CHAPTER 5It’s Here, There, and Everywhere
Cross-Cultural Microinequities
Asenior banking executive I know was on temporary assignment in Hong Kong, leading a team of local analysts. During the first two weeks on the job, he would respond to information he was wary of the same way he did in New York. “Come on,” he would say, cocking his head and furrowing his brow. “Are you sure?” he would ask, with a mildly sarcastic tone. What he didn’t know was that he was quickly and effectively alienating every staff member he worked with. What he perceived as insignificant neutral messages became powerful microinequities when received through the filters of the local culture. In New York, such questions were part of office banter, but in Hong Kong, they ...
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