Whither the White Face
July 6th, 2009
The Chinese girlfriend of a guy I know recently presented to my friend the uniqueness of my friend’s situation in China. She put it to him this way, “There’s going to come a day when your white face will mean very little in China. In a few years unless you’ve got very special skills and/or you speak Chinese very well, there’s not going to be much for someone like you to be able to do in China. Unless, that is, you take some very specific steps for the future and stop taking everything here [read: 'including her' -ed] for granted.” My friend is pushing 40 years old and has been the manager of a factory in Suzhou for more than 4 years, living a life he would not be able to in his home country.
Later on, over coffee, my friend told me, “You know what? She’s right. There’s not going to be much for me to do, since I’m already pretty expensive for my company. And my Chinese is s&%t. And the [Chinese] girls will likely not be as impressed, either.”
What’s a white man to do?
The Chinese girlfriend of a guy I know recently presented to my friend the uniqueness of my friend’s situation in China. She put it to him this way, “There’s going to come a day when your white face will mean very little in China. In a few years unless you’ve got very special skills and/or you speak Chinese very well, there’s not going to be much for someone like you to be able to do in China. Unless, that is, you take some very specific steps for the future and stop taking everything here [read: 'including her' -ed] for granted.” My friend is pushing 40 years old and has been the manager of a factory in Suzhou for more than 4 years, living a life he would not be able to in his home country.
Later on, over coffee, my friend told me, “You know what? She’s right. There’s not going to be much for me to do, since I’m already pretty expensive for my company. And my Chinese is s&%t. And the [Chinese] girls will likely not be as impressed, either.”
What’s a white man to do?
July 6th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Spot on. Expats in China are going to have to prove their value again and again, improve their local market & operations knowledge and probably accept far less in the way of generous relocation allowances to remain competitive in China. This is the most competitive market in the world and that includes the labour market. Expats are going to have to work harder, smarter and faster to keep up with the extraordinary local talent emerging in the major metropolitan cities. This is natural and a healthy reminder that nothing is ‘owed’ to foreigners who come here to work, we are here to contribute. There is nothing like focusing on the job at hand, actively fostering local talent, building the business and making a valuable contribution to the organisation you work for to ensure job security. Arrogant, bullying behaviour or the expectation that the ‘party’ will last forever is naive and guaranteed to get expats localized real fast. All of us have to constantly rethink and reinvent our roles to ensure our contribution to the business is substantial, on-going, evolving and creates real financial returns.
My attitude is that I go out of my way to foster and mentor local talent. I learn a great deal in the process and believe maintain a positive and open approach confident enough that my own contribution to the business overall is substantial enough to enough my own on-going job security.
July 7th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Interestingly, Chris, I told a Western buddy of mine the dialog in the post. He said he had just told his wife the evening before, “I’m just not doing enough [to keep up with the changes in China]; I’m just not doing enough.” This feeling, despite studying Chinese language in China for the past two years while managing a China operation, starting another one and in negotiations to start yet a third one.
For those who are even half aware of their environment, China certainly gives one the feeling you can never stand still for too long.