Moving Away or Coming Home

Live Out Your Fantasy Working For Yourself In Another Country

As an entrepreneurial type, you can live out your fantasy of living in an exotic location and still earn money.

According to The Wall Street Journal's Career Journal (see "Expatriate Entrepreneurs Indulge in a Wanderlust Around the Globe"), the typical person who is successful is middle-aged and had been successful in careers at home. But, many younger people and so-called "trailing spouses" (spouses of employed people in countries where spouses cannot get work visas) also find success in starting their own businesses or putting together several part-time ventures. See a previous blog post reviewing the book Expat Entrepreneur by Jo Parfitt, recommended on this site.

The Internet has made it easier to transport businesses from one country to another, either to follow a spouse or to try living in another part of the world. Often, service businesses or those that provide resources to other expats are good bets.

Obstacles are: language barriers, loneliness, lack of a network with which to get business contacts, bureaucracy, corruption, and incomprehensible business practices.

What have you encountered in starting your own business abroad? Comment here and continue the discussion.

Understand Cultural Sensitivities to Succeed Globally

Many companies give little or no cultural preparation to employees whom they are sending abroad. True, they might apprize people of what to expect in the way of food, manners, bringing gifts, and climate, but what about the subtler issues that have to do with cultural differences that might impact on daily misunderstandings among employees?

Take these, for instance:

• Expecting Latin American business people to do things on North American time frame
• Directly criticizing an employee in front of others in Asia where saving face  and public humiliation are particularly sensitive topics
• Using indirect language to protect someone's feelings in Germany where people are more direct
• Expecting people to own individual achievement in Asian cultures where collective achievement and respect for authority are highly regarded values

Professor Geert Hofstede's research on qualities of different cultures is reviewed in the blog Working Abroad. See "The Role of Culture in Effective Global Management."

What inter-cultural experiences have you had working abroad? Have you made faux-pas that have affected your ability to manage in a foreign country? Have others embarrassed or insulted you because of their insensitivity to a cultural difference? Comment here or write to me at karma@lifespringcoaching.com

No More Cushy Life for Corporate Expatriates

What can you expect your company to offer you in the way of an expat package? Not nearly as much as in the booming '90s, you discover.

If you're thinking of relocating abroad, especially if you initiate the request, you have to be savvy to get benefits that offer you parity with what you earn at home.

If this day of corporate cost-cutting, lavish allowances for children's private school, travel back and forth to your home base, drivers and maids are a thing of the past. No longer do most corporate employees get the enticements they did a couple of decades ago to live abroad.

For employees from the US, the weak dollar vis a vis the Euro and other major foreign currencies is causing some distress, both for the global corporation and for the individual who attempts to find adequate, safe living quarters for the family.

Some prices worldwide, quoted in The Wall Street Journal (October 26, 2007), are as follow:

• A decent 2-bedroom apartment in the center of Moscow rents for $3000-$10,000 per month
• Renting a 4-bedroom apartment in the popular expat community of Minato-ku,Tokyo costs $12,000 per month
• A 4-bedroom house rents for $2500-$10,000 PER WEEK in chi-chi areas of London.

What can you do to feel comfortable living abroad and not jeopardize your family's standard of living?

What's In It For You As An Independent Global Careerist?

Cranfield School of Management conducted a survey of 500 readers of the website, Expatica, about their experiences moving abroad on their own steam.

One of the findings was that these independent global careerists were more likely to remain abroad for a longer period than their corporate counterparts.

They tend to gain more in the realm of personal development, especially in the arena of career goals, even though they are willing to take less challenging jobs at first in order to establish themselves in a new culture.

Dr.Noeleen Doherty of the graduate school said: "Individuals who embark on the heroic journey of expatriation take a risk, but the rewards are a positive life and career enhancing experience...Employers looking to stimulate interest in international working should be mindful that the willingness to expatriate is a key element in the hero or heroine's psyche that needs to be nurtured."

