Bicultural People and International Business Dexterity

I’ve been going back to this slide I saw at a talk a couple months back. Having professional experience in these five markets, these points resonate.

For a global company allocating resources, it’s worth considering playing to the strengths of each market. The move fast and break things mentality in the US is great for developing user driven growth of self-service platforms, but that mentality is less useful in producing quality hardware components.

Working through differences requires understanding the delicate goldilocks zone for opportunity where both parties might be a bit out of their comfort zones but not in the danger zone where people are uncomfortable and distrust each other.

Bicultural people (linked is a classic article on Bicultural People and their Value to Organizations by INSEAD), if the contextual adaptability from their upbringing and lifestyles are cultivated properly to be able to apply to a professional setting, have innate advantages and a special dexterity to finding these zones for growth and collaboration. Utilizing these skills can be a huge asset to organizations operating across cultures.

我在一個台灣美國商協會舉辦的演講會看到這個投影片。這些例子形容各國家的企業文化差異。因為我在這五個國家也有相關工作經驗，所以這些觀點引起了我的共鳴。

對於一個跨國公司而言，值得考慮如何分配資源以及按照各區域特性分配專案是值得探討的。美國知名的 “move fast and break things” 快速行動和打破常規的思考模式對於開發用戶驅動的自助平台成長非常有用，但這種觀念在生產硬體組領域件方面就不太適合。

要跨越這種差異需要透過彼此理解和來達到一個平衡點，而兩者之間的平衡區域又可以稱為一個“金髮姑娘區”。在這區裡雙方可以實現各種機會，雖然雙方可能會有點超出自己的舒適區，但不會處於讓人們感到不舒服和互相不信任的危險區。

雙重文化的人士雙文化背景的人(附一個INSEAD的經典文章)，描述雙文化人士如何為組織做出貢獻，如果能將他們在成長環境和生活方式中所培養出的情境適應能力，適當的應用於專業環境中，便能展現出與生俱來的優勢，以及在尋求成長和合作方面的特別靈活性。對於跨文化經營的組織來說，利用這些技能可以成為一筆巨大的資產。