My dear friends, colleagues, clients and students:
Greetings once again! We hope you had a good summer. I certainly did! Let's get back into the full swing of things!
Thank you for your good feedback on the August 2007 newsletter which had the theme
How to Integrate International Professionals Into the Work Life of America.
In this issue we present another article along similar lines,
Proverbs and Maxims: Through the Looking Glass into Other Cultures.
Food For The Soul has two little quips, one by Charles Swindoll and another by Don Sutaria.
We also invite inquiries for help from personnel in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who may be affected during career transitions. All big pharmas (including some from this list: Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, Hoffmann-La Roche, Merck & Co., AstraZeneca, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Wyeth, Eli Lilly and Company, Bayer, Amgen, and Boehringer Ingelheim), have announced plans for substantial layoffs. It would be wise to be prepared now instead of waiting until the last minute! If you have not read CareerQuest's insightful article,
Big Pharmas - Quo Vadis (Wither Goest Thou)?,
now may be the time to do so!
Career Doctor Don Answers Your Questions appears as a regular feature in the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) - New Jersey Chapter Newsletters, which can be viewed
here. Don Sutaria is also a life member of ISPE.
Many of you have asked us if we provide counseling over the telephone and through email, as well as face-to-face counseling. The answer is 'yes' to both questions. Pre-paying with credit cards is very easy. Just a simple click on the
Services page of our website. You can also view past issues of this newsletter on the
Archives page.
Until we meet again through the magic of email,
Peace! Love! Shalom!
Don Sutaria, MS, IE (Prof.), PE
Founder, President & Life-Work Coach
CareerQuest
Proverbs and Maxims: Through the Looking Glass into Other Cultures
"I Spy" for Coaching, or
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Other Cultures but Were Afraid to Ask Your Mother!
The genius, wit and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs.
- Sir Francis Bacon
It makes very little difference whether the penguins of Antarctica know anything about the squirrels of Rock Creek Park. But it makes all the difference in the world whether we understand the crowded millions who inhabit the world. The world's very survival may depend on such an understanding on our part.
-
Carlos P. Romulo
When I was very young, my mother once looked at me and said, "The rabbit has three feet". I took that literally and from that point on for several months, carefully observed rabbits and noticed that all of them had four feet. I could not find a rabbit with three feet! I finally went to my mother and told her my dilemma. She explained to me that it was not meant to be taken literally, but it was only a saying, implying that "A person is embarrassed". Try to guess where this took place! (Answer #1 at the end of this article.)
This is just a humorous illustration to show you that a child's brain, even within its own culture, may not be able to grasp the impact of a proverb, maxim or saying. As adults, especially in a multicultural, multiethnic society, in our counseling practice, we may not be able to grasp the subtleties of cultures and sub-cultures of our clients. The more we understand other cultures, the greater will be our effectiveness in coaching diverse clients.
Webster's dictionary defines a Proverb or a Maxim as "a popular saying, expressing a truth or a common fact".
A culture's values, beliefs and experiences are encapsulated in proverbs and maxims and are passed on from one generation to another. They influence attitudes and behaviors. These bits of folk wisdom, truths and myths are absorbed at a very early age, and believe it or not, are also taken for granted.
Proverb or Maxim: A Popular Saying Expressing a Truth
or a Common Fact
Here is a mini-quiz! Guess where this saying originated: When an old man or woman dies, the village loses a library, because of the wealth of knowledge and information that they were able to share. The true meaning here is respect for older people, lack of age discrimination, and recognition of the fact that older people have a lot of knowledge to share with the younger generation. (Answer #2 will be found at the end of this article.)
Anthropologist Edward T. Hall has done phenomenal pioneering work in cross-cultural understanding. In his book,
The Silent Language, he has analyzed the many ways in which people in various cultures "talk" to one another without the use of words.
The Dance of Life is an important anthropological treatise on the cultural nature of time and a moving commentary on the problems contemporary America is causing itself.
The Hidden Dimension speaks of different cultures' concepts of space.
