Dan Erwin

"It's Just African. . .

It’s a stereotype, a racial stereotype. But is it negative, positive or neutral? One thing is certain: identifying African behavior as stereotypical is dangerous stuff.

I've learned from experience to issue caveats about most any racial or ethnic stereotype, admit to stereotyping and beg forgiveness--especially before using an ethnic or racial stereotype. Even then, you're liable to have to push through assumptions, in spite of the fact that the use of stereotype can be highly valuable for explaining behavior.

However, one of my young friends recently expressed his frustration at Nigerian and Somali friends who call to say they're in town and want to go out for a drink the same night. After experiencing this behavior on numerous occasions, he asked why they don't ever give him advance notice so that he won't have to reschedule his time to meet with them. They both responded, "It’s just African." In our diverse culture that kind of information can be highly useful.

6 Basic Arguments: How to Spot Baloney and Come Out Ahead

Recently a friend asked me about the nature of my consulting business in executive development. It was an unusually straightforward question. Surprisingly, I’d never thought about my response quite as clearly. You could say it was an “original” or “creative” response. I leaned back and very quickly said, “My business takes two shapes: on the one hand I’m doing direct behavioral coaching, teaching people new competencies. The other side of my business is critical questioning. A client gives me some information and I double-check his issues with strategic questions. Often questions my client has never thought about.” I don’t know where in my gray matter that answer came from, but after several days of reflection, it’s very accurate.

If you’re wondering about the question side of my business, I have data for you. Over more than 20 years I’ve worked long term, one-on-one with a little over 400 senior executives from East to West as well as a bit in Latin America and Western Europe. Approximately 20% of these clients came to me because of the quality of questions I’d asked them in my interview for a colleague.  

Let me explain. As part of the diagnosis for working with a senior executive, I normally interview—again, one-on-one for an hour--about a dozen colleagues, senior officers, subordinates and peers. Occasionally, even family members. The interview includes about 25 questions, moving from general to specific. And starting with an ultimate value question, like, “what do you see as the most important 3 or 4 contributions that my client brings to the organization and your work?” There’s never a tip-of-the-tongue response to the very first question. So the interviewee recognizes immediately, in spite of the brief preparation letter he’d received from my client, that this interview is going to be an unusual animal. I never hurry the conversation, and I use plenty of strategic silence throughout the interview.