The Mission Statement - Believing in what you're doing

One of the major differences between business in America and Scandinavia is the mission statement. How business men relate to this concept can determine the success of a partnership. Understanding how your partner relates to the mission statement, how he or she thinks, can be the most valuable tool in cooperation. It can help you determine what props will need to be on the stage, what everyone needs to do their job. In these props, you find a representation for our motives, the goal and the activities to reach those goals. Understanding what motives a person has will help you have some idea what a partner will do with a prop, and how.

Of course the goal of any business is to make money, but this is unstated, understood with a nod between colleagues. When it comes down to what you and your company talks about at meetings and what you do, it will center around your mission statement. A basketball team is motivated by competition, by the fun in being the best in their region. That is the motive behind their activities. But a basketball team will become a professional team for the money it can make through ticket sales. If there was no money in playing basketball, the team would meet up for a weekend game and have a little fun before returning to their daily lives. In this example, the team's motivation for turning professional was monetary gain. With this goal comes activities, such as daily training, team management, marketing and ticket sales. Understanding the motives represented in each prop will help a partner to the team understand what part of these activities are motivated by the players having fun and what part is motivated by money and necessity. Like wise, understanding the differences in motivation between an executive at IBM and LG can help you understand what each will be willing to do for a partnership.

In the US, money is king. It is not to knock the US or the business culture there. People want to live the good life and are willing to work together to achieve great things in exchange for a bit of luxury. It can help settle differences between two rivals or two bitter combatants. People will believe in a mission statement if it brings them prosperity. An engineer at Boeing loves what he does, but he studied hard and took on professional manners for the prosperity it brings him. The same principle applies at all levels of employment in the US. You are a factory floor worker at Ford for the prosperity, not the love of what you are doing. You are an executive at Disney because you have a large paycheck, not because you love animation. The love either has for what they do is found in the activities that drove them to pursue these careers, but if they can do what they love on their time off with a paycheck, the larger the paycheck the better. In the end, money talks more than the profession and either would work in any other career if it gives them the financial and qualitative freedom to do what they want.

In Scandinavia, the motivations can be in broad strokes the same, but because very few are very rich and very few are very poor, the incentive in money in dampened. What drives people to follow a mission statement is more often the mission itself. If an engineer or designer can make the same amount of money as an artist, people will choose to take what would be a hobby in the US and turn it into a career. People want to see their own visions fulfilled more than earning a little bit more money, since the difference in prosperity is often too small to make a difference to one's motivation. This pronunciation of the mission statement's significance doesn't change the bottom line, but how you sell something should take this difference into consideration and focus on what you want to create and how you want to do it. If you understand the motivation of your audience, you can save yourself time on pitches that will fall on deaf ears.

- Servus

Know your town's networks

Living on the Faroe Islands helped taught me the importance of informal conversation and interaction in business. Business isn't the big sale and best offer on the table. Business is a chunky concept, but the two corner stones for business is managing your professional work's relationship with the public, and making your profession a profitable one. Looking back, it is clear there are differences in both cornerstones when America and Scandinavia are compared and companies that try to enter from one market to the other can experience difficulties in managing relationships and profits. Here are some fine details any business should keep in mind.

Work ethics in blue collared jobs are radically different. For the Dane in America, some sound advice is sorely needed. Any stereotypes of lazy teamsters you carry with you will fail you when it comes time to start production. Americans are hard working individuals who want to provide for their families and with the current economic environment, competition for work is fierce. Asking an employee to slow down and take a break can cause friction. Worse still if you take it easy as a foreman, manager or director; if you are visibly driven to meeting your goals, your employees with slowly loose respect for you and in the end, resent you a tad little bit. American workers may work hard for the money, but take pride in their work and you need to show faith in what the company is doing. Just as important for an American in Scandinavia, pushing people to work faster and perform better will more likely result in a strike than increased production. Rules and ethics are well defined by the work-unions and it is hard to fire someone for under performance. The work ethic is more formal and requires you to use more time to consider your position with care than in America. That said, nominal results are the best guide in deciding if someone needs to be let go or kept on board.

Work relations over beer is a bit of common ground between Scandinavia and America, but keep in mind to how much business in done over a glass of beer. Business lunches are out right common, but don't order that beer if you are in America. You need to return to work afterwards and it is frowned upon to drink before you clock out. There are exceptions at the executive level; informal business is done on the golf course and a bit of brandy isn't uncommon at the club house, but this is rare if the interpersonal relationship is all business. A glass of beer is more common when you leave the office with your co-workers or the guy you think is good for a conversation and also happens to have a great project you want to get your hands on. Again, we are focused on the interpersonal relationship between you and your drinking buddy. In all other occasions, you need to abstain from 'Den Grønne'. The case is different in Scandinavia. It is actually common to enjoy a bottle of beer, or few, at lunch and chat a bit. If you want to your negotiations to take on a relaxed tone, invite your perspective partners or clients to a café, enjoy a light lunch a offer a round of beer.

Formality is a tripping point for many. There are dress codes and then there are dress codes. Individual style has a greater foothold in Scandinavia, because businesses are focusing more on your production, not your personal stylistic tastes. It was common for my managers to wear a pair of blue jeans with a button down shirt. The executives would wear sports jackets as often as suit jackets. It is completely acceptable to come to a formal meeting wearing slacks, suit jacket and no tie. In the US, the situation is far different. Dress codes put employees in uniforms. A tie is always a must and more often than not, a white shirt with black dress suit and shoes are required. If you know the Mærsk company well, you can compare the dress codes in that one Danish company with most large corporations in America and see little difference. Before stepping on that flight, make sure you can meet the dress code of most companies. They enforce it even on partners to protect their professional image.

These are some rules of thumb for the cornerstone of business that represents your relationships in business. A good lawyer will help you sort out the second stone, but business relations is all on you partner.

- Servus