Name: Alisha's review of The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
Item: The Culture Map
Rating: 4
Author: Alisha

Erin Meyer

Whether you work in a home office or abroad, business success in our ever more globalized and virtual world requires the skills to navigate through cultural differences and decode cultures foreign to your own. Renowned expert Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain where people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. When you have Americans who precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans who get straight to the point (your presentation was simply awful”); Latin Americans and Asians who are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians who think the best boss is just one of the crowdthe result can be, well, sometimes interesting, even funny, but often disastrous. Even with English as a global language, it's easy to fall into cultural traps that endanger careers and sink deals when, say, a Brazilian manager tries to fathom how his Chinese suppliers really get things done, or an American team leader tries to get a handle on the intra-team dynamics between his Russian and Indian team members. In The Culture Map, Erin Meyer provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business. She combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice for succeeding in a global world.

Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures

The Culture Map

Victoria

The way we are conditioned to see the world in our own culture seems so completely obvious and commonplace that it is difficult to imagine that another culture might do things differently. It is only when you start to identify what is typical in your culture, but different from others, that you can begin to open a dialogue of sharing, learning, and ultimately understanding.

Ritik Sahni

I got recommended the book in a workplace seminar. What started as skepticism because I believed I am somewhat experienced in the cross-cultural communication, turned into a story that Meyer could use in her book. My years of dealing with people from different backgrounds all made so much sense now. How I behave the way I am and how I think of other people’s working style against mine was explained very thoroughly in this book by the research results and story examples. Would highly recommend this for leaders that are moving to culture that are not their own.

Alisha

ahmed

As for book organization 
The book is very well organized, each chapter is very focused on a single point, starts with an explanation of the concept then diving into it with more details in the forms of stories which make the book easy to consume for anyone.


I can't really stress enough on the importance of this book for anyone who works in multinational company. 
If this book was in the onboarding of any multinational company, it will greatly help the company employees to communicate and work together more effectively.

Though it will be very hard to remember all of this and build it into my daily routine, I think I will need more time.

Jony Ringo

** spoiler alert **
           "The Culture Map" é importante essencialmente para quem estuda uma ciência social - a nível académico, portanto -, apesar de se centrar na cultura empresarial e nas relações que se estabelecem entre indivíduos não só de uma cultura distinta, como também das microculturas existentes no próprio país.

Não pretendo fazer grande crítica, pois pretendo lê-lo novamente e com mais cuidado - as quatro estrelas reflectem o não ter lido o capítulo 7, talvez o maior, e deve ser com certeza tão interessante quantos os demais, e por não ter qualquer interesse por agora senão o puramente académico, mas com certeza pontuaria com cinco estrelas, pois não só gosto de premiar um bom trabalho, como também, a propósito disso, creio ser uma referência, um livro de bolso, imprescindível para as relações internacionais, as empresarias e, diria, para qualquer turista que tenha o mínimo de sensibilidade cultural. Desmistifica preconceitos, relativiza comportamentos inocentes e trata o indivíduo como o ser humano, plural, que é - tudo com milhentos exemplos bastante concretos que agrega de uma rica experiência pessoal e profissional. Como finaliza no último capítulo-epílogo, "todos os indivíduos são diferentes, mas também são todos iguais" - e a resposta não é tão óbvia como parece.

unforgettable — decoding communication differences, at its most minimal, makes boring conversations intriguing (by using half your mind to respond, and the other half to analyze their way of communication) 

Xin Ma

Tuago

Very easy read with lots of practical stories and guides on how to navigate different cultures. It could be a great read for someone moving to a new country. However, a lot of the advice seems like anecdotes and generalizations that might land you in a bad situation if you follow them.

Cristian Garcia

After living and working in 3 continents and 4 countries, I thought I had multiculturalism figured out, but after reading this book I felt I was in square one.
This book is really a must to navigate the multi cultural teams we work with nowadays. Build using 8 dimensions we all can relate to, the book tells day to day examples in both professional and personal environments. 
I think what I liked the most about this book is that it helped me learned more about me, where do I come from and how do I put my background into context when talking and meeting other nationalities. There are a couple of examples I really liked, one about a fish that does not know what water is - because its a given and another one about sharing something strange or surprising about our culture, something rather difficult when all we know is our culture.
I think I could've continued reading this book for weeks, the examples are fascinating and I felt In really understand so many things that I thought were 'not appropriate', 'rude' or 'weird' without taking into consideration the culture and background of the other person.
This book is time well invested and will stay with you for good.

Rohini Anandamurugan

I wish I had read this book sooner! This book gave me a lot of material to reflect on and the instances she narrated were very relatable. Quite engaging!

Obada Mu

We are all the same, we are all different … United we stand, divided we fall.

Astha Prakash

Fascinating, easy to read and full of examples that explain how cultural habits and differences often depend on the country we're born in. The author, Erin Meyer, explains how people from various regions of the world differ from each other based on their histories, politics, philosophies and habits (some that date thousands of years ago!) Loved reading it, esp in the context of the world we're in now: working with global teams sitting at home where understanding each other is even more challenging.

Raluca Piteiu

Very useful information, especially if you are working in a multi-cultural environment. While I was aware of Gert Hofstedes cultural dimensions, Erin Meyer digs deeper into the important aspects at work such as decision making, giving feedback, communication, trust or perception of time. Packed with real life examples, the book has helped me make sense of some situations at work and stop judging the people I work with through my culture and understand theirs.

Laurel 

An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out. In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.

Ritik Sahni &
The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

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Ritik Sahni &The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

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Highlights

Join the club

Ritik Sahni &
The Culture Map by Erin Meyer