Want to make a difference and avoid holiday shopping?
On behalf of all of us at Swiss Consulting Group, I send you my best wishes for a happy holiday season. May the coming year be your best year yet, and may it bring you the well-deserved fruits of all your labors this past year. (In fact I call it the Year of the Fruit...)
On a larger scale, may 2006 be a year when leaders at all levels and from all walks of life, in business and society, learn to communicate - and listen - across boundaries. Let us make sure we never reduce ourselves or our fellow human beings to one single identity. After all, in enlisting Hutus for killing Tutsis in Rwanda, perhaps the biggest culture clash of the 1990s, potential recruits were told that they were just Hutus ("we hate Tutsis") and not also Kigalians, Rwandans, Africans and human beings1. Let us remember that the same person can be a US citizen, a Swiss citizen, born in Paris, of Austro-Hungarian ancestry, a democrat, a man, a movie buff, a writer, a teacher, a political economist, and a businessman (me, for example). Let us build a world where difference is not an obstacle, but a contribution to greater communication and accomplishments.
In that context, I would like to introduce my old friend and colleague Klaas van der Horst to you. Klaas and I met in Paris in 1988 and have worked together off and on over the years. Recently, Klaas joined our global executive team and took responsibility for our books worldwide. Here is his story.
1I owe this idea to the economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, with whom I worked in London in 1990.
Dear Reader,
I am thrilled to share with you the extraordinary impact Thomas's books have had on me and the over 16,000 other individuals and organizations worldwide who are using them to deepen their leadership competencies (in particular as top communicators and cross-cultural managers) while getting the results they want.
My wife had been working on translating Communicate or Die into French (it's coming out in early December - pour les Français, cliquez ici http://www.hexalto.com/?p=livres), and I frankly had not paid much attention for much of the year. But that changed one weekend. I found myself reading the French manuscript - and I was hooked. Here was the most useful book I had read in years. It was a profound experience: it was like sitting in a workshop and being coached by a superb trainer. I realized that Communicate or Die is extremely relevant to the key issues we face - in our organizations, in our relationships, in our societies.
For many years I had dreamed of having my own restaurant, and becoming one of the rare chefs who earned the distinction of at least one "Michelin" star for the restaurant. My oldest son Björn left home at seventeen - and broke my heart. He gave a sign of life from time to time, but I felt he had gone out of communication. A decade later he showed up - and was employed in one of the restaurants of the famous chef Alain Ducasse. Today Björn is thirty-three and has already earned his first "Michelin" star in one of London's top restaurants. When I read Communicate or Die, I suddenly saw how poor my speaking - let alone my listening - to Björn had been over the years. I also realized how proud I was of him, and I told him (using the tools from the book). This simple communication has completely transformed our relationship. Recently Björn looked to employ a coach to help him achieve his ambitious objectives (in short, a 3-star "Michelin" that makes money). I offered to be that coach. He accepted, and I was moved and honored in ways I can hardly describe. The first assignment I gave him is to read Communicate or Die, and do the exercise on page xxi. To give you a taste, here it is.
Lab: Leadership-In-Action
What objective is so vast that it would stretch you way beyond who you are today?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
By when?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What is missing in your leadership to meet this objective?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What blockages (in you and around you) will you need to transcend to meet the objective?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
(I am aware that most people skip over these types of labs. But maybe you will find it in yourself to invest a few minutes in answering these questions. It's a great time of year for this type of exploration.)
The experience with Björn gave me an idea: the biggest difference I could make was to commit myself to making the book available to everyone I knew. I ordered 150 copies of Communicate or Die for my business and personal relationships. It seemed like I wasn't the only one:
Read more testimonials and excerpts here
Clients give rave reviews
We purchased 165 copies as our Holiday gift for clients (family and firends get them also!). It is a quick read with practical recommendations on improving skills coupled with stories. [These] skills are critical for leaders ... leaders in business, community leaders and in leaders in familes ... actually for effective leadership in each of our own lives. It applies to everyone!
- Suzanne Frindt, Principal, 2130 Partners
Then I read Thomas's other book, Culture Clash - and realized that here were the tools that any manager, politician or salesman confronted with cross-cultural issues and committed to success must use. To put it simply: the more people read Culture Clash, the more businesses and societies can bridge the cultural differences they are facing, and the less cultural clashes (from the recent riots in France to violence in the Middle East, from lawsuits to culture clashes at DaimlerChrysler) there will be.
Culture Clash would have made a difference in my work In the 1980s and early 1990s when I worked as an interbank money market broker in New York and London. My results with colleagues in European and North-American banks were excellent, but this cannot be said of my Japanese accounts. Meanwhile, a colleague of mine had non-stop extraordinary results with his exclusively Japanese accounts. What was going on? He later he told me that he avoided all technical questions; what he did do was spending virtually entire nights with his Japanese customers, entertaining them and building ever-deeper relationships with them. Then, during business hours, his Japanese friends pushed all sorts of lucrative deals in his direction. I wish I had known the Pyramid of Global Leadership™ from Culture Clash then!
But back to the present: I bought 75 copies of Culture Clash. Call me crazy, but when I see a good thing, I want to share it with everyone.
Clients give rave reviews
Communication and culture clash are both key issues in any global company. The two books are linked - by listening and communication you can overcome major cross-cultural obstacles. Good stuff; I love these books.
- Steve Baird, Senior Management Advisor, UBS
Read more reviews and excerpts here
Here is my appeal to you. This season, give your people - colleagues, clients, friends - something more meaningful than the usual company pen or watch or bottle of wine (and having lived in Paris for many years, nothing against wine, of course!). Give them the gift of a new skillset. You will not regret it; they will be grateful to you for a long time. And it may well be the smartest investment in your people's productivity you can make. Best of all (at least from my point of view), you avoid holiday shopping! Simply click here to read excerpts and/or place your order.
Thanks for what you do to build a better world, and Happy New Year!
Klaas van der Horst is a member of Swiss Consulting Group's global executive team. A former interbank money-market broker, he lives in Geneva. He and his wife Azucena have four children. kvdh@swissconsultinggroup.com or [41]21-803-1457.
Co-Branding Opportunities
Quantity Discounts
English Edition
Communicate or Die and Culture Clash (SelectBooks)
Give your people the gift of a new skillset. Order your holiday gifts today at
www.amazon.com (single and double orders) or
www.swissconsultinggroup.com/book.php (bulk and co-branding orders).
Edition Française
Communique ou Meurs (Editions Tricorne)
Commandez aujourd'hui à http://www.hexalto.com/?p=livres
Deutsche Ausgabe
Communicate or Die (Gabler Verlag)
Chinese Edition
Communicate or Die (CITIC Publishing House, Beijing)
For more information, contact books@swissconsultinggroup.com
Or liyinghong@citicpub.com
For more information, contact books@swissconsultinggroup.com.
Give your people the gift of a new skillset. Order your holiday gifts today at
www.amazon.com (single and double orders) or
www.swissconsultinggroup.com/books (bulk and co-branding orders).
