Becoming Global – How I Am Overcoming Cultural Differences in Business

Speaking and meeting with people that aren't from the same region/country can sometimes be a stressful situation, as they may have different customs, ways of showing respect and conducting business. However, one thing is always certain and that is that it is always an enriching experience.

Todays businesses are the product of 50 years of globalization and now more than ever cultural differences have become vital to leaders. Merging cultures, giving leadership roles, making decisions, everything when it comes to global businesses can be done according to nation.

I remember when, a few years back, during one of my trips to Silicon Valley, I was going to San Mateo, to take part in a seminar at the Silicon Valley Innovation Center. At that time, I was working on MainStreaming’s internationalization and I decided to learn more about cross-cultural dynamics in a business environment: if MainStreaming was to be a global company, I had to be able to nurture, select and understand a global team and clients with different needs, habits and, of course, different ways of behaving.

What first caught my attention, was the fact that I was about to join a seminar on cross culture dynamics and I was already surrounded by people coming from different parts of the world. As we were waiting for the lecturer to come in, I had the chance to interact a bit with the participants, all there to find and learn something. Knowledge, that would have helped them shape their own business and country.

I remember the lecture being very interesting, but what got my attention more than anything was the Richard Lewis Model of Cultural Types. It was exactly what I was looking for.

After visiting 135 countries and working in more than 20 of them, the British linguist Richard Lewis came to the conclusion that people can be divided into 3 categories, based on their behavior: Linear-active, Multi-active and Reactive.

It’s pretty easy to understand, no need for an in-depth explanation: the Linear-Active type comprises the English-speaking world and Northern Europe with Scandinavia and Germanic countries. They plan, organize, do one thing at a time and make decisions based on facts. The Multi-Actives are talkative, emotive, expressive and multi-tasking, planning their prerogatives according to the day. They are more scattered and geographically diverse than the Linears: Southern Europe, Mediterranean countries, South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Arab and other cultures in the Middle East, India, Pakistan and most of the Slavs. Last but not least, the Reactives, located mostly in all major countries in Asia and keen on prioritizing courtesy and respect, reacting carefully and calmly to proposals.

Needless to say, I belong to the Multi-Active group but the most important and fascinating factor is that we are all unique, characteristics can and should be mixed, making us ‘hybrid’ types, able to lead international teams. We must strive to position ourselves in the middle of the triangle, becoming a bit of each type.

Personally, I’m undergoing a journey to try and mix all the behavioral aspects, becoming a bit more Linear and Reactive while maintaining my Multi-Active traits.

As Lewis himself said "By focusing on the cultural roots of national behavior, both in society and business, we can foresee and calculate with a surprising degree of accuracy how others will react to our plans for them, and we can make certain assumptions as to how they will approach us".

For more information, visit https://www.crossculture.com. If you want to know more about the different cultural models? Check this chart: