Book Reflections: The Culture Map
No white supremacy, I will not fall into your trap
I have just finished the book The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. The book has been recommended to me by more than one person working in the tech industry. Actually, the book does not have anything to do with tech in particular, but it rather talks about how to work with and manage people coming from different places around the globe, and how the different ways of working — that are so normal and so baked in your culture — might be so alien and peculiar to others.
I did not enjoy the book much. In my opinion, there were so many redundant parts and I felt the book could have been shorter. Sometimes I felt the examples mentioned are so naive and not so realistic. I was not impressed by the content, it might be due to the observation that although the tech department in Booking.com is so diverse, the company has been working hard to form and dominate its own culture. Therefore,I cannot say I am working according to the Dutch culture, I can rather say I am working according to Booking.com culture.
The Culture Map book was not an eye opener for me. As someone who has been working in a very diverse environment for the last three years, cultural difference is not something new. It is something I spotted since I relocated from Cairo to Amsterdam. I was amazed then by how much cultures can be similar and different at the same time. I still get impressed every time I see a common thing between Arabic and Chinese culture because they are very far geographically and were not conquered/ruled in their recent history by a common power.
So the book did not offer me a new perspective but it rather helped add to my existing perspective. I have already come to the realisation that Dutch people communicate more explicitly and directly than Egyptians. I have already observed that the Egyptian way of communication is close to the Spanish-speaking countries. The book helped back up these observations with research. The book reaffirmed my observations and provided me with a scale that includes other countries as well.
I want to mention two examples from the book.
The Communication Scale:
Erin mentions that cultures tend to fall on a communication scale. One end of the scale is “low-context” where communication is more explicit, direct, no assumption of shared context and no underlying meaning. While the other end of the scale is “high-context” culture where ‘messages are implied’, they are composed of many layers and include assumptions of shared context.
Egypt is more on the high-context end. Dutch culture is more on the low-context end.
As an expat, I do appreciate being in a low-context culture. It would have been difficult for me to understand and deal with people who assume a shared context which I obviously do not have. This low-context communication could have made me biased more towards the Dutch culture. After all, a clear message will not harm anyone but a vague message might do.
Here, I do understand that there is no good or bad culture. I do understand that in Egypt we do not need to make the message clear because we all understand the underlying layers.
The Scheduling Scale (Time):
The last chapter in the book was about Time. Some cultures are really rigid when it comes to time (9:00 is 9:00, not 9:10 or even 9:02) while in other cultures 9 means 9:30 or 9:45 or even 10.
Egypt belongs to the later group.
Here, I disagree that all cultures are fine. No, when it comes to time I have always abhorred Egyptians for their disrespect of time. I am always furious that it is normal for someone who has given me a meeting time at 9:30 to appear at 10:30 or even 11, and not even apologise for being late.
Are there good cultures and bad cultures?
The book’s answer to this question is No. We are all different but we are all beautiful.
I disagree. But because my culture usually falls on the not-so-preferred end of the spectrum, I disagree carefully without rejecting everything that comes from my culture. I try to be careful not to fall into the trap of being impressed by everything that comes from the White cultures.
I am coming from a culture full of flaws. During the first few months after I relocated to the Netherlands I could not help but get impressed by every single detail in this country. I remember when I first visited Amsterdam (it was my first visit to a first-world country) I was amazed by the fact that public transportation schedules are accurate to the minute. The tram will arrive at 7:42 not 7:40 or 7:35, and it actually does come at 7:42. I was impressed by the traffic signals, the fact that there are lanes in the streets and that cars respect these lanes.
It was very difficult not to compare every single detail I find to its counterpart in Cairo.
But then I had to think and re-think. I did not want to stay in this mesmerization state where I take everything Dutch people do as the best. “Oh wow look how they end each encounter with ‘Have a nice day’. Look how they respect the time. Look how they eat and look how they drink and look how they spend their holidays.” I feared that the line of mesmerization would extend to reach every single detail. I feared that I would put Dutch people in a very high place and glorify every single thing they do while I belittle and despise everything my people do.
It is very hard to create a balance because indeed the Netherlands is a much cleaner, more organized and happier country. Indeed people respect you here regardless of your social status. Indeed Cairo is despicable. Indeed it is very hard to differentiate which practices in Cairo are bad, which are okay, and which are actually worth-keeping.
How do I try not to fall in this mesmerization trap?
I want to create a balance. I do not want to be constantly impressed by the white culture, nor do I want to constantly criticize its boldness and infamous coldness. I do not want to let my despise of Cairo’s chaos make me see everything in The Netherlands as shiny, also I do not want my feelings of longing to my family and social circles of Egypt make me see everything here as cold and devoid of any emotions.
What helps me create this balance is thinking about the possible reasons for these culture differences, I will try to list them below:
1- Indeed, as mentioned in Meyer’s book, some of these differences go back to the shared history of the nation, some to the religion or the faith, some to the language and some to the geography. Thinking about the roots of some cultural behaviors help put things in perspective.
2- The political corruption and authoritarian regime in Egypt which reinforces the hierarchical and patriarchal structure of the society, and which have been institutionalizing corruption, abuse of power, hypocrisy and valuing people based on their social status, along with other countless hideous and inhumane practices. How do you expect people living under this regime to behave? Why would you expect them to be honest and truthful with you? This, however, does not totally take away the responsibility from people. People still have agency. But that’s another more complex discussion for later.
3- I am an expat and I will probably stay in my own expat bubble. As I live here and as time passes, the glamour of this culture fades a bit. I get to see some bureaucracy, some racism and I get to realise that whatever I do, there will always be some cultural barriers I cannot overcome. This helps me realize that I do not have the full picture of the Dutch culture, I only see what the expat bubble allows me to see.
On the seven scales mentioned in The Culture Map book, Egyptian and Dutch cultures never meet. They are always on opposing ends of the scale. That does not make a culture better than another, and even if this is the case, we have to think about all the possible factors that have brought about such difference. I meet some Egyptians who always criticize everything the Egyptians do and regard them as inferior, and I meet some who keep whining about how they miss the Egyptian traditions. I don’t belong to any of the two groups and I want to stay and maintain this kind of balance.
So, no Mrs Meyer, I disagree with the tone of the book that all cultures are beautiful in their own way, but I disagree while seeing and understanding both the beautiful and the hideous sides of the Egyptian and Dutch cultures. The former defines who I am and the latter defines how I currently live.
