Culture influences Business

I, an American, born 1959. One of six. Girl, then five boys. Roman Catholic. Suburban Philadelphia. My father was a business consultant. Studied psychology at Amherst. Then in personnel for Campbell Soups in Camden, New Jersey. Solved an internal materials handling and logistics problem. Became a business consultant. My mother. Studied History in college, then like many of her generation, married soon thereafter, raised a family.

Me. Catholic elementary, then public high school. Average student. Played football, basketball. Summers at the country club. Swimming, golf and tennis. Not wealthy, but certainly comfortable. Freshman year at a small college. I take to learning. An opportunity is offered to me. Georgetown University. Trial semester. I do well. Enroll. Study History.

But, this isn‘t about me. It‘s about two things. First. Our background. How we were raised. Our religious beliefs. The experiences and institutions which have formed us. School, sports, friends, groups, jobs. The choices we have made, the choices made for us. All have shaped who we are. Shaped, but not defined, forever, frozen. We continue to make choices. Are active participants in who we continue to become. But for now, who we are, is based on those many situations, relationships, ideas and actions. Aware of these, reflecting on them, we can understand how we think, therefore act. Our logic, approach, methods, operating assumptions.

And knowing others is understanding.  How they think and act. This is why we are curious. About neighbors, colleagues, folks we interact with. Privately, publicly. Their background helps us understand „where they are coming from.“ Background. The ground they stood on, they operated on. Back. Going back. What is behind us. Not belonging to the past. But our personal history. Back is front and center.

If you are an American getting to know another American. In the neighborhood. At your place of worship. The parent of another student. A work colleague. A business partner. You want to know their background. Perhaps for tactical reasons. To „size them up.“ Or for non-tactical reasons. In order to get along, to cooperate, to solve problems. Or simply to become friends. Same situation on the German side of the Atlantic. Actually, in every culture. To understand another person is to know, or at least become a bit familiar with, their story.

If you are an American hearing the story of another American, chances are you are familiar with that story or that kind of story. At least with parts of it. Might be very close to your own story. If so, you only need a few details and you find yourself in that story. If it is a bit different you ask for more background information. You get to know. The German verb, tellingly, is kennenlernen, from kennen to know + lernen to learn. Literally to learn to know. Not capture. Not define. A process of getting to know. Become familiar. From family. Latin familia meaning household. Where we grew up.

But, here‘s the catch. Second point. What if the other person is not from the same culture, not from your culture? Sure, you‘re both human beings. Yet, take the few bits of information about my background from above. A story you might know quite well, assuming you are: American. White. Male. Between 45-55 years of age. Catholic. Played team sports. Grew up in the suburbs of a city. On the East Coast. Formative years the 1970s and 80s. Attended a liberal arts university.

Even if you are an American with a different story, for example: African American. Female. Between 35-45. Methodist. Played classical piano. Grew up in a Midwestern city. Small family. Studied business at a state university. Chances are we would understand each other, or at least be in a position to learn to understand each other. It might take a little time. But we have enough in common, to make a go of it.

But, wait! What if the other person is German? Male. Born 1965. Raised in Bonn with two siblings. Protestant. Father is an economics professor at the university. Mother first housewife, then practicing attorney. Both were Flüchtlinge (displaced persons) after the war. Raised in the Eifel in the 1940s and 50s. Attended college in Cologne. Raised their own family in the Südstadt section of Bonn. The son played soccer, was a Pfadfinder (boyscout). Got his Abitur at the Beethoven Gymnasium in town. Prüfungsfächer (testing subjects) Physics and Latin. Attended University of Braunschweig. Studied Engineering. Mechanical. His doctoral dissertation linked to a research project at nearby Wolfsburg. Volkswagen. Then gets a job offer. Climbs the organizational ladder.

We could go on. You get the idea. The stories. Mine, his. Yours, his. Are quite different, the key biographical data points difficult to intepret. The associations, the common background, are missing. The kennenlernen process takes longer. Requires more attention, interaction, explaining. Putting yourself in the other‘s shoes. Suspending our own background in order to enter into the other.

Background is culture. Culture influences business.

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