10.30.06
Communication effectiveness
From interviews of a job I posted recently, a consistent feedback on Asian candidates is that they are quiet, and somehow lack of “executive” presence and communication effectiveness. These are top-notch candidates from major VC funds or private equities who have been educated and worked in the US for many years. In my mind, they are very talented, well versed in analytical and business skills, as well as English language. When I talked to the candidates, I found their communication style to be on par with what I expected. So it is somewhat enlightening and intriguing to discover the feedback from my American colleagues. This is not the first time I get these feedback. Can this be more of a culture norm vs the true communication effectiveness?
In an Asian culture, it is considered as a great virtue to be modest and respect for others. As such, one tends to less commanding and pay more attention to others’ position. “Pushing back” or challenging senior leaders that represents “critical thinking” skills or “leadership” in the US is frown upon by their peers in Asia. Many Asian leaders are quieter and less confrontational vs their US counterparts. As such, Asian leaders tend to be considered to have less leadership skills and effectiveness. This can be one of many reasons why there are disproportional small number of Chinese/Korean/Japanese leaders in the top US corporations.
This communication and cultural bias is also true when US leaders deal with Asian counterparts. I heard many feedback from my Asian friends on US business leaders conducting business in North Asia to be boastful and ego-centric. What shows in US as “leadership” and “executive presence” tend to be classified as dominating and arrogant by Asian.
In a global economy where people are building business based on relationship and trust, lack of understanding and assume the culture norm equivalency can become a major barrier to foster a true multicultural leadership team that can react and perform well on a global basis.
