GuavaTalk Blog

I’ve been reflecting a bit on this topic for the past few days. Before I moved to China in May 2007, I had vague ideas about why learning Chinese would be important for my future. I knew generally that China was a place of growth and opportunity. Moreover, I knew that with increasing numbers of Chinese returning from MBA programs and companies in the U.S. with expertise comparable to many Americans that Chinese language was becoming a necessity for anyone seeking to do anything significant in China. But when I arrived in May, I seriously wondered whether I would have any role to play in China and whether I had any comparative advantage.

I soon realized that my comparative advantage was not the professional expertise that I brought from working at leading companies in the U.S. but my ability to serve as a bridge between the two countries. Even though I have a background in management consulting and marketing from some America’s top companies, I realized that my intermediate/ advanced Chinese was not good enough for me to be able to be a superior strategist or marketer for a Chinese company operating in the Chinese domestic market, but it was good enough to communicate and connect with Chinese professionals. As I networked with Chinese businessmen through my business school network, I found that a lot of them wanted to talk to me. They wanted me to connect their companies to what they believed to be the opportunity that would separate good and great companies in China–the United States. No one has ever approached me in the U.S. to come in and be a C-level position, but in my first few months in China, I had informal discussions and offers to be the CFO of a hot tech startup seeking to raise capital from U.S. investors and to be the CEO of another startup, which had achieved domestic success but had only encountered obstacles and failure as they sought to enter the American market.  They all wanted me to join their companies and be the elusive connection that they’ve been looking for to the U.S.

China is really a hot place to be right now. It seems that power is with the entrepreneur, as investment capital is pouring into the country. However, in order for an outsider to take advantage of the opportunities here, I believe they will have to achieve some level of language fluency–at least up to the intermediate level. This will require taking at least 300+ hours of Chinese classes. This will enable them to at least be able to communicate and connect with the opportunities here and then allow them to a bridge between China and lucrative opportunities in their home country’s market.