A NEW ARRIVAL TO THE GOULD CLAN!
Last week I wrote the blog on the airplane travelling from Japan to New York and as I landed in New York, I received an amazing text from my son Joshua that said ‘Welcome Grandpa!’ I am therefore delighted to tell you all of the safe arrival of my first grandchild. It has been a challenging time, not just for my family, but for all of my colleagues in the New York state due to the less welcome arrival of Hurricane Sandy. I have been quite overwhelmed at how wonderful our team in NYC have managed, despite the power being off for almost a week in Wall Street.
The flooded area and the lack of transport did not stop all our staff either working from home or in our temporary office. Not only did they work hard to ensure that we could meet our customers’ requests but also many of them volunteered over the weekend. In addition to this, we have some heroic stories of how our interpreters went into flooded areas and travelled on makeshift boats to help distressed limited-English speakers understand what was happening and how they could be helped.
I was very proud that thebigword could work with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) in their wonderful endeavours to help the people who experienced great hardship; not just from losing power but some having whole houses blown away. Whilst NYC struggles to cope with the work and try and get some sleep at night, our staff in Leeds worked through our time zone (their night) to ensure we had translators and interpreters ready to undertake what was required in the US. The fact that we could switch systems from one continent to the other is testament to how thebigword copes and how well our business recovery plan worked. So, a big thank you to all thebigword staff for their tremendous effort and special thanks to our Technology team who despite power cuts etc, kept the engine running.
In last week’s blog I mentioned my trip to thebigword office in China and prior to arriving in NYC I travelled to our Tokyo office. thebigword- or Mitaka as it is known locally- has been working in Japan for more than 10 years. It was exciting to visit some of our major clients, which included one of the largest car companies in the world and the largest earth moving equipment manufacturer: Honda and Hitachi.
The culture of dealing in Japan is very different form that of China and indeed anywhere else in the word. The Japanese customers are extremely demanding for the highest standards, which I think has always been good for thebigword. Business etiquette is quite different, from presenting your business cards to taking the time to think carefully about what the customer is asking. I am not terribly good with finances and at first was a little unnerved that after we had made our presentation there was no immediate response, apart from thoughtful faces and slightly nodding heads. Their manners are so impeccable that his part of the process is to demonstrate that they are thinking about what we have said. It is a lesson that I will try and take back to the UK and US.
Our Japanese team in Tokyo are so incredibly impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there but between you and me, I was very relieved that I didn’t have to participate in Karaoke again! It is one thing our Tokyo office has in common with our Chinese team; they both love Karaoke. So, before I go to the office next time, I really will have to practice some songs.
Keep safe and warm and I hope you all had a great weekend.
Larry
The flooded area and the lack of transport did not stop all our staff either working from home or in our temporary office. Not only did they work hard to ensure that we could meet our customers’ requests but also many of them volunteered over the weekend. In addition to this, we have some heroic stories of how our interpreters went into flooded areas and travelled on makeshift boats to help distressed limited-English speakers understand what was happening and how they could be helped.
I was very proud that thebigword could work with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) in their wonderful endeavours to help the people who experienced great hardship; not just from losing power but some having whole houses blown away. Whilst NYC struggles to cope with the work and try and get some sleep at night, our staff in Leeds worked through our time zone (their night) to ensure we had translators and interpreters ready to undertake what was required in the US. The fact that we could switch systems from one continent to the other is testament to how thebigword copes and how well our business recovery plan worked. So, a big thank you to all thebigword staff for their tremendous effort and special thanks to our Technology team who despite power cuts etc, kept the engine running.
In last week’s blog I mentioned my trip to thebigword office in China and prior to arriving in NYC I travelled to our Tokyo office. thebigword- or Mitaka as it is known locally- has been working in Japan for more than 10 years. It was exciting to visit some of our major clients, which included one of the largest car companies in the world and the largest earth moving equipment manufacturer: Honda and Hitachi.
The culture of dealing in Japan is very different form that of China and indeed anywhere else in the word. The Japanese customers are extremely demanding for the highest standards, which I think has always been good for thebigword. Business etiquette is quite different, from presenting your business cards to taking the time to think carefully about what the customer is asking. I am not terribly good with finances and at first was a little unnerved that after we had made our presentation there was no immediate response, apart from thoughtful faces and slightly nodding heads. Their manners are so impeccable that his part of the process is to demonstrate that they are thinking about what we have said. It is a lesson that I will try and take back to the UK and US.
Our Japanese team in Tokyo are so incredibly impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there but between you and me, I was very relieved that I didn’t have to participate in Karaoke again! It is one thing our Tokyo office has in common with our Chinese team; they both love Karaoke. So, before I go to the office next time, I really will have to practice some songs.
Keep safe and warm and I hope you all had a great weekend.
Larry
