We tend to think of the United States as being rather culturally diverse. But American culture (especially its business culture) is very old and complex. Despite the unique melting pot of the American cultural landscape, American pluralism cannot begin to compete on the diversity scale with what’s arising in a few centers of international business outside the Western world, in places like Dubai. These four lessons I learned doing business there will help any CEO build effective teams.
Effective teams will eventually do this on their own, whether HR gives them the tools to do it efficiently or not. Conversely, ineffective teams won’t, and they’ll continue to be characterized by misunderstanding and negativity without a better means for understanding. In places like Dubai, where people generally do not speak the same cultural or verbal languages, the need is more obvious for a common language, a neutral way of telling each other who we are and how we work.
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