SXSW Part 1: Access to Asia
Today we travel to South by Southwest, Austin’s international festival of media and tech, to talk to filmmakers, musicians, and entrepreneurs. There’s so much going on we decide to split up so we can meet, and interview, as many people as possible.
Emmet Glynn, our sound producer, takes the lead in this episode interviewing Sharon Schweitzer, founder of Access to Culture and best-selling author of Access to Asia. She talks with Emmet about her company, and how important it is for entrepreneurs to understand cultural differences when moving a business abroad.
Meanwhile, me and Sebastian are listening to Malcolm Gladwell talk about driverless cars, how they’re an inevitable part of our future and the risks that are involved with them.
“You can really increase revenue and your bottom line by understanding cultural differences.”
Time Stamps:
0:55 - Why we’re going to South by Southwest and what we’re looking forward to there.
4:33 - Arriving at South by Southwest.
6:12 - What Access to Culture is and how they help people.
7:02 - What the biggest challenge people face is when moving their business to another culture.
8:52 - How crucial understanding cultural differences is.
10:31 - Who Sharon's book is aimed at and what types of clients she gets.
11:50 - The social faux pas in America and the strong unique beliefs Americans have.
14:45 - Sebastian's thoughts on Malcolm Gladwell’s talk on the future of driverless cars.
16:00 - An example of a German company that came to Austin.
17:41 - The fast growth of Austin and where it’s going to be in the future.
18:28 - How Sharon became a successful entrepreneur.
21:35 - How to find and contact Sharon.
22:38 - How Sharon helped a client overcome cultural boundaries in a difficult situation.
Resources:
Connect with Kevin Turley: Website
Connect with Sebastian Sauerborn: LinkedIn
Connect with Sharon Schweitzer: Website - LinkedIn - Twitter
Connect with Malcolm Gladwell: Twitter
Episode Transcript
Episode 14: SXSW Part 1 – Access to Asia
So a lot of people choose to start a business in Texas because there is no state level income tax for individuals, that’s true for Florida as well and a couple of other states, but-
You’re listening to Move Your Business to the United States, with me, your host, Kevin Turley.
Frequently is the lower level of- [music]
Kevin: I’m sitting in a car, been driven to South By South West, Festival here in Austin, the annual festival, world festival, for Mount Bonnell, I’m with Sebastian Sauerborn, CEO of Mount Bonnell Advisors, we have our senior content producer, Emmett Glynn, and we have our driver Mason, who’s a real Texan, Mason say hello
Mason: Hello
Kevin: Sebastian, we’ve all come a long way, ten hours on the plane from London to be here on the South By South West, what are you hoping to find at South By South West?
Sebastian: So, I’ll have to say that this is the first time for me ever to attend South By South West, even though I have been living in this area, for quite a while in the past, so I’m really excited, I’m not exactly sure what to expect I find the schedule a bit overwhelming there’s so much going on, you know, they have the main tracks and they have all sorts of events all over the city if not the region almost, so it sounds really exciting, there’s a lot going on, we are really interested to talk to entrepreneurs and experts on entrepreneurialism, media folk. And today I’ve decided to go a bit with the flow, maybe follow Kevin a bit around, then let’s see what happens. I’m sure we’ll meet a lot of people, and that’s going to be the most exciting part.
Kevin: Yes, I think you’re absolutely right, Sebastian, I think, there’s almost too much on offer, and we also have to pace ourselves a little bit, because Mount Bonnell Media, Mount Bonnell Advisors, are here for the full ten days, looking at the different strands and in particular the two strands this year, are artificial intelligence and also, the whole block chain, crypto currency phenomena. So, we will be, hopefully meeting some people involved in that world from both America and abroad. The other thing that was said to us about coming to South By South West the word serendipity, which means, chance, which means a nice meeting by an unexpected way. So, we’re open to that here today and this week. Emmett you’ve come with the usual battery of equipment, what are you looking forward to at this year’s South By South West?
