5. Somehow or other , he made their
messages sound at least halfway sensible
to Americans. And when there was
something that even George couldn’t
“translate” into American-style sense,
he would write, “ This will sound crazy,
but you should go along with it anyway.”
17. It worked the other way around, too. When
the American managers visited Japan, George
accompanied us everywhere to ensure that we
didn’t do or say anything too stupid from the
Japanese viewpoint. Whenever we did that
anyway, he came to the rescue at once: “What
they really mean is …” Whole multitudes of
difficulties never arose thanks to George’s skill
at smoothing over small conflicts before they
became big, emotional and costly.
33. Since leaving that company in
George’s capable hands, I’ve advised
many firms on international operations.
And my first recommendation is always
the same: Don’t worry about language
problems—the first thing you need is a
cultural translator.