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You Say Tomato

FEATURE BY MAX NOBLE
20/01/2018

It has been remarked that the English and the Americans are divided by a common language.

This tends to ignore that reality is so very different for each and every one of us; that a common consensus on any topic is closer to an act of God than any politician is ever going to accept or acknowledge. And captains of industry tend to be just as shocking as politicians at accepting their own failings, respecting the sheer good luck of happenstance, and resisting the desire to claim credit for anything good that happens between sunrise and sunset.

And so to the delightful cast that Liberty, and happenstance, has assembled to present for our delectation, the 2018 Formula One season.

With Haas from America, many teams with major UK bases, and then the Germans, Italians, Austrians, French and Japanese thrown into the mix, Formula One is nothing if not a truly global undertaking, on a global sporting stage.

Even if they work against one another squabbling over fizzy water and garage space, they are still working for the common goal of The Show. As Jim Morrison so cheerfully noted; "no one here gets out alive". Within Formula One, even when you are not performing, you are part of the The Show until you are no longer a force within the Formula One plane of existence (remember Nico Rosberg, anybody...?).

So, that common language thing? Well most international companies are forced to work in the tongue of their headquarters home country… and English. Due to the foresight of the English in going to war with more or less every formally declared country since the early Middle Ages, and robustly taxing many of them in the name of Empire, English is, much to the irritation of Frenchmen everywhere, and a growing number of Chinese, the language de jour. Who said expansionist capitalistic policies were new?

The former head of the Honda engine effort with McLaren recently said that the only internal issues Honda had with McLaren were differing languages, cultural differences, different philosophies, sensibilities, geographies and histories. So really time zones, location, history, language and social conventions apart, nothing to worry about in a partnership.

Over the years I have been personally gifted the delight of working in large teams spread around the planet on a number of large complex projects. Much against the odds we generally delivered what marketing had written on the box, and life, while stressful, continued.

Of the many life lessons learned the major ones are, bad coffee ruins any meeting, any time any country, and good red wine and a robust discussion over dinner can sort weeks of irritation and misunderstanding in a few frank hours.

Take the French and the Americans. Two Republics formed in the loving hands of war. After one particularly irksome meeting a senior Frenchman asked me what it was like working long term with our American team members. Why, I replied, just like working with you, but with funny accents.

Thankfully he grasped the humour and after a hearty chuckle it was on to the fine red rather than the guillotine for me.

Meetings were frequently fraught. Americans love to raise complex issues for the first time in meetings to catch the other side off balance and try and force unintended additional information. By contrast the French thrive on quiet one-on-one pre-meeting meetings, over excellent coffee and hand-picked reds, to work out all the issues prior to the formal meeting. The formal meeting then becomes very harmonious and a forum for simply acknowledging that we all agree the outcome battled out in the pre-meetings. Juniors speak first, and the meeting flows gracefully up to the senior people on each side to place the icing and cherry on top of the pre-agreed cake with joint statements of agreement. All very civilised... unlike the hand-to-hand combat of the private pre-meetings.

Truly worlds collide when the American approach to meetings runs like a Mack Truck into the world of formal grace laid out by the French. All spoken in English.

Ah. The Japanese. All the formal grace of the French, plus another 1,000 years of etiquette developed in delightful isolation. The pre-meetings all happen, but you need to have happened into the right area at the right time, in the right dress, with the right people to have the right meeting. Have a detail out of place, and you will not be having the meeting you think you are having.

The Japanese also prize sophistication, intellect and honourable outcomes even more than the French. It is a loss of face to say "Search me, I've not got a bloody clue!" Or worse, "Hey, I'm sure you know this stuff way better than we do!"

Some years back after the Fukushima disaster we were working on a rebuilding project in Japan and it was somewhat complex. At the end of each day the project teams would meet to discuss progress, issues and the plan for the following day.

Our team was confused how the next morning, after each of these meetings, the system we were trying to rebuild was never as we remembered it from the day before.

