I was attracted to Unilever because of the prospect of an international career. I was motivated by intellectual curiosity and the experience new countries, new cultures and people within a company that defined itself as a "multi-local multi-national" organisation. Vietnam was one "last frontiers", and hugely different from my previous postings in France, Australia, Portugal, Turkey and Singapore. As with other countries, I observed, listened, discussed and tried to learn the people's hopes, fears, what made them happy etc. as expressed in their own words, from their own eyes and hearts. Goodwill, empathy, authentic curiosity, acceptance of the differences and refraining from hasty judgments based one's own cultural references or biases. I tried to build bridges and sought the higher ground in trying to reconcile differences between the company's values and behaviours, and the values of Vietnamese people. Learning the language, however imperfectly, also helped a lot.