Connecting with China: Business Success through Mutual Benefit and Respect

INTRODUCTION

I went to China prepared to connect and it made all the difference. My experiences of the Chinese outside of China had shown me the value of relationships and the importance of people in making business and everything else work.

 

My experiences had also been positive, except when business agendas and timelines encouraged me to be hasty or to underestimate the importance of people and the health of the relationships in my China work. This had happened to me only once and had made me see that without the familiar blanket of meaningful relationships - well made and well nurtured - the Chinese run for cover.

 

But what struck me from the first moment on the very first business plane was the sense of togetherness and harmony among the Chinese. I remember being in awe of the feeling of contact, communication and, to some extent, collective warmth of the Chinese. This was something truly fundamental. This quality, which I later realised underpins everything positive that one achieves in China, is connection.

 

As interesting as the observation of this quality was, my reaction to it was equally revealing, as this collective quality, and the responses it demanded, provoked both attraction and resistance in me.

 

On arriving in China, I realised that relationships and connecting well were everything. We were welcomed as vitally important in each meeting we attended, with lunches and banquets organised for us as cherished guests.

The collective from the beginning. Chinese colleagues, ...