Leading across cultures

摘要

Q Previously, you were country manager for Aurecon in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. What are the cultural challenges working in that environment? ACross cultural challenges come not only from working in places like the Middle East but also from globalisation, which means we do a lot of work sharing and collaboration between offices around the globe. For me, there are two parts to this. There is a subjective part, around cross-cultural communication, setting expectations and understanding what drives behaviour in different cultures. This includes what is and is not acceptable. A big one in the Middle East is the interaction between men and women. In Australia, I wouldn't think twice of saying to my male clients, "let's go out for coffee, or have a bite to eat". But in the Middle East there are a lot of instances where those kinds of interactions just aren't appropriate or acceptable.