Larry S. Persons, PhD A Delicate Balance: Giving Performance Feedback to Thais This is Part 2 of our series on How to Be a Good Ex-pat Leader in Thailand. To read Part 1, where we focus on establishing a foundation of trust,...
Larry S. Persons, PhD It All Starts with Trust Think back. Remember your feelings the first time you saw the boundless horizon of an ocean? Moving abroad to work in an unfamiliar culture is a lot like standing on a virgin beach and gazing at a delightful expanse of...
Larry S. Persons, PhD If you’re a foreigner working with Thais, remember that you are as strange to your colleagues as they are to you. Symbols of this disconnect, like the language barrier, are as obvious as the nose on your face. But far more obtuse are the hidden...
People with ‘face’ in Thai society feel a deep sense of worth that woos them to expect special treatment. But Covid-19 doesn’t really care who you are. This nasty villain is upending social rules and changing the way we all live, including people with wealth, status, titles, talent, fame, and good looks.
Larry S. Persons, PhD To live, we make assumptions. We sit on chairs assuming they will hold our weight just fine. We step into elevators assuming they will take us to the precise floor we’ve chosen. But assumptions can be risky because they’re invisible and rarely...
Larry S. Persons, PhD Cultural training has taken a bad rap. What do I mean? It’s an optional “soft skill,” something you address if you have surplus in your budget and you’re looking for a feel-good team activity. In other words, it’s inconsequential. It can’t...
Larry S. Persons, PhD CULTURE is everything! “Don’t be ridiculous,” you say, but hang on. Let’s think about basic communication. You want to tell me something? Well, what language will you be speaking, and do I understand that language? If it’s a language we both...