China: Very Close in the Heart

‘In China most leaders are still appointed by other leaders or the government, there is not a completely open market system. Things have been this way for more than 2000 years. People really depend on others to get a position, so you have to manage your position well, be worth it and be trustworthy. You need skills, leadership and highly-developed capacity to maintain relationships with others. Everything goes ten times quicker in China if you know people or put great effort into getting to know them!

At de Baak you learn to develop yourself in an interactive way, it’s all very personal and concerned with theory and skills. In China it’s all about facts and ensuring that everything is in line with theory. But doing business with people abroad, it’s very important to understand each other. At first sight, the differences between Dutch and Chinese leaders seem to be enormous, but when you have a closer look you will see that we are very close in the heart. Chinese are more closed, people need more time to open up. A lot of foreigners don’t understand how important relationships
are in China, they focus too much on the content. You have to let loose and go with the stream.’
Xue Bing, Representative of Boskalis in China.