A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with a woman from Shanghai. She owned a travel agency and she spoke very good English.

I was arranging tickets to Taiwan and Hong Kong. As I was talking to her we started talking about China.

She told me she was from Shanghai and stated people from Shanghai are proud of where they came from because Shanghai has a long history and is westernized.

So we talked about how I felt when I meet people from Shanghai.

I thought people from Shanghai had a different cultural background from the rest of China. She was surprised to hear that I knew the background of Shanghai.

She also showed interest in knowing the background of being a Korean-American. She liked Korean movies and the Korean soap opera.

As we talked we became very close resulting in a good deal on my tickets.

To understand someone else’s culture is the key to removing the cultural barrier in someone else. It is not that difficult to find out about other cultures when you have business associates and friends from those cultures.

5 Keys to Prepare You When You Meet Someone from Another Culture

1. Read a little history of the country that the person comes from.

2. Learn greetings from the other person's language.

3. Tell them about your own cultural background.

4. Ask questions about other people’s culture. Show an interest.

5. Be patient if you do not understand them. Ask questions with a smile. It’s better than nodding in agreement when you don’t know what they are talking about.

It is very important for you to know some history, give a greeting to break the ice, and it will help you establish a relationship with the people you meet.

Remember, you are a Superhero!

Jinsoo

When I moved to the USA in 1985 I got a chance to start working right away. My first job was in a manufacturing company even though I was working as an Engineer in Korea.

It was very scary to start working in an American company where everyone only speaks English. I remember that I felt intimidated as I spoke English with a heavy accent.

My supervisor, who was five years younger than me, seemed like God to me. Going to work every day was not a pleasant experience. But I had to do it to make a living.

Then one day I met Jill, who was a senior manager at the time, in this medical equipment company.

She had blonde hair and blue eyes, tall and very white. She was quite different from me.

She was the most popular manager in the company. She didn’t have special skills or special MBA training to become the most popular manager. She had a bright smile and she said good morning to everyone. She was always asking everyone, “Is everything okay? Do you need any help?” It made my day so bright.

Here are five tips to become a Fun Manager:

1. Smile every chance you get.

2. Remember people’s names.

3. Every time you meet someone greet and smile at them instead of just ignoring them. 

4. Don’t tell people what to do. Ask, “How are you doing? How is everything? Do you need help?”

5. Remember to have fun with your staff. Tell a joke.

In the global market fun is the global language if you work with a multicultural workforce.

When you make people’s day bright, you will be bright and happy too.

Remember, you are a Superhero!

Jinsoo

Bin, a Chinese-American, has worked for an insurance company for the past 10 years. She loved her job and wanted to work for the company the rest of her life. She always came to work earlier than everyone else and stayed almost a half an hour later than others at work. She worked very hard and always finished her reports on time for her boss, Chris. She always listened to Chris and created excellent documents.

Chris was promoted to Vice President of Sales. Now he is in charge of national sales, is very ambitious and wants to make his job the best.

Chris is a New Yorker, Caucasian-American, MBA, is an outgoing person who is kind and funny.

Bin thought part of his promotion was because of her efforts.

One day Chris called Bin into his office and told her she would not be getting an annual raise until she improves her communications with him.

Chris was seriously considering replacing Bin. He said he had asked her for feedback during the past year if she felt there was a better way to prepare the reports and that Bin never offered any suggestions. Over the past year Bin did not recall one time Chris had asked for her input regarding the way reports were being handled.

For Bin’s culture in China you never give feedback to your superiors unless you are asked.

Consequently, Bin felt it was unfair to get the evaluation she did because Chris never asked her for feedback.

In my opinion no one did anything wrong in this situation however cross cultural awareness in the workplace played a key role in this.

Here are five tips to prevent situations like this:

1. Give employees a clear job description and define what is expected from them.

2. Share common goals with employees. For example, "We want to increase sales and please share your ideas on how to do this."

3. Accept culture differences when you work with a multicultural workforce.

4. Have cultural training workshops for all employees.

5. Provide incentives for new ideas. Money talks. Recognition builds self-esteem.

If you accept cultural differences everyone can work together as a team. Clear communication is the key to success.

Remember, You Are a Superhero!

Jinsoo

I have a lot of business associates in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. I get a chance to talk to them about cultural differences.

For example, David who lives in Silicon Valley owns a high-tech company and he has around 20 nationalities working for him.


He always says people from Eastern Asia are not straight forward and dishonest. I was shocked because honesty is a big issue for these countries. If you watch Asian movies you would see people killing themselves for honor or to keep their word.

