Ducks in a Row: Cognizant of Cultures
by Miki Saxon
Erin Meyer is the author of The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business and teach cross-cultural management at the international business school Insead, in Paris.
His article explaining how he learned to identify seminar participants with questions by looking for “bright eyes” is something every manager should read—whether or not they are managing an international team.
Why? Because different cultures are more than a function of Japanese vs. Russian vs. British.
Just as culture differs from country to country it differs by areas within each country.
In the US it’s beyond the difference between Massachusetts and Texas or Nevada and Colorado.
The cultural differences between Northern and Southern California are considerable, as are the differences between New York City and Rochester.
Cultural differences can be even finer; think of the differences between the various Burroughs in NYC starting with attitude all the way to language and almost everything in-between.
Beyond that different cultures can exist next door to each other, passed on through families, friends and social media.
Some cultural differences are obvious, while others are extremely subtle.
But they all have one thing in common.
To succeed, a boss needs to recognize the obvious, tease out the subtle and address them all.
Flickr image credit: John Haslam
