In Eastern cultures, one relies on traditional matchmakers to “read” marriage prospects.
Online, we’ve got eHarmony.com or Match.com.
Over job interviews, we rely on body language, off-guard remarks and (in)consistencies to form an impression and to determine candidate’s culture-fit.
If only could you read my heart.
How are we to determine his/her reaction after the learning curve? We don’t.
But there are a few principles:
– one tends to act consistently with his or her own internal set of standard
– we subscribe to a social compact
– we seek to preserve a long-term win-win balance i.e. cheating doesn’t pay
– collaboration leads to synergy which in turn feeds the virtuous cycle
– we seek to need-fulfill from the bottom of the Maslow scale up (survival first).
I never forget the Northridge quake, when we couldn’t get to work.
Co-workers, Hispanic, Korean, American, Vietnamese, Chinese (Los Angeles office), were all “quake victims”.
Apparently, there was something bigger than ourselves (and our ethnic make-ups).
We cared for one another as fellow human beings and shared inhabitants of this fragile planet Earth.
If they could have read my heart then.
So, on this Valentine Day, may we – co-workers – assume first the role of fellow inhabitants: from the inner ring loved ones to the outer ring – the human family: black, brown and white.
Once that social compact is bought in, it is easier to work with someone, to empathize and to collaborate. Test your candidate, see what planet he/she is from. Does he/she even feel at all? Respect at all? Or just go about “doing my job” regardless. No man’s island. Especially on Valentine’s Day.
Thang Nguyen 555 