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Planet Of The Expats: How I Survived My Leap Of Faith Into The Great Unknown

Lesson 3: Master an Outsider Strategy

Another thing was that my colleagues spoke a different language, even at staff meetings. And there was a cliqueishness in the culture that could quickly make you feel like an outsider. People were friendly, generally speaking. But they were prone to slipping into their own dialect, called Switzerdeutch, or Swiss German, when in groups – especially social gatherings – and sometimes slow to accommodate the presence of foreigners, or “auslaenders,” as we’re called. In fairness, this was a problem only in my early days. With time, my friendships with people from the region – both professional and personal – grew and deepened.

But certainly in the beginning, you need to choose and master your strategy for dealing with this fast, or else be prepared to endure frequent discomfort. You can choose to get away from this – at least  outside of work – by living and socializing with other expats, but that puts you in your own little bubble, which can defeat the purpose of living abroad. You can take time-consuming and excruciatingly difficult German lessons, but that won’t help you understand the local dialect. Or you can do what I did: rely on the outsider’s armor I began to develop like an emotional callus as a child, which enabled me to feel comfortable as a loner in a crowd of strangers, whether as a newcomer to Manhattan when I was 25 or a newcomer to Basel nearly a quarter-century later.

Lesson 4: Become a Citizen of the World

A related revelation came to me in the darkness of night on a train during the first winter of my expat assignment. One of the particularly pleasant traditions I encountered in my new workplace was the “Winterwochenende,” (pronounced VIN-ter VOKE-en-en-deh), which means winter weekend – the annual departmental retreat to one of Switzerland’s majestic Alpine ski villages.

The staff met at the Basel train station on a Friday afternoon in February and began the three-hour journey to Grindelwald – home of the 3,970-meter Eiger Mountain in the Bernese Oberland. After switching trains in the picturesque lakeside village of Spietz, I felt a profound exhaustion enveloping me, as if the stress of my first six months as an expat was suddenly releasing itself it my brain, effecting me like a tab of natural Alpine Ambien.

The next thing I knew – and I’ll never forget this moment – I woke from a deep, deep sleep without a clue where I was. As my consciousness gradually returned, I realized I was on a train. I looked out the window and saw pitch blackness. Still unclear on my whereabouts, and beginning to sense that this disorientation would normally alarm me, I was struck that what I felt was instead a blissful sense of tranquility, contentment, comfort in my skin. Wherever I was, I felt like a citizen of the world, on the way to wherever and happy as puppy on a joy ride.

When I fully reached my senses I felt a confidence and sense of being at home in the world that several of my fellow panelists at the HBA event mentioned as one of the biggest benefits of the expat experience – feeling like you can fit in and feel at home anywhere, that you can hold your own in any country or culture. So be open to becoming a rootless cosmopolitan. Nothing compares.

Leap Lesson 5: Put On Your Accountant’s Visor

Finally, and very importantly, mind your taxes and finances and get ready to take a deep dive into complex and cumbersome global tax and financial issues. You will first have to line up tax expertise – probably through your company but maybe on your own – with knowledge of and the ability to reconcile tax requirements in your home and expat countries. Whatever you do, put ample funds aside in advance to pay your taxes in both countries on time to avoid penalties.

Also – and write this one down: MAINTAIN AN ACTIVE POSTAL CODE IN THE U.S. Even if you maintain bank accounts and credit cards at home, without a U.S. postal code the credit card agencies will no longer report your credit payments and history to the rating agencies. What are the consequences? When my wife and I returned to the States to buy an apartment, our credit history had disappeared. You don’t want to know the hassle this caused.

When You Come to the Leap…

As big a nightmare as that was, and despite the cultural adjustments and other challenges, neither my wife nor I would have changed our expat experience for anything. We’re still trying to fathom all the ways it’s changed us, but we’re indescribably grateful.

So in the end, whenever someone asks me my advice about taking an expat assignment, I paraphrase Yogi Berra and say, “When you come to the leap in the road… take it!”

Martin D. Hirsch
Martin D. Hirsch
Martin Hirsch started building his own communications consulting practice in 2017 after a career spanning almost 35 years with one of the world’s leading international healthcare groups. He’s led internal and external corporate communications, brand and reputation management, and crisis and issue management. Working in both the United States and Europe, he has advised multiple CEOs and collaborated with colleagues all over the world. Martin’s strengths include executive consulting, strategic message development, content marketing, storytelling, communications training, public speaking, mentoring talent, and inspiring organizations to advance beyond their limitations.Lately he’s been helping clients by writing keynote speeches for top executives, developing strategies for pitching new business and explaining complex issues, ranging from how to apply new digital health tools in the pharmaceuticals industry to making sense of the rapid and complex changes challenging employees to maintain their equilibrium at major corporations. Martin also works as a faculty adviser at the New York University School of Professional Studies, helping graduate students with their Capstone Papers. His speaking engagements have included presentations at the IABC World Conference, the European Association of Communications Directors Summit, the Corporate Communications International Leaders Forum, the European Commission Communications Directorate and the Rotterdam School of Business Reputation Forum Netherlands. More recently, he was a panelist at the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association conference on expat issues held at Pfizer headquarters in New York. Martin’s writing, including essays, letters and poems, has appeared in newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and Europe. You can read his blog on MUSE-WORTHY, here on BIZCATALYST 360°. He received the American Association of Journalists and Authors 2018 Writing Award for Best Personal Story Blog.

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