already learned to ask for help any time government bureaucracy reared its ugly head.

The government was holding my passport (never a comfortable feeling) pending a work visa being issued and my household goods clearing customs. A customs officer requested a meeting at my office to “discuss” my shipment which sounded a bit ominous. I wanted a local and native Chinese speaker with me during the meeting so I requested the GM of the serviced office company help me out.

There were a lot of little tests getting settled in Shanghai

 “Janifer” was the name on the English side of her business card. I think she intended to be Jennifer but a typo got in the way. She became my hero in short order as she guided the man in an ill-fitting customs uniform into my office. The unsmiling bureaucrat began in rapid fire Mandarin and seemed to have some sort of complaint with my household goods shipment. Janifer locked eyes with the guy and took on the appearance of a Shaolin warrior monk. She listened, nodded, deepened her glare and nodded some more. She seemed to struggle discerning what the complaint was but finally figured it out. She turned to me and said “he wants to know why you have 57 teddy bears and other toy animals in your stuff”.  My response: “I have two daughters – they like teddy bears”. Janifer went on to say that he wanted to disallow them because I didn’t “need them”. Feeling relieved that the issue was minor; I took the offensive and said that toys were not on a list of banned articles so I didn’t feel he had the right to complain. It seemed to me maybe the guy wanted the stuffed animals for his kids. Janifer said she “completely agreed” with me and unleashed a torrent of high decibel verbiage at the suddenly squirming official. Long story short – Janifer apparently told the guy to “get out and clear the shipment by tomorrow or else”. That was exactly what happened. I never found out what “or else” was. The experience of watching Janifer take on the official was important for me.It showed me a lot about how China "works” and paid dividends later on. I would never have thought a young lady could challenge someone in an official role and win but I saw it time and time again. First China “crisis” averted.

Later in the day still basking in the glow of Janifer’s victory over customs; I went down the hall to get tea and saw my American friend - Anne. “I have your test results. They are quite interesting. If you have a few minutes we can discuss them”.  Her use of the word “interesting” got my attention.

A few minutes later we met in my office. Anne started by revisiting my current situation – wondering aloud how long I had worked for worked for a “big company”. I told her that I had been with the same company for 16 years, had worked in multiple locations and been promoted on average every 2.5 years. She smiled and said she was very surprised that I could survive let alone thrive in a corporate environment. By now I was curious to hear more details about results and her conclusions. She explained that normally someone with test results like mine had trouble functioning in a big company. I told her I wasn’t necessarily convinced that the kind of testing her company did was a great predictor of success. She suggested that I spend a few minutes reading my results and then we could discuss what they “normally” meant in more detail.

After reading the results and conclusions – I thought most of them represented my personality and mindset reasonably well. We reconvened to continue the discussion. “Well normally someone who shows the combination of an extreme need to get things done and a very low tolerance of bureaucracy has trouble functioning in a large organization especially at a senior level”. “Your profile looks more like someone who prefers entrepreneurial activity.” I smiled and said “Well Anne – I think the test results are valid.” She gave me a quizzical look. I continued: “Well, my boss is 7,000 miles away and cares more about my results than the details of how I get them.” “Most people in my company think Asia is all ‘third world’ and couldn’t imagine living here which created an opportunity for me.” She looked surprised at my candor. “Honestly, as a young man I was very risk averse, clueless and too chicken to start my own business. My first job after grad school was with an oil company – I wanted security. It wasn’t until I had been in the corporate world a few years that I began to feel like a ‘drone’. I targeted assignments that gave me as much independence as I could have and still work inside big organization. The ex-pat assignment gave me maximum freedom plus a higher pay package because of the perception that living in Asia was a sacrifice”. We were silent for a minute. Finally I said: “I knew when I left the US for Japan that the odds of me successfully repatriating were slim. The company pushed me hard to come to China and I leveraged the situation to maximize the benefit to my family”.   