What compelled you to expatriate? Adventure? Risk? Getting away from the hum-drum? Comment here or write to me at karma@lifespringcoaching.com

RB Kitaj: The Legacy of an Expatriate Artist

My brother Ronnie, whom I've been writing about since his death on October 21st, came upon his wandering along with a rich legacy of family resettlers.

Our Dad Walter Kitaj came to Chicago from Vienna, just in the nick of time, as a Jew, albeit a non-practicing and non-believing one, in 1939. Our paternal grandmother Helene came to NY via Sweden from Vienna...Our maternal grandparents from Russia around 1900...And Ron's biological father from Hungarian roots.

As a kid my stamp collection was filled with exotic stamps from Ronnie's posts...1st as merchant seaman from the coasts of South America, then from Paris for his Army stint,then from art school in Vienna (where Hitler failed to gain admission),then from San Filieu de Guixols, in Spain, where he and his 1st wife and children spent holidays, then to Oxford, England, and finally to London where he spent decades as an expat artist.

What fuels this expat instinct in creative people?

Mark Twain Had Something to Say About Living Abroad

Twain wrote: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many people need it solely on those accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

How Global Careerists Respond to Their Unique CHallenges

To follow up on the last post, Roberta Neault in her article "Managing Global Careers: Changes and Challenges for the 21st Century," writes that life- work balance ranks as the biggest challenge in her experience with expatriates, much as it does for people who remain in their homelands. But it has a slightly different twist.

Managers describe additional hurdles:

• Balancing time between the ex-pat community and local people,
• Finding time to explore their new country and learn about the local culture,
• Time with family who might not acclimate as easily as the employed person

The usual quandary about how much time to devote to one's new job versus personal and family time is similar to their counterparts at home.

However, cultural differences dictate different perceptions of how much time to spend at work. In many countries the official vacation time is much more generous than in the US or even Canada. But with increased competition, international companies require that one get an awful lot of work done...a pressure point especially in countries where people are in the habit of going to the club or a bar and staying out drinking with one's colleagues late into the night.

Relationships with local people can be murky. Some managers in Neault's study mention their sense of an unstated expectation of locals looking for political refuge or even marriage. Some find that they are lonely and never quite feel as if they belong, even though they might spend years in that country and speak the language passably.

The "trailing spouse" problem is endemic to most of the world, where the spouse does not qualify for a working visa. He or she must find their way to exploring the new country, networking in an unfamiliar atmosphere, and build a life with few supports. I have written before about this issue...consult my other posts.

Health and fitness can be a formidable challenge in some parts of the world, where pollution is nasty and where fresh fruits and vegetables might be expensive and hard to come by. It isn't always possible to jog or even take a walk in some international capitals where cars and motor scooters shoot in all directions.

Even though someone is hired as a manager in a foreign country, she or he might encounter local people who hoard information and are distrustful of outsiders, especially when they don't speak each other's language at all or well enough to communicate subtleties.  Also, expat managers are often paid more than locals and that can cause tension.

If you are an expat working in another part of the world, I would love to hear your experiences about these issues. You may comment on this blog or write to me at karma@lifespringcoaching.com. See my website at http://www.lifespringcoaching.com

Challenges of the New Global Careerist

Who are the global careerists? People who have either been transferred to another country by their multi-national employer...or choose to immigrate to a country that attracts their sensibility and find work there through their home country's globalized corporations. In the world's now international economy... think Starbucks, Hewlett Packard, Coke... many people have become "global careerists."

It has an exotic appeal to live temporarily in a foreign country. In the past, employees were blessed with larger salaries and perks...maybe servants, even a driver, tuition for children's private school... not available if they had remained at home. These days, since so many local people have become business-savvy, foreign countries prefer to hire them instead of Americans or Canadians, so the competition is more keen for people from the Americas who want to live and work abroad. The perks are not so generous.

