Whether in Iraq or elsewhere, to succeed in a foreign country today, global business leaders can benefit from looking at that country’s past.
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When running a global business, it’s important to take into account the diverse cultural contexts of the various markets you operate in. That goes beyond the superficialities of local etiquette. To truly understand the people of a place, you need to examine their history—a fact that many international leaders often overlook.
Iraq, where I was born, is a perfect example. The country’s history is marked by conflict—the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, the 2003 invasion—as well as over a decade of sanctions. That history is still felt today and has shaped the way Iraqis operate in both their personal and professional lives.
Whether in Iraq or elsewhere, to succeed in a foreign country today, global business leaders can benefit from looking at that country’s past.
History: The Key to Understanding the “Why” Behind Cultural Behaviors
Unless you’ve lived it, it can be difficult to appreciate how a country’s history influences modern-day behaviors. If you can’t live it, the next best thing is to study it. An attempt to understand can often illuminate the logic behind behaviors that seem “strange” or “unreasonable” at first glance. With context, they might just make sense.
In Iraq, for example, it has been shown that workers exhibit high uncertainty avoidance, meaning they fear complex and unpredictable situations that cannot be easily controlled. This is evident in behaviors such as reluctance to experiment with new approaches, which is an attitude decidedly at odds with Western workplace ideals, like proactive problem-solving.
To those unfamiliar with Iraq’s history, uncertainty avoidance may seem like stubbornness or even laziness. However, keep in mind that Iraqis lived under authoritarian rule for years. Challenging the status quo, or even appearing to, was at one point cause for imprisonment or even death. With this knowledge, global business leaders can approach Iraqis with understanding and adapt as needed, instead of getting frustrated and throwing in the towel.
Avenues for Understanding Historical Context
Realistically, most business leaders don’t have the time to take a crash course in a foreign country’s past. So, what can you do in lieu of reading hundreds of pages in a history book? A few ideas:
- Treat it like old-school travel planning: When we travel today, we can use Google Maps to navigate and rely on apps to translate languages. In the past, if you were going to travel abroad, you had to prepare more. Perhaps you would read a Lonely Planet guidebook, for example, and consult paper maps of the country. Doing business abroad can benefit from this old-school approach to travel planning. Talk to others who have worked in the country, review the key points of its history using online resources like Wikipedia, and check out local entertainment for linguistic and cultural cues.
- Observe once you’re there: The research doesn’t stop after you’ve arrived. Seize whatever opportunities you can to learn about a society once you’re in it. Observe, ask questions, and participate. Instead of isolating yourself in your workplace, find opportunities to interact with the community, as appropriate.
- Partner with locals who can provide context: A local partner will be familiar not only with local attitudes and customs but also with the history that informs those attitudes and customs. In Iraq, for example, tribal affiliations remain prominent, a nod back to a time when Iraqis could not trust a corrupt government to provide for and protect them, and instead fell back on tribes. Locals will know the ins and outs of these complex relationships.
This approach can help you learn how a country’s history shapes its present day, deepening the cultural intelligence that multinational corporations (MNC) leaders need to thrive.
The Key to Global Business Success in the Present Lies in the Past
Expanding a business globally is no small feat, and it’s easy to focus on things like legal and regulatory considerations first and foremost. However, culture and history should not take a backseat to these practicalities. In fact, I would suggest that understanding a country’s historical context and its implications for the culture is just as important. You don’t need to read a history book, but you should at least understand the key events that shaped how people think and work today.
