So, if you have anything you want to share post it as a comment on here and it'll appear in the right-hand nav menu. (I will post what I have been sent so far.)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
General Advice
So, if you have anything you want to share post it as a comment on here and it'll appear in the right-hand nav menu. (I will post what I have been sent so far.)
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Boy, do I have things to add here. I didn't go to business school but those psych classes really helped me out.
ReplyDeleteIf you studied at an American business school and you plan to work internationally, just assume from the start that you don't know shit. It doesn't matter how many years of American business experience you have or how many degrees you have hanging on your office wall or how quickly you can rattle off the latest SOX rules. The way things work in the real world are very different from the rules that are supposed to be universally applicable. Spend at least 3 months watching. Figure out how things get done, why, and by who. Learn that verbal communication can be just as indirect, ambiguous, and frought with multiple meanings as non-verbal communication. And, if you find yourself thinking "this is how it works in America" know that you're idea is fucked from the get go. You're not in America anymore, Toto.
ReplyDeletePS - For those working in Africa, know that "now" means "sometime today."
Corporate accounting is not the same as non-profit accounting. (Hell, I didn't know. And they are completely different! Not just a few little rules, were talking massive changes. Non-profits don't even have income statements and balances sheets. I think the only similarity is debits and credits, but even those get fucked with some of the weird new accounts in the non-profit world.)
ReplyDeleteThe best class that I took in undergrad was negotiation. Things I wish I learned: VBA, Excel macros, Visio. The best thing that I did: went abroad.
ReplyDelete