Emmett: I guess, last two years, yeah, since my teenage years, I’ve looked at South By South West as the mysterious and attractive festival to come to. Something which a lot of my favorite bands went to, and I’ve always wanted to check it out, to be there, I never thought of actually having the chance to be there, so it’s a great honor to be here. I guess I’m looking forward to capture the atmosphere of it, we just spent a little while last night picking up our badges and I can already sense it’s like a tidal wave approaching it’s like a lot of people buzzing around, there’s a lot of people from all parts of the world, you can tell from all different industries and lots of people who want to be noticed and it’s a really creative and buzzing environment so I guess it is a lot of what I’m looking forward to sharing that with our listeners and with our audience through the lenses.
Kevin: I mean this is a world class festival so my expectations are quite high I have to say, we are working here this week with some world class people in their various fields, from filmmakers, musicians, people working in the entrepreneurial endeavors throughout the world and the plane from London was packed with entrepreneurs from all across Europe and I think that’s just an indication that we are going to be with like minds, we’re going to be very busy this week. Obviously we are going to interview a lot of those people, and I’d be very interested to see what comes out of it. So, I have one last question as we’re approaching Austin now and that is to Mason, Mason, what are you expecting this week from South By South West?
Mason: Traffic [smiling]
Kevin: A man of few words, our driver Mason but very succinct, traffic is indeed the case, cause we’re seeing a massive snarl up here on the A-35 as we hit Austin. Okay, so for now overnight and next stop inside the conference center.
Emmett: So, hi, I’m Emmett, I’m the guy behind all the sound effects and editing that goes into an episode of Move Your Business to the United States. I hope you’re enjoying the series so far, and here we are, at South By South West 2019. Me and the guys have split up today, unable to comprehend all the stuff on the schedule, we’ve decided to go opposite directions, and meet as many guests as possible. So, you’re with me this morning and we are on our way to meet Sharon Schweitzer, author of Access to Asia, your multicultural guide to building trust, inspiring respect and creating long lasting business relationships. It’s a bestseller, and she’s agreed to meet up for a mentor session this morning at the Marriott. And we go, which door is it-
The mentor sessions are one of the many ways South By South West aims to connect people from all levels of industries. All kinds of people are there, young developers, girls and boys, dressed in casuals meeting giants in the world of coding. Others, filmmakers sitting down for a fifteen minutes slot with an award winning director. And me, this morning sitting down with Sharon, a bestselling author. Listen in as we chat discreetly, trying not to disturb the tables around us.
So I’m here with Sharon Schweitzer, thank you for joining us at this podcast, this is actually the first in the day, so, it’s very much a maiden voyage of this week of meeting people and networking, on behalf of Mount Bonnell, so how are you doing this morning, Sharon?
Sharon: I’m doing very well, and I’m delighted to be here visiting with you, especially with your Irish background so, Happy St. Patrick’s Day, early
Emmett: I’m charmed already [smiling] so Sharon, you are the founder of Access to Culture. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Sharon: Access to Culture is a consultancy that I founded in 2006, and what we do is we help bridge cultural differences, so basically we work to provide cultural solutions, whether you’re doing cross country, whether you’re doing cross-cultural, whether you’re doing Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, wherever you may need assistance that’s what we do. We have one book out, called Access to Asia, and we are working on the second book now. So, we work with a number of different cultures but really the bottom line is helping people understand their own culture before they can understand another culture.
Emmett: What are the problems that people run into, mostly when entering a new culture for business or moving the home location, what is the biggest wall that they face?
Sharon: I would say the biggest challenge people face is not understanding their own culture and having self-awareness because what they need to do is to understand what are my cultural dimensions, what are those of my country or you’re a third culture kid or global nomad, what are the influences you’ve had in your life. So, you may have different sense of power distance, or where hierarchy fits in the world because some people are very comfortable with hierarchy, and some people are not, well, that’s going to impact how you do business. Some people are more individualistic like the US has scored 91 we are incredibly individualistic, we like our tattoos, and our piercings, we like our colored hair, anything that will make us stand out but you go somewhere like China or Japan, those are more collectivist cultures, they believe in the group harmony, they want people to be together, dress similarly. Let me give you an example, I was in Hainan Island, which is a beautiful little resort island like the Hawaii of China and I was there for a conference, and I put on my clothes, went down, and I have looked into the speaker bag the day before, and in the bag there were a number of t-shirts and different things, but it never occurred to me to put on that t-shirt. Well, the next morning when I arrived in the room, everyone in that ballroom from China had on that shirt.
