The 5 best books for intercultural leadership and diversity {reading tip}

Different countries, different customs – almost everyone knows this saying, which has almost become commonplace. But it also applies to the international Business, in which diversity and cooperation in different countries are very important. Yes, one can say: Cooperation across national borders has long been part of the Everyday life even in many medium-sized companies Companys.

Germany needs immigrants - successful proposals for an integration policy

Jamal Qaiser therefore provides a good inventory of what is and convincing suggestions for what should come in his book The Stranger Success factor”. Especially interesting because he also knows the immigrant side.

Against the background of the ongoing discussions in Germany about the so-called refugee flows, the book by Jamal Qaiser can not be denied a certain explosiveness.

The author writes from his immediate experience. He came to this country with 8 years, and has made a picture book career despite all the adversities.

Germany is dependent on immigration

The author begins with an analysis of current statistics that demonstrate the demographic dilemma in which Germany is located.

For many years, this country needs more migrants than migrants to shoulder all the challenges of the economy. And it is about massive political changes and reforms, so the integration works.

So that Germany can grow - cornerstones of successful integration

Chapter after chapter, the author then deals analytically with the obstacles to successful integration. He is dedicated to tax-, family and also education policies, which have devastating effects on the entrepreneurial spirit of (not only) immigrants.

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And Qaiser doesn't shy away from difficult topics, for example when he deals with fundamentalism or so-called "foreign crime". Jamal Qaiser's book provides exciting thoughts and impulses for social policy. From his ideas could all People benefit in this country.

How intercultural teams are led virtually

Regrettably, nationalist slogans and resentment towards other cultures are currently gaining ground again in Europe. One of the aspirations in the Economy opposite trend, because working with experts from other countries is often part of everyday life there. What was promoted as "offshoring" in the software industry is also being used in the SME lived.

In international teams, different cultures and mentalities come together, which executives have to bring under one roof. And due to digitalization with its possibilities for video conferences and webcasts, the experts involved meet in person less and less. So here is virtual Guide .

Diversity is fertile

The experienced author and lecturer Connie Voigt has one of her main focuses in the intercultural Communication placed. The first chapter of her book sets a pleasant counterpoint to the tendencies described at the beginning to isolate oneself from other cultures. She makes a passionate plea for promoting diversity in companies to talk about the exchange of Background to promote innovation through different ways of thinking and mentalities.

There are three major subject areas that Voigt sees as a challenge for intercultural cooperation. That forms the basis Trust, in which intercultural leadership does not differ from good “traditional” leadership. In this context, the author is also concerned with how managers can succeed in Anxiety face the loss of their job or influence. In doing so, Voigt's focus is on the peculiarities of virtual collaboration, in which those small gestures and vibrations that are recognizable when people meet face-to-face in a room must be avoided.

Trust and intercultural cooperation

The second challenge is to get the group to cooperate. The necessary trust must also arise here. But - what does trust look like in other cultures? What horizons of expectation exist here, for example, in India and China? Connie Voigt devotes another chapter to these and similar questions.

But there is a third focus: The exchange of knowledge can only succeed if there is a corporate culture that promotes it. This applies regardless of intercultural exchange. Which adjustments may be necessary here is another central question of the book.

Practical implementation of their topic

The author attaches great importance to the practical Implementation their topic. So she doesn't digress and doesn't spread a carpet of mentality descriptions or cultural peculiarities in front of the reader. Her book is a concrete guide to installing intercultural teams in companies, promoting the exchange of knowledge between those involved and such a group using modern Technology respectively. The anyway positive Impression of the book is through the Checklists and practical examples rounded off.

Diversity enriches a company and the intercultural exchange of knowledge promotes innovation. This very good book describes how companies can use the inexhaustible resources of knowledge and ideas in this way.

Cultural diversity

Working and leading internationally is very easy. Do not you believe? Yes, at least if you have read this book. Because that explains light understandable how it works with the intercultural diversity - by the way, not to be underestimated as an employer branding factor.

However, smooth communication and cooperation on an international level does not only have something to do with language skills. It's also about the culture of colleagues, customers and business partners from abroad.

A compass for common understanding

The differences between cultures, linguistic misunderstandings or different behaviors in business life could be discussed on the basis of empirical studies.

Or you do it like Erin Meyer and write an entertaining and eventful book. Her work led the Professorin Africa and Europe, and meeting many people from different cultures laid the foundation for her Study of communication patterns.

8 scales as the key to intercultural success

The author has developed a model from eight key areas. And managers must pay particular attention to these scales. The differences between the cultures vary between the respective extreme values ​​of the individual scales. The areas are:

1. Communication: from context-poor to rich in context.
2. Evaluation: Negative feedback is given directly. The opposite position forms indirect negative feedback.
3. Conviction: Principles vs use cases
4. Leadership: Egalitarian vs. Hierarchies.
5. Decision: in consensus from top to bottom.
6. Trust: based on work or based on relationships.
7. contradiction: Seek the confrontation or avoid the conflict.
8. Punctuality: temporally linear compared to temporally flexible models.

In business, success depends on the leader knowing where a team member or collaborator from other cultures is on those scales. Because then it can be specifically addressed and controlled.

Nice is not always nice

The eight scales also form the outline for the Culture Map. But there is no depth psychological analysis of the different cultures. Erin Meyer provides many stories and examples from which the reader can learn directly. Because often there are misunderstandings, such as hierarchies and nice comments that are not meant to be.

