When I first visited Melbourne, Australia in the late 80's I was filled with anxiety. I was given a job to change the sales agent to another, in Syndey.
On arrival at the airport, a sales guy greeted me and said, "Thanks for coming 'todie', K.S.,...".
" Nope. I come here to live and enjoy,...".
Little did I realize how accentuated words are in spoken Aussie English.
After some months I got used to their heavy accent and began to enjoy the fun of it. Making my first impression, I thought it apt to wear my suit and tie in their summer. But they were more casual than I expected.
One guy said to me, this is summer, you can take off your tie, and another chipped in, otherwise we cut it into two, in his jovial expression.
Then came the tough part, where I was supposed to terminate their sales agency by breaking that unpleasant news. Thanking them for their hospitality was easy but revealing the bad tidings to them was somewhat stuck in my throat.
Well, it turned out that they were kinder souls much more than I at first feared. They knew about the stop order I had in my briefcase, and felt I was to do what was from the higher authority in USA. They held deep and broad smiles and tried not to be unduly concerned, but instead wanted to know more about me and my management style.
We ate dinners and conversed rather well in biz and in things general. After some meetings, I paused and had my quick soul searching. I wanted to make a proposal to retain them and appoint the new agent in Sydney as additional.
I persuaded and negotiated internally and won it my way. Nobody from the USA had ever landed Down Under, and so their picture in mind wasn't perfect to me. I continued to manage the agents in parallel for 6 years happily.
It was an acid test of my balancing in international management skills. It was a win-win. I always like to relish those exciting moments of truth. Whenever I think of Australia.
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