The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business

I have worked across cultural boundaries my entire career, 12 in business and 30 in faith-based work. I train others on the issues. This was one of the clearer presentations of the inherent challenges and opportunities I've seen. Well written with entertaining stories and, thankfully, not written from an oversimplified, west/rest perspective that is the foundational error in much pop literature on this topic. I'll be incorporating the material in my training. For others in faith-based work, this applies completely in our field as well. Especially as we work with global leaders.

Great book! I took it from the library first, but then realized that need it at home. Really interesting to know about the cultures

Could have come across less self promoting and gone deeper instead. Overall useful for leaders managing teams around the world.

As a Russian/Israeli, I’ve often been told that my communication style isn’t exactly corporate-friendly. This delightful tidbit first hit me when I was 23 and working my first real corporate job. I had no clue what I was doing wrong. I was just being honest, saying things like “this is stupid” or “this is idiotic” or “this doesn’t make sense,” which, surprise, surprise, offended people. Fast forward 15 years, and despite my efforts to tone it down and adopt the American way of beating around the bush, I’m still often labeled abrasive or insensitive.Running my own business and working with people in the Philippines taught me a lot about cultural communication differences. But at the end of the day, I’ve accepted that I’m just not everyone’s cup of tea. Even though I’ve been in the U.S. for 25 years and left Russia and Israel long ago, I can’t completely shed my roots. This book was recommended to me, and I’m glad it was. The first chapter nailed it, discussing how Russian and Israeli communication styles differ, and how my blend of both can be tricky for other cultures to handle.Interestingly, if I went back to Russia or Israel now and tried to communicate, I’d probably find them too abrasive and end up in tears because I’ve been away for 25 years. This book really hit home for me, highlighting the challenges of balancing honesty with cultural sensitivity.

“The way we are conditioned to see the world in our own culture seems so completely obvious and commonplace that it is difficult to image that another culture might do things differently. It is only when you start to identify what is typical in your culture but different from others, that you can begin to open a dialogue of sharing, learning, and ultimately understanding.” (pg. 244)Meyer’s book does just this. She enlightens the reader about their own culture through graphs and stories that also help them to understand how another culture may approach things differently. She discusses culture with a neutrality that makes it safe for everyone reading her book to feel both validated in how they operate and convicted to more open-mindedness towards those who are different.Meyer’s extensive work across cultures is apparent from the beginning the end of this book. Her astute awareness of issues that cause tension between people from different cultural contexts has allowed her to communicate information simply and with plenty of examples which reinforce her points and provide context for effective learning. Meyer breaks down the primary issues which cause cultural disruption into eight categories. She shares cultural tendencies on a scale, which allows for individual and regional differences within a specific culture, as well as an easily digested visual of cultural differences. Meyer often provides historical or linguistic context that helps explain how the differences developed or why a culture may be similar to another or skew completely different directions. As each concept is explained, she layers on the new information so the reader can see how each of the eight categories work together and separately to make a culture unique.“When considering the impact of cultural differences on your dealings with other people, what matters is not so much the absolute positioning of a person’s culture on a particular scale, but rather their relative positioning in comparison to you.” (pg. 44)Through the scale approach, Meyer is able to help the reader navigate the space between their own culture and one in which they may be visiting or doing business. She provides general strategies for working with people on both the left and right of your own culture, as well as in multicultural situations, making it easy to not only understand your own position, but also how to adjust toward another’s comfort zone as well.As communication and transportation technology continue to advance, cultural understanding will be more imperative than ever to business relationships, political conversations, educational institutions, and even leisure travel. This book is a must-read for anyone who anticipates cross-cultural interactions or those who just wants to become more well-rounded by understanding their own culture better.

I feel this 8 scale system works great as I think throw my situations. The book is great, with lots of authentic examples to learn from.