The Culture Map

Erin Meyer

June 06, 2021

Sometimes cultural diversity on global teams creates fault lines, but other times that same level of diversity can be a great advantage. For example, suppose you are handed a project that has dozens of drop-dead deadlines and that therefore requires a linear-time approach. Get those people on your team with strong linear-time preferences to own that project. Another time you may have a client who is constantly changing his mind and serving him well requires flexibility and comfort with changing routes at the drop of a hat. Having team members who are strongly flexible-time (both because of their culture as well as their personalities) will help meet your client’s needs.

June 06, 2021

The way we are conditioned to see the world in our own culture seems so completely obvious and commonplace that it is difficult to imagine that another culture might do things differently. It is only when you start to identify what is typical in your culture, but different from others, that you can begin to open a dialogue of sharing, learning, and ultimately understanding.

May 30, 2021

Sometimes just a few words of explanation framing your behavior can make all the difference in how your actions are perceived.

May 30, 2021

place a culture on the Disagreeing scale, don’t ask how emotionally people express themselves. Instead, focus on whether an open disagreement is likely to have a negative impact on a relationship.

May 30, 2021

most Latin American cultures and some Middle Eastern cultures, are made up of people who speak with passion, yet are also sensitive and easily bruised. For people from these cultures, it is not easy to separate the opinion from the person. If you attack my idea, I feel you are attacking me also—which means I am likely to want to shy away from open disagreement lest it damage our relationship. To

May 29, 2021

So if you find yourself wondering in exasperation, “Why do I have to spend so much time dining and socializing with potential clients? Why can’t we just get down to business and sign a contract?” remember—in many cultures, the relationship is your contract. You can’t have one without the other.

May 29, 2021

The time it took for Gaiani to investigate which songs were hot in Mumbai paid off in myriad intangible ways. As he says, “In the past I have often had the experience with Indian employees such that, if you don’t develop a good personal relationship with them, they will tell you everything is okay even if the entire project has gone up in flames. Once the relationship is built, loyalty and openness comes with it.” What

May 29, 2021

The time it took for Gaiani to investigate which songs were hot in Mumbai paid off in myriad intangible ways. As he says, “In the past I have often had the experience with Indian employees such that, if you don’t develop a good personal relationship with them, they will tell you everything is okay even if the entire project has gone up in flames. Once the relationship is built, loyalty and openness comes with it.” What makes

May 29, 2021

in countries like the United States or Switzerland, “business is business.” In countries like China or Brazil, “business is personal.”

May 29, 2021

the really remarkable exception is Japan, which although strongly hierarchical is one of the most consensual societies in the world.

May 29, 2021

By contrast, the preference for consensual decision making permeates many German companies, where power is generally vested not in one CEO but in a small group of senior managers who manage through group agreement. Larger companies have an Aufsichtstrat, or supervisory board, which appoints a Vorstand, or managerial board.

May 29, 2021

American pioneers, many of whom had fled the formal hierarchical structures of their home-lands, put heavy emphasis on speed and individualism.

May 27, 2021

think carefully about your larger objectives before you mix cultures up. If your goal is innovation or creativity, the more cultural diversity the better, as long as the process is managed carefully. But if your goal is simple speed and efficiency, then monocultural is probably better than multicultural. Sometimes, it is simply better to leave Rome to the Romans.

May 27, 2021

Chinese people think from macro to micro, whereas Western people think from micro to macro. For

May 23, 2021

This is the way my husband learned English in his French school, and ironically, his knowledge of English grammar is far superior to that of many Americans. The disadvantage is that students spend less time practicing the language, which may mean they write it better than they speak it.

May 23, 2021

The art of persuasion is one of the most crucial business skills. Without the ability to persuade others to support your ideas, you won’t be able to attract the support you need to turn those ideas into realities. And though most people are unaware of it, the ways you seek to persuade others and the kinds of arguments you find persuasive are deeply rooted in your culture’s philosophical, religious, and educational assumptions and attitudes. Far from being universal, then, the art of persuasion is one that is profoundly culture-based.

May 21, 2021

If you are walking through the street without a jacket, little old Russian ladies may stop and chastise you for poor judgment. . . . In Russia there is no reticence about expressing your negative criticism openly. For instance, if you are displeased with the service in a shop or restaurant you can tell the shop assistant or waiter exactly what you think of him, his relatives, his in-laws, his habits, and his sexual bias.

May 09, 2021

In this respect, education tends to move individuals toward a more extreme version of the dominant cultural tendency.

May 09, 2021

You may be considered a top-flight communicator in your home culture, but what works at home may not work so well with people from other cultures.

May 09, 2021

You may be considered a top-flight communicator in your home culture, but what works at home may not work so well with people from other cultures. One interesting quirk is that in high-context

May 09, 2021

•  Communicating: low-context vs. high-context •  Evaluating: direct negative feedback vs. indirect negative feedback •  Persuading: principles-first vs. applications-first •  Leading: egalitarian vs. hierarchical •  Deciding: consensual vs. top-down •  Trusting: task-based vs. relationship-based •  Disagreeing: confrontational vs. avoids confrontation •  Scheduling: linear-time vs. flexible-time