No longer a lonesome dove

What a week! First, I make either the best maneuver of my career or the biggest mistake after speaking up at a strategy meeting and being asked to run with a project that has the potential to make me or break me here. No pressure or anything. Then, I meet with the biggest producer in the country, a notorious hard ass, and he decides that he not only likes me, but invites me to his Chinese New Year party (which I have NO IDEA what I'm supposed to wear to). Next, after meeting my new friend last week, he decides to invite me to a pretty happening sake & italian pairing shindig at one of the coolest restaurants here, where I not only meet amazing people that invite me to events at some of the best places in the city, but I meet my new gay bestie from Chicago! Who I'm now going to hot yoga with this weekend and then shopping for a new purse (since mine has decided to wither and die in the humidity here).  Every girl knows nothing is better than your best man-friend, but how about when you add the fact that he owns his own club here and is a sommelier?  That means fun party nights, amazing wine and lots of new friends. Perfect.  But alas, while I am not normally a Negative Nelly, there is this small nagging naysayer in the back of my brain saying - just you wait girlie, the other shoe is going to drop. Here's to that shoe staying firmly suspended. 

On the work front, definitely starting to get a sense of how it works here and I have to be honest, it's not all as wonderful. First of all, when I say something aloud, my team just runs with it. No questioning, no feedback, no hey dumb American that is a terrible idea - nada, nothing. Just go and get it done. For those of you that have worked with me, you know what a shitstorm that can be because I happen to be one of those annoying people that literally thinks out loud. So when I think I'm just brainstorming, my team thinks I'm giving a directive. Today, I walked into work to see that we switched up our customer feedback forms to a horrendous light puke green after I happened to mentioned earlier this week that a white feedback form does not lend itself to getting a client's attention. When asked what color would, I mentioned casually that a color that pops would help - like maybe a green that would pick up the company's colors.  Then I walked away, making a note to discuss it at the next staff meeting. Instead, my team thinks okay, crazy Acker says we need green, but we only have the terrible puke green paper that no one else will use since it makes your eyes tear, so let's make 300 copies and do as she said. Now, while I of course appreciate the effort, I'm used to people around me that either know I'm just talking out loud and that there is no reason to actually listen to me, or they will look at me, tell me what a dumb idea that is and walk away with absolutely no intention of doing it. Instead, I'm looking at 300 copies of a feedback form that you can barely even read, and I have to be appreciative and make sure no one loses "face". Face, for those not of the Asian culture, is VERY important here and means you don't embarrass someone in front of their colleagues or peers and that you always try to keep an even keel on the situation so as to not upset anyone. So, what's the rub you ask? My entire career has been all about being perfectly comfortable upsetting people when needed to get things done! And about collaborating with people on ideas, arguing with someone and then going to lunch together with no issues because we know it's just business, and having a constant reminder that your britches aren't quite a big as you think they are. So, needless to say this is going to be a "learning opportunity" for me.

But you know, I do realize how unbelievably lucky I am and I'm grateful to even have a team that even cares enough to listen to what comes out of my mouth, so I'll just shut my yap and keep on trucking ahead. Should be an interesting few months as I learn the ropes.  Let's hope I don't get rope burn.