If You Want to be an Expat, First Consider the Cost

Are you prepared to NOT pay the price...?

I’ve given myself permission to call myself a writer.

I’m not an especially good writer, but I’m a writer nonetheless and continuing to work on my craft and improve it a little, day after day and letting those incremental gains stack up.

Just like interest and the remarkable yet simple of power of compounding where apparently even Einstein had a fascination, going as far as saying that he considered “compounding to be the eighth wonder of the world.”

Here’s to putting that theory to the test as it is though my writing that I hope to shape my new future, sharing my journey and experiences right here of a career as an international executive who has been living as an expat for over 20 years including my wins and many, many losses.

But I digress.

A little over a week ago now, those of you that read my last post, “writing with tears in my eyes,” will remember that I welcomed my son to Hong Kong as he took the very first steps of his own nomadic expat journey.

What an incredible and emotional week it’s been.

Since he arrived we’ve worked through the immediate challenges and emotions that someone faces when they move to a new country.

Everything that was previously taken for granted has to be updated.

• New job

• New bank account

• New cell phone

• New gym

• New friends

The list is endless, exhausting and overwhelming at times.

Add to that, homesickness, it’s little wonder why so many expat assignments ultimately fail.

When I first landed in Penang back in 2000, there was nobody to show me the ropes and tricks to get started. Expat “life hacks,” I guess we’d call them now.

So it was a very easy decision to help guide him though every step of the way and avoid some of the mistakes that I made.

All of this started me thinking more and more about how we define our priorities in life.

It is so easy to focus relentlessly on a career to the exclusion of everything else and you may become a great business success, make lots of money, but have a fancy title with all the trimmings.

This is very often the case of expat executives that are selected for promotion and an international assignment and it’s very easy to let all of that go to your head.

But if all this success comes at a price of a damaged family, separation from your children and ruined health, we have to ask is it really worth it.

Many of you will have heard of CEO coach Eric Partaker. Now personally, I had to overcome a bias here. Eric talks about his success as a McKinsey Consultant which after my experiences on the client side of the McKinsey relationship made my eyes roll.

But, as I learned many years ago, its best to check your ego at the door and I must say in this case I am glad that I did and had to eat a little humble pie.

Eric is grounded and he talks in his excellent and very readable book “The Three Alarms,” about his obsession for achieving peak performance both personally and with his clients.

He talks a lot about balance and the importance to ensure that performance in Health, Wealth, (work) and Relationships should be balanced and that each acting as a leg of a stool support the others.

It makes total sense, that a healthy body and family can enable you to be more successful in the boardroom.

I wish I had know about Eric’s work all those years ago when I set out on my journey.

Which brings me finally to the point of this post.

Living and working overseas is a stand out moment in one’s career, but it can come at a price and it’s essential to balance the risk and reward of that step.

It’s important to take professional guidance on how to reduce your risk of personal and professional strain or potential failure.

Ask questions, quiz those who have trodden before you.

Your company has or about to invest a lot in you at this point.

But don’t forget to invest personally in what matters even more, your family and your health and set yourself up for the bet chance of success.

Bon Voyage.