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Bains Gurnek. Cultural DNA
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Psychology of the Eurozone Crisis
We Are Not All the Same and That Is Good
Unconscious Bias
Greater Similarity and Difference at the Same Time
The Globalization Challenge for Business
Defining Cultural DNA
A Word About the Evidence
Why Bother with Differences?
Chapter 1. America – The Change Makers
Founder Effects
The Peopling of America
Positivity
Embracing the New
Assimilation over Accommodation
Mammon: Tamed and Untamed
The Triumph of Functionality
Increasing Plurality
Looking Ahead
Chapter 2. Sub-Saharan Africa: Under Nature's Shadow
How Modern Humans Populated Africa
Nature's Crucible: The Forces Shaping Africa's Cultural DNA
Community and Beyond
Naturalness: Expressed and Denied
In the Moment
Metaphor, Analogy, and the Connectedness of Things
The Big Man and His Alter Ego
Looking Ahead
Chapter 3. India: Beyond This World
The Peopling of India
The Toba Event
The Forces That Have Shaped India's Cultural DNA
Ahimsa
Individual Paths
Inner Directedness
Horizontal Stratification
Mathematics: The Art of the Hindus
Ritualistic Thinking
Looking Ahead
Chapter 4. The Middle East: Ambivalence and Uncertainty in the Modern Age
How Modern Humans Populated the Middle East
Deserts and Civilization: The Twin Drivers of Middle Eastern Cultural DNA
The Rules of Life
The Commercial Instinct
The Best Ideas in the World
The Honor–Modesty System
The Other Sex
Concentric Circles of Belonging
Managing Contradictions and Tensions
Chapter 5. China: The Seekers of Harmony
The Peopling of China
The Forces That Shaped China's DNA
The Drive for Harmony
The Authoritarian Compact
Concrete and Practical Inventiveness
Fast Slow
Bounded Sociability and Empathy
The Art of Copying
Future Considerations
Chapter 6. Europe: The Equal Society
The Forces that have Shaped European Cultural DNA
Equality and Elitism
Bounded Individualism
Analyisis and Structured Planning
Reserved Sociability
The Diminishing Drive for Mastery
The Opportunities and Challenges for European Culture
Chapter 7. The Far Continents
Latin America – The Ever-Changing Melting Pot
Australia: Mateship in a Far-Off Land
Conclusions
Index
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From the start this project has been a family affair. My wife Kylie has provided much support in generating ideas. Her Australian cultural DNA has also ensured that the project actually happened, rather than staying a piece of “Indian reflective enquiry”. My two teenage children, Akal and Aman, have also helped. Akal's interest in economics and Aman's in psychology has meant that I have been able to give them significant sub-projects, in what we quickly discovered was a very ambitious undertaking.
I also want to thank everyone at YSC who has contributed and all of our global offices for their local insights. Our research department has also undertaken painstaking analysis of our database. I also want to thank Evgeniya Petrova, who did much of the literature research and Rosemary Burke-Kennedy who helped bring the manuscript to fruition.
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The point of the above story is clear. Many expectations about differences across cultures are simply not true and on occasion even the reverse of what one might expect. Like executives everywhere, the African leaders were motivated to be the best that they could be, and, if anything, more driven and keen to learn than their Western counterparts. The curious episode with the psychometrics was in fact partly a reflection of their desire to perform well. However, there also lurked profound differences beyond the surface similarities. There were radically different attitudes toward the application of institutional rules – as our experience at the airport had demonstrated – as well as a wholly different and complex approach to the exercise of power in different settings. Relationships and trust also appeared to be built in very different ways. In their own milieu, the behaviors and instincts of the African managers were also profoundly different from how they acted with us. Gradually, we got to know and understand better some of the similarities and sources of difference. However, after a week or so we left with the thought that one all too frequently experiences on holiday. You have had a great time, the locals have been welcoming and at one level you have connected with them, but you are nevertheless left with the feeling – driven by subtle cues that you can't quite put your finger on – that a completely different world exists outside your orbit of managed experiences. You are left wondering, “Have I understood this place at all?”
At one level, many businesses – particularly multinationals – would feel that they have been operating globally with success for considerable periods of time. Yet if you scratch the surface, the new multipolar world that is emerging is creating significant challenges and asking deeper questions of businesses that consider themselves to be globally minded.
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