I spent five wonderful, frustrating, complicated and interesting years in China but in the first week I was there my interaction with Anne validated the belief I already had in the back of my mind that my corporate life was not going to last long after I repatriated.

I was fortunate to hire several people that taught me invaluable lessons about doing business in China and learning to think outside my comfort zone. Learning to operate in China was great preparation for what I am doing today.

This week is the third anniversary of getting fired by my employer of almost a quarter of a century. My experiences getting things done in Japan and China with limited support from my employer plus the relationships I developed overseas gave me the confidence to do in my 50s what I wished I could have done in my 20s – start my own business. My daughters are in their 20s and both seem to have the same desire to work independently. I hope they can do from the beginning of their work lives what it took me until late in the “3^rd quarter” to accomplish.

The China Syndrome - Part One (getting there)

Snow Festival in Hokkaido - We were in no hurry to leave Japan

Ten years ago this week my family moved to Shanghai, China. The fact that we were already seasoned expats with more than five years in Japan under our belts did not make the decision to move easier. After so much time in Kobe, Japan seemed like home. The kids were happy in school. We had an interesting life exploring Japan and many other places in Asia. 

My company sent me to Japan as their lone ex-pat in a city where they didn’t have a local office or any support services. After five years, my expat “report card” showed company sales in Asia had grown 300%, profits were up 400% and a troublesome joint venture had been restructured. My “reward” for success was being asked to move to China, for tax rather than strategic reasons. The company leaders did not like the fact that after five years in Japan the burden of my personal taxes in Japan increased significantly. The US has a barbaric "double payment" tax code for expats. Since my ex-pat agreement required the company to pay all taxes associated with my exp-pat status, I was asked to move to China. In typical fashion with corporate bureaucracy - the move actually cost the company more in taxes overall but that miscalculation is a story for a different day.

Living was easy on Rokko Island in Kobe

“No” means “Hell No”

Late in our fourth year in Japan, my boss visited and asked me to move to China. Since my division had limited sales and no infrastructure in China, I asked what the "mission" was. The answer was “keep doing what you are doing, just do it from Shanghai”. I reminded him that I had two teenage daughters who were happy where they were and a wife who was like the poster child for the successful expat. Why move if there wasn't a good reason?

I also had done some research before we moved to Japan about “expat landmines” and had an agreement that gave me more control than normal regarding how and when I returned to the US. I couldn't prevent the move back but I had some level of financial and geographic protection when the time to repatriate came.

My decision was made – if they were going to try to force me to move to China, I would use my “exit clause” and return to the US before my elder daughter started her junior year in high school. Despite my frustration at being asked to make what amounted to a "tax move" - I played the game, waited a week and sent a carefully worded email declining the assignment in Shanghai. I fully understood that decision could effectively end my career with the company. The response was swift: My boss said he “understood", but he also said that I was still the "top candidate for the China assignment".

“Let the Games Begin”

Normally, my boss was patient and savvy in his dealings with me. Rather than continue this conflict with me head-on; he arranged for me to meet his boss for breakfast at an upcoming company meeting in the US. Although I liked and respected my boss who was a long time ex-pat himself – his boss was another matter. The “Big Boss” did not like my independent streak or my lack of interest in being what he called “a good corporate soldier”. 

The "one on one" breakfast meeting in a private room with the Big Boss was brief. After the obligatory 10 seconds of pleasantries I was told: “there is nothing in the US for you and you just need to make this move”. My one word response was: “why?”.  After a pregnant pause, I looked over my untouched pre-ordered eggs and bacon and began to thank him for his time and excuse myself. This was clearly the power play I expected – “be a ‘good solider’ or find another job”. Before I left the room I was told “maybe we can think of something to make the move more attractive”. I decided to leave before I said something I shouldn’t and closed with “I’ll wait to hear from you”.

As luck (or good planning) would have it standing outside the door as I left was a tall, balding man I had never seen before. “Hi, I’m Tom”. “I am the new HR director and my first job is to get you to move to China”.  I looked up at Tom, shook his hand and said: “Best of luck with your first assignment, by the way did you know my wife and I are house hunting in Charlotte this week”. Actually the short conversation included a couple of four letter words that weren't "golf". 

