When "It's a Cultural Thing" Is the Wrong Answer

It is easy to look at international business problems from the wrong perspective.

The decision is slow? Cultural. The feedback is blunt? Cultural. The meeting ended without a clear outcome? Definitely cultural.

Sometimes it is. Often it isn't.

The danger of over-attributing behaviour to culture is that it stops you from asking the questions that would actually help. When a partner keeps delaying a decision, culture may be part of the picture, but so might an unresolved commercial risk sitting in the middle of your proposal that no one has mentioned yet.

Culture shapes how people communicate. It does not remove the substance of what they are communicating.

For more on cross-border business skills, visit our cross-border business skills page

Mark Mortimer is the founder of Timezone Business, with over 30 years of experience working in international business across China, Japan, Germany, India, the UK, and the US, and now uses that experience to advise senior professionals navigating the cultural and operational challenges of cross-border business.