Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World

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INTRODUCING 25 REAL-LIFE STORIES THAT REVEAL THE RULES FOR WORKING SUCCESSFULLY ACROSS CULTURES

There is no excuse for cultural ignorance in the 21st century. The greatest factor affecting the success or failure of a global business is understanding the cultural differences that lie hidden, like minefields, in day-to-day work. Recognize and manage these cultural differences, and you accelerate your success; ignore them and they will undermine your global performance.

Business Beyond Borders explains culture through the real-life stories of the author, resonating and bringing the cultural challenges inherent in global work to life. From negotiating with Bedouins in the Libyan Sahara, to managing a team of Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro, from out-running an earthquake during a keynote presentation in Mexico City, to losing a government "handler" in Beijing, each of the stories illustrates a critical cultural issue that global managers need to understand today.

With a summary of the "golden global rules" that everyone working in the global 21st century needs to know, Business Beyond Borders is a celebration of what makes all of us around the world-all so different- simultaneously all the same.

Reviews

"Reviewing Dean Foster's Business Beyond Borders was more than just reading a book-I was engrossed with his stories and insights. He begins each chapter as one might begin a real-life interaction abroad and from there, he draws out the deeper cultural dynamics that often go unnoticed... that can unlock the mindset of an entire culture. Foster gives us the tools to see beneath the surface and engage with authenticity, intention and strategic purpose." -- Philip Berry, former Vice President, Global Human Resources, Colgate-Palmolive; Chief Human Resource Officer of the Clinton Foundation

"Through engaging and powerful personal stories, collected from decades of global experience, Foster explains how deeply ingrained cultural differences can derail any deal... and offers detailed, practical advice to avoid those mishaps. From getting birdcages through Chinese customs, to cheering on an interpreter delivering a "creative" translation of a joke, Dean Foster shares his years
of experience managing cultural differences."

-- Gail Abbott Zimmerman, Senior Producer, CBS News 48 Hours
"Dean Foster writes that "When culture is all around us, it's sometimes hard to see it". His intriguing new book, Business Beyond Borders, gives us a wonderful way to appreciate the world that sends us important messages that are all too often easy to miss. An immensely compelling and entertaining book that will be a prized possession for many readers." -- Henry L. Tischler, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Author Bio

For over three decades as President of DFA Intercultural Global Solutions (www.deanfosterglobal.com), Dean Foster has been involved in researching, writing about, and consulting on the nature of culture and its role in society, work and politics in a globalizing world. As founder and former Worldwide Director of Berlitz Cross-Cultural Division, as well as the founder and President of Cross-Cultural Consulting Associates his work has played a central role in the development of the field of cross-cultural training and consulting.

He has been an active member of and speaker at the annual international conferences of the National Foreign Trade Council, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the International Institute for Human Resources (IIHR), the Global Business Association, the European Relocation Association (EuRA) and other organizations, and have served as an Executive Board member of the International Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR).