A return to Martha’s Vineyard

Old House Pond, just around the corner from Lambert’s Cove Inn.

Today I was awake by 4am. It’s now just after 6am and I’ve already had a walk, taken twenty or so pictures and talked with some goats. I’m on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts, USA and this is one of my homes.

Goats, chickens, roosters – most of them friendly 🙂

I know you’ve heard me talk and write about Japan before and hell, this blog used to be called hackerinjapan, but Martha’s Vineyard has been a place I consistently return to, time after time.

I called ‘The Vineyard’ home for ten summers and one long, interesting winter. It’s the place in America where I feel centered. It is not without its hardships; it’s expensive, remote and detached. But I love it here. I’m inspired here. I’m at home.

Arriving only yesterday by boat, I’ve already run into two friends on the street, had dinner with two more and met a guest of their’s that I indirectly helped out two years ago (who knew me for it). My American Life has more or less revolved around my Island Life and I love that I feel such attachment to a place within my Passport country.

Someone asked me last week if I was ever going to settle down. Today I feel like I actually could.

Walking the grounds – 5am and it’s already rather light.

Exploring some Land Bank trails and hiking down to Old House Pond

Hire For Life Experience

Hitchhiking my way around Japan – gaining life experience.

When a friend from the startup world asked me about our hiring philosophy at Shoto Group, I realized that I had never put into words exactly what that philosophy might be.  I know what I look for, but it usually fell under the “X-Factor” label.  I thought this would be good to put into words, so here’s what I came up with.

First, hire for attitude.  One thing that cannot be trained is attitude.  I have seen firsthand a well–qualified candidate lead to disappointment once hired.  It came down to hiring for what the person was on paper and believing his qualifications could be his salvation.  It won’t happen and none of us have time for that.  No matter where the candidate might fit into our company, someone who is positive, flexible and adaptable ranks well above where he or she may have worked or from what school he or she graduated.  So what’s the takeaway?  Save yourself the trouble and consider your candidate’s attitude with weight.

Second, hire for experience, but not the ‘working’ kind.  We look for candidates with an adventurous past and an overwhelming excitement for life.  We seek out active, highly–capable people who have a thirst for worldly experience and growth.  Many times we look beyond our current borders, in fact, most of the people on our team have lived abroad, have grown up abroad or are currently living in a country foreign to their own.  Why is this so important to us?  Travel breeds creativity and adaptability.  Travel fosters intelligence and brings about a positive attitude.  These are all must–have’s for us.

I am what some call a Third Culture Kid (TCK): someone who spent a significant amount of his or her developmental years outside of his or her home culture.  I seek out others who have similar backgrounds.  I believe real diversity creates an amazing group dynamic, one where past experiences from different cultures come together to create highly effective ideas and strategies.

Having lived in Tokyo and Singapore during my adolescent years, I attended school with classmates from over thirty countries.  This, I believe, will serve as the workplace of the future, where it will be natural to look not only to new cities for opportunities, but across borders.  Both of my alma maters, the American School in Japan and the Singapore America School are a preview of what is to come, a prototype.  And it’s happening at Shoto, too.  We’re currently managing three projects full time, with team members from Albania, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Canada, England, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the US.

So, back to hiring for life experience.  When you consider someone who has traveled around the world, they bring along the excitement for living that best fits our group.  We aren’t tied to our desks; in fact most meetings take place while on different continents.  Our most active project, developing and shooting a TV pilot, has involved a team that’s currently spread between Albania, Singapore, the US and a variable third country, usually India or Indonesia.  We work remotely, using nothing more than our laptops, Skype and a concentrated focus on timezones.  We work this way because we’ve chosen freedom over structure.

Whether you are in the small business arena or hiring for a publicly traded company, ask about the experiences your candidates have outside of the office or classroom.  And while I’m just a tad biased, should you find yourself reading over a résumé and see the acronym TCK – give them a call and see firsthand the potential that lies within.

*A version of this article was first published in SmartRecruiters BLOG

Different Strokes, I suppose

The family in Penang, Malaysia + a few snakes. Yikes.

Not long ago met someone for the first time who took their family abroad to China back in the early 2000’s.  As usual, I was thrilled to realize this connection that I am so often talking about with all of you.  Though this was a bit different, meeting the parents rather than their TCK offspring.

I, of course, asked the basics:  Where exactly did you live? Oh I’ve been there!  And for how long?  Where else have you traveled to?  Future plans for overseas living? What did you think of _____?

As our conversation progressed, I noticed something a bit off.  His attention and enthusiasm didn’t seem to match my own.  With TCKs, we love this kind of back and forth.  Many times we find that we have mutual friends, or that even our own paths had crossed at some time in some place.  But this parent of two TCKs didn’t seem to care.  He didn’t ask a single follow up question, he said some rather negative things about an entire race of people and then excused himself from our conversation.  Are you kidding me??

I’ve never had this experience before, but it made me realize how different the abroad experience can be for people, and in at least this case, for the parents of TCKs.  Had he even heard the term TCK before?  Does he realize how important this may be for his children?  Does he put off the same negative vibe when they talk about their time overseas together?

But turning this negative into a positive, I came to this conclusion: I had it good with my own family.  Both of my parents urged my brother and I to explore the foreign lands we called home and we took trips as a family all over Asia, Europe and the Midwest (heheh).  They took us out of school (sorry, Mom) to extend trips around the world.  And even better, our international schools encouraged us to do so.  Learning went well beyond paper, they claimed.  You better believe I got on board with that one.

Not a day goes by that a story from our time overseas doesn’t get brought up in my family. Our world still revolving around those incredible five years spent living in Japan and Singapore, over half of my life ago.  I can’t imagine not having something so positive like that in my life and I hope that what was said to me in this recent occurrence isn’t what is spoken around their dinner table at family gatherings.  Because looking back on those times with anything less than gratitude would truly be a misfortune.

If you have kids who are growing up overseas, I hope you understand how important that experience will be to them for the rest of their lives.  They are changed.  They are better for it, so keep an open mind and encourage thought, learning and acceptance of other people and cultures.  You didn’t just move abroad for the added income, did you?

*Some details of this story have been changed*