Gary Wederspahn, an inter-cultural trainer, speaker and writer has written an interesting book,
Intercultural Services, which provides many insights.
American Proverbs, Maxims and Sayings
Fast-paced Americans simply cannot understand why in many cultures the pace is more slow and leisurely. One just needs to take a frantic vacation to a neighboring country like Mexico to realize what I am saying. It is quintessentially American to say: "Time and tide wait for no man," "Delay is dangerous," "What's your point," "Just do it," (...I thought it was philosopher Nike who said it!...), "Get to the point!," "Toot your own horn," "Don't beat around the bush," "If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself," "If anything can go wrong, it will," and last but not least, "God helps those who help themselves."
Time and Patience (The tyranny of the urgent)
"He who rushes, arrives first at the grave." (Spain)
"When in a hurry, take the roundabout route." (Japan)
"The more haste, the less speed." (Japan)
"Haste is the devil's work and patience is from the Merciful (Allah)." (Arabia)
"Drips of water wear through stone." (China)
"Feather by feather the goose is plucked." (China)
"Little by little one walks far." (Equador)
"The peanuts don't grow until the rains come." (Zaire)
"If you wait long enough, even an egg will walk (the chicken will hatch)." (Ethiopia)
"Time is free." (India)
Fatalism and Pessimism (Prevalent in all cultures and an expression about our human condition)
"The hidden stone finds the plow." (Estonia)
"The best cloth is always the one that gets a spot on it." (Spain)
"Darkness lies one inch ahead." (Japan)
"The bread never lands but on the buttered side." (Britain)
Diplomacy (Calling attention to people's problems indirectly)
"Flies do not enter a closed mouth." (Colombia)
"Those who keep on smiling seldom lose their teeth." (China)
"Ceremony is the smoke of friendship." (China)
"He who speaks first loses." (India)
"The truth is one, though the wise state it in many ways." (India)
"Whoever goes softly, goes far." (France)
"To speak well and be agreeable costs little and achieves a lot." (Mexico)
"Only little children and drunks always tell the truth." (Mexico)
"If I have regretted my silence once, I have regretted my chatter many times." (Arabia)
"The mouth is the cause of calamity." (Japan)
"There are formalities between the closest of friends." (Japan)
Modesty (True value and worth being noticed without self-promotion)
"A sharp sword will penetrate its cover and eventually shine openly." (China)
"The nail that sticks up is the one that gets pounded down." (Japan)
"A hollow drum makes the most noise." (Japan)
"A red lacquer needs no decoration." (Japan)
"The old mare has a new red bridle." (India)
"A barking dog is never a good hunter." (Korea)
"The immature rice stalk stands erect, while the mature stalk, heavy with grain, bends over." (Cambodia)
Group Identity and Loyalty (Promotion of group effort instead of rugged individualism)
"Both a light burden and a heavy burden should be carried together." (Indonesia)
"My brother and I against my cousin. My cousin and I against the stranger." (Arabia)
"Stay with your old cronies even if your new friends enrich you." (Arabia)
"Children even share the head of a locust (the last bit of food even during a famine.)" (Africa)
"Man is a man through other people." (Africa)
"Posts support a yurt and friends support a man in difficulties." (Mongolia)
"A family must first overthrow itself before others overthrow it." (China)
Youth and Inexperience (Reverential respect for age)
"The elders of a community are the voice of God." (Africa)
"Children tie parents to the past, present and future." (Japan)
"Paradise is located under your mother's feet." (Indonesia)
"Beauty passes but wisdom remains." (Turkey)
"To succeed, consult three old people." (China)
"A youth that does not cultivate friendship with the elderly is like a tree without roots." (Africa)
"The youth walks faster than the elderly but the old person knows the road." (Africa)
"He is my Prince of Wales (eldest son)." (India)
Power and Hierarchy (All cultures do not believe that people are equal)
"Not even the five fingers of our hand are alike." (Afghanistan)
"When you are an anvil, hold still; when you are a hammer, strike at will." (China)
"Whoever wants to climb a ladder must start on the lowest rung." (Germany)
"Equality is not easy, but superiority is painful." (Africa)
"Even if thin, the elephant remains the king of the forest." (Africa)
"There is no good accord where every man would be a lord." (Romania)
Destiny and Fate (The struggle of self-determination versus fate)
"Man proposes, God disposes." (South America)
