TEL:050-5532-3428 English
TEL:050-5532-3428 English
April 19th, 2023
Many of my Japanese clients have continued working abroad after graduating from business/grad school. In fact, I currently have former clients living and working in (among other countries) Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, the UK, and the US.
Recently, I reached out to some of these clients to ask them for insights on what has helped them thrive abroad. I got several great responses. I would like to share one of them with you. When I read it, I was so impressed and felt compelled to share it with my readers. This is a client who earned an MBA in Europe and has been working at a very high level of success in the US for more than 10 years.
I’m sure you’ll find it very useful:
“1) Be unique and valuable in the ecosystem. I originally wanted to be just like other Americans, but I realized then I’ll lose my edge. After all, leveraging my edge of understanding different business cultures worked really well for me. The valuable part can be just frequent catch-ups or being kind to others (or sharing information about Japan!). You don’t have to be smart or experienced to be successful, but if you’re a good person, willing to help others, people would appreciate your presence.
2) Be authentic and go a little bit out of your comfort zone to build relationships. Japanese people may think a network comes from exchanging business cards, but it’s a human-to-human relationship. Being curious about others personally and connecting as individuals is important. I do lots of one-on-one calls, lunches, coffees, and drinks to achieve this.
3) English! It’s a skill. The more fluent you are, the more you can express yourself and connect with others. It’s a very basic skill but a must-have.
4) Have lots of mentors and role models. They change over time, but I’m forever grateful to all my mentors throughout my career. Having someone I could reach out to when I was stuck or lost has been a great help to me.”
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