When it comes to cultural differences, handle the big issues first. The small stuff will likely sort itself out after that. Just like life. I just got off the phone with a client who wanted me to deliver a conference keynote on working with a particularly large country in Asia. “Our teams need to know how to manage the cultural differences. Every day they encounter them, so if you can run through the list…

The Real Cost of Cultural Ignorance. I’ve been saying for a long time now that there is no wiggle room for cultural ignorance. The world is too big, too interconnected, too global (yes, globalization, even in this moment of political de-globalization — and it is only a moment — will vigorously continue) for any individual, organization…

Sooner or later, it happens. Accept it. It’s How You Recover that Matters. The auditorium was packed. From where I was standing backstage, it looked like about 500+ people had been invited by my client to attend my keynote presentation on managing global teams, and I was pumped and ready…

Africa’s most populous, crowded, diverse, and complicated country presents challenges for anyone doing business there. But fundamental to the economic, environmental and political issues, are the cultural ones. Get a grasp on these first, and you’ll survive the rest a lot more easily. #10. As is the case for many…

A Few Good Drinks, a Few Great Minds, Perhaps One Great Thought. Last week, I had the privilege of ordering a drink at the bar of a grand old Club in Mayfair, the kind of place where the heavy drapery of old empire and class keeps the raucous post-global London…

Sabha, Libya. I met Mohammed in Sabha, a ragged little town in south central Libya, late in the day as a nasty sandstorm was gathering on the horizon. Mohammed was the leader of a team of Tuareg men who were assigned to protect and look after me, my wife, several…

It’s Way Past Time for the Lone American Male with a Gun to Ride Off Into the Sunset. The nauseating spectacle of a culture destroying itself to feed the greed of a particular industry, in this case, the unholy American alliance of gun manufacturers, their spokespersons at the NRA, and…

The Tipping Point in the Election was Culture. Hindsight, they say, is easy. But I think it’s actually hard. Looking backward to try to understand why things turn out the way they do means you don’t have the luxury of selecting out only those facts that support your interpretation of…

Putin’s Goals Go Further than Ukraine. If he Succeeds, the Real Headlines will be from Moldova. Well, from Transnistria to be exact. What, never heard of the place? It’s a sliver of land running north to south in eastern Moldova between the Dniester River to the west and the Ukrainian…