“Jan Maas is not being rude. He is being Dutch.”
“But I didn’t make any mistakes. Only you played poorly.” The locker room filled with a chorus of “Oooo” at the remark made by the Dutch soccer player to his teammate. What could have been a locker room brawl was defused by this situation’s cultural interpreter. The Nigerian soccer player explained to his team “Jan Maas is not being rude. He’s just being Dutch.” The scene turns to Jan who smiles kindly at the teammate he seemingly insulted. Once again, Ted Lasso delivers a profound life lesson through the medium of a feel-good sitcom.
In our increasingly globalized, interconnected world, it is not just sports teams that are transformed into multicultural collectives working toward a common goal. With institutions possessing a global impact and creating cross-cultural partnerships, developing multicultural intuition is a nonnegotiable for leading effectively. As Erin Meyer points out,
When we worked in offices surrounded by others from our own tribe, awareness of basic human psychological needs and motivations, as well as a sensitivity to individual differences was enough. But as globalization transforms the way we work, we now need the ability to decode to cultural differences in order work effectively with clients, suppliers, and colleagues from around the world.[1]
Differences in where people land on the culture map can be noticed not just from vastly different cultures, like the Netherlands and Thailand, but also in closely related cultures. For example, the U.S. is low-context in its communication style. The U.K. is also low-context, but not as much. Therefore, even in the slight variation on the culture map, there is a general difference in humor. As an Australian, whose country has deep roots in the U.K., this is also the case. For both the British and the Aussies, sarcasm and dry humor reign supreme. According to Meyer, “Many British people are fond of delivering ironic or sarcastic jokes with a completely deadpan face. Unfortunately, this kind of humor is lost on many Americans; they may suspect the British person is joking but they don’t dare laugh, just in case he is not. As a result, the British often say that Americans ‘don’t understand irony.’”[2] Yesterday, as my wife and I were on a walk, I commented on this. My wife, Luara, who grew up in middle America, sometimes misses my dry, deadpan humor. I believe this is because my cultural background is not as low-context as Laura’s upbringing. Either that or my jokes are simply not funny. We often arrive at different conclusions on this one.
Working and communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds is a challenge. A challenge worth leaning into, yes, but a challenge nonetheless. This requires humility, curiosity about others, and a willingness to look laugh at oneself when one makes a mistake.[3] Essentially we, as leaders in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world, must make the effort to meet people where they are at in their culture map, rather than expect them to come to our level. We must not choose speed and efficiency attached to cultural imperialism.
Meeting people where they are is essential in leadership, and is theologically rooted in the incarnation of Jesus. For in the incarnation, we see that God moved into our neighborhood. Yet Jesus drew near to humanity and met us where we were at. [4] While imprisoned on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela had access to a humble library with books that passed the censorship requirements of the guards. One of the books was Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Upon reflecting on the examples of leadership in this classic, Mandela wrote, “to truly lead one’s people one must also truly know them.”[5] To know people means meeting them where they are rather than expecting them to come to us. It means learning their language, their social norms, and eating their food. Though we cannot do this for everybody (though I am not opposed to trying food from every culture), we ought to not use that as an excuse to be lazy. Developing multicultural competency requires great effort. But it is worth it.
Though the strategies for navigating the invisible cultural variations are plentiful, the heart posture of humility, curiosity, and a willingness to make cross-cultural blunders will guide one in navigating the complex waters of communicating and leading in an interconnected, globalized world. Will we experience frustration when team members approach time differently than we who are more linear? Will we miss messages communicated between the lines from high-context cultures? Will we offend people seeking to make a consensual decision when we prefer top-down? Well, I am guilty of all of these already. But Meyer reminds us that there is great joy on the other side of the effort. For “the range of human cultures can be a source of endless surprise and discovery—a fount of remarkable experiences and continual learning that can never be exhausted.”[6] We would miss this if we chose the easy route and solely interacted with those within our locale of the culture map.
We can all be students of one another’s cultures. And if we have grace for one another, and create an ethos of humility, curiosity, and a willingness to learn through mistakes, our teams will be far more effective in navigating the complex waters of our globalized world. When I picture this, I imagine myself providing feedback to a Dutch colleague, but doing so in a “nice,” indirect way. Hopefully, there would be another cultural translator to say to the Dutch co-worker, “Don’t misunderstand David’s indirect feedback. He is not being rude. He is being American.”
[1] Erin Meyer, The Culture Map: Breaking through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business, 1st ed. (New York: PublicAffairs, 2014), 253.
[2] Ibid. 44-45.
[3] Ibid. 143.
[4] John 1:1-14, Philippians 2:5-9.
[5] Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (Little, Brown, 2008), 492.
[6] Meyer, The Culture Map, 253.
About the Author
David Beavis
David is Australian by birth, was raised in Southern California, and is the Youth and Young Adults Pastor at B4 Church in Beaverton, Oregon. David and his wife, Laura, live in Hillsboro with their dog, Coava (named after their favorite coffee shop). M.A. Theology - Talbot School of Theology B.A. Psychology - Vanguard University of Southern California3 responses to ““Jan Maas is not being rude. He is being Dutch.””
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David,
“We must meet people where they are at on the culture map and not expect them to come to our level.” This is an excellent summary of what we need to do.
Thank you for noting the global community that we live in and how this makes it increasingly difficult to know people and their culture well. I am curious what your thoughts are on youth and how they are able or not able to communicate in this global community.
I enjoy reading your blog. It is thoughtfully organized, with great use of quotes and humor.
Along with you…
I am looking forward to eating African food!
David, I commend you on the in-depth analysis and synthesis of the material. Relating many critical points to various settings, Ted Lasso, the cultural differences between you and your wife, and a quote from Nelson Mandela’s book took me on a journey through your thought processes. It was very relatable.
Several statements from your post particularly resonated with me. First, paraphrasing, you wrote we have to learn other people’s language and social norms, and we’ll make mistakes along the way. And we should meet others on their level who are from different cultures and not expect them to come to our level. That’s what Jesus modeled for us.
I wholeheartedly agree that this will take hard work and a commitment from a deeper source more excellent than what we can manufacture alone. So, how would you motivate the young people in the ministry to mine for this strength of commitment and convince them that what is on the other side is so worth it? It is so counter-culture to the current cancel culture.
“We can all be students of one another’s cultures. And if we have grace for one another, and create an ethos of humility, curiosity, and a willingness to learn through mistakes, our teams will be far more effective in navigating the complex waters of our globalized world.”
What a great point! I think if we all continue to be students and learn from each other with grace we might be ok.