GONG XI FA CAI
As the Chinese would say, Happy New Year! Yes, I know, the Scots have “first footing” where they bring luck into a house by being the first person over the threshold carrying a lump of coal…but the French leave themselves until the end of January to wish “bonne année” ..So yes, for many I am almost a month late, for the French I’m just about ok, for the Japanese I should have said “akemashite” at least three weeks ago… but as this blog is all about the East and the West, I have taken the liberty of starting the year using the Chinese New Year calendar.
So what is in it for us? According to many of my Chinese friends, the year of the Dragon is a special year for all. To bring in the new year, my friend Rosita prepared the most amazing spread of Chinese food and ordered us all to bring Champagne to celebrate this most auspicious of years. Needless to say, we brought in the New Year in style!
The Chinese Dragon is a mythical creature that is both symbol of good fortune, sign of power and a somewhat divine animal who is ultimately the master of authority. If you know anyone born in the year of the Dragon, pay him or her your respects…2012 is the year of the water dragon and apparently is a year in which to be bold, not humble.
This is the year to do what you have always dreamed but never dared.
So what do I want this year to be? Well, as I have just about finished sending new year greetings to my friends I can now concentrate on my aims for the year…you know, resolutions and all that…While I hope that this year I will find the time to write for this blog more often, I don’t want to make any wild promises. However I very much hope that this year a new project I am currently working on goes from paper to practice. I will be writing about it in future posts but for the moment think culture, think fluency, think doing business in today’s multicultural world…and ask yourself what really makes the difference between knowing your profession and knowing how to make it a success in a different cultural context. Today the key to business success is cultural fluency.
So with that said, may I be the first to wish you a happy, successful and culturally fluent 2012!