This not only makes it easier to understand the collaboration later, for example when you know that American colleagues like theirs Criticism fire only after some very positive-sounding remarks, but also prevents projects from getting out of hand.

Punctuality as a virtue?

In addition to the many examples, what makes the book even more valuable are the strategy recommendations in each individual chapter. In a compressed form, they provide the tools to cope with the respective extreme, but also show a way in which the various extremes can be combined into one Team can be brought under one roof.

Erin Meyer's book is pure pleasure to read, thanks for the excellent translation. Your examples are clear and easy to understand. "The Culture Map" should be required reading for all managers and Executives be working internationally.

Different understanding of time and communication

Different perceptions of time in different cultures lead to excitement, especially among us Germans, because we all have a different understanding of the binding nature of statements about time. The proverbial Prussian punctuality sends its regards here.

The reverse applies: “How are you” is a greeting in the USA. Who on it as a German but Honestly tells how it goes im really do yourself fast unpopular. But many of these and similar traps lurk in the international business package.

Clear edge vs. Small talk

The Germans are known for their "clear edge", their direct, straightforward announcements. This is well received in Israel, Finland or Latvia, where people value an open word, but in the United States honest information is bluntly perceived as rude.

Completely different skills count there and small talk is trumps – something that many Germans like to dismiss as unnecessary chatter. The motto “Say it clear and clear” applies above all in Germany.

More than just language differences

One thing is certain: To do business abroad successfully Communicating requires more than pure grammar and an extensive vocabulary. If you want to score rhetorically as a German in the USA, in China or “only” in southern Europe, you have to master more than just the language:

It is much more important for success that you know the peculiarities of the respective culture and know how to respond appropriately to the interlocutor, who must know the cultural and social peculiarities of the host country. "To empathize with the mentality of other countries and adapt the language behavior", that's what it is about.

Unwritten rules of intercultural communication

Susann Kilian gives a variety of good tips in her recently published book “Don't let me be misunderstood”.

Kilian was a UN interpreter in Europe, Asia and the USA for many years before she discovered her talent for communicationCoaching discovered. Today she is an expert in intercultural “empathic” communication. In her book “Don't let me be misunderstood” she searches for the (so far unwritten) rules of the game for better understanding abroad.

Prominent patzer

Kilian has numerous examples of rhetorical and intercultural blunders at hand, such as that of Kathi Witt, who, as a celebrity presenter, describes an athlete with the words “Big woman” (“fette Ms.”) wanted to praise.

You will also learn that negotiations in Japan can be stopped immediately if the person you are speaking to says “I'm not sure” (in the Asian context: “Guaranteed not!”) And have to take your wallet with you, even if your American business friend announces: “You 're invited to the new restaurant. ”

"Great Guy" and "Big Woman"

The latter is a polite phrase for an appointment, but says nothing about who on account orders.

Conclusion: Amusing, educational and extremely useful: Susanne Kilian's cultural linguistic guide will prepare you for break-free communications abroad. Incidentally, the book is also a minor concern for good business English.

The dream of a better world

This is also part of intercultural leadership: In “The message” Karen Armstrong's TED winner and religious studies scholar pleads for more compassion.

The program of the renowned religious scholar Karen Armstrong is ambitious. She wants to go to an interfaith Vocational Training incite compassion. Because in the ability to be with others feel, lies not only the core of all great religions, but also the great task we face today.

It is almost as if she were proclaiming a religion without God in “The Message”. But Karen Armstrong remains a scientist, remains undogmatic. Her Method is to learn to understand the “others”. To understand about yourself.

Karen Armstrong had a desire free

The starting point for the book was the $100.000 award from the non-profitOrganization TED given to Karen Armstrong in 2007. This was associated with the request to express a wish, the fulfillment of which Welt would improve.

The religious scholar didn't hesitate and asked TED to support her in drafting a "charter of sympathy." The charter became a reality and was circulated on November 12, 2009 in sixty places around the world, supported by the six major religious communities.

A religion without God

Objective of the charter is to translate the idea of ​​"compassion" into "practical action". And that's what “The Embassy” is for. Here Karen Armstrong takes an exciting look at the world of religions and the emergence of spiritual thinking.

In a nutshell, she regards religion as an attempt by man to rise above his four basic instincts (eating, fighting, fleeing, reproducing) created in the “reptile brain”.

Prisoners of our emotions?

If, however, we find ourselves today in a world full of martial disputes in the great and more or less hate-filled quarrels in the little one, then this is due to the fact that the four fundamental emotions always take over the rule against better knowledge.

And, contrary to our neocortex abilities to abstract, to think and to comprehend, contrary to our knowledge.

Who takes responsibility?

In this light, religion shows itself as overcoming the animalistic, as exercise to learn and develop compassion. Armstrong makes this clear using the example of classical yoga. She describes the original view of yoga as a "systematic attack on the ego".

It was about conquering the inside and "overcoming the unconscious instincts that made human beings prisoners of instincts that served self-preservation."

While the neurosciences are debating whether people have free will at all or are only the executive organ of unconscious neuronal processes, Armstrong calls for “taking responsibility for our actions”.

Imperative of compassion in everyday life

"The Message" is not a guide. And yet the book claims to be practical. That is why Karen Armstrong has divided the book into twelve chapters, which are intended to gradually increase understanding of the world, for yourself and for others.

She taps into the great traditional myths "what they teach us about the imperative of compassion - and what we must do to integrate them into our own lives." Conclusion: “The Message” is the door opener to a new understanding of religions. And the instructions to develop and live a code of conduct that is global Society is worthy.

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