Emmett: Can you describe what it looked like?
Sharon: It was- it had the name of the conference, on the front, the year, the colors of the conference, of course, red, and it was something that unified everyone in the room.
Emmett: And what were you wearing?
Sharon: I was wearing my penguin suit, kind of what I am now, my black jacket and my white collared shirt, [smiling] and so promptly at the coffee break, I scooted upstairs and put on that t-shirt and came back down, because I wanted to be harmonious, I stood out like a sore thumb.
Emmett: And, understanding these nuances of different cultures, this absolutely has a great benefit to the way your business will operate in other countries, correct?
Sharon: Yes, you can really increase revenue, and your bottom line, by understanding the cultural differences because people negotiate differently. For example, if you are negotiating in a country with a high individualism score, you can say things like, I would like you to succeed, I would like to introduce you to my partners. If you are in a country with more of a collectivist or communal type of identity, you don’t want to do that. Because they’re going to think that you are a lone ranger or the lone wolf. You’re going to want to be like a little pack animal like the German Shepherd or a Golden Retriever, part of a litter pack, what you want to say is, We would like to introduce you to our team. It’s very group oriented and very harmonious. In cultures like that when you’re negotiating you never interrupt, you always make sure that things are smooth, there’s big differences even how you negotiate with someone who’s used to a dictator as opposed to someone who’s from a democracy. Power distance principles make a huge difference. So, let’s say, you’re getting ready to close a huge contract, a huge sale. You want to make sure that when you’re going there, you are prepared, you know exactly who the main point person is, sometimes they are not at the table, sometimes they are sitting quietly in the back. So you just- those are the things you really need to be prepared for. Especially if you want to close that big deal or, maybe expand or open a new geographical area, a new culture.
Emmett: You are a bestselling author, for this book, who is your audience?
Sharon: Our audience are business managers who travel or who send their team members abroad. So anyone with a global team, anyone with a virtual team, who wants to understand before they send someone, what is the culture like. So, we have clients across all verticals, for example, we do work with the dealership Lexus, one of my best clients, we do work with Hilton Hotels, we do work with CBS Sports Athletes because they do a lot of travel, the University of Texas, here has sports teams, here we brief them before they head out, so we do quite a bit of different things. A lot of tech companies, a lot of startups, who are looking to expand. Or, we do a lot of Working and Living in the USA. People who come here from other cultures, who want to understand. I just meet someone who is British, she had lived in Japan for six years, and she spoke beautiful Japanese, she was coming here to do work, and she wanted to make sure she understood all three cultures and how they would interact in her new company. So we do a lot of Living and Working in the USA.
Emmett: Do you identify certain elements within an American culture which are must know cultural, what’s the word, “faux pas”, practices, traditions, that a person needs to know if they are going to enter the American market?
Sharon: Yes, we do, and in our book we list those, because there are certain things when you come to the US you definitely want to understand. For example, the real high belief in democracy. We are very much in democracy, and people want everybody to be treated equal, so a lot of times, if you come from a culture where people are not treated equal and they want to know, where am I in the hierarchy, where are you, how do I address you Emmett, that sort of thing, they come here and they want to know are you a doctor, are you an engineer how do I address you, and people in the US say, oh just call me by my first name. Just call me Sharon and not Dr. Sharon Schweitzer, which is a lot more formal.
But, you know, if you’re coming to the US people are going to be extremely informal. The other thing we have a really strong belief in is freedom. So we believe in, obviously, gun rights are a big deal. You, yourself in Texas are at South By South West. Now no one is allowed to carry a weapon but did you notice the signs saying “No weapons” just as a reminder to people that yeah this is Texas we do a lot of hunting down here but it’s a no, no, it’s a “faux pas” to bring a gun in here. The other thing that is a big deal is equality. Now, the US has been struggling a little bit with that right now, because I’m sure you’ve seen it in the International News where many police officers are being accused of treating different nationalities differently.
