Last weekend, I read this book, which I picked up at Schiphol during a recent business trip. I did not have high expectations, but since I had been reading a lot about (safety) culture, I thought that some lightweight stuff around national cultures might make a nice addition. Well, the book did much better than just that!
Meyer discusses cultural differences between nations on eight different aspects/scales, and how this can lead to misunderstandings, problems and affect doing international business effectively.
The eight scales are:
- Communicating (low/high context)
- Evaluation
- Persuading/Reasoning
- Leading
- Deciding
- Trusting
- Disagreeing
- Time/Scheduling
Meyer draws on her own experience, working all over the world, and consulting for many companies as well as doing research work and spices things up with many examples, some of them rather funny, many recognizable and all of them very readable. The book is very accessible and still a good tool to get you reflecting on how you might be more effective with people from another cultural background.
(2014, Philadelphia: Public Affairs)
