How to manage to unmanageable?

Over the recent years, I have been hired by business groups, companies and for different events to do a speech on my 6 years operating in China. Not specifically about football necessarily, but on leadership and management in a different culture and country.

I believe - speaking from my experience - this is a significant underestimated area in working across cultures and can be the difference between succeeding or failing when you go abroad. I tend to call ‘cultural intelligence’ the key element you have to develop to understand the market and culture abroad - to know how to find your way to succeed.

I have seen several companies and foreigne leaders coming to for example China failing to adapt, failing to read, understand & respect the culture - and shortly after their arrival - they are already back home again as the mission was failed.

Therefore, I have developed my own thesis from a ‘learning by doing-philosophy’:

How to manage the unmanageable?

*Adapt or adjust?

*Respect or force?

*Accept or change?

My cultural intelligence thesis:

“You have 0 % chance of succeeding without adjusting, respecting and accepting the culture of the country, business and/or organization (club), you work for / in”

Mads Davidsen 2018 ©