“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” – or so the saying goes.
And so is history.
History may be “written by the victors,” but in most cases, the “victors” don’t permanently wipe out all other perspectives (thankfully).
Opposing views of history co-exist and, if you’re doing business in a new culture – or living in it – an awareness of that culture’s perspective of history, particularly its own, will help you succeed…and avoid some serious cultural faux pas.
How?
UPS in Germany
Consider this: when UPS tried to introduce new business in West Germany in 1976, the company didn’t consider the historical roots of brown uniforms there.
UPS’s recognizable “brown shirts” were reminiscent of Hitler Youth uniforms to locals.
Tensions arose due to this serious oversight, and UPS was forced to introduce green employee uniforms instead.
But cultural insensitivity was their first impression.
This could have all been avoided with a little bit of historical knowledge and common sense.
Moreover, another important thing to remember about history is that, when it comes to cultural understanding, it’s open to interpretation.
Interpreting History
Although there may be one truth, no one will ever know it.
Historical events can be perceived differently by opposing cultures and are subject to interpretation.
Knowing that, when introduced to your host culture, look at their history not only through the lens of your own culture, but through their own.
If you look at another’s history only through the framework of your culture’s historical perspective of it, that singular interpretation of the facts likely won’t provide the same view.
In the sense that you’re trying to understand the perspective of another culture, that interpretation is pretty useless to you.
While we hope for objectivity in history-telling, the reality is that subjectivity colors history writing a great deal.
Historians often write within the biased framework of their culture’s own national and political interests.
Cultural bias is difficult to recognize, particularly coming from academics or historians, whom we’d like to believe are “above” bias.
But nationalist tradition often enters into historical interpretation, and cultural preconceptions and stereotypes are extremely resistant to facts.
Only when faced with foreign opposition of said facts may any sort of bias be detected.
We’ll illustrate this contrast of opposing historical views next week.
Success Across Cultures 