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An issue that we often see in China is people dealing in stereotypes. They very
quickly put people into boxes,
but a very similar issue that we see is where people judge other people by
their own standards and I'm not talking about moral standards. I'm talking about their
interests, what's fun for them. What would motivate them.
What would inspire them to do things and we have to remember not all
people are the same. We need to think about who we're dealing with
to be able to provide the right motivation or in this case activity that
they're after.
So as an example
a while ago I got a phone call from a PA who I've known for years,
a very intelligent, mid twenty year old girl,
very professional,
who is the PA for very senior
German manager.
She'd received a phone call from him
asking her to arrange a day
for him and his fellow senior management
team. He'd asked her to arrange a morning of meetings, which were to be
very serious meetings
and then in the afternoon a fun activity, so they could relax after
the serious meetings.
She wasn't sure what to arrange, so she'd rung around some of her friends.
As it turned out, one of her friends had recently come back from what she
called 'a fun activity'.
And that fun activity was going to the north of Beijing and fruit picking
with a group of friends.
The problem here is
that she was asking
another Chinese girl in her mid twenties what her idea of a fun activity
was
and then considering applying it to a Germna guy who was in his fifties.
It's possible they would have the same interest, but the chances are very slim.
The reason for her calling me was just to check, as a older Western guy,
just to double check
"fruit picking.
It's meant to be a lot of fun. Would you enjoy it?"
I had to answer honestly and say, "No."
"After a morning's meetings, particularly
high-level, high-pressure meetings
I want to unwind."
"And given that you've been asked to provide a fun activity, this wouldn't be
a relaxed glass of wine. This would be something more active, something very
different to the sedentary morning that they'd already had."
Now, it turned out that on the outskirts of Beijing there's a firing range, where
for a fee you can
fire various types of weapons.
I suggested this to her.
She checked it out
and booked it.
She contacted me two weeks later,
she was very happy,
it turned out the Germans had said
that they've never had so much fun in China and that going to the shooting
range was the perfect antidote
to the serious morning's meetings.