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Weston Forum
Stacie Nevadomski Berdan's book
Worldly women advance in workplace

Oct 17, 2007

by PATRICIA GAY

Stacie Berdan spends some downtime with her daughters, Betty and Connie, at their home on Godfrey Road. She dedicated her new book to them. %u2014Marshall S. Berdan photo
Go west young woman, go west — and east, and north, and south too.

That is the advice of Westonite Stacie Nevadomski Berdan in her new book, Get Ahead by Going Abroad: A Woman’s Guide to Fast-Track Career Success.

In the book, Ms. Berdan, a successful marketing communications executive, recounts her personal experiences and those of other women who catapulted their careers by spending time in another country.

She offers advice and tips geared to help women get further ahead and be more successful in their careers.

The book seems to have struck a chord in the business community and has immediately taken off. Ms. Berdan has been interviewed on TV on NBC Weekend
Today and ABC News Money Matters, by ABC and WOR radio, and by Time and More magazines. She is also gearing up for a satellite radio tour and will soon hit the college lecture circuit.

“The book has gotten a tremendous response. It’s a trend that people should be aware of,” Ms. Berdan said.

Through her own story and the experiences of others, Ms. Berdan explains how working in a foreign country can help a woman fast-track her career, broaden her professional capabilities, increase her pay, and expand her personal horizons when she returns to the United States.

Ms. Berdan is an example of that fast track. She rose from midlevel to senior management in a major corporation and tripled her salary after serving a three-year stint overseas.

“There is no question that it was my experience abroad that contributed to my fast promotion,” Ms. Berdan said. “I feel like I gained six years’ worth of experience abroad and had a lot of personal growth as well,” she added.

Frequent travel
Originally from south Florida, Ms. Berdan grew up in a home where there was frequent traveling. She graduated from Florida Atlantic University, and at age 27 became a vice president at Burson-Marsteller, the world’s largest public relations firm.

The day after she married her husband, Marshall S. Berdan, she was sent overseas to Hong Kong, where she worked for Burson-Marsteller for three years.

Without being able to speak a word of Cantonese, she moved into a flat in Hong Kong during the heyday of the economic boom in Asia to continue her work in public relations.

As it turned out, the experience was as much an education as completing a graduate degree would be.

Although Ms. Berdan thought she was well-trained for her job, she soon learned the importance of understanding the culture of her host country.





“I was working with a group of senior Chinese doctors and was trying to convince them that they were making a mistake on a project. I pointed this out to them — in a nice way — at a meeting of a large group of people. But the incident really embarrassed them and they lost face, which is the ultimate cultural disgrace. They said they would only continue to work on the project as long as I was no longer part of it. I learned a big lesson in diplomacy from that incident,” she said.

Ms. Berdan recovered from that experience and enjoyed success for a year within a thriving Asian culture until she was faced with a much more serious work challenge.

Boon to bust
Asia’s economic boom took a major dive and started to collapse. Companies all over started to go bust. “People were jumping out of windows, for real,” Ms. Berdan said.

Her company told her she had to let go 30% of the employees in the Hong Kong office. She offered to leave herself, but since her salary was being paid by the American branch, her job was secure.

“Losing your job is a major embarrassment in China. So in addition to concerns about the business tanking, there was also concern about how the employees who were laid off would handle the situation emotionally,” she said.

Fear
Ms. Berdan made sure each terminated employee was given benefits, a severance package and access to counseling. But she saw still concern and great fear.

“Some employees were afraid to tell their spouses. One woman said she would work for free just as long as she didn’t lose her job,” Ms. Berdan said.

Although Ms. Berdan had made a commitment to work overseas for the company for three years, because of the tenuous situation, she could have returned to the United States at this point if she wanted.

“I decided to stick it out for another two years, because it was the right thing to do to honor my commitment. I am glad I stayed on. All 25 laid off employees found other jobs and we were able to rebuild our office,” she said.

Ms. Berdan believes her work experiences and the challenges she faced abroad were not of the caliber she ever would have had staying in America. “I was a different person when I returned home,” she said.

When Ms. Berdan returned to the States she found her experiences abroad gave her a leg up on others in the workplace.

“I had emerged like this tremendous athlete with a special skill set. People recognized all that I had gone through,” she said. She was quickly promoted, and, at age 31, gave birth to twin daughters, Connie and Betty, who were named after their grandmothers.

Ms. Berdan continued to fast-track her career, and changed companies to work at a high level position at Unilever in Greenwich, one of the world’s largest consumer products companies.

Four years ago, the Berdans settled in Weston on Godfrey Road in the Daniel Andrews House, a historic home that dates to 1813. The twins attend Hurlbutt Elementary School, and Marshall Berdan enjoys a successful career as a travel and freelance writer.

The yard is full of flowers and butterfly bushes that Ms. Berdan planted. She loves tinkering around the yard.

Last year, she discussed the idea of writing a nonfiction business book with C. Perry Yeatman, formerly of Westport, an executive with Kraft Foods. Ms. Yeatman had also worked overseas in Singapore, Moscow, and London.

The two collaborated on the book, which was published by Harper Collins. Ms. Berdan dedicated it to her daughters, and Ms. Yeatman dedicated it to her daughter Kirsten.

“This is a book written by women for women, but I think men would benefit from it also,” Ms. Berdan said.

Now that she has the writing bug and the book is a success, she would like to write another. For now, she has given up the corporate life to enjoy her family, travel, and work the lecture circuit promoting the book.

During a lecture, she is quick to point out that traveling abroad for the work experience is not right for everybody. “You’ve got to love diversity because you are the one who is different. You must also have patience, persistence, diplomacy, and know when to speak up keep and when to keep your mouth closed and pay attention,” she said.

Above all, there is one more important tip Ms. Berdan has learned through her journey. “You can’t be afraid to fail,” she said.

Ms. Berdan is appearing Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 6:30 p.m. at the YWCA/Greenwich Library in Greenwich to discuss her new book, Get Ahead by Going Abroad, which is available at local bookstores.

© Copyright 2007 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers