Foreign language friendliness

In Bali, the Island of the Gods, overflowing warmth and friendliness are not only commonplace in service, but practically everywhere.

For example, in traffic: While Balinese drivers never go without honking their horns, while motorcyclists constantly weave recklessly past cars on both sides, and while cars may even park in the middle of the main road during rush hour, all of this happens without any aggression. One could almost describe the constant honking as "loving." As charming flirting. As a concerned reminder: "Hey, look, I'm behind you and about to overtake, please don't be startled and have a nice day!" Here in the West, we tend to drive in combat mode: I want to be faster, I want to be right, I want to significantly influence traffic. In the East, it's more like: Panta rei. Everything flows. The Balinese driver merges with the moving mass, where everyone moves forward together. It's like driving in a huge Love Parade. Every day is a Love Parade In Bali, "work" traditionally means something different than in the West: It's not about setting oneself apart from others through exceptional achievements. It's less about career, status, or money. What's more important is the community, the prayer. Work, life, eating, and praying are one. Because prayer is almost always happening, a friend who is an entrepreneur has hired someone whose sole job is to pray all day long. For everyone. His employees are very happy about it. In the West, combat mode; in the East, Love Parade. In the West, a service desert; in the East, overflowing warmth. I ask myself: Why is that? And: Why can't we in the West do the same? It sounds paradoxical, but it probably has to do with our Western culture. We neatly categorize and securely lock away our ability to be moved by other people, nature, spiritual experiences, painting, music, sculpture into two drawers: religion and art. Otherwise, please don't. In business, in science, "sentimentality" is not only considered unprofessional, but potentially corrupting, if not dangerous. Here, it's about asserting oneself with power, consistently implementing one's own plans, and leaving one's mark on the world. This observation was already formulated by the German economist and sociologist Max Weber (1864 to 1920), and Hartmut Rosa has recently updated it excitingly in his book "Resonance: A Sociology of the Relationship with the World" (2016). Our cultural upbringing makes it difficult for us to be warm in our jobs. Friendliness is like a foreign language to us. Does this mean we have no chance of living Service Excellence? We do. We have a chance. And here comes the good news. Languages can be learned. Anyone can learn. Even on vacation. I say: Service Excellence means: Practice, practice, practice. And: Practice more. I wish you much joy in doing so! Article by Carsten K. Rath, one of the Top100 Speakers in our catalog. Find his profile here!