How big of a challenge is it for an organization, and the people who make up the organization, to become more interculturally effective?
There is obviously a built-in dilemma there because organizations prefer their employees to be similar. If you are dealing with a foreign culture, maybe things will have to be done differently. A lot of top managers don’t like to be told that things will have to be done differently. It means that you break away from your common practices. It’s precisely the things that you have been good at that maybe you have to change now. It requires a wider view and a different way of thinking and the qualities that make an individual successful in business might make them less likely to succeed in an intercultural relationship. Are there some skills that are more important to develop for organizations or individuals to be more successful internationally? Mastering another language allows you to transfer to another mindset. Language is never only about words, it’s about transferring feelings and accepting a different context. I would think that nearly all successful interculturalists are multilingu
