The Culture Map: Decoding Cross-Cultural Communication

When talking and working with people from different cultures, sometimes meanings and intentions can get lost in translation. Erin Meyer is an expert on how we communicate and collaborate differently around the world. She and Adam Grant discuss how cultural norms affect honesty and assertiveness, unpack the science behind some common American stereotypes, and identify strategies for understanding and bridging cultural divides.

About The Culture Map by Erin Meyer:

When it comes to communication styles, Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out.

In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.

Includes engaging, real-life stories from around the world that impart important lessons about global teamwork and international collaboration:

• Takaki explains to his multinational colleagues the importance of “reading the air,” or picking up on the unspoken subtext of a conversation, in Japanese communication
• Sarah sends e-mails to several Indian IT engineers only to understand later that she has offended and isolated their boss by not going through him
• Sabine doesn’t realize her job is in jeopardy after her performance review, as her American boss couches the message in a positivity rarely used in France.
• Ulrich’s Russian staff perceive him as weak and incompetent as he employs the egalitarian leadership techniques so popular in his native Denmark.
• Bo Chen – who has something urgent to say – waits patiently to be called on while his American colleagues jump in one after the other. His opportunity never comes...

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We will discuss the episode "Decoding Cross-Cultural Communication with Erin Meyer" from the ReThinking podcast at this meetup. Please listen to the episode in advance (47 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the conversation.

Listen here: Spotify | Apple | Adam Grant's website

Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist and bestselling author who explores the science of motivation, generosity, rethinking, and potential. Adam has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for 7 straight years. As an organizational psychologist, he is a leading expert on how we can find motivation and meaning, rethink assumptions, and live more generous and creative lives. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 6 books that have sold millions of copies and been translated into 45 languages: Hidden Potential, Think Again, Give and Take, Originals, Option B, and Power Moves. Adam hosts the podcasts Re:Thinking and WorkLife, which have been downloaded over 90 million times. He is a former magician and Junior Olympic springboard diver.

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Future topics for this series:

If you'd like to suggest a podcast episode for us to discuss at a future event, please send me a message or leave a comment below.

This link here is my own (regularly updated) list of listening recommendations and potential fodder for future discussions (by default it's sorted from oldest to newest but you can change it with the "sort by" button.)

Podcasts we've previously discussed:

• Why Cynicism Is Bad For You (and The Surprising Science of Human Goodness) from The Gray Area
• The Price of Neutrality: Why “Staying Out of It” Backfires in Moral Disagreement from the Stanford Psychology Podcast