After months of confusing results we discovered that after the evening meeting the entire Japanese team, plus team extras we had never met, would work all night to try and fix all the issues on their side of the system. Japanese team members were assigned to take our team out for dinner, while the Tiger Team would hunker down for all-nighters to try and fix all issues.

Their honour, hard work, focus, and intelligence was never in question, yet cultural differences meant they could not bear to live with the idea that we would work on our system to solve their problems. It was insufferable for them!

I can only imagine the unbelievable effort Honda has poured into the McLaren partnership. The effort, suffering and focus would have been immense on both sides. If one wants a Senna memorial out of McLaren right now I'd say the focus, dedication and suffering of all the "boys and girls back at the factory" both in England and Japan, is a far more fitting tribute that would make the great man smile than a marketing exercise in carbon fibre.

And all those total misunderstandings, confusions, and details would have been framed in English.

When Honda move to Toro Rosso the English will continue. Along with totally misaligned cultural values it will be the one constant. The team of Germans, Italians, Austrians, Englishmen, Japanese, and no doubt many others, will be united and divided in equal measure by the English language.

Bernie, and Max (Mosley not Verstappen), long may limited release red fill their glasses, simply got all the nuisance of international business. English was their mother tongue which is a great help, but they had the intellect to grasp international cultural differences. Yes, they were strong divisive characters, but both could waltz French, German, and Italian stake holders to their desired outcomes, without them knowing until after the fact that they had been led a Merry Dance.

One reason Daniel Ricciardo (who never complains about the endless dropping of the second "i" it should be noted...) wafts about the paddock and the Formula One Universe so effortlessly is two-fold. English is his mother tongue giving an instant language advantage, and being Australian places him outside the class-based social systems of Europe and the dollar-based social systems of America. He can swim, free as a Great White Shark, in waters others find dark and threatening, while whipping salty comebacks in English as others are still translating in their minds... truly lost in translation.

One last example of cultural impact before I sign off for now.

Some years back I was working with a global consortium to deliver an advanced helicopter. I was curious as to why the tail rotor was an inferior technical design. It was less effective in its duty, and more dangerous. Initial daytime questioning only produced evasion, or silence.

Finally, over a fine glass of red, a German member of the team told the story of the design origins. The technically superior tail rotor design was seen as "too French" for an international helicopter and the German team members simply refused to work on a helicopter that the world would view as "clearly French". So the technically superior, safer, logical design was binned as "too French" due to German objection. All raised and discussed in English. Oh the irony.

So next time a Honda Power unit expires in a cloud of ignominy (which in 2018 will be the tragic start of many a Toro Rosso raging bull...), stand, place your right hand over your heart, raise your left fist, and in honour of all those multinational, multicultural team members who suffered to render that failure real, shout to the living room walls and the cat "Cesar we Salute you!" If you can do that in Latin, Japanese, German, and English even better.

Mr Chase is divided from his European fellow performers by a common language and a total lack of common culture and history. 2018 and the start of the new Concorde discussions are going to be a fascinating view of global business writ large in the glowing letters of global sport.

So! Brace for the excitement of a new season, and no matter how you pronounce tomato, smile. Pat your Japanese designed, Korean built TV on the head, sit back in your Chinese built sofa, raise your French glass, holding Australian Cab Sav, and regardless of the quality of the on-track action, enjoy the spectacle of the teams trying to agree and cooperate on anything!

Bound by a common language, English, and confounded by a thousand cultural differences, enjoy the grand melee of the Formula One Show. Safe in the knowledge that we are divided by a common desire to succeed and not a bloody clue how to get there.

Max Noble.

Learn more about Max and check out his previous features, here

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by JuliaRush, 21/02/2018 12:36

"cool"

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2. Posted by Fambank, 01/02/2018 9:37

"One of the best reads in years. "

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3. Posted by Max Noble, 26/01/2018 1:37

"@Chris Roper - my thanks for a good chuckle. Fine and honourable participation!"