The day got more interesting as the company arranged for me to skip the afternoon corporate session to meet a very expensive consultant who was an expert on Asia in general and China in particular.  The consultant was a breath of fresh air. He knew Asia inside and out. He asked about my experiences in Japan, my family, etc.  Before we ended the meeting he said – “look, China could be a wonderful experience for your family but it won’t be easy.  I have known your company for a long time - they don’t understand Asia and you will never get the support most people need to make an overseas assignment work.  On the other hand, you succeeded in Japan so you can probably make it work.” He went on to say “you should only move to China if every member of your family is committed to go because otherwise you will be miserable”.  At this point I wasn’t sure if I was getting his honest opinion or if my time with him was part of a strategy to use reverse psychology on me……

A few days later we were back in Japan. I continued to mull over what my future looked like moving back to the US – I wouldn’t be fired immediately because of my agreement and the fact that immediately axing returning expats was considered “bad  form". Likely I would be assigned to “special projects”  and advised that I probably should begin to look for “opportunities outside the company”.

The second morning back in Japan (a Saturday) I got an early morning call from the President of another Division of the company asking me what my “decision on China was”. He was calling from the US and knew it was very early in Japan.  Through the haze of jet lag; I just laughed and asked why he was asking. Apparently, my boss had enlisted another helper to get me to make the “right decision”.  I had spent my five years in Japan operating with almost total autonomy – suddenly there were several people trying to help me make a decision I had already made.

Family Meeting

My daughters were well aware that a decision about where we would be living in the next school year was being made. I picked a family dinner to break the news that we were "definitely" moving “home”. There were no outbursts but tears began to well up around the table. I asked why everyone was so sad. The bottom line was the girls wanted to stay in Asia to graduate high school. If Japan was no longer an option they were perfectly happy to take their chances in Shanghai. They wanted to stay in an international school until they were ready for college. I told them that China would likely be much tougher from a quality of life perspective and I thought it made more sense to go back to the US if we couldn't stay in Japan. I appreciated their desire to stay in Asia and knew it would be a much better financial decision.  I am no match for the tears of my progeny - so in the end my daughters really made the decision for us to move to China. My "wiser than me" wife thought staying in Asia would be good for the girls and better for me so she wisely let things play out slowly.

  

The Details

I knew that many of my peers back in the US had been approached about a China assignment if I refused to go. My division was based in a nice area of North Carolina. Most people asked to go to China had kids in school and nobody was willing to move to what they perceived as a "third world communist country". Of course the company could  have "hired outside" but the lithium business is a unique niche and hiring someone from the outside who could be effective immediately overseas was nearly impossible. Armed  with those facts, I was able to negotiate a great package for the move to China and a safety net for my return. I felt quite sure that no matter how successful I was in China, I would not be with the company long after I returned to the US. The independent streak and determination that enabled my success in Asia was poison in the halls of a conservative US corporation's HQ.

From a business perspective, I knew moving to China would be interesting. My concerns about quality of life were reasonable but in the end it was better to ask the kids if they were willing to risk it. As we finalized plans for the move it seemed that I was the only one worried about it.

Shanghai - one of the World's Great Skylines

We arrived in Shanghai on a rare, clear day in August. A typhoon the previous day had cleared the sky for us. Our adventure in China was about to begin but that is a story for another post.

Post Script: After some initial struggles my family flourished in Shanghai. Both my daughters graduated from high school there. The business  prospered, when I returned to the US, the person who replaced me lasted almost a year before he got fired. Of course after two years "home", I got fired (a mercy "killing") too and started Global Lithium.

Musings of a Gaijin in Japan

Twenty years ago I boarded a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Tokyo.  I was not overly excited at the prospect of spending 12 days in the “Far East”.  I  told my employer I wanted to get involved in “international business” and had been enjoying increasingly frequent trips to Europe and South America. The order to “visit Asia” seemed like a price that had to be paid to enable me to keep traveling.

