Our expat exec panel consistently says that COVID-19 is giving the opportunity to see their challenges and opportunities in a different light. But from unexpected vantage points.
A former expat VP in the Hong Kong healthcare market reflects that his time to process incoming data is different than in the pre-COVID time. “I don’t necessarily have MORE time than before…but my time seems to be more programmable and controllable. My agenda isn’t driving my thinking. That makes my thinking clearer with more time for ‘pondering’.”
Expat execs are used to wading through not only the operational and business hurdles but also the deeply confusing space of inter-cultural communications and language. In email or calls, expat execs have to make split second judgements on what the local colleague is trying to say…often in their second or third language. It’s difficult.
“The pause provided by this pandemic is truly helpful in slowing down my thinking” he continued. “Instead of ‘read-react’ or even worse ‘read-react-retract’, I find myself with the ability to ‘read-reflect-respond’. This momentary reflection time is clearly something I need to cultivate after the crisis subsides.”
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