4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10 2011

The Global ExecutiveA SPECIAL REPORT www.ft.com/recruit | twitter.com/ft_recruitment

Getting it rightWhich colours should you avoid whendoing business in China? Where is itnot acceptable to shake a woman’shand? Doing business abroad can bea cultural minefield and researchinglocal protocol is essential in avoidingmisunderstandings and cementingbusiness relationships, writes NatashaStidder. Here are some examples:

Japan●Do not blow your nose in public.●Smiles can express joy ordispleasure. Be cautious.

China●Formality is a sign of respect. Donot address a person by their firstname unless you know them well.●These gifts should be avoided:clocks, umbrellas, white flowers andhandkerchiefs – they signify tearsand/or death; knives or scissors –these imply “cutting” a relationship.

India●“No” is considered rude. Indians donot like to cause disappointment oroffence, so vague responses are used.●Family takes priority, so beprepared for lastminute cancellations.

South Africa●Women do not hold seniorpositions. Female visitors mightencounter condescending attitudes.●Do not interrupt people.

Middle East●Handshakes can last a long time.Do not be surprised if you are ledsomewhere by the hand.●A person’s word is valued morethan a contract. Only promise whatyou can deliver.

Latin America●Punctuality is less rigid.●Do not be surprised if someonecomes into your “personal space”, anddo not move away – it implies youare not interested in listening.

US●Expect people to multitask inmeetings, checking emails etc.●Business disagreements can lead toraised voices and strong language.

Europe●Punctuality can be less rigid, butdon’t be late.●Eye contact is important.

For more cultural tips and advice,go to www.ft.com/recruit

A culture clashcan turn into acostly mistake

When Walmart expandedinto Germany, the USretailer’s helpful salesassistants were met withsuspicion. It quickly became apparentthat such behaviour, unusual in Ger-man stores, was deterring customers.

Misjudgments by global brandsdemonstrate the importance of localknowledge, and the commercial conse-quences of getting it wrong.

One place to start is by creating aculturally diverse mix of people whocan provide knowledge of local condi-tions everywhere and can overcomethe risk of homogeneity and “group-think”. A narrow range of inputs canleave companies failing to under-standing local markets.

Matthew Hill, managing director atsearch firm Ambition Hong Kong,explains: “People from a different cul-ture will think differently, they lookat problems differently. If you employone type of person, you miss out onproblems being solved.”

Ambition itself abides by this idea.In Singapore 50 per cent of its employ-ees are locals. The remaining expatri-ate portion covers a breadth of nation-alities, including French, Australianand Filipino.

Paul Endacott, managing director ofAmbition Singapore, sees the benefitsof filling executive positions withlocal talent as two-fold. It is vital indemonstrating to local candidates theopportunities for progression withinthe organisation and it encouragesloyalty: “You can’t just rely on west-ern talent as the people tend to rotate.In four or five years they will want torelocate back to their home countries.So from a sustainability perspectivethere needs to be that diversity,” hesays.

This approach is growing demandfor global talent. Consultancies areincreasingly approached by compa-nies requesting candidates from vari-ous cultural backgrounds – sometimeseven specific nationalities.

Search firms agree that employinglocal talent enables companies torelate to their clients – locals areaware of how best to do business in aregion, enabling them to navigate cul-tural customs and consolidate rela-tionships.

A few years ago, Harvey Nashdecided that its managers shouldreflect the culture and nationality ofthe branches they ran – a revolution-ary idea at the time. Albert Ellis, chiefexecutive, has been pleased with theresults: “From a business point ofview it makes sense, because ourresults are better. So it’s good forbusiness and good for the bottomline.”

Managing such diversity requiressensitivity if the business is to remainharmonious. Laurence Monnery ofEgon Zehnder, the international exec-utive search firm, says it is the qual-ity of leadership that enables culturaldiversity to flourish, whatever itsbackground or mixture.

“Having different cultures aroundthe table can be very positive if youknow how to broaden and diverge,”he says. “But if you don’t know howto converge back, you are not gettingthese benefits.”

The ability to manage diversity is akey skill assessed by Egon Zehnder inpotential executive job candidates. Ina global business environment, MsMonnery says businesses have to beserious about creating and managingmulticultural teams.

However, in regions where certainindustries are relatively young, it canbe difficult to find candidates withsufficient experience – for example, inthe banking and financial servicessector in parts of east Asia. Everyregion has its perfect candidate, andin Asia this tends to be someone with

an Asian background but westerneducation and business experience,with essential language skills and theability to form a bridge between twocultures.

Mark Broer, of recruitment consul-tancy Spencer Stuart, says: “There isalways a preference for appointing alocal candidate. But in a number ofmarkets there is still scarcity of tal-ent. In China today lots of people areable and very qualified, but becausethere is so much demand and growththere is a depleted talent pool.”

When this is the case, demand shiftstowards calling in “global executives”,professionals who can hit the ground

running, whatever the cultural envi-ronment. This ability to absorb andflourish under potentially new andunusual conditions is a result ofmindset, not experience, say theexperts.

“Being a global executive doesn’tmean pitching up for five minutes indifferent countries,” says SiobhanMartin, HR director at Mercer for theEmea region. “Knowing where thebest lounge is at Tokyo airportdoesn’t add anything. It is no substi-tute for living, learning and imple-menting something within a differentculture.”

Ms Monnery agrees and emphasisesthat “experience without mindset isnot helpful. Just because someonespent two years working in a differentcountry, it doesn’t necessarily makethem multi-cultural.”

Being a successful global leader isabout engaging the workforce, whichplaces a premium on managers’ abili-ties to work across different cultures.They must be able to understand andappreciate the culture they are work-ing in, which requires research andemotional intelligence, as well as themindset to learn.

Mr Ellis says: “When I go to the USwest coast I tailor my dress and myapproach accordingly. They love infor-mality and if I walked in with a tieand suit many of the people workingfor us would simply resign. They’veactually told me that.

“But if I took the informal approachin our German office, it would bequite offensive to them.”

Reaching the “global executive” hasbecome easier since the emergence ofonline job-boards, resulting in morecompanies demanding an interna-tional remit for high-level roles.

Toby Fowlston, managing directorat recruitment consultancy RobertWalters, has witnessed this change inattitude: “Employers need to knowthe people they’re hiring are not justthe best people in a geographicalregion to do a job; they have to be thebest people in the world.”

Such demands can push recruit-ment further away from local talentpools, although an executive with thecorrect mindset will attempt to bringin local talent with the view to train-ing them up.

Mr Hill believes investing in inter-nal talent and fast tracking those whoshine sends a positive message tolocal employees. It can also be benefi-cial to the business, as they will beable to mould talent to their way ofworking.

Leaders will also ensure a person’sculture and experience is utilisedrather than stifled by colleagues orthe person themselves. Many consult-ants have witnessed employees sup-pressing their own background inorder to fit with the company culture.By championing diversity, this canbecome a thing of the past.

Natasha Stidder looks atthe importance of havingboth global and localknowledge and experience

Fitting in: tailoring what you wear to a region’s prevailing dress code can avoid causing offence Alamy

Spotlight Middle East

Expatriates working in the MiddleEast have very different attitudes andexpectations compared to nationalemployees, writes Natasha Stidder.

Foreign workers have created aunique labour market in the Gulf Cooperation Council states. But a studysuggests only 26 per cent of localemployees are comfortable with it;they crave structure and micromanagement, while expatriates wantflexibility and to manage themselves.

A full version of this article is atwww.ft.com/recruit