"What will be, will be." [Que Sera Sera] (South America)
"Man does not attain everything he desires; the winds don't always blow as the vessels wish." (Arabia)
"A wise person adapts to circumstances as water conforms to the jar that contains it." (China)
"Life is but a candle before the wind." (Japan)
"One does not make the wind blow but is blown by it." (India)
Entrepreneurship and Risk Taking (Care in not over-extending oneself)
"When you stretch up to reach higher things, you drop what you have under your arms." (Ethiopia)
"One bird in your hand is better than a hundred flying." (Mexico)
"Only a fool tests the depth of water with both feet." (Arabia)
"When a squirrel wants to die, it goes to the Towers of Silence (death wish)." (India)
"It is hopeless to try to embrace a mountain because your arms are too short." (Indonesia)
"Add caution to caution." (Japan)
"You don't hit a man on the head when you have your fingers between his teeth." (Africa)
"Even monkeys fall from trees." (Japan)
"Even if it is a stone bridge, make sure it is safe." (Korea)
Epilogue
Career counselors and coaches can gain tremendous insights into the cultural baggage of their clients who were raised in cultures outside the United States, by exploring and understanding the proverbs, maxims and sayings of international cultures. This may help explain their traditional values with respect to time, fate, diplomacy, modesty, group identity, age, power, gender, risk taking, money and willingness to change.
For as one comes to understand people who live by institutions and values different from one's own, at the same time one comes to see that these people are, nevertheless, at bottom quite like one's own people. The alien culture at first appears to us as a mask, enigmatic and repugnant. On closer acquaintance we see it as a garment for the spirit; we understand its harmonies and appreciate them. Finally, as acquaintance goes deeper still, we do not see, or for a time, forget the culture, and look only to the common humanity of the men and women beneath.
- Robert Redfield
(Answers: #1 India, #2 Africa)
Food for the Soul
We are often so caught up in our activities that we tend to worship our work, work at our play and play at our worship.
- Charles Swindoll
Did you ever notice that some of us could be starving in the middle of a feast? This is also called "The Alaskan Bear Cub Fish Syndrome". It is a term used by scientists to describe the cubs
who despite wading in the water for many hours, filled with salmons swimming by, go hungry because they are indecisive and cannot pick one fish. That is, they cannot focus on their target
of choice and thereby die unless their mother feeds them.
Does that describe the state of some of our clients and their career choices? Then it is up to us as career management professionals to gently empower them to break this deadlock and move forward.
Don Sutaria
Don Sutaria is Founder and President of CareerQuest (formerly New Life Career Counseling), located in New York and New Jersey. CareerQuest is also mentioned in "What Color is Your Parachute?" Sutaria is a consultant to individuals and various corporations, offering executive coaching and career management services. He has developed unique methods for capturing jobs in the new millennium. He appeared on a Phil Donahue TV special on unorthodox methods of job hunting. Known as "Career Doctor Don", he has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Star-Ledger, The Union Leader, WorkingSmart, SmartMoney, Fortune, Money, and on WINS and WOR radio. He specializes in counseling of international professionals, Generation X (age 20-29), career changers, freelancers, consultants, mid-career executives and people over age 50. He really believes that your career is a pathway to your soul.
Mr. Sutaria has over forty years of diversified industrial and management experience, complemented by training in career development and hands-on experience in career advising. He is an international cross-cultural trainer. He has also served on committees of several organizations, and conducted courses, seminars and symposiums at Columbia University, New York University, Nyack College, Alliance Graduate School of Counseling, Rutgers, and Stevens Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Association of Career Professionals International and the Career Counselors Consortium.
Don earned his MS degree in Management from Kansas State University, an IE (Professional) degree in International Management and Personnel Relations from Columbia University, and obtained New York University's postgraduate Certificate in Adult Career Planning and Development.
