I Spent 12 Years Teaching Manners In China... “Be Yourself” Is The Worst Advice

Sara Jane Ho is a Harvard Business School graduate, Netflix star, and the founder of Institute Sarita — China's first high-end finishing school — who spent 12 years teaching social intelligence to some of the most powerful people in Asia before pivoting to LA to launch a TCM-based wellness brand and host the viral podcast Hot Water. She is the author of the bestselling etiquette book Mind Your Manners and has been named Forbes' Women to Watch in Asia and one of BBC's 100 Women.In this episode, we discuss:0:00 Introduction2:36 Why Neglecting Social Fluency Is Literally Shortening Your Lifespan3:50 What Social Fluency Actually Means — and Why It Has Nothing to Do With Being Polite5:23 How to Develop Heightened Self-Awareness If Nobody Ever Taught You How10:32 How Sara Jane Ho Went From Harvard to Beijing With Broken Mandarin and Built China's First Finishing School15:29 What High-Status People Do Differently Once They're Inside the Room19:42 Reading the Air: How to Scan a Room's Energy in the First 30 Seconds23:30) How to Use Your Central Nervous System to Read People More Accurately Than Your Brain28:20 Carl Jung Said You Only Really Start Living at 40 — Here's What That Means30:34 Miss Manners With a Touch of Machiavelli: How to Say Anything With a Smile and Get Away With It41:36 The Chinese Phone Call Rule That Changes How People Perceive Your Respect44:15 Why Xi Jinping Always Lowers His Glass When He Toasts — The Hidden Language of Chinese Power50:58 The Saving Face Dynamic That Makes American Businessmen Leave China Thinking They Got the Deal53:33 The Highest ROI Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Social Fluency57:24 Tiger Mothers, Conditional Love, and Why Not Loving Yourself Attracts the Wrong Partners1:10:30 Why Hot Water Is the Foundation of TCM Longevity — and What It Actually Does to Your BodyLearn more about Sara Jane Ho here:Website: https://www.sarajaneho.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarajaneho/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BySaraJaneHoWatch the full episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/thk4T9ukUos📸 Connect on IG: https://instagram.com/growthminds.podcast