Thanks to globalization and the rise of the Internet, accepting and dealing with cultural diversity are two things that seem to be taken for granted. It’s actually pretty incredible that nowadays you can communicate with people from different places almost instantly. People are able to move about more often and with less restrictions as a result of the democratization of different travel destinations. They are able to learn about other cultures more easily. All that is great on paper, but what does it really mean when we are talking about, say, a company? Or, more specifically, when we are talking about BuzzParadise’s work: blogger relations?

I have an Italian, a Chinese, a South Korean, an Italian-American, a Spaniard and a French-Japanese on my team. My clients are Spanish, American, French, Italian, German or, the most recent addition, even Israeli. I have regular contact with bloggers who are English, French, Swiss, Swedish, Spanish, Chinese, American or Japanese. This clearly makes your workday intense. You learn how to be flexible and adapt. In the end it’s not all that bad. However, knowing a collaborator’s language is not enough. This is obvious when trying to deal with German bloggers, even in their own language,  something less problematic in Mediterranean countries.

Another issue is making colleagues feel included on a daily basis when they don’t even speak your language. Our Chinese colleague, for instance, doesn’t speak a word of French. In a French-dominated working environment you can imagine how hard it is for him to feel like he belongs. I am still sometimes surprised by the fact that I send out emails in French to my team when my Italian and Chinese colleagues don’t understand French. In reality, this allows them to improve their basic comprehension and communication skills, but whether or not to  have only English-speaking days or when to help them learn French for example, still need to be determined. But these solutions do not in any way resolve managerial problems in a culturally diverse environment. Language is but one of the elements that make up a culture. The way things are said or done can be offensive or not depending on the culture you are dealing with. And it goes without saying that the dominant culture has little regard for these considerations; people either don’t have the time, they run on auto-pilot or they are simply lazy.

The true challenge facing companies in the 21st century, and BuzzParadise in particular, is their ability to open up to cultural differences. This applies to day-to-day management as well as to appreciating the best qualities that each culture has to offer. Americans are excellent salespeople, Germans are extremely meticulous and centered, Italians are great at interpersonal relations, Indians are amazing engineers… Obviously these statements are very cliché. Nonetheless there are clearly certain cultural characteristics that, with good business management, can be a true strength.