Some years ago I was developing business in Japan. I got along with my Japanese prospects and business partners very well. It was a long trajectory to come to a business agreement, but it helped us build a strong relationship of mutual trust. With the agreement in place we had to integrate the software into the company's business processes. I was lucky that our best trainer was available for this job. But after 2 training sessions the head of the department of my client asked me to replace the trainer. Was there anything wrong with the training? The competency of the trainer? No, that was all excellent. It's just that the male staff didn't think they should listen to a female trainer. So I had to pull her off the job and replace her with a male trainer whose level of competency didn't matter.