Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures without Losing Yourself in the Process

There's so much I like about Andy Molinsky's new book, Global Dexterity, including the title. He clearly identifies and honors the struggle that people face in not knowing how to apply their knowledge of cross-cultural communications in everyday situations, supported by specific examples and anecdotes. The author explains why the inability to adapt culturally matters to companies and individuals and what to do about it. His practical, easy to implement tools empower individuals to make small changes for maximum positive results.With his six-dimensional framework for diagnosing the cultural code in foreign settings, Molinsky helps individuals identify their own personal comfort zone while gently suggesting ways to stretch that comfort zone appropriately.As a cross-cultural communications coach and consultant, I found the section on how to "Overcome Challenges by Customizing Your Cultural Behavior" especially relevant and useful.Global Dexterity belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who wants help in learning how to adapt across cultures effectively.

Global Dexterity accomplishes a great deal in ten short chapters. It helps the reader understand cultural challenges through the experiences of Russians, Indians and Chinese professionals that struggled with the complexities of American culture. It also shows the flip side by offering examples of Americans who faced similar challenges managing operations abroad. The book then guides readers to understand the psychological challenges of bridging cultures, as well as to diagnose their own cultural mindset, customize their behavior and hone the results into effective solutions. Of critical importance is Dr. Molinsky's recognition that success cannot be based on the individual losing himself in the effort; in fact, preserving authenticity of self is an important underlying theme. The result is an eminently useful and practical book that effectively translates formal academic research into practical solutions for anyone doing business abroad, hiring foreign talent or just navigating the increasingly complex cultural environments at the heart of global governance, commerce and trade. To summarize, Global Dexterity is a must have for anyone working abroad or managing a multicultural workforce at home.

Molinksy's work offers front-line managers and staffers some solid, actionable advice on working with colleagues and partners from another culture. His 6 dimensions are insightful and comprehensive -- he has devised a very practical framework for taking concrete action to improve one's cross-cultural communication skills. He supplies plenty of practical examples and scenarios to bring the lessons to life.Molinsky's aim is to facilitate communication, and that is both the book's strength and limitation. His advice helps Americans to analyze and accommodate cultural differences. It contains a wealth of excellent information for those who want to be liked by colleagues, staffers and supervisors from other countries. He has little to say about influencing, persuading, negotiating, or managing differences of opinions across cultural boundaries, however. It's a great resource for building solid working relationships, but stops there.

It was not mentioned in the book description that there is hardly a page that is not marked all over with different highlighters. This is very annoying and since it cost a lot of money to ship, I had to keep the book, but I think it's really mean to sell it that way.The book's content is good thought, that's why it is not 1 star

Andy Molinsky's book is a must read if your work (or even life) takes you across cultural boundaries. What makes this book so great is that it not only provides a set of tools for navigating through working with other cultures, but also on how to find your comfort zone within that challenging environment.Andy Molinsky's writing style makes for great flow and his use of concrete, real-life examples are very helpful. You can apply the lessons learned from this book regardless of your own culture and which culture you are trying to mesh with.My immediate thought upon reading this book was that every corporation or organization that has offices in multiple countries or works with companies, organizations or people from other counties should provide this book to all their employees who work in those situations.

As an advisor to executives on recruiting the leaders for international assignments, I found this book to be invaluable if you are interested in learning how to motivate, inspire, execute and deliver results when working in or with other cultures. Not only it helps you understand what you are going through emotionally during intercultural interactions, it also focuses on how to build credibility with your foreign partners and colleagues without compromising your own beliefs and values. Nothing on your shelf right now will tell you more about why some outstanding leaders fail to succeed in foreign settings, or what they need to do to earn trust and respect of their foreign partners and colleagues. Supported by research, this book takes you to discover why some fail to succeed in intercultural communications, and provides practical advice on how to adjust behavior to be effective in cross-cultural interactions. If you read this book and apply its tips, you'll save time and avoid costly mistakes.

Clear, simple and at the same time very useful ideas and concepts for who is pursuing the adaptation to a new culture. The book presents a precise and logic methodology to explain the obstacles faced during the cultural adaptation process and the ways to overcome them, providing several real situations experienced by professionals around the World.Ideias claras, simples mas muito úteis na busca de adaptação a novas culturas. O livro apresenta uma linha de raciocínio objetiva e lógica ao buscar explicar as dificuldades enfrentadas na adaptação cultural e nas maneiras de supera-las, provendo vários exemplos de casos reais vivenciados por profissionais ao redor do mundo.

This reading was originally part of my academic research into national cultures and their differences. Andy Molinsky digs deeper into past research on culture and emphasizes how each research shows how each national culture varies, but gets almost nothing in solving or aligning them. Global Dexterity explains the differences and how to go about solving them, crucial for so many in today's cross cultural and multinational organizations. The book doesn't try to quantify cultural aspects of nations to compare with each other, as Hofstede did with his national culture research across IBM decades ago.What the book doesn't do is label what each culture does or believes in, but rather suggests tools to identify them and to compare it with one's own norms. He does acknowledge that not every individual would conform to his or her country's culture.Personally I feel that this book could help applying this practice in organizational cultures as well, irrespective of the national norms. A vocal corporate individual could try to change his or her zone of appropriateness to match that of a conservative organization, even if it resides in the same region of the country. A good read for individuals, students and managers who want to shed some light on the soft mushy culture that's difficult to define.

I purchased this book to apply the framework to an assignment I am working on.The book is really well written, with plenty of samples that help in better understanding the concepts Molinsky talks about.It is a valuable resource if you are studying intercultural communication.

Alors que beaucoup d'ouvrages sur le management interculturel se contentent d'analyser les différences - au risque parfois de tomber dans le stéréotype -, Global Dexterity adopte une posture axée sur la dimension comportementale.En observant les étudiants asiatiques en MBA aux États-Unis, l'auteur a acquis la conviction que l'accumulation de savoir sur une culture étrangère n'aide pas forcément à mettre en aeuvre le comportement attendu. Ces étudiants savent qu'ils doivent participer en cours, poser des questions, s'affirmer. Or ils s'en montrent souvent incapables du fait de leur culture d'appartenance, et leurs évaluations s'en ressentent.L'auteur montre qu'il est pourtant possible de se rapprocher d'une culture qui semble éloignée en mettant en aeuvre une succession de petits changements comportementaux, chacun assez simple. Par exemple, une consultante russe dans un cabinet américain se trouvait régulièrement écartée des missions importantes parce que sa culture lui « interdit » de demander à y être affectée. Cela devrait, pour elle, venir naturellement si elle le méritait. Or les consultants américains trouvent naturel de formuler explicitement leurs souhaits. Pire : pour eux, si quelqu'un ne demande pas, c'est qu'il n'est pas motivé. La consultante a finalement trouvé une parade, en demandant « Comment pourrais-je être utile sur cette mission ? ». Ce petit pas lui a permis d'être intégrée aux missions qui l'intéressaient grâce à un effort d'adaptation mesuré.Les faux pas culturels sont inévitables. L'auteur propose une grille qui aide à les anticiper et à en gérer les conséquences. Vous découvrirez ainsi comment focaliser votre attention et vos efforts sur la franchise, l'enthousiasme, le formalisme, l'assertivité, l'autopromotion, ou encore les conversations personnelles.Une approche résolument pratique, étayée de nombreux exemples qui en rendent la lecture vivante, utile et intéressante.

Easy read and right to the point. The book goes through ways you can identify cross-cultural issues and a process of how to tackle these difficulties.