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September 28, 2013
Anyway, a Spanish CFO, a Finnish tax lawyer and a real moody Hungarian CEO walk into this Amsterdam coffee shop together at 7:30 AM.
Statutes, regs, courts, government agencies, languages, food and coffee shops do vary from nation to nation and jurisdiction to jurisdiction--and even just within staid Europe. But business people and their deeply-ingrained cultural and national folkways? They vary just as much. Even English-speaking lower England Brits are so different in so many important ways from their Yank, Canadian and Australian cousins that the UK might as well be an entirely different (1) caste system, (2) planet and (3) dimension. So, and first, when you work abroad, assume you are doing something Wrong. Because you are. Second, work hard at understanding different countries and national character. Learn their history; if you don't, you will fail--and you will be an ugly American to boot. Third, get some good help, Jack. Start with the right people, programs and books. Join your World.
The Betty Boop, Niewezijds Kolk.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2013
Normal is crazy enough: Doing business with the Dutch.
Here's a gem we missed in May at Richard Lewis's great Cross-Culture site: "Normal is crazy enough: Four things you need to know about doing business with the Dutch". Excerpt:
Take the law seriously, because the Dutch do. The law is another form of written rules and regulations that need to be taken seriously. The Dutch therefore highly value written contracts, although the system of Dutch law does not require lengthy contracts, like Anglo-American companies tend to draw up. The Dutch love for truth-telling, together with a desire to avoid uncertainty, explains their direct style of communication. They say what they think, what they believe is right or wrong, often unasked for and in clear words, thus coming across as opinionated or rude.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2013
Cultural Literacy for U.S. Execs, Lawyers, Accountants, MDs, Pols & Leaders: If Not Now, When?
Education is about more than getting a job. Cultural literacy and a working knowledge of the world's history and institutions--and even of the West--have not been counted among America's many enviable strengths at any time during our development as a people and a nation. Let's not worry about the reasons--often explained in terms of our relative geographic isolation, drive and opportunism, and our distaste for intellectuals, classical education or anything too "austere".
Powerful and well-known Americans, executives in leadership positions, respected professionals, politicians, and major stakeholders in commerce continue to be satisfied with becoming, and remaining, in effect, "techs" their entire lives. Can we change that?
If we could, we would astonish, disarm and charm the entire world. Art, literature, the humanities and a sense of historical context aren't just for the rich, the elite or the intellectual. They are the best part of all of us--and they can inform, stir and improve every moment. You say you are doing fine without it? Think again. See "Ernest, the French aren't like you and me."
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2013
Lawyering: Invoice some hourly work promptly every 2 weeks.
For relatively urgent things, or for transactions or litigation when they get fast. Here's a suggestion to make both clients and firms more efficient, better informed and way happier on any fast-moving project whenever an hourly rate is in the mix: real time billing. It's a no-brainer. But it takes some discipline. And ask that the invoice be paid in 15 days.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2013
Equinox: Honey, it's Mabon already.
Get your Druid learn on. Today marks the Autumnal Equinox. Cultures and religions worldwide do get weird this time of year. It's called Mabon, Foghar, Alban Elfed, Harvest Home, Second Harvest, Fruit Harvest (especially SF), and Wine Harvest (Boston). Look it up later. What's Mabon, anyway?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Overheard in Los Angeles
Life is short, opera is long, and Wagner is longer.
--Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor, L.A. Opera general director.
German tenor Johannes Sembach (1881-1944), taking a stab at the role of Pylade in Gluck's Iphigenie auf Tauris
Posted by JD Hull at 03:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2013
Atonement
Long ago, on the two Jewish high holidays, my brother and I would be two of a very few gentile students who attended classes at a school called Braeside in the north shore suburbs of Chicago. Literally every friend we had observed those holidays. And they were not in school those days. So we just played dodgeball or other games most of those days. At nine or ten years old--and just the rare neighborhood Belfast Protestant feeling a bit left out--I tried to at least stay on top of what the days meant. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, was the one that stuck out most in my mind. It is of course observed today. It intrigued me. It still does, through this and similar traditions, and it is certainly a cleansing, liberating and purging notion. Atonement. Forget about perfection here. Or being comprehensive. Pick one amend to make to someone you've screwed over or barely slighted, or pick one person who makes you uncomfortable for any reason, and face them. Work is a great place to start--but I am sure you can do better than that. Face them and get it off your chest. You got the stones for that? Because no matter what reaction you get, you are just doing it for you, really. And that is all that matters today. Get busy.
Atonement. It's an idea for everyone on the planet. One place to read about it is Leviticus 23:27-28. Above: Jerusalem's Wailing or Western Wall, where construction started about 20 BC.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2013
Fraught with Legal Obstacles: American Family Weekends.
With thanks to Charon QC, our man in West London.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2013
Got a Customer Experience Idea for You Right Here: Change the Way Clients Think About Lawyers.
Why? Because even the most sophisticated clients think that too many of us are still clueless dorks who don't help much. See Rule 4: Deliver Legal Work That Change the Way Clients Think About Lawyers from our annoying but sturdy 12 Rules.
Is your firm the Best-Looking Maiden in the Lepper Colony?
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2013
Living in America: On the Good Foot.
James Brown, Godfather of Soul, was the hardest-working poor kid ever.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:32 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2013
1922: James Joyce gets crazy with Hemingway.
Joyce said to me he was afraid his writing was too suburban and that maybe he should get around a bit and see the world. He was afraid of some things, lightning and things, but a wonderful man. He was under great discipline--his wife, his work and his bad eyes.
His wife [Nora, the model for Molly Bloom in Ulysses] was there and she said, yes, his work was too suburban--'Jim could do with a spot of that lion hunting.' We would go out to drink and Joyce would fall into a fight. He couldn't even see the man so he'd say, 'Deal with him, Hemingway! Deal with him!'
--Ernest Hemingway, as reported by Time July 7, 1999
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2013
Shanah Tova.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
Got New Associates?
See "What are you thinking?" Also entitled: "If a neuron fires in a brilliant young lawyer's head, and no one hears it go off, did it even happen?"
Posted by JD Hull at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2013
Sometimes American Films Cut It: The Butler.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:56 AM | Comments (0)
Speaking of Jim McElhaney: Cross-Examination.
See his classic ABA Journal article "It's All About You". Learn more about something hard. Excerpt:
Stop trying to talk like lawyers.
The problem with legalese is that it does not command instant understanding by ordinary people. That means it automatically makes us poor communicators; and communicating is what we're supposed to be doing for a living. It's a bad habit that most lawyers never shake. So start talking like real people again now.
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Posted by JD Hull at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2013
Down in Monterey.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)