Now, that’s very difficult but here in the US we believe all men are created equal, it’s on our money, in God we trust, we believe that everyone should be created equal, and that everyone has a quality. So, we might be struggling a little bit as a nation, but that’s very important for people to understand. You can jump up the hierarchy here. So you as my manager, Emmett, now we would never do this, but let’s say, you’re coming here to do business in the US, people would go above your head to the CEO maybe the COO, or maybe if you were the CEO, they’ll go to the board of directors. Now, in a lot of countries, they would lose their job immediately, or be ostracized. But in the US, people do that.
Emmett: How dare they? [smiling]
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Emmett: So we are in South By South West and I’m chatting with Sharon Schweitzer, at the very same time however, Kevin and Sebastian are on the other side of town and I wonder what they’re up to.
Kevin: So Sebastian, we’ve just come out of listening to Malcolm Gladwell and others on the panel talking about the future of driverless car, as in AI, how did you find it?
Sebastian: That was really interesting, there’s a bit of a hype on self-driving cars and I think, like Gladwell pointed out the enormous risk without kind of, you know, the knowing that the technology would be important or is spread out also suggesting to pause a bit, and consider what are the risk security, safety, terrorism. That was really interesting, yeah.
Kevin: Really packed crowd, first thing on Saturday morning, one of the first events, one of the key events today, Mount Bonnell with her, how did you find the atmosphere?
Sebastian: Was very good, it was totally packed a lot of people couldn’t get in, we are waiting outside, yeah it was really interesting, we’ve met a few interesting people, from Saatchi & Saatchi, and another gentleman who was organizing a similar event in New Zealand, really interesting, yeah.
Emmett: And now, back to my interview with Sharon Schweitzer.
Emmett: So as you know, I’ve been telling a bit about Mount Bonnell and our fascination and obsession with Austin, of all cities in America. Do you have any examples of companies who have come from other countries in the world to Austin, that you know that you’ve met?
Sharon: I do, I know a number of them now, I’m also an attorney, so sometimes, some of the work I do, is shielded by attorney and client, but I can tell you about a company that came here, it was a German company, and they were called Blue Byte Software. And they came here- first they went to Illinois but then they came to Austin, because they liked the Austin environment, very entrepreneurial, “Keep Austin Weird”, one of the themes, and down here, we kind of recalled the blueberry in the tomato soup. Or the blueberry in the sea of strawberries, because we are very liberal town, we accept people from everywhere, in whatever color, shape and form, or gender, they would want to come and live here. And that is historically been the city in Texas, where people who are ostracized from say Dallas, or Houston, maybe done something their parents don’t like, or they’ve come out of the closet with their sexuality, and they weren’t appreciated for who they really are, and so they came to Austin years and years ago. And now today we’re just a bastion of liberalism, and innovation, and, just a lot of brilliant people who have come here, because of our openness.
Emmett: That’s really good to hear, I’m sure a lot of our listeners are people in that process of moving to America, so I guess that’s a very warm welcome, so, going back to Austin, so you’ve been talking about how Austin is developed, how is the center of entrepreneurship, where do you see this going? Where do you see Austin going, growing, or developing, evolving, popping, where do you see Austin going?
Sharon: Austin’s growth has been astronomical, exponential and I see as continuing to be a hub for the genius. You know this today’s hashtag is #IamGenius which is really amazing. And I can see us as a center for global leadership and we are already a center for innovation, but I think if we’re going to go up to that next level. And I think we’re going to be an area where people come worldwide to look for leaders, and to look for people who are shiny examples of successful business models, and people who understand and are very accepting of cultures across borders, and I think we’re also going to be the ones they are going to help build those cultural solutions.
Emmett: And, you are an entrepreneur yourself, is it possible you can tell us your story of becoming a successful business woman?
Sharon: Gosh, Emmett, thank you, okay, well, you know, I’m a recovering attorney, I practice law for about fifteen years, and I did labor in employment law, which a lot of people say is “sex, drugs and rock and roll” because you’re telling people, “you did what, how many times, where did you do this, oh you can’t do that in the workplace” so I represented the employers, the business side, and I’ve really enjoyed it, but a lot of those conflicts were cultural conflicts, national origin, sex, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, and so, my clients, got to the point when they wanted me to come in house with them, and do training to avoid the litigation. So, I took a two years sabbatical from the law, decided whether I really wanted to leave, because once those law firms skit their hooks and they were really- they got you- you know it’s a mindset, and so, I spent some time in the Czech Republic, with my family, working on some art, I came back to the US, educated myself, specialized in cross-cultural aspects, and then started my business two years later, in 2006. So, that’s kind of my story, my co-author, I want you to know, is British, and she and I worked together to author this book and it was a cross-cultural experience especially when they sent it to India to be edited so the book is been out a couple of years, and it’s been a wonderful journey. The book journey was fascinating, and today I conduct training, I’m a consultant, I’m an expert witness, I work with a lot of clients, and companies who are outside the US who are bringing people here.
