Collective
Culture is shared. It is not the same thing as individual personality.
STAMP 1 · CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS
What is culture?
The behaviour is visible. The meaning is not.
In five minutes, learn a practical way to notice culture without turning people into stereotypes.
5minutes
2micro-videos
1tool to keep
FIELD NOTE · A REAL EXPERIENCE
One silence. Several possible meanings.
Valeria, an intercultural consultant, explains how living in different countries changed the way she reads silence.
REAL VOICE00:30
Recorded in Spanish · subtitles follow your selected language
01
When a colleague stays silent in a meeting, what is the safest first conclusion?
INTELLIGENCE BRIEF · DECODE THE MOMENT
What silence can mean
A one-minute explanation from Valérie and Valeria.
EXPERT BRIEF01:00
Preparing the video…
The intercultural reflex: observe the behaviour, suspend your interpretation, then ask.
CORE INTELLIGENCE · THE DEFINITION
Culture shapes what feels normal.
Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others.
Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov · Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind
Learned
We acquire it through family, school, work and the groups around us.
Patterns, not predictions
It offers hypotheses about groups—not a verdict about one person.
SURFACE SCAN · WHAT WE SEE / WHAT WE INFER
Culture has visible and invisible layers.
Select each layer to reveal what belongs there.
The visible behaviour is evidence. The invisible meaning is a hypothesis to test.
MENTAL MODEL · THREE LEVELS
Culture explains some differences—not all of them.
Select each level of Hofstede’s pyramid.
Based on Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov (2010), Figure 1.1.
FIELD TEST · YOUR NEXT MOVE
Your colleague is silent after you present a proposal.
The meeting is remote. It is your first project together, and you do not yet know their preferred way of contributing.
?MEANING UNKNOWN
Which response best tests the meaning without making an assumption?
FINAL CHECK · 3 SIGNALS
Can you read the cultural signal?
Choose one answer for each question. You can review anything you miss.
MISSION COMPLETE
Stamp 1 earned.
You now have the first intercultural reflex.
01
Observe the behaviour.
Suspend the meaning.
Ask before assuming.
CULTURE · STAMP EARNED