Realizing how you are perceived is always valuable but even more so when we are in other countries. I’ve spent the past year living and working overseas and had numerous occassions to understand how colleagues perceive me (and Americans). It varies from colleagues in the U.K. telling me I am too assertive, ‘which is expected in America but not here’, to having collegues in India comment to me that they had started to say thank you when they saw how positively our people responded to me. A simple thank you, which is routine for me, was seen as extraordinary in Chennai.