Then, too, the challenges can begin to wear on expatriates, once they establish themselves in a new locale with different values and customs.

Air pollution is one of these. Lots of smokers is another. Crowded cities the likes of which we don't know in the US or Canada. Unfamiliar foods and the possibility of chronic digestive problems. Difficulty finding good medical care.

The challenge of truly being conversant in another language is yet another. Or operating through an interpreter. Even though one's expected language for business conversations is English, if one wants to network (useful if not necessary) and make local friends, one cannot rely solely on English.

For the "trailing partner" finding or starting one's own work can be a painful task. See Robin Pascoe's books and website. Acclimating one's children to adjusting to a new country, to leaving that one and encountering a new one, and to repatriating to their home country...all of these are problems not always anticipated.

Some companies have decent support built into their systems. Most do not...or they focus on reimbursement issues, or problems encountered only by the employee's work environment, not on the total family satisfaction.

What to do? Dr.Roberta Neault, speaking at the 2007 National Career Development Global Conference, addressed these issues. She talks about what makes for success in today's global environment:

• flexibility
• cross-cultural competency, such as language skills
• resiliency
• sense of humor
• ease with ambiguity
• job search skills
• networking ability
• technical expertise

If you are planning to expatriate...or already abroad...or just repatriated, and feel at loose ends, no longer as excited as you were...consider working with a life coach to assist you in creating your desired life. Interested in learning more? See my website at Life Spring Coaching.

Hershey Wier, a self-development consultant, married to a Japanese man and living in a rural village in Japan, writes about the challenges of intercultural marriage.

From her own experience, she recommends that if you're thinking about marrying someone from another culture, and particularly if you're planning to move to your's partner's culture, do your homework first.

Visit that other culture; live there if possible; notice the way your intended relates to you and his family while at home. Many cultures in the world do not see women as equals, for example, and although the American or European egalitarian model might have rubbed off on some men, their more traditional mode of relating might return when back in their familiar culture. Gender roles surprises are a common cause for concern, Wiers notices.

Aside from gender role practices, a book by Dugan Romano, Intercultural Marriage: Promises & Pitfalls, discusses other potential trouble spots. When you do your trial visit to your partner's home country, notice these issues to see if the cultural differences are acceptable in your value system:

• sexual expectations
• relationship to in-law family
• raising children
• how they handle stress and conflict differently
• trailing spouse issues
• finances
• illness and pain

If you're part of an intercultural couple, either in your home country or in your partner's, comment upon your experience here...or write to me at karma@lifespringcoaching.com

Expatriates: Hankering for an Anchor

If you've been an expat for years, maybe decades, you might resonate with what Anna Esaki-Smith wrote about global nomads in the International Herald Tribune.

Lured by the exotic, attracted to exploring new cultures, many couples in their 20s and 30s solicited and accepted overseas assignments or even made their way to foreign places and set up shop independently.

But as they hit middle age, Esaki-Smith wrote, some become jaded, tired, ready to drop anchor at "home." "The change of cultures requires an amazing tolerance for 'otherness,' " says Rachel Zahn, intercultural consultant in Paris. 

But, the problem is, where is home? Some have been living abroad for so long that they no longer feel at home in their own birth culture. Certainly, the children of those middle aged parents, many of whom were born and bred abroad, see their home as the place where they're living or going to school, or if they've moved alot, they see themselves as global nomads.

Many families are now looking for a home base, a place to come back to, should their overseas assignments prove frustrating, alienating, unsafe, or, just "not-home." Many decide to purchase a little piece of land, a condo, or even a time-share in their birth countries. Even if they don't end up using it often, just the thought of owning such a property gives them solace.

Esaki-Smith quotes a friend who enquires: "To live as an alien, you find pockets of belonging, but in the end you wonder...Where do I really belong?

What is your experience of living abroad? Do you have a sense of permanence where you are, or are you hankering for a home base? Comment here or write to me at karma@lifespringcoaching.com.