the hero's journey:

osland's model of working abroad

This model comes from the meeting of Joseph Campbell's work on mythic heroes
and Joyce Osland's own dissatisfaction with the literature she read about the expa-
triate experience.7 Osland felt that her experience as an expatriate (anyone living in
a different country from the one in which they were raised) and the experiences of
many others that had been shared with her were not well described in the academic
writings about these cultural transitions, so she decided to develop her own model
of them. Based on numerous interviews and observations, she found many similari-
ties between the expatriate acculturation experience and Campbell's work on
mythic heroes. She describes a six-part journey: the call to adventure, the belly o f
the whale, the magical friend, the road o f trials, the ultimate boon, and the return.
Her model is one that can happen, but it is not meant to be a description of what
will happen for everyone. People may opt out of the hero's journey anywhere along
the path.

Call to Adventure

The call to adventure is the opportunity to go abroad and experience a new way of
living in a new world. Most of these expatriates are seen as eager to go abroad. It
is something they have always wanted to do or seen as a great career opportunity.
Often the decision to accept the call is immediate and, even if it has to be weighed
out very carefully, it is still an experience to be seized and lived to the fullest.
Osland does note that some may accept the call to go abroad without accepting the
call to adventure, and for these people the hero's journey does not really apply, as
they often insulate themselves from exposure to the new culture and return home
without really experiencing an adventure.

In the Belly o f the Whale

Entering the belly of the whale refers to one entering into an unknown culture. It is
like crossing a threshold from one's past life into a totally different life. Often,
crossing this threshold is made difficult by factors that seem to be guarding the
threshold into the new life. These guardians include such things as culturally inap-
propriate constraints put on the expatriates by headquarters, a deep distrust of the
hero as a stranger by the members of the new culture, a lack of language ability,
and an expatriate community that severely restricts interaction with members of the
host community, such as a "golden ghetto" (a place heavily populated by Ameri-
cans or other expatriates that tends to be economically very well off). If the expa-
triate is not careful or is willing to succumb to these guardians, she or he will not
be able to finish the hero's journey. Stepping into the unknown is challenging, and
just because one is cast in the role of hero, it does not mean that things will go
smoothly or that the person will handle everything competently.

The first day we got to Japan, well, first of all they lost our bags, which was
typical. But I told my wife, who was staying at a hotel in Tokyo, "Take the train
out to the bus and get on the bus and our stop is like the ninth stop and the
house is right there," because I had bought the house and she had never seen
it. So she got to the train station, had enough money to get onto the train. She
got off the train at the right place and went down to get the bus. She got to the
bus, went to get on the bus and then ran out of money, change. So she went
into a Pa-chinko parlor [where a game is played with steel balls and asked for
change and they pointed to a machine and she put a thousand yen into a ma-
chine, and got a big plastic bucket of Pachinko balls. And she thought that
they were tokens for the bus... We kept it [bucket of balls] with the thought in
mind that anytime you felt stupid about something you did—just drag those ba-
bies out.*

The Magical Friend

Regardless of the mistakes one may make and challenges that one may face in this
new land, one seems to eventually find a magical friend or a cultural mentor. This
mentor may be found through information-seeking efforts on the hero's part or by a
recognition of the hero's need by someone else who has traveled a similar path in
the past. The mentor is often a member of the new culture, but can also be another
well-seasoned expatriate. These mentors serve as guides during the hero's initial
journeys, helping with language concerns, living accommodations, social contacts,
and advice for greater work effectiveness. During this stage it is helpful for the
hero to remember to never complain about the other culture, regardless of what the
other person says. Complaints have a way of slowing down the process of finding
these mentors, especially among members of the new culture itself.
Road of Trials (Paradoxes)

Even with a magical friend to serve as mentor, the hero must eventually go down
his or her own road of trials. These trials take the form of various paradoxes that,
to truly deal with them, must be experienced, although mentors can help during
this process. Paradoxes are the seemingly contradictory but equally true ideas that
emerge as one tries to mediate between two cultures. Osland discusses many dif-
ferent paradoxes that the hero may face. I will briefly review five of these.

1. Seeing as valid the general stereotype about the local culture, but also real-
izing that many host-country nationals do not fit that stereotype. Experiencing an-
other culture encourages one to see how certain communal tendencies create
stereotypes that can help a person understand and deal with members of the new
culture. However, at the same time that one gains this better understanding of the
general culture, one discovers more and more individuals who do not really fit the
stereotype, forcing one to be aware of individuals, rather than just cultural mem-
bership.

