First things first, I thought that this book is an absolute must-read for people working together with colleagues from a country and a culture different from one’s own! While it’s strongly business focused, I also think that you can take along some valuable insights for personal relations as well. “The Culture Map” had the perfect balance between being packed with facts based on studies but also being highly relatable by alternating with the author’s illustrative personal stories and anecdotes. It instantly got added to my list of all-time favourite books and I’m sure that I’ll be going back to it every once in a while to read up some passages again.

Each chapter within the book tackled a different topic, ranging from performance evaluation, giving negative feedback, persuasion, leadership, decision-making, trust, disagreements to time perception. By using examples of how each of these themes plays out in a specific country, but most importantly, how they compare between each other, it is illustrated why for example good communication in Anglo-Saxon countries needs to be as clear as possible (p. 31), whereas why in countries like India, Japan and China a lot of reading between the lines is expected and implied (p. 35).

Yes, every individual is different. And yes, when you work with people from other cultures, you shouldn’t make assumptions about individual traits based on where a person comes from. But this doesn’t mean learning about cultural context is unnecessary.

p. 13

Ever wondered why the French and the Germans are so keen to participate in debates and why there are so many philosophers from these countries? Or why getting drunk together with a colleagues is used as such a strong team bonding technique in other countries? I got so many answers to questions I had, things I’ve been wondering about and explanations about why certain cultures behave in a certain way. I was nodding along to some passages, remembering personal work situations with Russian or German colleagues, while also having “aha moments”, for example when finally getting a logically sounding explanation on why Germans are so obsessed with punctuality:

There’s (…) Germany’s place in history as one of the first countries in the world to become heavily industrialized. Imagine being a factory worker in the German automotive industry. If you arrive at work four minutes late, the machine for which you are responsible gets started late, which exacts a real, measurable financial cost. To this day, the perception of time in Germany is partially rooted in the early impact of the industrial revolution (…).

p. 226

One thing that was strongly noticeable while reading, was that the author provided numerous examples on how to improve work among cross-cultural teams, so I could see this book being useful for managers looking for tips in this area. Beyond that, I’ve never realized before that the medium of communication is important within some cultures and how many misunderstandings can appear when not paying attention to it. It was also the first time that I heard about the fact that the way you put together your argumentation or your presentation, leading with the theory or the practical examples and the learnings first, will depend on its success, as different cultures put a different weight to each of the aspects (p. 92).

It is only when you start to identify what makes your culture different from others that you can begin to open a dialogue of sharing, learning, and ultimately understanding.

p. 244

If you’d like to dive into the author’s theories even deeper, she proposes an extended guide on her website, so that you can get access to the exact cultures and countries needed for you in exchange for a specific fee on her website. I found “The Culture Map” to be an extremely valuable and entertaining read, one that I’ll be recommending to both colleagues and friends. If some of the topics above have sparked your interest, then it would definitely be worth picking up the book! 😉

★★★★★ (5/5)

_{Edition: ISBN 978-1-6103-9276-1
PublicAffairs, 2015 (Originally published in 2014)}