International Cultural Differences (IB/PE professionals)

Hi all, I just had an interesting conversation with a senior in the industry and he was sharing how he found big cultural differences with the Japanese.

My experience is the following: Eastern Europeans: straight forward and direct in communication, hard working France: ?? UK: very polished, rarely straightforward, you must read between the lines, don’t rush into things, subtle with wealth Germany: very hard working, aiming for perfection in everything, can push hard to get things done fast Americans: hard working, money driven, respect rags to riches stories, direct communication (more polished version of Eastern Europe), and similar aggressive get-it-done attitude to Germans Japanese: slow moving organisations, require lots of analysis and data before making decision

What is your version of the above?

3 Comments
 

I don’t think you can characterize all of Japan as slow moving organizations.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Of course, these are just stereotypes. I’m just trying to figure out if there is anything in particular I need to watch out for when working with international colleagues

 

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The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.

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