Be Culturally Savvy

When Pharaoh . . . asks you about your occupation, you must tell him, “We . . . have raised livestock all our lives, as our ancestors have always done.” When you tell him this, he will let you live here in . . . Goshen, for the Egyptians despise shepherds. Genesis 46:33-34

A friend of mine is an executive at a large firm in the United States. A few years back, his company was purchased by an organization headquartered in Europe, and his life became an absolute nightmare.

The new owners didn’t understand American work culture. They tried to change everything—vacations, sick pay, family leave, health benefits, labor relations—and the result was a dramatic drop in productivity for their newly acquired division.

The new policies weren’t wrong—they were just different and were implemented in a way that seemed to dishonor American sensitivities.

In Genesis, Joseph understood the potential disasters of blending two cultures, so he took steps to mitigate their differences.

If you’re called upon to lead a cultural merger of multiple organizations, do whatever you can to preserve the unique qualities that gave each team its original success.