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4. Posted by Chris Roper, 25/01/2018 21:50

"Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant"

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5. Posted by Max Noble, 25/01/2018 9:27

"@Daydah, @ZJAY - fascinating observations, thank you. Most interesting to hear your views and experiences."

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6. Posted by ZJAY, 24/01/2018 4:01

"Hats off Max. Really thoughtful and indeed the right uplifting kind of "slightly different".

I always said that there is no tolerance without reciprocity and your article inspired me to come up with "there is no cultural understanding without respectful reciprocity".

For an unknown reason to me it appears that everyone thinks that Americans have no distinct culture and that it is the sport du jour to poke fun at Americans' corporate or personal behavior. One might assume that everyone except Americans are always thoughtful and exceptionnaly understanding and accommodating to other cultures; except American culture of course!

I can't go over the elements that define the American culture in few paragraphs here, however I will summarize them with the following words: Hollywood, football (not soccer type😉), opportunity, and unashamed positive thinking. This may not count for much for many if culture is counted by thousands of years of course, however I beg to differ.

If you are surprised not to see money and individualism listed, it is because both are universal cultural attributes whether one like to admit it or not. Perhaps you believe they were exported by the American culture, courtesy of globalization 😃😃😃. In reality individualism was born in Europe with the enlightenment movement and exported to the colonies in America; while money of course was the goal, aim, and raison d'etre of all empires from the Roman to the British and everything in between in the past 2000 years.

Disclaimer: this is the personal opinion of a not native born American, not native English speaker and not native European who has been living in the US for 20 years. Also I actually believe that most people who interact with others outside their home town are considerate and thoughtful of others. The above was just a generalization to illustrate a point and not to offend anyone. "

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7. Posted by Daydah, 23/01/2018 16:51

"You hit the nail on the head. In my career as a Manufacturing Engineer I worked for several American Multinationals and I found that although English speakers use the same words they tend to have slightly different meanings across different nations and cultures. Many were the meetings I left wondering what, if anything, I was supposed to be doing.
I also found that US Senior Executives posted to European or International assignments initially failed to understand differences existing across nations and cultures. Particularly behaviors and reactions to circumstances and incentives. Generally it took 3 years for an individual to become effective by which time the tour of duty was over and he returned to the USA to be replaced by another naive corporate charger.
So I look forward to another 3 seasons of Liberty's bewilderment at the lack of motivation and enthusiasm shown by fans worldwide to the US based off track antics."

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8. Posted by Oinksta, 22/01/2018 14:04

"Particularly elegantly put.

Should be mandatory reading for anyone embarking on international business - and that means you too Liberty!"

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9. Posted by Uffen, 21/01/2018 23:56

"Lovely article. Well said, Max.
McLaren had worked with Honda before yet it seems the culture was still foreign to them. There so few McLaren team members left over from the previous iteration that it was a whole new experience, it seems. Same with the Honda side of the equation. "

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10. Posted by Max Noble, 21/01/2018 3:20

"@ all - thank you, I’m glad you found a slightly different article enjoyable!

@ Rob Miller - don’t be too ashamed! The ratio of jerks to fine folk, I’ve found over the years, is more or less a constant between nations. I’ve worked with many, many delightful, insightful, friendly, and professional Americans... which is not to say we’ve avoided stumbling forward with some king size miscommunications over the years! With all the best intentions we have confounded and frustrated ourselves at a world class level...

something that one day I hope both Honda and McLaren will be able to look back on, accept the lessons learned, and... eventually... smile about it all.

"

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11. Posted by Elgar, 20/01/2018 19:47

"That was beautiful!"

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12. Posted by Rob, 20/01/2018 16:46

"Very insightful and illuminating.

As an American living in England I can only be ashamed of some of things that are going on.

Rob Miller"

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13. Posted by kenji, 20/01/2018 13:37

"great article."

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