There's a widespread understanding that managing corporate culture is key to business success. Yet few companies articulate their culture in such a way that the words become an organizational reality that molds employee behavior as intended. All too often a culture is described as a set of anodyne norms, principles, or values, which do not offer decision-makers guidance on how to make difficult choices when faced with conflicting but equally defensible courses of action. The trick to making a desired culture come alive is to debate and articulate it using dilemmas. If you identify the tough dilemmas your employees routinely face and clearly state how they should be resolved-"In this company, when we come across this dilemma, we turn left"-then your desired culture will take root and influence the behavior of the team. To develop a culture that works, follow six rules: Ground your culture in the dilemmas you are likely to confront, dilemma-test your values, communicate your values in colorful terms, hire people who fit, let culture drive strategy, and know when to pull back from a value statement.

In recent years leading executives-from firms like Google, Bridgewater, and Netflix-have touted the advantages of a work environment marked by candid feedback. Employees seem to have bought into the benefits too. In a 2019 survey, 94% said that corrective feedback improved their performance when it was presented well. Unfortunately, the increased diversity of our workplaces has made it much more likely that feedback won't go over well and will be misinterpreted as an act of hostility. That's because people from different cultures, genders, and generations have varying expectations for how feedback is delivered and by whom. What's standard in America, for instance, can come off as harsh or baffling in other countries. Boomers and Millennials hold radically different ideas about what's appropriate too. And gender differences add to the complexity. Women who are frank are often seen as aggressive, and men have a bad tendency to offer unwelcome advice. This article explains how to navigate the divides: Understand the norms of feedback recipients and adjust for them. Follow the three A's-make sure any advice is intended to assist, actionable, and asked for. Last, get everyone on your team on the same page by establishing a common approach and building regular feedback loops into your collaborations.

When misunderstandings arise among members of global teams, it's often because managers conflate attitudes toward authority and attitudes toward decision making. However, the two are different dimensions of leadership culture, says the author, who has extensive research and consulting experience with global companies. Attitudes toward authority range from strongly hierarchical to strongly egalitarian. Approaches to decision making vary from top-down to consensual. The author explores both dimensions and classifies selected countries according to their position on both scales. The Japanese, for example, are hierarchical in their views toward authority--deferential to the boss and accustomed to waiting for instructions rather than taking the initiative--but they are consensual decision makers who get buy-in before they set a course of action. The author describes the four cultural types--consensual and egalitarian; consensual and hierarchical; top-down and hierarchical; and top-down and egalitarian--and the corresponding expectations about leadership in each environment. If you keep those in mind, you'll be more successful in your cross-cultural interactions.

To be effective, a negotiator must take stock of the subtle messages being passed around the table. In international negotiations, however, you may not know how to interpret your counterpart's communication accurately, especially when it takes the form of unspoken signals. The author identifies five rules of thumb for negotiating in other cultures: (1) Adapt the way you express disagreement. In some cultures it's OK to say "I totally disagree." In others that would provoke anger and possibly an irreconcilable breakdown of the relationship. (2) Know when to bottle it up or let it all pour out. Raising your voice when excited, laughing passionately, even putting a friendly arm around your counterpart, are common behaviors in some cultures but may signal a lack of professionalism in others. (3) Learn how the other culture builds trust. Negotiators in some countries build trust according to the confidence they feel in someone's accomplishments, skills, and reliability. For others, trust arises from emotional closeness, empathy, or friendship. (4) Avoid yes-or-no questions. Instead of asking "Will you do this?" try "How long would it take you to get this done?" (5) Be careful about putting it in writing. Americans rely heavily on written contracts, but in countries where human relationships carry more weight in business, contracts are less detailed and may not be legally binding.

As companies internationalize, their employees lose shared assumptions and norms. People in different countries react to inputs differently, communicate differently, and make decisions differently. Organically grown corporate cultures begin to break down; miscommunication becomes more frequent, and trust erodes, especially between the head office and the regional units. In their efforts to fix these problems, companies risk compromising attributes that underlie their commercial success. INSEAD's Erin Meyer presents five principles that can prevent disintegration. Managers should: (1) Identify the dimensions of difference between the corporate culture and local ones; (2) Make sure every cultural group has a voice; (3) Protect the most creative units, letting communication and job descriptions remain more ambiguous; (4) Train everyone in key norms; and (5) Ensure diversity in every location. Getting culture right should never be an afterthought. Companies that don't plan for how individual employees and the organization as a whole will adapt to working in a global marketplace will sooner or later stumble because of unnoticed potholes. By the time they regain their balance, their economic opportunity may have passed.

As we increasingly work with colleagues and clients who come from all parts of the world, it is vital to understand how cultural differences affect business. Yet too often we rely on cliches and stereotypes that lead us to false assumptions. To help managers negotiate the complexity of an international work team, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer has developed a tool called the Culture Map, which plots the positions of numerous nationalities along eight behavior scales: Communicating, Evaluating, Persuading, Leading, Deciding, Trusting, Disagreeing, and Scheduling. Meyer suggests that comparing the relative positions of different nationalities along these scales can help us decode how culture influences workplace dynamics. She adds four important rules: (1) Don't underestimate the challenge. Management and work styles stem from lifelong habits that can be hard to change. (2) Apply multiple perspectives. Be aware of your own expectations and behaviors, but also consider how members of other cultures perceive you and fellow teammates. (3) Find the positive in other approaches. The differences that people of varied backgrounds bring to a work group can be great assets. (4) Continually adjust your position. Be prepared to keep adapting your behavior to meld with the styles of your colleagues.

Chinese business culture is unique-but not in all the ways outsiders tend to assume. The authors' research reveals three principal myths, kernels of which are true.

A French executive with Michelin is expatriated from Clermont-Ferrand to South Carolina. Initially confident in his leadership skills, the protagonist learns quickly that many aspects of leading a team are quite different in the American environment. Although he ultimately succeeds, Chalon initially struggles to understand the different culture in which he is working and adapt his style accordingly.

A French executive with Michelin is expatriated from Clermont-Ferrand to South Carolina. Initially confident in his leadership skills, the protagonist learns quickly that many aspects of leading a team are quite different in the American environment. Although he ultimately succeeds, Chalon initially struggles to understand the different culture in which he is working and adapt his style accordingly.

A French executive with Michelin is expatriated from Clermont-Ferrand to South Carolina. Initially confident in his leadership skills, the protagonist learns quickly that many aspects of leading a team are quite different in the American environment. Although he ultimately succeeds, Chalon initially struggles to understand the different culture in which he is working and adapt his style accordingly.