Erin Meyer, affiliate professor at INSEAD and author of The Culture Map, on why memorizing a list of etiquette rules doesn’t work. For more, read the article, Navigating the Cultural Minefield.
One Reason Cross-Cultural Small Talk Is So Tricky
This post originally appeared here. It was my first dinner party in France and I was chatting with a Parisian couple. All was well until I asked what I thought was a perfectly innocent question: “How did the two of you meet?” My husband Eric (who is French) shot me a look of horror. When […]
Leading Across Cultures: Learn to Adapt Your Style
Originally published on INSEAD.org Whether you feel the best boss is more of a facilitator among equals or a director who leads from the front, to succeed in international business you need the flexibility to adapt your style to your cultural context. This lesson was brought home to me when I taught a group of […]
Are you a Holistic or Specific Thinker? It may Depend on Where you Come From.
Originally published in Harvard Business Review, April 2014 It was Friday afternoon in Paris and I had spent the morning teaching a group of Chinese CEOs how to work effectively with Europeans. I asked the class: “What steps should the team leader in this case study take to manage different attitudes towards confrontation on the […]
When to Speak Up. When to Shut Up.
Originally published by INSEAD Knowledge, March 2014 The norms of conducting international business are increasingly becoming standardised. But the behaviour of those around you is fed by cultural backgrounds. One chilly morning in Paris, I was getting ready for a meeting with an important client. I would be spending the day with one of the […]
How To Say “This is Crap” in Different Cultures
Originally published by Harvard Business Review, February 2014 One Thursday in mid-January I had been holed up for six hours in a dark conference room with 12 managers participating in my executive education program. It was a group-coaching day and each executive had 30 minutes to describe in detail a cross-cultural challenge she was experiencing […]
The Cultural Perils of Clockwatching
Originally published by Harvard Business Review, January 2014 Although I have researched cultural differences for many years, it is only recently that I have come to see how my American obsession with punctuality and clockwatching can sometimes lead me astray. The truth is, time may be of prime importance in some cultures, but in others […]
Cultural Coaching: Knowing When to Shut-Up
Originally published in Harvard Business Review, January 2014 Anyone who’s spent time in another culture will be aware that the norms and assumptions around conducting meetings are a minefield. But while you can easily accept that in theory, you may have to blow yourself up to really get the point. My big lesson in how not […]
Managing Confrontation in Multi-cultural Teams
Originally published by Harvard Business Review, April 2012 Everyone knows that a little confrontation from time to time is constructive, right? And the classic business literature confirms it. Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, for example, discusses at length how to achieve the right amount of confrontation for ultimate team effectiveness — and concludes […]