2. Feeling at ease anywhere, but belonging nowhere. The hero's journey may
help develop a person's ability to feel at home in a variety of places and situations,
yet the person still might not fit in. For example, I know a person who lived for
almost twenty years in Japan and, although he was well acculturated, he was never
really accepted as Japanese. A certain feeling of marginality often exists even upon
returning home, as the hero and his community have both changed during the jour-
ney.

3. Feeling caught between the contradictory demands o f headquarters on one

hand and the demands o f the host-country nationals and the local situation on the
other. A person who is abroad on an organizational assignment will often find that
their home organization wants things done within a certain time period or informa-
tion sought in a certain way, yet this timing or method of garnering information
may be virtually impossible within the cultural context in which the person is
working. The person must act as a translator for both groups, trying to convey the
point of view of the home office to those in the new culture without losing their
trust and explaining what can effectively be done in the new culture to the home
office without being accused of "going native" and being brought home before the
journey is completed.

4. Giving up some o f one's American [or any other home community] cultural
ideas and behaviors in order to be accepted and successful in the other culture
while at the same time finding some o f one's core American values becoming even
stronger as a result o f exposure to another culture. The hero soon learns that to be
effective and to avoid standing out in negative ways, he or she must make some
changes in attitude and behavior. Differences often exist in areas such as perceived
work ethic, the level of formality expected in certain situations, how differences in
social class are dealt with, and a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal communica-
tive practices. Many practices and attitudes that seem like the one and only right
way to do something in one's home culture become just one of many possibilities
in another community. Osland reports on one expatriate who had actively pro-
tested against the government when he lived in the United States and was surprised
by the strong feelings of patriotism he experienced after living abroad for some
time. It may not always be people's feeling toward their homeland that emerges,
but often certain core values and attitudes come to be held even stronger at the
same time that others are changing dramatically.

5. Becoming more and more "world-minded" as a result o f exposure to different

values and conflicting loyalties, but becoming more idiosyncratic in putting to-
gether one's own value system and views o f life. Osland notes that her interview-
ees felt that this was the most significant of the paradoxes they faced. A hero tends
to recreate her or his identity in unique ways even as she or he is more aware and
accepting of many different identities. This paradox involves a macro/micro ten-
sion that is very inclusive of others, but very exclusive in terms of personal beliefs.

Ultimate Boon and Return

The next part of the journey is the ultimate boon or the transformation of the self.
Osland describes the hero as one who has learned to sacrifice for the good of oth-
ers, yet has developed a self-sufficiency and inner power that allows for the ac-
complishment of seemingly impossible tasks. Finding ways to deal with the trials
of the road results in an empowered person: a person who recognizes that he or she
has grown and matured and feels better because of it; a person with a broader per-
spective on the world and a greater appreciation of differences; a person who not
only has better work skills but also can better lead others in accomplishing impor-
tant goals; a person with a much wider base of knowledge and understanding; and,
finally, a person who has developed closer, richer personal and family relation-
ships.

On the hero's return he or she often finds that things have changed. Perhaps certain
things were idealized, but they may no longer have the same elevated status. Other
people have changed and often are not that interested in the many stories the hero
has to tell. Of course, Osland emphasizes that not everyone who has lived abroad
travels the hero's journey, but those who do reap immense rewards and, regardless
of their reception upon their return, have benefitted from the journey.

Tips for Beginning or Ending a Journey Overseas

Inform yourself about the culture and office beforehand. Find a cultural mentor.
Get eight hours of sleep in the first weeks to help you deal with stimulus over-
load.
Avoid negative people.
Get yourself and the family settled in before you go to work.
Choose a neighborhood that will easily accept you and where you will feel at
home.
Go slow at work, and get the lay of the land before making big changes.
Expect to undergo culture shock and accept that the first six to eight months may
be difficult.
Find substitutes for what you enjoyed in the previous country.
Be adaptable and flexible.
Expect a certain degree of marginality.
Don't make negative attributions about the locals.
Try to understand why people behave as they do.
Don't make negative comparisons with the previous country; accept each for
what it is.
Focus on the positive and overlook the negative. Maintain a positive attitude; try
not to complain.
Take advantage of what the country has to offer. Get involved as quickly as pos-
sible.
Be humble (neither an Ugly American nor an arrogant internationalist).
Expect a testing period before you are more fully accepted at work or in the
neighborhood.
Expect logistics to be annoying in the beginning.
Beware of failed expectations; if something is not what you expected and cannot
be remedied, try to get over it quickly.