On a professional and personal level a manager needs to be open minded about culture and soft skills. It is given that a manager should already have the basic skills (statistics, analysis, etc.) but what sets managers apart are the soft skills of interpersonal skills and understanding subtle cultural nuances. A closed minded person can not observe and pickup on the cultural nuances that are important in establishing business relationships. In return the other person will appreciate that the manager put an effort into understanding the culture.

On a professional level a manager neeeds the core business knowledge; the accounting, finance, marketing, and logistical knowledge to perform the day in day out of management. What they also need is the leadership to dictate tasks and take the risk of being disliked for the greater good and the ability to listen that all good business leaders have. These are the universal.
Any manager aspiring to a position like this should be consciencious of the needs of those around them and how that translates to project and task management. The other important aspect is the cultural divide. It is naive to think that an American ex-pat will be welcomed with a parade by their new subordinates, this is not a China specific criticism, this is a simply a group dynamic. Any time an outsider is brought in and leap frogs many others who have an established history with a company there will be tension, dissolving this tension is key to success. The final important universal trait in my opinion is an openness to creative and imaginativ solutions and ideas. Any ex-pat who feels that the American model will fit every model is doomed to failure, many things are universal but many things are equally unique.
Lastly, China specific knowledge is language, brief histories of the area you are working in, an open mind, a listening ear, and a strong resolve. Managers should be confident in the decisions that they make even when they are unpopular, understanding the area and being willing to listen to input will make the manager more knowledgable and in turn more confident.

I’m a bit biased here, as I lean strongly towards the view that hard skills can be learned, but it is the other, social based skills that catapult someone into great leader status, or conversely, hold them back. To be an expatriate leader in China, one must be very strong in those social based skills. It’s not going to be easy to be tranplanted into another country, another employee workforce and another culture. Think about how difficult it is to start in a management position anywhere. You have new employees who don’t know how to take to you. There is a time of establishing authority without stepping on toes and changing too much at the beginning. You feel completely lost at the learning curve takes off without you, yet you have to show competence to your employees to gain respect. Now add on top of that the issues of language, culture, a huge move, etc. Now take those feelings and see them from the employees side- how are they going to feel that this “non-Chinese” person is coming in to supervise them? Will there be feelings that you are taking a job away from someone in their country? Will they feel you can’t know everything that is going on because you aren’t Chinese? To be a successful leader in China, it is important to be sensitive to all these factors, knowing that it is not going to be easy. It also takes incredible mental and emotional strength. One who is able to succeed is one who is alright feeling uncomfortable, because I can almost guarantee that there will be more than a handful of uncomfortable moments.

I also think any manager in a foreign country needs to be willing to take risks and “go out on a limb”. In other countries, there will be cultural practices that you will not feel comfortable with. For example, when I was in Japan, my host family took me to a Sushi bar. They were so excited to have me try it. It looked disgusting and unfortunately tasted equally terrible. However, most of the food I disliked I pretended to like anyway. As a manager, you have to be willing to try new and maybe strange things.

If you impress your clients by showing interest in their culture (like learning their language, or eating their more bizzare foods), you will gain their respect. A CEO must be respected if they are to be successful.

2) A successful manager needs to understand people. Again, no matter where you go in the world, people have the same basic needs and wants. They need money to support their need for food, water and shelter, for themselves and for their dependents. In addition, they will want more money to acquire in greater quantity and quality those basic needs. A successful manager will do enough to satiate these desires so the emotional aspect of a deal is removed and a purely business aspect remains.

3) An understanding of the customs and culture is required for success in China. The subtle nuances that are unique to the business interactions are a critical aspect to deal-making, and must be appreciated for any success to be achieved.
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To work on the professonal level, one needs to be able to function well in a group. It makes me think of organizational behavior and how important it is to know how to work well and synergize in any type of work environment. Thus, on the professional level, understanding how to have organizational behavior skills is a definite necessity.

For global qualities, one must understand business concepts such as finance, economics, accounting, etc., but again, but be able to understand how to work in different cultures. One would never want to alienate a potential client or partner because of something as basic as a lack of understanding of the others’ customs.

As for working in China, one would have to be understanding of their culture and understanding their history. One cannot make the mistake of underestimating the power that China once had and is now regenerating. A manager would have to respect their history and culture.

The underlying theme is culture!

The most important personal global quality that an expatriate CEO can possess is open-mindedness. Recognition of one’s own ignorance is something that Americans can have quite a bit of trouble with, and casting aside personal judgments can mean the difference between befriending a client or making an enemy.

I particularly agree with Peter Wu’s comments about being humble as an expat CEO, as arrogance will get you nowhere fast. However, as Peter Wu mentioned, it is also important to be steadfast in business decisions. If an expat CEO defaults to his subordinates on many issues because he feels he will make the wrong decision, this will most likely be taken as a sign of weakness and lack of business know-how. If an expat CEO recognizes and respects Chinese culture but also is confident in his or her decision making, it will surely earn the respect of Chinese colleagues.