College to Career



19

Understanding Cultural Issues

19.1 Introduction

In this chapter, we are going to talk about three topics that are in the realm of good manners and proper etiquette—small talk, respecting privacy and saying ‘no’.

As a college student, you probably do not need any introduction to our first topic, making ‘small talk’ or light conversation with colleagues, stakeholders and even utter strangers. What used to be a spontaneous social activity has now become a soft skill to the extent that you now need to cultivate it and use it effectively to get ahead in your career. We will discuss small talk in Section 19.2.

The second topic is about respecting privacy. As a young student, you probably share a lot of your experiences ...