It was wonderful experience to be work together with Cornell Tech MBA students on the JD.com project. I did learn a lot though our internal team discussions as well as the presentation sharing session by the top three teams. Here are some lessons I learned about cross-cultural interactions.

First of all, different cultures teach different values, the mindset of foreign business practices is different from Chinese. Through cross-cultural team work, I can understand better on the differences between cultures and adapting my style of communication accordingly, so as to gain the trust of foreign teammates and avoid conflicts. In the case of Hackathon, as it is the first time meeting new friends at Cornell Tech, Cornell-Tsinghua students are willing to develop relationships with Cornell Tech students. As the topic discussed is more on technical perspectives, Cornell-Tsinghua students tend to be very willing to hear and discuss ideas from Cornell Tech students. Cornell-Tsinghua students prefer to be a cooperative team member, consulting with teammates rather than deal with tough negotiations. Due to their finance industry background, Cornell-Tsinghua students are generally less creative on technical topics but look more at the group collective than at individualism, avoiding potential conflicts.

In contrast, Cornell Tech students seems to prefer face-to-face interactions. They are not opposed to strong relationships, but more willing to brainstorm, proposing and modifying creative proposals. Cornell Tech students are more straight-forward, willing to share and debate on their proposal, seeking the best solutions. Even if there are direct conflict or confrontation over issues, they are highly frowned upon. For some Cornell Tech students, if their creative ideas are well recognized, they have huge satisfaction level. They seem to pride themselves on being tough or dominant, but slower, less aggressive style is valued in Tsinghua-Cornell students.

I think while Chinese firms going global, Chinese should learn more on foreign social structure, cultural diversity, negotiation patterns and different ways of doing business. Chinese people should learn more on critical thinking pattern and creative problem-solving capability under stressful time constraint. Besides, Chinese people should be more willing to accept cultural diversity and understand better on formal and informal structures of their counterparties.

　　本次我们有幸与Cornell Tech的MBA学生共同组成多个小组，共同参加由京东集团设计的Hackathon商业实践比赛。通过我们小组内部讨论以及由前三名优秀团队展示的商业方案设计成果，我学到很多跨文化沟通方面的内容。

　　首先，来自不同文化的人群拥有不同的价值观，中国人的商业实践思路与外国人不同。在本次以小组形式的跨文化团队合作中，我通过更好地理解文化差异，及时地调整自己沟通方式，取得Cornell Tech MBA学生的信任，避免产生冲突。本次在纽约举行的Hackathon比赛，是我们清华－康奈尔双学位金融MBA项目的学生第一次与Cornell Tech的高科技背景的MBA朋友相聚，因而我们希望增进友好交流与合作。由于本次比赛主题偏高科技，总体而言我们非常乐意倾听并与Cornell Tech MBA学生交流观点。我的个人体会是，我们倾向于作为友好协作的团队成员，通过友好协商而不是艰苦谈判的方式解决问题。由于我们的工作背景主要在金融行业，我们在高科技方面的创造性思维和建议相对欠缺。此外，我们更看重团队精神而非个人英雄主义，并且在交流过程中尽量避免潜在冲突。

　　相对而言，Cornell Tech的MBA学生似乎更偏好直接的面对面互动。他们不介意激烈的讨论，更愿意头脑风暴，提出并升级创新性的建议。Cornell Tech的MBA学生表达更直接，愿意就其提议进行分享和辩论，共同寻求最佳的解决方案。即便可能产生直接的冲突或对抗，他们也会迎难而上，以解决问题为共同目标。对 Cornell Tech的MBA同学而言，如果他们的创新性提议被小组接受，他们内心会产生极大的成就感。有些Cornell Tech的MBA学生倾向于展示其强势或独断的解决问题的风格，而清华－康奈尔双学位金融MBA项目的学生倾向于展示友好协作、避免冲突的风格。

　　我认为，伴随着中国企业走向国际化，中国人需要更多地了解外国市场的社会结构、文化多样性、谈判模式以及商业实践方式。中国人应该更好地理解批判性思维模式，提高创造性解决问题的能力。 此外，中国人应该更主动地接受文化多样性，更好地了解外国合作伙伴内部的正式和非正式组织结构。