Dec 18, 2025
“We’ll try our best.”
Most executives hear commitment.
What they often miss is the warning.
In Chinese business contexts, this phrase rarely means “we’re on track.”
It usually signals obstacles, misalignment, or unresolved risk — politely.
Here’s how projects quietly derail:
Monday:
Your supplier says, “We’ll try our best.”
You assume alignment.
Friday:
Nothing has moved.
The translation was accurate.
The interpretation wasn’t.
This is not a language problem.
It’s a decision-timing problem.
Executives who can’t decode these signals don’t lose deals loudly.
They lose weeks — then momentum — then leverage.
This is exactly why we built The Business Decoder Pilot.
Not to teach Mandarin vocabulary,
but to help leaders recognize when “yes” actually means “not yet” — or “no.”
If your projects operate in Chinese-speaking markets,
this is not a soft skill.
It’s risk management.
👉 Learn more about the Decoder Pilot
Limited seats.