Access to Asia. Waisfisz Bob

“aimless socializing and chatting” becomes clear when you realize how much more important relationship-building is in collectivist cultures than in individualist ones. In China, for example, the culture depends largely on guanxi networks through which favors and influence are passed from one person to another.

      Westerners often don't appreciate how important it is in Asian cultures to spend more time developing and maintaining relationships. This difference was highlighted in a cross-cultural communication course attended by an Indian interviewee who was surprised and interested to learn one of the “key elements of U.S. business culture”47 was the separation of our work and private lives. In contrast, one U.S. executive who is currently establishing connections in Myanmar pointed out that he will likely spend the next two years in meetings, having talks, hosting delegations, and attending dinners and luncheons before any business is secured.

      As Andy Molinsky so eloquently states in his book Global Dexterity,48 “adapting to new cultures without losing yourself in the process” requires establishing personal boundaries and knowing just how far you are prepared to modify them as situations arise. Some activities may not be for you. Knowing this beforehand will save grief and face for you and your Asian business partners. It is possible to refrain from participating without judging other cultures. Often the wise and more successful approach is to keep an open mind to new experiences, as the pioneering work of Stanford psychology professor Dr. Carol Dweck highlights.

       Mindset and Success

      According to Dweck's research, people who hold rigid beliefs as to what they can or can't (should/shouldn't) achieve have fixed mindsets. They tend to be less successful in the areas of business, education, and sports than people with growth mindsets. Growth people consider challenging experiences to be essential to developing new abilities. “Virtually all great people have had these qualities,” writes Dweck on her website.49

Table 2.7 contains example statements to help you identify how open or fixed your mindset may be to growth. Responses to these statements range from Strongly Agree, Agree, and Mostly Agree to Mostly Disagree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. To complete the entire quiz, visit url http://mindsetonline.com and click the Test Your Mindset link.50

Table 2.7 Statements for Determining a Fixed or Growth Mindset

       8. How Is the Concept of Women in Business Handled?

      Life is not as black-and-white as we would like it to be. The extent to which a female professional may experience challenges in Asia because of her gender depends on many things.

      The challenges that impact women in their home country often shed light on the business environment for international businesswomen. There is no hard-and-fast rule on the topic of how women are treated in the world of work, as you will discover when we ask this question again in each of the 10 country-specific chapters. In the meantime, look at Table 2.8 on page 24, the Booz & Company Third Billion Index, to see rankings for the Canada, U.K., and U.S., and eight of the Asian countries covered in this book. The Third Billion Index is compiled from a myriad of indicators that affect women'seconomic standing, including entrepreneurial support and equal pay. It features 128 countries whose scores range from 70.6 (Australia and Norway, ranked number one and number two, respectively) to 26.1 (Yemen, with the lowest score).51