"For anyone, either a Chinese person going to America, or an American going to China, the person has to have a sense of adventure . . . it's not so much getting used to it [the new culture], it's embracing it and enjoying it."
"If you trust people, they'll trust you back."
Douglas Shank, President, John Deere (China) Ivestor Corp.
There was a report on Chinese TV about Shank just now. He's mid-50s, balding, and fat, with pasty white skin and blue eyes. As president of the joint venture company, he's lived in the small Chinese town (in northeastern China) which houses the company's major factory, for the past seven years. He's become a part of the landscape. When there was a flood, he sandbagged with the natives. He does morning exercise with the old ladies. He talks with a drawl, but what he says is right on: trust people, embrace the culture, laugh off your struggles. Then, and only then, he says, can a business succeed. And his business has succeeded handsomely. Bravo to him.
