The thing that surprised me most about doing business in Singapore wasn't the competition. It was the openness.

Yes, this country is intense. Everyone is sharp. Everyone is hungry. The business environment here moves fast and doesn't wait for you.

But here's what caught me off guard: a client who buys from me will introduce me to their own customers. They'll set up a meeting, make the connection, and help me grow — even though I'm their vendor, not their partner.

In Korea, that would never happen. You protect your supply chain. You don't reveal where you buy. You definitely don't introduce your supplier to your client. That's business strategy 101 back home — guard everything.

Singapore flipped that for me. Here, business growth isn't zero-sum. People share because the ecosystem rewards it. Your success doesn't threaten mine — it validates the network.

That shift in thinking changed how I run every business I'm involved in now. I stopped guarding and started connecting. I started introducing people who should meet — even when there was nothing in it for me immediately. And almost every time, it came back. Not right away. Not directly. But it came back.

The business strategy I learned in Singapore is this: the more you open up your network, the faster it grows. Not because people owe you — but because trust compounds.

Every country has its own business culture. Korea taught me discipline. Singapore taught me generosity.

If you've worked across cultures — what's the biggest difference that changed how you operate?