A Book to Understand Cultural Diversity

What was your biggest cultural blunder?

For me it was at a fine wine tasting dinner I had organized in New York. My client asked me: “Are you excited about the event?” I replied with a mere “no” mistaking his word “excited” (eagerness, great enthusiasm) with the French “excité” which literally means upset, agitated, restless. I could not be more wrong. I quickly realized my mistake and upon explaining my somewhat negative reaction to my client, we ended up laughing about how our cultures used that word and others so differently.

Language expressions are but one of the many types of cultural differences we need to be aware of as leaders.

A book that helped me improve my multicultural awareness – in addition to my almost 20 years of living in different cultures – is Fons Trompenaar’s Riding the Waves of Culture. The book has very interesting insights about how different cultures reply to common situations we encounter in life or at work: For instance, how close to a person can you stay until you start feeling uncomfortable, how different cultures apprehend what is meant by inner circles of friends, relationships.

I truly recommend this book to anyone working in a multicultural setting, and wanting to better navigate the challenges of communicating and working with people from diverse cultures. You will learn a lot. I also find the book to be a great addition to the works of Geert Hofstede.

In the meantime, be wary of your style and tone when emailing or communicating with someone in another country. What works in your culture may mean something completely different in another, could even be very offensive.

Learning about a culture is not about saying hello or thank you in the local language. It is so much more than that.

Tell me about your biggest cultural blunder in the comments.

For comments or questions, please visit my website or contact me at pascal@p-m-coaching.com