Introduction

The China experience is so hard to put into words. Imagine these fresh first-world Americans just off the plane, stepping into a city of twenty-five million people. Two babies, no Mandarin skills, just the expectation that we were going to change the thinking of 1.4 billion people!

The China experience was like the early days of Dell in the United States: divide and conquer, except this time, in a different language. We quickly realized we didn’t know what we were doing, and our model didn’t work the same at all. We adapted over time and learned the culture. I recall traveling on buses stuffed with chickens to make sales calls in remote areas. Computers were delivered on bicycles.

It wasn’t always easy, but building and growing businesses across Asia was a unique experience. When you didn’t have resources, you just made things happen with willpower. The people across Asia turned out to be some of the most loyal and committed people…if you took the time to understand them and how they did business.

It was an experience I will never forget, one that changed me profoundly and, I believe, forever altered my view of the world for the better.

Embrace the Unknown

When you consider international experience and expansion as it relates to your business, what’s your first reaction?

Everyone wants to see their business grow, but when most people consider the realities of kick-starting international growth, their first reaction is a mix of trepidation, confusion, and fear. While most business leaders understand on an academic level the benefits of expanding internationally, the challenges involved in fostering and leveraging international experience are intimidating.

This reaction is normal, but smart CEOs and entrepreneurs will move beyond their anxiety. They know that a massive wealth of opportunity to expand and grow in sometimes startling new directions is hiding behind their fear of the unknown. In an increasingly interconnected world, the future for many businesses lies in embracing new markets along with the cultures, experiences, and different perspectives they offer.

My Life as a Laowai

I know the hesitancy associated with international expansion because I’ve been there too. I felt that same fear and uncertainty, and I came out the other side with an entirely new perspective on international business.

In 2005 I relocated to Shanghai, China, with my family. I was sent by my employer, Dell, to help build management capability among the local employees for the company’s Chinese operations. At that point, there weren’t many Chinese professionals with experience in mid- and high-level management. I was directed to coach them, put new processes in place, and help them grow the business so they could eventually take over on a local level.

I was supposed to stay for two years. In the end, I stayed for ten.

Laowai (老外) is a term the Chinese use to describe a foreigner and old friend, but also an alien, an outsider to the local culture. The use of the word started in the 1980s as foreigners began to come back into China for business and resurfaced political discussions. Some people think it has a negative connotation, but personally, I think it’s the perfect descriptor for what I was during my time in China.

I went through a series of phases and emotions I think many people who move or work abroad experience. When I first came to China, I was a true outsider. I arrived with an attitude and an ego: How hard could this be? I would show up, teach my colleagues what they needed to know, and that would be that.

These expectations quickly turned to frustration when met with the reality of living and working in China. Like most laowai, I was confronted with the deep cultural divide between the Americans and the Chinese. Everything I’d been taught about management, on both the personal and the professional side, seemed to directly oppose Chinese cultural and traditional practices. It was frustrating and confusing, and I stumbled quite a bit.

Part of the concept of the laowai is that no matter how much time you spend in China, and how much you try to assimilate, you will always stand out as a foreigner. You are constantly forced to examine and reexamine your preconceptions about the most basic things. You can’t become Chinese, but over time, you adapt and undergo a deep and permanent change to your outlook on the world.

Eventually, I found my footing and started to assimilate to the culture in good ways and bad. I refer to extreme cases of this as “going native.” I started to pick up local mannerisms and adopt more effective marketing and management techniques. I learned about the tricks, the games, and the backdoor dealings that make businesses in China tick.

Going native made it much harder to leave in the end. After a decade of living in that cultural environment, I found myself fundamentally changed. This alteration of my thought processes and mindset made it difficult to reintegrate back into US culture. Things that I previously couldn’t live without just meant less. I struggled to reintegrate into American culture and found that, while I had changed, most of the people around me had stayed the same. In the US, we are often distracted by trivial, nonessential lifestyle choices—things I like to call first-world problems. Do we really need several dozen different peanut butter options at the supermarket? Or fifty cereal choices? Or this constant distraction of choice? After my time in China, I really began to weigh the difference between needs and wants.

I had made a ton of mistakes in China, but those mistakes led me to learn some major truths about international business relations. I developed an awareness of the world outside of the United States and how it works. I learned that cultural dynamics change dramatically from place to place and have massive impact on how businesses can operate. I learned international politics, systems, and hard realities of life around the world. I learned about geopolitical strategies and how to position your business to be successful, areas to avoid, and acceptance of a world that we do not control. I witnessed the power and energy of people, no matter where they came from. I learned about the dark crevasse of politics, society, and the universal troubles all countries experience.

Start Thinking Internationally for Your Business

Before I went to China, I only knew how to do business one way. I don’t have an MBA, business degree, or formal business training. Everything I had learned up to that point was through my hands-on experiences through American companies. I understood what was traditionally done but not why. My experiences abroad helped me learn not only about different cultures but about potential new business practices. I overcame this immense egotistical idea that the US knows better and does better (what some call American exceptionalism). I came back to America with many more tools in my management arsenal.

These mindset shifts and thoughts are skills you cannot fake. I always marvel at how many companies use position titles, such as global head of marketing, global head of this or that, yet the person in that position has never lived outside the United States. I find that concerning because it means the company is not putting people in place who have the experiences necessary to foster change. The company may employ people who truly do have international experience, but they aren’t utilizing them in the right roles to really make use of those skills.

The frustrating thing is that many business leaders don’t even want to have the conversation about the benefits of international experience. People don’t want to hear these truths for a variety of reasons. They are insecure, set in their ways, or scared of change. They are unwilling to empathize with other cultures and admit that maybe we can learn a thing or two. This is a real shame because obstinately putting your head in the sand means that you miss real opportunities to learn, grow, and improve your business and yourself.

Many large companies already have a huge presence overseas. They may or may not need to hear this message. But midsized companies that are trying to grow can’t afford to ignore the opportunity to go international. If you only focus on expansion inside the US, you’re limiting potential growth. There’s a bigger opportunity out there in many markets across the world to test new products, find new solutions, and expand. This is specifically true in Asia, with its large populations and openness to emerging technologies.

But to leverage those markets effectively, it will be crucial to hire dual or foreign citizens who can use their experiences to work with other people across the globe.

Soft Skills in the New Economy

We are currently in the middle of a global technological revolution, what some call the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Businesses are abuzz over new innovations and breakthroughs in AI (artificial intelligence) driven by deep learning, the IOT (Internet of Things), which enhances productivity and a resurgence of blockchain technologies. These...