In the introductory video to this course, I told you not to bother to read my books and articles, they're way too dense and technical. But there are some good books out there that are intended for a general audience and that are actually fun and easy to read. If you're especially interested in business in the international context, one book I recommend is by Andy Molinsky. It's entitled Global Dexterity, How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures Without Losing Yourself in the Process. It includes some nice observations about the kinds of small cultural differences that nevertheless affect business outcomes. I'll review some of them in this video. By the way, just so you know, I've never met Andy Molinsky, and I have no financial or other stake in recommending his book. In his book, Molinsky does a good job of teaching you how to better adapt to the teams you join and to assimilate new cultural routines. I won't go into that here. Instead, let's just take a look at some of the little aspects of business culture he suggests you pay attention to. I have to admit here that I'm changing around a bit what he has to say in order to make it better conform to my own scheme. So you'll want to go back and read the original if you're really interested in the subject. One area of variability he suggests you pay attention to is formality. He emphasizes the amount of deference and respect you are required to exhibit. I would include under formality, questions like these. How formally or casually should you dress? Is it customary to engage in small talk? Or should you confine your interactions just to the business at hand? How much personal information about yourself can you reveal? For example, is it appropriate to talk about your family or your hobbies and interests? What about asking questions of others? Is it acceptable to ask personal questions, such as whether they have children or is it too intrusive? Molinsky refers to these latter kinds of variability under the separate heading of personal disclosure. All of these are subject to cultural variation. It will help you to pay attention to how things are done in the business world of which you are a part. Another area of variability concerns speaking your mind. Molinsky refers to this as directness. Should you only hint at your meaning or should you come right out and say it? What is the conversational style? I remember as a college student meeting a man from the Ho-Chunk or as they were called then the Winnebago tribe of Native Americans from Wisconsin. He told me about an incident from his childhood. He and his brother, he says, were always fighting, but his parents never said a word about it. One day, his dad told him a story, perhaps part of the tribal lore of the group, I'm not sure. The story was about two brothers. Hmm, as you might guess, the two brothers in the story had been fighting. Now, I don't recall the details, but I do remember what the man who was telling me the story said. He said, it got him to stop and think. Could it be that my father was talking about me and my brother? The situation he described is one of highly indirect communication. The hearer had to make inferences to connect the story to his own life. But the communication was effective. It even got the man to stop quarreling with his brother or so he claimed. A third area of variability is expressing feelings. What kinds of feelings can you openly express in business interactions? Is it okay, for example, to appear enthusiastic? Two other areas mentioned by Molinsky are self-promotion and aggressiveness. We've already talked about self-promotion in connection with the Danish Jante Law, and you can probably imagine for yourself what he means by aggressiveness.
