Corrections or additions?
This article by Michele Alperin was prepared for the July 14, 2004
issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Voila! The French, Vive la Difference
The president of SoCoCo Intercultural Inc., Gilles Asselin, used to be
a CPA in France, but he didn’t much like his job. Thinking back on a
three-year experience in Africa, as a civil servant in the Cameroon
and an auditor in the Congo, he realized that he was accustomed to
living abroad in different cultures and decided to change his life by
going abroad to study something new. He saw his options as England or
the United States, but, he says, “The United States appeared to me as
more challenging – an unknown land, with lots of opportunities and so
many things that can happen.”
That was 15 years ago. He moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and studied for
masters degrees in industrial ecology and business at the University
of Wisconsin. Then, 10 years ago, he was invited to do a two-day
seminar on French cultural awareness in Princeton for Rhone-Poulenc.
This got him thinking about establishing a consulting business in
this field.
At a professional conference in San Diego he met Ruth Mastron, who was
looking for a partner to collaborate on just such a business. They
founded SoCoCo in 1995 with offices in Princeton and in San Diego,
where she lives. Asselin says that Mastron, who had lived in France
for five years and was bicultural and bilingual “was a good complement
for me. I am French in the U.S. – she was an American in France. I
lived in Paris, she in the French provinces.” And he could have added
that she lives on one coast, he on the other. They have two more
permanent employees and they hire consultants on a per project basis.
SoCoCo’s focus is intercultural training and consulting between the
United States and France, helping French and Americans to work
together and understand each other. He and his partner wrote a book
together, “Au Contraire: Figuring Out the French,” which provides
advice on French-American intercultural relations, exploring the
assumptions, attitudes, beliefs, values and patterns of thought of
both cultures that lie behind what we see.
Asselin describes his customers mostly as middle managers: “For
example, a U.S. company with a subsidiary in France may have teams of
managers and developers in both countries, with limited face-to-face
interaction. We might do a one or two-day seminar explaining about the
ways French people are likely to react, to perceive external
counterparts, and to deal with relationships. If French and Americans
are in the same room, the approach is a little different; then we use
scenarios, role plays, and simulations.”
One important business area where cultural expectations differ is the
business meeting. “In France,” says Asselin, “sometimes there is an
agenda and sometimes not. In France, meetings are more flexible,
whereas in the U.S. they are more structured. In France, a meeting is
more like inviting someone to a discussion.” As a result, he explains,
it is important to define the purpose of a meeting beforehand –
whether it is to make decisions or get feedback from members of the
team.
Another potentially divisive area is that “the French people have a
lot of side conversations, which may or may not be related to the
meeting. This can be very annoying to Americans, who think of it as a
lack of respect; but it is part of the culture in France.”
Princeton is a good area, he says, because “this type of work is
popular among pharmaceutical companies. The stakes are high when
developing drugs, so they care about cross-cultural issues.”
SoCoCo Intercultural Inc. Box 746, Princeton Junction08550-0746. Gilles Asselin, president. 609-631-0382; fax,609-631-0383. Home page: www.SoCoCo.comTop Of PageFiguring Out the FrenchIf the bald eagle is the symbolic bird for the United States, therooster is the symbol of France, writes Gilles Asselin of SoCoCoIntercultural Inc., an intercultural training and consulting inPrinceton Junction. With his business partner, Ruth Mastron, he wrote”Au Contraire! Figuring Out the French” (Intercultural Press, 2001,$21.95).”A rooster does not fly high in the sky,” the authors write, using thebird to describe the differences between the French and the Americanpsyches, “and it does not soar to discover new horizons. Rather, arooster wakes up the entire village at dawn, attracts attention fromothers, and never retreats from his defiant and domineering attitudetoward the rest of the coop.”Asselin’s book covers the waterfront on how to do business with theFrench, everything from guidelines for Americans managers in France(and vice versa) to how the French date, rear their children, go toschool, and go to church. Asselin and Mastron are brutally frank aboutthe vagaries of both nationalities, and they are often amusing.Contrasts abound. “Deeply conservative yet avant-garde,dispassionately rational yet given to wildly dramatic outbursts ofanger or affection, reserved with strangers yet passionate romantics:the French take in rationalism and logic with their mother’s milk, andyet France presents paradox upon paradox. Quite simply, the Frenchdefy classification – even their own.”The country is shaped like a hexagon, and this geometric shapeactually shapes French culture. “The French think of themselves assupremely rational beings – logical and intellectual. The vision oftheir country as a geometric structure – neat, tidy, organized, andclear – confirms for the French their prowess and pride of the mind,Cartesians to their fingertips. Cartesianism, or Cartesian thinking,refers to the typically French way of reasoning or working through aproblem.””The French easily distinguish between what is true in theory and whatis true in practice. The two may be identical or may not bear theslightest resemblance.””Telling the French that something is not allowed is a directchallenge to their ability to do it gracefully, finding an elegant wayof bypassing the rules, and not getting caught.”Many Americans are struck by how well the French dress themselves andtheir children. The French are willing to put up with a considerablephysical discomfort to maintain their appearance. A Frenchwoman, forexample, would sooner die than change into a pair of comfortableathletic shoes for the long metro ride home.””The artworks of a culture express its values. It is no accident thatone of the great masterpieces of American art is Grant Wood’s‘American Gothic,’ showing a stern-faced farmer and his daughter infront of their farmhouse. These people clearly have work to do and areserious about it.”‘It is no accident either that one of the great French masterpieces isRodin’s ‘The Thinker,’ a statue of a man sitting and thinking. Frenchsociety values thought and ideas for their own sake. They may or maynot have a practical application and either way is fine.”The authors summarize a section on the potential conflicts between thetwo national personalities: “The thinking versus doing orientation isoften the source of friction between the French and Americans, but itis rarely recognized, particularly in business, where the pragmaticAmerican approach clashes with the slower-paced intellectual Frenchone.”The authors highlight these contrasting approaches in a study of themerger of the American pharmaceutical company, Rorer, withRhone-Poulenc, which had its North American headquarters in Cranbury.(Later this pharmaceutical division merged with Hoechst to becomeAventis.) One important factor in the merger’s success was the waythe leaders were chosen.”A lot of atypically rational Americans were brought together with alot of unusually empiricist French, which led to a nice culturalblend, enabling people to move rapidly into action. This wasn’t merelyluck or coincidence. Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (RPR) deliberately searchedinternally or recruited people who showed an open mind and awillingness to cross cultural boundaries. All these peopledemonstrated what a French expat called teamwork skills. The potentialof both entities was harnessed while creating a hybrid structure.”In short, RPR backed up its commitment in concrete actions. Itenvisaged intercultural synergy as a mindset and a long-term effort,and it fostered intercultural interactions throughout all levels andareas of the company.”French influence may have waned since the days that the rooster becamethe unofficial mascot. “Still, some French roosters like to remindeveryone that France has awakened the entire world to the beauty andgrace of its civilization, culture, and language.”Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
