By: Jake Dean-Hill on January 31, 2019
With the many real-life stories and experiences included, The Culture Map by Erin Meyer was an enjoyable read. I appreciated how the author took us into the various cultures and gave us a first-person view of what it would be like to lead there. I was drawn to the chapter entitled “How Much Respect Do…
By: Greg on January 31, 2019
Speaking the same language but not speaking from the same culture can sometimes be worse than speaking different languages. I remember when our family first landed in Beijing it was night time and the buildings were lit up with lights. Traveling back from the airport there was an excitement of being in a new country,…
By: Andrea Lathrop on January 31, 2019
Erin Meyer’s Culture Map offers great insights into the struggle and gifts of getting things done in a globalized context. She reminds us that not everyone thinks, acts, responds, and leads the same way we do. How helpful to understand better the ‘water’ I swim in and to see it plotted on a continuum alongside other…
By: Colleen Batchelder on January 31, 2019
Leadership is not the summation of self-reflection or internal comprehension, but the cause and effect of intersection within a culture, gender, generation, and personality. Therefore, in order for one to lead influentially, they must first place themselves under scrutiny. Erin Meyer, author, and professor at INSEAD invites her readers to enter into this paradox and…
By: Jenn Burnett on January 31, 2019
This post is lovingly dedicated to those who took the time to love me during my early cross cultural days. I am forever humbled and changed by your hospitality and friendship. There are so many posts I could write inspired by Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map. I could write about how when I read it…
By: Mark Petersen on January 31, 2019
As I write this blog post, I’m on vacation in the coastal town of Essaouira, Morocco, famous for its sardines, crescent beach, and UNESCO-protected fortified wall. Haunting calls to prayer wail out five times a day, and though it’s a beach town, I’ve seen more burkas than bikinis. This is not the first place you’d…
By: Jay Forseth on January 31, 2019
Put my big foot right in my mouth I did, and you all were there to witness it. We were de-briefing from our Sunday church worship attendance in Hong Kong. At the big Baptist church (the largest church in Hong Kong), I noticed the Pastor was working so very hard to teach the congregation. He…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on January 31, 2019
Several years ago, me and my husband visited London for the first time and were impressed by the efficiency we experienced on the tube system. It became our most enjoyable mode of transportation and felt quite proud of our ability to navigate the routes throughout our time in the city. We also quickly noticed that…
By: Mario Hood on January 31, 2019
The common thought is, we live a big world that has become small, through the progression of humanity on the tidal wave technology. Polanyi walks us through the history and progression towards a “free market” world that in turn connects humanity via the financial aspect.[1] Bebbington in his work, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain[2], shows not…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on January 31, 2019
“And one more thing,” proclaimed Carla, our native Nicaraguan chaperone for the week, “you might as well put your watches away while you are here. You’re used to American time, but while you’re with us, you will be on Nica time. Trust me, just roll with it.” It was my first time to Nicaragua, leading…
By: Dave Watermulder on January 31, 2019
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work.”[1] In her book The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures, Erin Meyer seeks to better understand cultural differences and how those dynamics can undermine…
By: Mike on January 31, 2019
Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map is like Ralphie’s secret decoder pin in The Christmas Story because when you know how to decode multicultural messages you can learn how to live and lead better in cross-cultural contexts. I hope to leverage Meyer’s cultural how-to-field-guide and see if I can adapt some of her ideas and apply…
By: Harry Edwards on January 31, 2019
This is a tough one. One one hand we see a newness in celebrating diversity and on the other it appears that the emergence of culture was a form of punishment by God when he confused people’s languages at the Tower of Babel. In the United States celebrating significant cultural events (Cinco de Mayo, St.…
By: Rhonda Davis on January 31, 2019
At times, it seems like a minefield when navigating cultural nuances in my own American context, much less those present when working with global stakeholders. Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map is an excellent tool for anyone desiring to increase cross-cultural effectiveness. She sets out to help leaders address this challenge. Meyer provides an eight-part framework…
By: Dan Kreiss on January 30, 2019
There are an increasing number of books written for the purpose of developing a multi-cultural and diverse church. Erin Meyer’s book is not one of them but should still be mandatory reading for anyone interested in Christian leadership as the effects of globalization continue to be felt. Whether in business partnerships or faith communities multi-ethnic…
By: Chris Pritchett on January 30, 2019
Laden with accessible language, practical advice, and relatable stories, Erin Meyer’s Culture Map is a practical and insightful guidebook about leading and managing across cultures. The book is written from a Western perspective and with an effort toward humility in that regard. Culture Map is an accessible book, written for the popular audience. Meyer earns credibility…
By: Jennifer Williamson on January 30, 2019
“Not right. Not wrong. Just different.”[1] It was the mantra of our pre-field trainer, who was doing her best to prepare a bunch of new missionaries for life overseas. Pre-field training was great, but it was a little like trying to learn to swim while standing on dry ground. The principals were clear and well…
By: Wallace Kamau on January 28, 2019
Heraclitus is quoted as saying that the only thing that is constant is change[1]. John F Kennedy is also quoted as saying, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future”[2]. While it is hard to keep up with every change, it…
By: John Muhanji on January 27, 2019
Polanyi has brought many issues of life’s concern which we are still facing today even after he addressed them in the mid-1900s. It disturbs me to find out that as far asthe 1780, when the significance of poverty was realized, the stage was set for the 19th century[1] to address this issue. I am confused…
By: Kyle Chalko on January 26, 2019
Donald Lewis’ book Global Evangelicalism: Theology History and Cultural in Regional Perspective advances the conversation about evangelicalism. Both the definition of evangelicalism and the global perspective of this ideology are a significant contribution to this topic beyond what Bebbington brings up in his 2015 Evangelicalism in Modern Britain. One of the most important aspects for…
