TimeZone Journal

Many people who work with American colleagues are struck by how openly they talk about their successes. In meetings, they may highlight projects they have led, targets they have exceeded, or challenges they have overcome. On LinkedIn, they often share promotions, awards, certifications, speaking engagements, and business wins. In performance reviews, they are generally expected to explain their achievements clearly and confidently. For professionals from countries where modes

Many international professionals experience the same frustration when working with British colleagues. A meeting seems positive. Everyone appears friendly. No major objections are raised. The discussion ends on a constructive note. A few weeks later, nothing has happened. The proposal has quietly disappeared. The project has stalled. The decision has been postponed. What appeared to be agreement turns out not to have been agreement at all. This often leads to the familiar com

If you've spent time working with Japanese colleagues or clients, you've probably heard the word interesting. You present a new proposal and someone replies, "That's interesting." You introduce a different approach and hear, "Very interesting." You finish your presentation and are thanked before being told it was "interesting." For many Western professionals, these responses sound encouraging. They suggest curiosity, engagement and perhaps the beginning of a positive discussi

If you have worked with Japanese clients, customers or colleagues for any length of time, you will probably recognise this situation. I certainly do. You send a proposal, answer a list of questions and think you are finally close to a decision. Then another email arrives. “Thank you. We have a few additional questions…” The questions are not difficult. In fact, most are perfectly reasonable. They simply keep coming. More detail. More clarification. More supporting information

When something goes wrong in international business, very few people describe it as a cultural problem. They say the project is moving too slowly, the customer has stopped responding, the supplier keeps agreeing to things but nothing seems to happen, or head office simply doesn't understand the local market. The problem gets labelled as poor communication, weak management, lack of urgency, resistance to change or, quite often, simply difficult people. Sometimes that diagnosis

You have been discussing a project with a South Korean customer for several weeks. Progress has seemed steady, perhaps even a little slow. Questions have gone backwards and forwards. You are waiting for decisions or confirmation on a few important points. Then suddenly everything changes. Can you revise the quotation today? Can you confirm delivery by tomorrow? Can you provide the additional technical information immediately? Something that appeared to have no particular urge

China has become one of the most discussed countries in international business, yet also one of the least understood. Political headlines dominate the conversation. Trade disputes, tariffs, technology restrictions, supply chain resilience and national security concerns regularly shape the news agenda, creating the impression that companies are steadily distancing themselves from China. The commercial reality is considerably more nuanced. Every day, organisations around the wo

If you've worked with Chinese colleagues or clients for any length of time, you've almost certainly heard the expression, "It's about face." It is one of the first concepts introduced in almost every cross-cultural training programme and one of the most frequently cited explanations for behaviour that Western managers find difficult to understand. The problem is that it is often explained far too simply. Face is commonly described as avoiding embarrassment or preventing someo

Many people preparing for international business begin by looking for information about the country they are about to work with. They search for guides on business etiquette, meeting protocols or negotiation styles, hoping to avoid making cultural mistakes. There is nothing wrong with that approach. Understanding the business environment in another country can provide valuable context and help people feel more confident before an important meeting. However, there is a danger

When something goes wrong in international business, it's often tempting to look for a cultural explanation. A negotiation slows unexpectedly, a supplier misses another deadline or a customer stops responding, and before long someone suggests that it's simply "the way business is done" in that country. Sometimes they're right. However, after more than thirty years working internationally, I've found that many of the challenges organisations face have very little to do with na

If you've worked internationally for any length of time, you've probably experienced it. The meeting goes well. Everyone speaks good English. The discussion feels productive, there is agreement on the next steps, and everyone leaves believing the project is moving in the right direction. A week later, something has changed. The deliverable hasn't arrived. Decisions that seemed settled are suddenly being revisited. One team believes work has already started, while another has

We've all experienced it. A project is moving along well. The deadline has been agreed. Everything appears to be on track. A few days before delivery, you discover the work isn't as far along as you believed. The immediate reaction is often, "Why didn't anyone tell us sooner?" Many people assume this is about poor planning or a relaxed attitude towards deadlines. In my experience, that's usually the wrong conclusion. The deadline isn't the issue Indian businesses are no stran

Over the years, I've had countless conversations with clients who have returned from China convinced a project was moving ahead, only to discover a few weeks later that very little had actually happened. It can be frustrating, particularly when the meeting itself seemed to go so well. There was plenty of discussion, questions were asked, ideas were explored, and nobody appeared to disagree with the proposal. Everyone was polite, engaged, and constructive, so it's easy to leav

"I feel like they just want to make us happy. I understand that....but can't they actually do what they said 'yes' to"? A participant made this comment during a recent USA-Japan training session. The team had reached a point where every conversation seemed positive. Meetings went well. Nobody appeared unhappy. Requests were rarely challenged. Yet progress often felt uncertain. The question being asked was simple. If everyone agrees, why does it sometimes feel as though nobody

Many companies invest heavily in building international teams. They recruit talented people, use modern collaboration tools and make English the common business language. Yet misunderstandings still happen. Projects slow down. Meetings become frustrating. Decisions are interpreted differently. People leave discussions thinking they are aligned, only to discover later that everyone understood something different. The reason is often not language. It is culture. Communication I

Boots is back in the takeover conversation. Sigma Healthcare, the Australian group behind the unmistakable fluorescent-yellow Chemist Warehouse stores, is reportedly circling the 177-year-old British chemist, in a deal that could value it at around £7.5bn. Most of the commentary around that story has, fairly enough, reached for a familiar cautionary tale: Wesfarmers' takeover of Homebase. It deserves to be told properly because it's a far better cross-cultural case study than

One of the hardest things in international business is recognising when you are unintentionally creating the wrong impression. The behaviour feels normal to you; it is what you would do with anyone, and so it doesn't register as something that might land differently. Using first names immediately in Germany is a good example of this. In German professional culture, titles carry genuine social weight. An academic qualification, particularly a doctorate, is not just a credentia

There has never been more information available about how to work across cultures. Books. Frameworks. Training programmes. Online courses. Country guides. TED talks. Academic research. Entire consultancies are built around the subject. The volume of material on cross-cultural business has grown enormously over the past twenty years and is now saturated with ‘experts’. And yet. The same problems keep appearing. The same frustrations. The same misunderstandings. Deals that stal

Meetings often end with agreement. Heads nod Notes are taken Next steps are discussed Everyone leaves feeling positive, confident that things will move forward. And then… nothing happens. Weeks pass. Emails are exchanged. Follow-ups are sent. Progress feels slow, or completely absent. What felt settled suddenly feels uncertain. This is one of the most common frustrations in international business. The problem is not usually dishonesty. It is misunderstanding what agreement ac

Aside from the feeling that we might not survive the journey, discovering the fare is far higher than expected, realising the driver has no idea where he is going because he is the brother “helping out for a few hours”, or wondering whether this is even a real taxi… We can actually learn quite a lot from a taxi ride. Some of the most informative conversations you can have in another country are with taxi drivers. In a short journey, you can pick up insights that would otherwi