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- “The culture map” by Erin Meyer
Erin Meyer is an American bestselling author and professor at INSEAD, one of the leading international business schools based in Paris.
She began her career teaching English students in Botswana as a Peace Corps volunteer. This combined with her later experiences of living and working across 3 different continents prompted her in-depth study of cultural differences in business.
Erin is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, has been recognized as one of the world's most influential business thinkers by Thinkers50 and interviewed by CNN, Bloomberg, BBC and NPR.
Key takeaways 🎓
1. Dimensions of the “culture map”
Meyer frames cultural differences within 8 key dimensions:
1. Perception of time
2. Decision-making
3. Communication
4. Disagreement
5. Leadership
6. Feedback
7. Thinking
8. Trust
2. Our culture is within all of us
It's important to understand how cultures shape the way we think and act.
When we’re able to recognize cultural backgrounds across the 8 key dimensions and how it molds people’s behaviors, we have a better ability to adapt our style and bridge cultural gaps.
Being aware of our own cultural tendencies and the tendencies of the people we’re communicating with also helps us prevent awkward misunderstandings (we’ve all been there).
3. Find common ground
When faced with cultural differences, it’s important to bridge the gap.
Even when cultures are different, there are usually ways to find something we have in common.
The author shares many practical strategies for adapting our communication to help navigate these cross-cultural interactions more effectively.
Closing thoughts 🧠
Erin shares many real-life examples and anecdotes that illustrate how cultural differences play out in the real world.
The book shows how understanding and respecting these differences in communication, leadership and decision-making can help us interact better with people from all around the world.