Many times, more so than in American culture, honesty is important. Obviously, there are some mistakes but I hear over and over that this kind of problem exists in the workplace. I was asked to come to the company to solve the problem.


Many times people from East Asia are trained from a young age to solve the problem on their own and be responsible when they grow up.

There is a possibility that they are trying to fix the problem on their own and report a good result to the boss. In general, their culture is honest and that is important to them. That is why cultural diversity education is playing a key role in the global education market. 

Here are five solutions for a better understanding of cultural awareness:

1. Put a diversity education program in the workplace for everyone including senior management.

2. Encourage positive attitudes for management is key to success.

3. Build trust with your employees. Say what you mean. Be open and honest.

4. Put yourself in their shoes. Remember when you were in a foreign country what it felt like.

5. Encourage people to voice their opinions.

Cultural diversity education is the key to success in a global company. Building trust among employees will remove this problem.

Remember, You Are a Superhero!

Jinsoo

Not long ago I was giving a speech on business for the Asian community.

From the podium looking down I could only see black hair, black eyes, and black suits and white shirts. Since I was teaching FUN Management to the audience, I made a joke out of this.

I told them the meeting was business casual and next time I expect them to be unique and wear more colorful clothes, stop being so serious and smile more. I told the audience to give positive feedback to everyone in the group.

The next day I spoke at a business convention for a young artists association. They are successful entrepreneurs. At the dinner table they wore all kinds of dress: shorts, colorful and very casual. In this community, I felt they were having too much fun and suggested they dress more formally. They were young and needed to understand the business side so business casual would be more appropriate for them. They all agreed.

Here are 5 tips for multicultural business success:

1. Be unique and dress accordingly for the ethnicity of the group.

2. Add some fun for color in your dress considering the type of group.

3. Smile to the people you meet and show respect according to their culture.

4. Be positive and give compliments when appropriate.

5. Enjoy the event and expand your horizon by making friends from different cultures.

It’s good to keep your own culture however if you are going to an event with different cultures, dress accordingly and enjoy and discover new diversity in your life.

Remember, You Are a Superhero!

Jinsoo

Last June I had a chance to visit the country of Dubai. I’ve been a multicultural expert working in San Francisco, California near Silicon Valley and I always thought the city was a wonderful conglomerate of people until I went to Dubai.

I heard in Dubai there are 190 nationalities living and working together in harmony.

If you work in Dubai you have to understand 190 different languages and customs and make them work together. Yes, I found out that their management style is very successful working with a multicultural workforce.

My F.U.N. Management™ program always emphasizes the benefit of working together with different nationalities to bring global success. I learned FUN is the main language when you work with a multicultural group. FUN is the centric language that brings everyone working together. It brings each person's creativity and uniqueness to the table. The company or country brings the best creativity to their business. Of course it is very important when you are nurturing others and give back to society.

Your thoughts, ideas, and agenda are crystal clear in your mind, yet the minute you open your mouth to share it, something gets lost in the translation. You realize that what you wanted to say didn’t really get across at all.

They only heard half of it and, as a result, took the wrong course of action, setting your project behind by weeks. Or worse, they completely misunderstood your words and actions and were offended, insulted and felt undervalued.

This is how it feels to do business with employees, customers, and colleagues who don’t speak your language or share your cultural beliefs. How can you better understand their needs to achieve results? How can you avoid sending messages you don’t want to send? How can you give your company an outstanding reputation in the global marketplace? How can you turn this multicultural minefield into a real goldmine for your company?

Overcome the barriers and create cross-cultural synergy for success!

One thing I learned at an early age was not to try to change people.

I learned to accept people just as they are.

I was always curious and wanted to know why people were the way they were—for example, some have lots of persistence and succeed, while others don’t even try. I pushed myself to learn new things and to understand people who were different from me.

Following My Curiosity to a Mosque

When I was young, my parents encouraged me to cultivate my curiosity. My dad brought home fascinating books for me to read, and I was especially intrigued by the exotic stories in The Arabian Nights.

As a high school student, I had been taught a lot about Israel. The Talmud, a collection of religious writings about Jewish tradition, was a top religious book read by people in South Korea. I learned that Israel was an amazing country, with a history of suffering to which many Koreans related.

Later, when I was in college, my family moved to An Yang, a town near Seoul, Korea. I frequently visited Seoul with my family during my summer vacations and always noticed the mosque there.

Still, when I passed the mosque in Seoul, I thought of the Middle East with fascination as I remembered my beloved stories in The Arabian Nights. My strong curiosity attracted me