When I read this book, I was managing a team of people based across five countries in the EMEA region, and reported into a wider team spanning all over the world. It wouldn’t be uncommon to speak to people from a dozen different countries on a daily basis. I’m glad I took the time to read this book, because it helped me understand various cultural differences in behaviour and change my own behaviour and expectations accordingly.
What Meyer’s book is is a gateway to doing international business better. By that, I mean it’s short, general, and you’ll finish it feeling more confident in yourself and more understanding of others in an international environment. On this basis, it’s excellent. What it isn’t is a comprehensive encyclopaedia of how to nail working with people internationally every time. Meyer sets this expectation very early on; to summarise how people communicate, persuade, evaluate etc. in different cultural contexts, you’re going to have to accept some sweeping generalisations about people. Think of each country’s position on a scale as being the apex of a bell curve, rather than an absolute position.
The scale, or scales, I just referenced are the core of the book. There are eight scales; communicating, evaluating, persuading, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing and scheduling. Each scale comes with notes and examples, and then maps across those scales where different countries sit.
So take the communicating scale, for example. At one end, you’ve got low-context communication. Good communication at this end of the scale is precise, simple and clear. Messages are understood at face value. Repetition is appreciated if it helps clarify the communication. Then, at the other end of the scale, you’ve got high-context communication. Here, good communication is sophisticated; nuanced; layered. Messages are both spoken and read between the lines. Meaning is often implied but not plainly expressed. And so at the extreme ends of this scale, you’ve got the United States, repping the flag for low-context, and Singapore, repping the flag for high context. Then a whole bunch of countries in between.
And that’s the book – an explanation of what each scale represents; where certain countries fit on that scale; how to work with people at different places relative to you.
Those last three words are super-important – relative to you. Meyer also emphasises this. Cultural relativity is just as important as where a culture sits on the absolute scale. People from the UK, for example, might find Germans and Americans too direct in their communication, almost to the point of rudeness. Yet we Brits are also on the same side of the communicating scale as our German and American cousins. Somebody from Italy, Spain or France may equally find us Brits too direct, while we sit scoffing at their inability to get to the point. That’s where I think the value of the book mostly lies; understanding how our culture fits relative to others’.
That’s also it’s biggest pitfall. It’s too general. I’ve shown these scales to numerous international colleagues and had both nods of recognition and laughs of oh, another American trying to put the world into boxes. That bell curve I mentioned up front can be really flat, and this book suffers from completely ignoring personality traits and individual differences, something which is equally, if not more, important. Fortunately, there’s another book I’d recommend as a pairing with this book, like a superb cheese and wine combination. More coming on that.
The other consideration I’d bear in mind is that, if you work in a company like mine, you’re probably already skewing the kind of people from each country you’re likely to be working with. At the time of reading, I worked for an American B2B technology and consulting company. Speaking English was, as far as I know, a mandatory requirement in all countries. People working their were consistently exposed to American business-types and their behaviour and communication style is going to adapt accordingly.
So, if you want a solid, practical, inexhaustive guide to understanding people from around the world better, you can do a lot worse than this book.
If you want something a bit more comprehensive and practical, I’d also recommend you check out a relevant copy of Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands by Terri Morrison. Just make sure it’s an up-to-date version. The world has changed a lot since this was first published.
Finally, if you want to layer on how to read people’s personalities and adjust yourself accordingly, I would highly recommend Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People by Vanessa Van Edwards – review inbound on this one.
Enjoy!
Book club model: Sonic
Glyphs & Graphs 