SUBTEXTan offensive subtext if you didn't, and you'd get nowhere in business
deals."
Age, rank, and being a man are the three things that send out
the most relevant subtexts. "I've been in situations where I was
excluded from business discussions simply because I was a woman!"
Elaine recalled.THE RUSSIAN FAILING
Mike is an entrepreneur who has tried to do business in the Soviet
Union. "Tried is the operative word," Mike says. "In the States,
if the deal has something in it for both of us, it will go forward.
In the U.S.S.R., it doesn't make any difference. There is simply
no incentive to close a deal. The subtext you get is 'Why should
I bother? What good will it do me?' Now I'm speaking of government
agencies. Since there is no profit motive, no bonus or payoff,
there is no incentive.
"Even McDonald's," Mike recalled, "had a hell of a time setting
up their golden arches in Moscow. It took years before they could
get some flow or momentum, and even then the Soviets who worked
there had to be given lessons in subtext. They had to be taught
to smile and wait on customers without insulting them or taking
their own sweet time!"
According to Mike, and others who have done business in the
Soviet Union, there is a tremendous reluctance on the Soviets'
part to put themselves out, and the reason, of course, is that
they feel there is no profit or advantage in doing so. "There is
also a reluctance to experiment, an absence of innovation and
an overwhelming bureaucracy that goes right down from government
to individuals. It's very discouraging to a businessperson from