Here's how to drink with colleagues in Asia
By Zhen Ming
IN VINO veritas.
It's a well-known Latin phrase which means 'in wine, truth'.
It applies to people who become uninhibited when they drink too much alcohol and start to say what they really think.
The Chinese and Japanese also believe that drinking will enable a person to tell all.
But beyond drunkenness, drinking in Asia (just as in the West) also serves another important purpose - to size up the character of a foreign business partner.
Imagine this all-too-familiar scenario:
It's 2am. You're an expatriate sitting in a dark karaoke club somewhere in China.
Your colleague is making a tired but brave attempt at singing 'My Way'.
Your local partner (the host for the evening) has just fallen asleep again while a hostess pours you another glass of wine and enquires whether you're happy.
And your head is screaming out: I have a wife and two children back home. Must I be doing this?
Yes, you must. But there's a cleverer way to handle nocturnal activities in Asia.
So advise Professor Chow-Hou Wee and Mr Fred Combe in their 408-page book entitled Business Journey to the East: An East-West Perspective on Global-is-Asian.
It's perhaps the best (what they never taught me at Harvard) idiot's guide I've come across so far 'to understand better how Asians strategise and practise business'.
In this highly-readable book (published by McGraw-Hill Education), the authors blend the practical, cultural, and historical realities of doing business in Asia with many down-to-earth anecdotes and refreshing insights.
Throughout the book, our dynamic duo of cross-border consulting explore why Asians and Westerners think and operate differently, examine how the West needs to urgently reappraise its role in Asia and propose that the West adopt a new business approach that combines Asian and Western strategies.
According to Messrs Wee and Combe, the typical office executive in Asia puts on a mask in the office. So do his bosses, customers and other business associates.
However, after several rounds of drinks, the real feelings begin to spill out.
'For example, some people, under the influence of alcohol, start to crack colourful jokes, talk nonsense, or engage in harmless small talk... Worse still, they may even leak corporate secrets,' they wrote.
The whole purpose here is to shed inhibitions with business partners, colleagues, and friends.
And other activities
The authors also offer a useful tip on whether it's okay to turn down 'other extracurricular activities' (beyond drinking or karaoke).
'Unlike the pressures of drinking or singing, this situation is very different. It is very much discretionary, and they will respect your decision,' they wrote.
But the authors also offer this cautionary advice: Do NOT gloat about what happened the night before.
'In the West, it is common to find people talking and discussing about the good fun they had the night before.. Now this is something that you must never do in Asia.'
This 'as if nothing happened the night before' stance is a cardinal rule that is to be respected and strictly adhered to.
'Indeed, this is one of those very rare incidents where many Asians make a clear demarcation between what can or cannot be divulged about their social activities, especially those that occur at night... Any betrayal of this implicit trust and prohibition will not be easily forgotten or forgiven. It is a taboo not to be broken,' they wrote.
Source: The New Paper, Thu 08 Jan 2009
By Zhen Ming
IN VINO veritas.
It's a well-known Latin phrase which means 'in wine, truth'.
It applies to people who become uninhibited when they drink too much alcohol and start to say what they really think.
The Chinese and Japanese also believe that drinking will enable a person to tell all.
But beyond drunkenness, drinking in Asia (just as in the West) also serves another important purpose - to size up the character of a foreign business partner.
Imagine this all-too-familiar scenario:
It's 2am. You're an expatriate sitting in a dark karaoke club somewhere in China.
Your colleague is making a tired but brave attempt at singing 'My Way'.
Your local partner (the host for the evening) has just fallen asleep again while a hostess pours you another glass of wine and enquires whether you're happy.
And your head is screaming out: I have a wife and two children back home. Must I be doing this?
Yes, you must. But there's a cleverer way to handle nocturnal activities in Asia.
So advise Professor Chow-Hou Wee and Mr Fred Combe in their 408-page book entitled Business Journey to the East: An East-West Perspective on Global-is-Asian.
It's perhaps the best (what they never taught me at Harvard) idiot's guide I've come across so far 'to understand better how Asians strategise and practise business'.
In this highly-readable book (published by McGraw-Hill Education), the authors blend the practical, cultural, and historical realities of doing business in Asia with many down-to-earth anecdotes and refreshing insights.
Throughout the book, our dynamic duo of cross-border consulting explore why Asians and Westerners think and operate differently, examine how the West needs to urgently reappraise its role in Asia and propose that the West adopt a new business approach that combines Asian and Western strategies.
According to Messrs Wee and Combe, the typical office executive in Asia puts on a mask in the office. So do his bosses, customers and other business associates.
However, after several rounds of drinks, the real feelings begin to spill out.
'For example, some people, under the influence of alcohol, start to crack colourful jokes, talk nonsense, or engage in harmless small talk... Worse still, they may even leak corporate secrets,' they wrote.
The whole purpose here is to shed inhibitions with business partners, colleagues, and friends.
And other activities
The authors also offer a useful tip on whether it's okay to turn down 'other extracurricular activities' (beyond drinking or karaoke).
'Unlike the pressures of drinking or singing, this situation is very different. It is very much discretionary, and they will respect your decision,' they wrote.
But the authors also offer this cautionary advice: Do NOT gloat about what happened the night before.
'In the West, it is common to find people talking and discussing about the good fun they had the night before.. Now this is something that you must never do in Asia.'
This 'as if nothing happened the night before' stance is a cardinal rule that is to be respected and strictly adhered to.
'Indeed, this is one of those very rare incidents where many Asians make a clear demarcation between what can or cannot be divulged about their social activities, especially those that occur at night... Any betrayal of this implicit trust and prohibition will not be easily forgotten or forgiven. It is a taboo not to be broken,' they wrote.
Source: The New Paper, Thu 08 Jan 2009
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