This morning over breakfast with a prospective client I was asked to name my strengths.  I’ve been lucky enough to work and live in a number of countries and the greatest lesson learned also leads to my greatest strength. 

We’re all born with strong cultural biases - it must be a survival mechanism because it’s common around the globe.  I grew up in a small farming town in New Jersey called Flemington.  I was always suspicious of the kids who came from Somerville - it was a faster, looser town just 12 miles down the road. 

Expand that protected thinking and suddenly you’re an American suspicious of Europeans, or an Aussie looking sideways at a Kiwi. 

Communications is only effective when it is relevant to the target audience.  If it sounds foreign we’ll reject it outright - and it’ll heighten our suspicions of the authors.  PR mythology is rife with tales of multinationals who got it wrong - the GM’s Nova car failed in South America because the name means “No Go.”  Or when “Coke Adds Life” was translated to read”Coke brings your ancestors back from the dead” in one Asian language.

To succeed, you need to suppress your cultural tendencies and adopt a neutral stance.  Then let the nuances of the host country surround you.  In time you’ll pick up the rhythm.  If time allows learn the language (unless you’re an American in Australia like me - I have no hope of ever learning proper English!).  Read the papers and go to local hang-outs. 

I work to find my “inner chameleon” - that chilled, neutral little lizard that adapts to its local environ.  Then I can take on the colours that surround me and be an effective, unbiased communicator.

In time I may even trust a kid from Somerville.