Cross-cultural insights – Interview with Prof Nigel Holden

S&B: Prof Holden, first of all, we are very pleased to welcome you as our keynote speaker at this year’s Languages & Business Conference!

During your academic career you focused mainly on management in an international context. Where does this passion for cross-cultural issues come from?

Nigel Holden: During my PhD days 25 years ago I became immersed in Japanese business culture and Japanese history from the 16th century, whilst learning enough Japanese to be able to translate management texts into English. Somehow I got invitations to write about Japanese management and give academic lectures and seminars for companies on dealing with Japan. I enjoyed the challenge of presenting this most ‘non-standard’ - and hence fascinating - of business societies in its own terms, as far as I could, to academic and business audiences.

I have always been fascinated by identifying a few key facts or quotations that shed enormous light on the business behaviour of a given country. I like to combine such perceptive observations with my related knowledge of, say, history, management and linguistics in order to construct a coherent structure for explaining other business cultures. In the case of German business culture, for example, the characterisation of German management as Führung durch Fachwissen¹ and the observation that Germans are detailversessen² speak volumes about German management and the nature of authority in German organisations. I would not dream of talking about German management systems without reference to these two points.

Crucially, the important thing is to know when you have encountered a real insight and not a mere platitude masquerading as insight. It might, incidentally, surprise you to know that I have created a lecture contrasting German and Japanese business history over the last 150 years. There are extraordinary parallels! So it is that my passion lies in discovering new cross-cultural insights and, if I am lucky, having the opportunity to communicate them to diverse audiences. I like drawing attention to things that that are not in the standard textbooks about culture and international business.

S&B: You have lived and worked in a number of countries, interacting with a variety of cultures. What personal experiences influenced your work and perspective on intercultural business communication?

Nigel Holden: What fascinates about the business world, cross-culturally speaking, are the utterly divergent ways in which languages are used to communicate similar effects to, say, motivate or secure commitment. For example, a French manager is expected to use French with grammatical precision, as a matter of status, for persuasive advantage; a German manager needs to dispense Klarheit³, that special German clarity which obliterates ambiguity and doubt; in Japan a manager will use Japanese with practised vagueness to ensure outward harmony; an American manager likes to use and even invent snappy neologisms. How can we explain such extraordinary contrasts of linguistic behaviour? Americans and Britons will even fracture English grammar to create impact – unthinkable in France or Germany, where there is more respect for the national language.

S&B: How do you assess the general awareness and sensitivity towards cross-cultural disparities in globally operating companies today?

Nigel Holden: It is impossible to generalise. In my experience I would look to companies in the Nordic countries – especially Denmark and Finland – as role models for good practice. The management systems in these countries tend to be low-key, reflective and non-judgemental. I think the resulting style is one that does not communicate cultural superiority. After all, nothing alienates a culture faster than the perception that it is being looked down upon and therefore disrespected by representatives of another one – and often for no good reason!

S&B: How should these companies coach their global managers and how can language training foster intercultural understanding in this context? What role does knowledge management play?

Nigel Holden: There are three questions here! As for the first, I would be delighted if global managers - not to mention writers of business books and articles – would abandon that stupid cliché ‘think global, act local.’ I think I am correct in saying that it is the German company Henkel that has produced an altogether more attractive and serviceable formulation: ‘global when necessary, local where possible.’ Let managers think more like that. As for the second question, I would answer as follows: Global managers need rhetorical skills, but not for making fine speeches, but to know how to use their voice – even in a foreign language – to convey sweetness and confidence. The skilful use of the human voice, which can float across any language barrier, is the secret weapon of intercultural business communication. Knowledge management is a vast topic. All I will say is that the big challenge for companies – and for cross-cultural trainers – is to unearth and understand the nature of knowledge that is built into specific cultural contexts, languages and communication behaviour – and then apply it. This subliminal knowledge is a precious resource. It communicates insights, if you know what you are looking for and know how to exploit it.

Let me give you a nice example. I recently met a Danish businessman, who had been selling industrial pumps in Ulan Bator. Without explanation his Mongolian business partners took the Danish businessman to the Genghis Khan Museum. The Mongolian colleagues told the Dane that Genghis Khan was the greatest Mongol ever and that his achievements stunned the world. The Danish businessman was sharp enough to realise that he must show due respect for Mongolia’s national hero and reveal no scepticism whatsoever about his glorification in Mongolia today. As he told me: ‘After that visit I knew how to deal with my Mongolian colleagues.’ The great skill is therefore to use insights like this with intelligence and tact on the spot and then get both – the insight and its application – into the company brain for future use. But that’s incredibly hard.

S&B: In your opinion, what might be future challenges managers and employees will be facing in terms of cross-cultural communication and management?

Nigel Holden: For dangerously too long there has been an unhealthy emphasis of competitiveness in those parts of the world that have grown up with, or been influenced by, Western - notably American - business methods. In today’s world the challenge is to create companies that balance this toxic competitive drive with a recognition of the importance of what has been called ‘collaborative cross-cultural learning.’ In this age of global warming and the unprecedented consequences that flow from it the fate of the human species literally depends on this competence. I think in fact that many companies are aware of this challenge. But we are only at the beginning.

S&B: Finally, what are your personal expectations for the Languages & Business Conference?

Nigel Holden: Believing as I do that the German delegates will be coming to the conference in order to obtain Klarheit, then I would expect to hear lots of earnest requests for clarification prefaced by: ‘Wenn ich Sie richtig verstanden habe ….’ I otherwise expect the conference to be extremely well organised; the participants to be very attentive; and the civilising effect of German charm to give me great pleasure.

Prof Holden, thank you very much for your time!