"Western Men are Doomed"
In the New York Times, a conversation between columnists highlights the future of Western men through a very general comparison of Western and Asian thinking styles.
Before looking at that article, I’ll start by noting the various cultural dimensions CultureWizard teaches, e.g. relationship and communication. These dimensions encompass styles of thought, and the approach one takes to human interaction. In China, for example, we generalize that most people are relationship-oriented, which means that relationships are the underlying lens through which Chinese see all aspects of life, both business and personal. The general idea is that this is the opposite of a country like Switzerland, where people often look at a clock to organize their days. To understand others, simple lessons on very basic and commonly encountered cultural attributes is a necessity for global business succss. However, in reality, everyone is unique and should be treated according to their personal culture. Nevertheless, everyone is influenced by a national culture through religion, mythology, history, mass media, etc.
David Brooks’ conversation with Gail Collins is very general, but there is some truth to what Brooks observes on culture, even though it’s still far from being common knowledge.
“Different cultures and groups have different styles of thinking, or to be more precise, the average behavior is different from one group to another. So is it possible that Westerners, on average, have thinking styles that make them ill-suited for the problems of the future while Asians have styles that make them better suited?”
“Asians place emphasis on context while Westerners place more emphasis on individuals. This seems like a gross generalization but it is robustly supported by hundreds and hundreds of studies.”
“Basically, I’m saying that two groups I’m a member of — Westernized men — may have been well adapted to the agricultural and industrial societies, but our thinking styles are not well adapted to the networked age of social information flows. I’m not just saying the West is doomed. I think Western men, like me, are doomed unless we change and adapt quickly!”
The individualistic approach that is deeply ingrained in Western individuals’ minds is not the norm in Asia, although culture is gradually changing, so learning and recognizing situations where different approaches are popular interesting. Western men may not be doomed, but cultural awareness is a solution to the adaptability that global business demands today.
Click here to read the conversation. How would you react to these ideas?
Sean
“Management speak can be hard enough to understand at the best of times: paradigm shifts? Blue sky thinking? Incentivise? Ehm what? But imagine if boardroom strategy was outlined in Swahili rather than business English. Presentations as dry as a martini can leave cosmopolitan boardrooms at a loss; country-specific humour rarely makes it past the unhappy customs officials. Today, in the ever-expanding global marketplace, cultural sensitivity is at a premium. Step in Solomon and Schell, experts in cross-cultural training, who are promising to change all this. Crucially, their self-help manual features case studies on how Colgate-Palmolive integrates cultural understanding into global marketing, how GE adapts management style to local cultures and how Intels global corporate culture is critical to its ongoing vision. Its not just a catalogue of different customs, gestures and language faux pas. Problematically, however, the book rigidly focuses on western corporates, raising an interesting question. If translated for non-English speaking businesses, would it not get lost in translation too?”
“…If you could only read one, I’d nominate Managing Across Cultures, which is more comprehensive, particularly in taking readers through the seven key differences they will encounter in other countries, and having you fill out a questionnaire so you know your personal instincts, should they be different from other Canadians.” 
