September 22, 2010

There were 3 posts published on September 22, 2010 (this is page 1 of 1).

Think Like Chinese

I actually did something quite rare for me nowadays: I finished a book! The book in question was Think Like Chinese, by Zhang Haihua and Geoff Baker. I’d been looking for a book which went into more detail about Chinese culture and business and this fit the bill perfectly.

When I made my trip to China a few years back, I had heard that face was important to Chinese. Think Like Chinese really opened my eyes to just how important it is.

Face rules everything in Chinese life: from the smallest interactions to international relations. Now when I read about Chinese naval dustups and Google threatening to leave China I just laugh, because I know these situations could’ve been defused long before they ended badly. And now when my Chinese hosts honor me with a “spontaneous toast,” I’ll know it’s a face thing and I am expected to toast them right back.

China has a fascinating culture, especially for anyone interested in diplomacy like I am. With the right amount of kudos and back-slapping just about anything can get done and any misunderstanding smoothed out. Thanks to Think Like Chinese, all of this now makes sense to me. In fact, it seems so obvious now. The book helped me get in touch with my inner Chinese, and that”s a pretty powerful gift.

Exotic trips on the horizon

It seems my traveling life may be about to get quite interesting! There has been talk of me traveling internationally soon: Canada, Europe, India. Maybe even Africa. I’ve got to become more of an expert on the company product before I go flying somewhere but it’s pretty cool to think about. The travel was one of the coolest parts of my prior sales engineering jobs and it looks like this one will be no exception. I’ve just gotta hit the books before I’m paraded before folks as some genius!

CompUSA

My inner geek was thrilled the day that TigerDirect opened a store on Capital Boulevard. It was nice having a broad range of electronics items for Internet-store prices.

However, as time went on it became a chore to shop there. There were never enough cash registers open, and the rent-a-cop they had working at the front door took his job way too seriously. More than once I had stood in line with my purchases and then gave up and put them back on the shelf. I didn’t want to spend 20 minutes at the register, waiting to pay them my money.

Fortunately, TigerDirect bought CompUSA. They’ve been slowly putting their CompUSA stamp on this store. There are now plenty of cashiers available, the rent-a-cop is gone, the store is laid out better, and the sales folks are far more willing to help you than they used to be. It’s now a joy to shop there.

I still like to head over to the local Intrex for stuff, but the CompUSA store is my preferred place to shop.