TOP TEN CULTURE TIPS FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH MEXICO.
Mexico is a Rich, Complicated Culture. Begin Your Journey Toward Success with These Ten Basic Rules:
We’re talking Mexican culture this week, and that means understanding both the obvious cultural differences as well as the invisible ones that we encounter when working with our Mexican associates. Every culture has visible differences: usually things that are different that we can see, taste, touch, smell, and when it comes to working with different cultures, that usually means how people greet each other, how they dress, how they socialize, their “do’s and taboos, etc. But every culture also has deeper, often unseen, differences that determine their values and beliefs, and which also affect how they work.
Yesterday’s CultureQuiz highlighted some invisible, deep cultural differences which typically emerge when US-Americans and northern Europeans work with Mexican associates. So today, I thought we might explore some of the more obvious, visible differences that we also need to understand when we begin our work in Mexico: the TOP TEN TIPS everyone needs when working with Mexico.
So here you go: your important top ten tips for successful work with Mexico, beginning with #10!:
#10: If you’re from the USA, NEVER refer to yourself as an “American”; instead, refer to yourself as someone from “Chicago”, or from the United States (Estados Unidos, in Spanish); remember, everyone living in the Americas is an American, and many Mexicans (and many other Latin Americans) do not appreciate when US-Americans claim the term “American” as their own. Mexicans are Americans, too. Your goal is to make friends, not alienate people.
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