Emmett: Can I ask, is in British English or American English?
Sharon: The editing experience between US American and Brit was fascinating, I learned several things. I learned that when someone says, may I have a word, that that means I’m in trouble with my co-author. I also learned that some of the phrases like, well, that’s one way we can do it, there are so many British phrases that let you know at the time they are so diplomatic but what they’re telling you is, there is no way- no way we’re going to do that way, that is just not a good idea. But we do have- she made sure that is mostly US English, because it’s US audience. But the new book that we’re doing, I have a whole section on British terms, and the differences in English, between British or UK English and US American English and so, that’s a fascinating topic. You know, in India, when they edited the book, they had a whole different English language, a whole different English terms. So it’s really fascinating to see when people do things like that.
Emmett: That’s really interesting practical test of your knowledge, isn’t it, co-writes something with an English person, and in some ways, I guess so sums up maybe parts of the context of your book. I think this would be of great interest for all of our listeners. Do you want to tell people how they can follow your work and follow your publishing and your next book, and any events that you might be talking at around the world, or? Do you want to just tell us of how we can follow you?
Sharon: I’d love to do that, you can find me on my website at protocolww.com or SharonSchweitzer.com you can also find me on Insta @SharonSchweitzer I’m on Twitter @SharonSchweitz and I love to follow, I got- I have someone who also do my social media, but I got through it myself, and I always follow people back, I like to retweet their material I like to engage with my community. So, I would be delighted to have people follow my work. Oh, I also write a blog and on my website, if you sign up for a newsletter, you get a free chapter, of the culture chapter in the book Access to Asia. And you’re getting one of those Emmett
Emmett: Oh no, no, no
Sharon: Oh, yes, I counted on it, absolutely you’re getting a book, I insist
Emmett: As we are near at the end of the interview, we started talking about the numerous stories she had with her clients, overcoming cultural barriers and succeeding in a foreign business environment and here’s a great one.
Sharon: Okay well let me tell you one of those stories. When I was practicing law I had a client who was doing an asset purchase. And they wanted to understand the differences in the culture between French culture and the US culture. And the founder of the company, in the US, pizza boxes and Chinese food, Chinese carry out, very casual and a little cubicle, in order to do a proper closing there has to be a closing dinner, and they were going to do it in a restaurant. Well this guy was petrified, did not want to go and do it. And I said, you have got to go, if you don’t go, that deal is blown, so we sat down, walked him all through what the French talk about they don’t talk about sports, they talk about wine, gardens, existentialism, so I worked with him on that, we got him on all through, all the different ways to eat French food and French phrases, and I let him know, you don’t have to talk a lot, listen to what they’re talking to you about, just ask questions about France. The end of the dinner, deal was sealed, called me from the restaurant and said, I’m telling everyone in town about how you helped me with this cross-cultural, what he thought would be a debacle, so that really is what got me going in the cross cultural business, that’s the fun story if you really must know, is that what you were really looking for?
Emmett: Absolutely, thank you so much for being my first of the day and revoked me up, looking forward to seeing you throughout this weekend and hopefully hanging out at some point.
Sharon: That would be my pleasure, we got to have some green beer on St. Patrick’s Day, what else do you do on that day, it’s the way it is
Next time on Move Your Business to the United States, the one thing we are learning about South By South West is to expect the unexpected. You just never know what’s going to happen next, who you’re going to meet next or what’s on the next span- so for now, from downtown Austin it’s over and out
You’ve been listening to Move Your Business to the United States, with me, Kevin Turley.
And for the short feature on South By South West, you’re also joined by me, Emmett Glynn.
To find out more, go to mtbonnell.com and remember, ‘Dream big, dream America’.
