Wealth Without Borders Podcast
Business:Investing
Breaking the Wall of Assumption to Build a Force of Understanding with Valérie Hoeks
Are you sure you’re on the right track with your joint venture with the Chinese? How sure are you that you really know what you’re doing? Are you starting to have problems understanding the Chinese or are you just putting those problems under the rug?
Collaborating with the Chinese unlocks a new world full of possibilities, more leads, and higher sales. Though it may sound exciting, you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of it. How should you deal with joint ventures with the Chinese? Do they have the same perspectives as the Europeans have? Before diving into and committing your time and business to a joint venture or collaboration with the Chinese, it is important to understand the similarities and differences of both parties.
Change and difference are unavoidable. Break the barriers. Break the walls, and build a force of mutual understanding, and connection in order to achieve a fruitful collaboration.
Valérie Hoeks is a seasoned sinologist. She supports management teams throughout intercultural integration processes in post-M&A and JV scenarios in finding strategic and practical alignment among managers.
In this episode, Valérie talks about the value of understanding the differences between how the Chinese run a business from how Europeans do it. She shares her insights as well on how you can run a better connection with your Chinese partners through mutual understanding and communication.
What you will learn from this episode:
Discover the importance of being aware of different perspectives in a joint venture
Learn how you can improve internal commitment and support from your team and counterpart
Find out how to deal with the cultural and work differences of the Chinese from the Europeans
“You can break through that wall, the only thing you need is time to establish a connection and a true effort of mutual understanding.”
- Valérie Hoeks
Topics Covered:
01:44 - Valérie defines her ideal client
03:07 - Problems Valérie solves for her clients: Inability to understand the Chinese counterpart and lack of alignment and communication
04:10 - Frustration, disbelief, and doubt, why understanding the counterpart and good communication is needed in avoiding the bad scenarios
05:10 - Closemindedness, and sticking to one’s perspective is one of the common mistakes
06:26 - Valérie’s valuable free action: “I believe communication is a make or break of the Chinese collaboration. So, without a structural communication setup, all efforts taken prior to the step may be lost. So, this setup is for free, right. So, to better understand the interests of your Chinese counterpart, and related parties, and together and maintain support for your proposals, it's really crucial to ask the right questions and read between the lines.”
07:30 - Valérie’s valuable free resource: Go to chinainroads.com to know more about how you can break the walls of assumption in your business
08:23 - Person Alert: Sun Tzu
08:58 - Question that should have been asked to Valérie: Why should we change? Are the Chinese people also willing to change?
Key Takeaways:
“I believe communication is a make or break of the Chinese collaboration. So, without a structural communication setup, all efforts taken prior to the step may be lost.” - Valérie Hoeks
“So, to better understand the interests of your Chinese counterpart, and related parties, and together maintain support for your proposals, it's really crucial to ask the right questions and read between the lines.” - Valérie Hoeks
“I believe that awareness of the different perspectives is really the first step towards a successful collaboration.” - Valérie Hoeks
People/Resources Mentioned:
Sun Tzu
Ways to Connect with Valérie Hoeks:
Website: https://chinainroads.com/nl
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriehoeks/
Ways to Connect with Howard Whiteson:
Website: http://www.wealthwithoutborders.net
Podcast: https://wealthwithoutborders.net/podcast/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardwhiteson
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