Japan - Ghana - South Africa : Why world wars start

There are certain times in life that you are having a conversation with someone and it becomes apparent after a while that the parties in each group are not on the same page. Sometimes the parties are not even on the same book. Usually one or more of the people are pissed.

Today I had one of those occasions. Not only was no-one pissed, but it was at 3pm in the afternoon.

I had occasion to hold a meeting with one of the motor company’s about a workshop in the mining sector. I was advised of their requirement by my plant manager and he was to set up a meeting for me while I was in Accra.

After being advised that the meeting was confirmed 10 minutes before it was due to start, I spent the next 30 minutes driving across Accra to the prospective client. I was fortunate enough to be able to advise them I was going to be late, as if they were anything like me, being late for a meeting is a definite no-no. More so if you want to do business with me!

I walked into the office, late, and somewhat agitated from fighting the Accra traffic just past lunch time. I was shown into a conference room where nine – yes nine! People were sitting around the table waiting for me. The company – as most motor companies are – is Japanese, and two of the nine people – one of them the MD – was indeed Japanese.

Nine people – five business cards (I had expected to see three people at max). As we are all aware, in Japanese culture, the business card is a most important item when doing business. I was late – and short of cards – Strike 2.

We then did the pleasantries and chatted about life and its importance while I battled to understand the extremely broad Japanese accents.

Onto business, and I launched into how good we were at building workshops, how professional our workshops would look and how it would enhance their image, etc etc. I also went into a big diatribe as to how we were used to the mines environmental and safety rules and would ensure that all would be good in life.

The then asked me why a construction business would want to get involved in this project.

At that point a little man should have tapped me on the noggin and told me all was not right. A bright lad who made it as the MD of a large office in West Africa should fully understand why a construction company would want to construct something.

Me of course decides marketing 301 (advanced) was required and listed the workshops we had built and why our price would be great.

They ask us what skills we have and the clincher “Have your people had any training from our trainers”.

That tapped me on the noggin. Finally I asked the question that maybe I should have asked at the beginning of the meeting. “What do you want us to do for you?”

I was there to build a workshop. They thought I was there offering to staff and run their workshop and do service and repairs on cars.

I walked out 20 minutes later having secured a date to pick up the design of the workshop so I could price it.

I walked out, shaking my head, cursing my workshop manager’s communication skills and cursing accents that make meetings so difficult.

I drove to my next meeting in the Accra traffic and finally saw the funny side of it.

I hope they did as well……………………………..