Learning India

Making sense of the subcontinent

Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, Book Reviews

Book Review: Two States

2_States_-_The_Story_Of_My_Marriage

If you interact at all with 20-30 year olds in India, you should minimally be aware of who Chetan Bhagat is. He is a famous author whose books about call centers and Indian education systems (and cheaply priced books) really found a huge market among millennials in India.

Some people find his writing style too elementary and complain that his approach to issues is too juvenile, but his appeal is massive, and his books are easy to read. Two States is one of his better books, in my opinion. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation

Put Your Value Ranking Skills to Work!

Value ranking applied js42

Let’s review what we’ve learned about value rankings:

  1. Values are ideals we align ourselves to, not behaviors we practice
  2. All values are good
  3. All values are ranked
  4. Value ranking determines decisions and behaviors

All this is great theory, but how does it actually help you? It’s nice to analyze a situation, but what if you are right in the middle of it?

Let’s walk through a step-by-step process with two examples: one from professional life and one from personal life.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, Cultural Adaptation

Value Rankings, #GreyIsWhite, and Anne Frank

Value Ranking Anne Frank

Is this moral dilemma familiar to you?

You are a simple citizen living in Nazi Germany, and you are hiding some Jews in your home. The SS comes to your house, and asks if you are housing any Jews. What do you say?

The dilemma, of course, is that if you say “no”, you are lying, and everyone knows that lying is wrong. However, your hideaways are safe.

If you say “yes”, you can pat yourself on the back for upholding honesty, and then watch the troops escort the Jews out of your house to their fate.

We struggle to find the best way out of this situation. How can you maintain the value of honesty while allowing people to walk to their doom? In my culture, our best response to this dilemma was usually answering honestly, and then hoping the Jewish families would miraculously not be found. Pretty lame, looking back on it.

The interesting thing is that this is only a dilemma for some people. It perplexes universalists and people who don’t accept that value ranking is a natural part of how we behave. Everyone else is trying to figure out where the actual dilemma is. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation

Why Indians Think Americans Don’t Value Family

Value ranking matthew Hurst

Two quick stories to start.

Story #1: An expat in India was having trouble implementing a new sales process. She was trying to get the sales team to input their data into a CRM system that was supposed to greatly scale the ability of the team. The team kept saying they understood the system, but rarely used it and often neglected it entirely.

She said, “Why is it that Indians don’t value processes?”

Story #2: I was explaining certain parts of American culture to a group of young Indians. I talked about how it is (or was) uncommon for young people to live with their parents after they graduate college. Most will move out at least by the time they reach 25. I told them that parents encourage this, and that I even knew some parents who began charging rent to their adult children who stayed in their home.

The group was shocked at this and said, “Why don’t Americans value family?”

Something about these two questions seemed wrong to me. Is it true that Indians don’t value processes? Would any Indian ever stand up and say that? Would any American stand up and say they do not value family?

Not likely. Something else is clearly going on…

 

What you probably already knew, but never said, about values:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, Communication

One Tip to become Indispensable in Cultural Communication

indirect communication

What is one communication skill that will instantly make you more valuable to over 3 billion people?

In our discussion of communication, we’ve seen that directness of communication can be related more to the delicacy of the relationship than the situation, we tend to judge others based on our own Communication Comfort Zone, and we can all find ways to expand our Comfort Zone.

What I’m going to propose next goes against nearly everything taught about cultural communication for years: learn to be more indirect.

Indirect communication gets a bad rap for being subversive, weak, hiding, lying, etc. If you’ve ever sat through an intercultural communication course, the following assumptions are painfully obvious:

  • Direct communication (Western version) is superior to indirect (Asian).
  • We need to fix people who speak indirectly.
  • You should be ashamed of yourself if you don’t say exactly what you mean all the time.
  • We would all be better off if everyone spoke more directly (Western version).

 

Why is that? Because these courses are sponsored, created, enjoyed, taught, and demanded by those who are more direct in their communication.

What if we rejected all those assumptions? What if instead of seeing indirect communication as a professional flaw, we hailed it as an advanced communication skill? What if instead of trying to fix other people, we actually learned something from them instead?

 

Sound interesting to you?

 

14 Reasons You Should Learn to Speak and Interpret Indirectly

[Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, Politics

Why India Supports Russia’s Move Into Ukraine

india-russia-ties

India recently announced that it does not support the West’s sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine. While not completely aligning with Russia, India has been the first major nation to offer any public support. 

It might sound surprising given that India usually comes out with a very neutral stance on these kinds of issues, and often in favor of the US/European position.

It might also sound surprising given that India’s most sensitive border issue is with Kashmir.

Traditional ethics might cause India to come to this logical conclusion:

  1. We have a small area of our country that is ethnically and linguistically similar to a neighbor who can be hostile (Pakistan).
  2. We do not want Pakistan to come and steal Kashmir from us.
  3. Therefore we will not support Russia’s advances into Ukraine in case the same happens to us.

 

However, in India, relational ethics (not situational or logical ethics) prevail in all circumstances. It’s not what is involved, but who.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: #PowerPlays, Into India, Politics

Whoever I Hit Will Become a King!

Vijayakanth_0

 

With election time coming near in India, I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite stories about power and politics.

In 2011, one of the local party leaders in Tamil Nadu was on the campaign trail, meaning that he was driving around a large van and speaking to crowds using a public address system. All of a sudden, the microphone stops working. The leader then yells at one of his own party candidates, and proceeds to beat him over the head with the microphone.

In certain countries, that is the end of your political career. Not in India.

 

The #PowerPlays guide to overcoming an embarrassing PR event:

[Read more…]

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© Neil A. Miller, LearningIndia.in, and Madras Media Marketing LLC 2013-2015. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.