Armed with a narrow world view and almost complete ignorance of Asia, I stumbled out of Tokyo’s Narita Airport and somehow managed to get to my hotel to meet the “mentor” who had arrived the day before and was supposed to teach me about the most populous continent on the planet. It took me a full six or seven minutes to realize my “culture guide” was almost as clueless as I was.

After a run and a shower I was ready to get my Asia business started so I could go home. Twenty years to the day later, I am staring out at the Osaka night from my perch in the Ritz Carlton reflecting on the love I have for my “second home”.  In 1995, I could not have imagined that my young daughters would attend school in Japan, graduate high school in Shanghai and that I would spend more time in Asia in the ensuing two decades than I spent in the US.

The local business partner my former employer had in Japan in 1995 was used to a steady stream of “clueless gaijin”. I was initially treated with what seemed to me to be a cool, condescending respect. In reality I was just another body in a long line of people that they had to babysit. Guests from the alleged superpower across the Pacific who were functionally illiterate and culturally ignorant when in Dai Nippon. 

The jet lag induced 1 am stroll I took through the Akasaka entertainment district on my first night was the beginning of my fascination with Japan. That bleary eyed walk through the neon lights and abject difference from anything I had ever experienced whet my appetite to learn more about the strange place I had only experienced via bad US WW2 movies.

When I got back to the North Carolina after my first trip I bought language tapes, read books on Japanese culture and prepared for my second trip which was only a few weeks later.  The bar was pretty low to outshine my colleagues with our Japanese partner.  I returned to Japan with a 20 word vocabulary which essentially enabled me to order green tea ice cream and beer with fluency unknown among my peers. I learned to enjoy small wins like not getting  lost on ten mile runs and being able to get a cab driver to take me back to my hotel without help – like I said low bar and small victories.  Our Japanese partners were well aware that Americans often fell in love with Japan in the short term but often did not have staying power. I soon lost interest in going to Europe. The business I was in was growing in Asia and I gradually became determined to see if I could become functional in a very different world.

After over 40 trips to Japan in five years, I was asked to move my family there and focus on growing the business in Asia. My wife was prescient enough to realize moving to Japan would be good for the family so we embarked on a three year assignment that lasted eleven years.  I knew our Japanese partners respected my efforts to learn the nuances of their culture but, the dark side was they also saw me as a potential threat and asked my employer to keep me in the US. After their request was rejected they welcomed me on an arm’s length basis  because they had no choice. I made the best of the situation.

Time and words are inadequate to explain how much our time in Japan meant to my family. Like any middle aged gaijin moving to Japan, my struggles and frustrations were frequent .  Despite my best efforts my language skills were at best “functionally fluent” which yields a lot of benefits in Japan but also left me feeling like a failure on most days when the meaning of so many of the words hanging in the air escaped me.

Our more than five years in Japan passed quickly. Suddenly we were living Shanghai – a new country, new experiences and new frustrations.  Many days found me longing to be in Japan but I rarely missed the US. Due to the nature of my business and proximity of Japan, I traveled there more than 70 times in the five years we lived in Shanghai. I never doubted my status as a gaijin but always felt at home in a way that never happened in China. I mean no disrespect to China as we also had a great experience there and the team we assembled in Shanghai is still the high point of my business life.  Finally, after an eleven year sojourn, we returned to the US.

After growing my business profits ten fold  in little more than a decade, my reward was getting fired less than two years after returning to the US. I took little solace in the fact my former employer lost 30% of their sales in Asia after I was fired. My victory was being bailed out of a tough spot by my Asian friends who quickly ensured my fledging advisory company more than replaced my prior income.

As I look at the late night traffic jam 28 floors below me and think about the last 20 years, I know I was fortunate to  be given the chance to live here and feel some measure of pride that I took advantage of the opportunity.