An international attitude
June 2010
I recently spoke to a Sales Director in the international concern Novozymes. He spends much of his time traveling around the world to build up client relationships because, like most sales people, he knows that sales are the result of strong relationships built up over time...
I asked him if he did anything special to ensure good communication and a positive outcome when dealing with clients from a variety of cultural backgrounds. He looked surprised by the question but went on to tell me that he has travelled far and wide and has never experienced cultural differences as a problem. Over the years his experiences have led him to the following conclusion: Knowledge of other cultures is good but there are 3 other factors that are more important: Curiosity, politeness and the ability to listen. And this mirrors exactly what I have also been thinking. We can learn all we want about other cultures but if our attitude shows we are not interested, friendly and willing to listen it won’t make the slightest difference.
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“Companies with employees from a diversity of backgrounds have approximately twice the innovation levels of other companies”
Innovation and diversity, Danish Agency for Science, Research and Innovation, 2007