It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s a Professional Foreigner

nytimes.com

13 points·sonabinu··6 comments

It doesn't really sound like he was a professional foreigner in the sense that he was hired to be a foreigner, like some stories I have read[1]. He had a regular job, and being a foreigner gave him more attention.

[1] http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.peop...

I thought this is where it was going too.

This reads like an advertorial without the final call to action.

> "More important, it taught me that the most critical step isn’t to “make a difference,” but to understand."

Understand what? That you should send out surveys? Pointless article.

What exactly was the point of this article? It certainly isn't an advertisement for becoming a foreign worker. There's no call to action and no real lesson or point of understanding that this article conveys.

"More important, it taught me that the most critical step isn’t to “make a difference,” but to understand." I think the writer is encouraging listening and being aware (in his case - professionally through market research/data analysis) as told through the first hand experience.

I think we've been conditioned to expect a CTA at the end of many "articles" which has made many of them into pitches rather than articles. Why can't an article simply bring awareness of another culture from a foreigner's perspective?

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