Forget stereotypes. Culture doesn’t negotiate, people do

There’s no shortage of books trying to teach you how to negotiate with “the Chinese,” “the Russians,” or “the Saudis.”

But here’s the problem:
Culture shapes behaviour, but it doesn’t determine it.

• Not fully.

• Not cleanly

• And not in a way that lets you predict how someone will behave
  at the table

I’ve negotiated with people in Singapore who communicate like Swedes.
And with UK-based legal teams that play harder than teams I’ve dealt
with in Brazil.

Culture is real. But people are more complex.

I can tell you what is true:

• Culture influences the stage.
  The etiquette. The norms. The expectations around formality,
  eye contact, timelines, and who speaks first.

• But individuals bring their own scripts.
  Personality, role, context, internal politics, and lived experience
  shape the interaction more than where someone was born.

You’ve seen it yourself. Not everyone on your own team negotiates the same way.

So why would they across borders?

For example, take Ric Lewis, Founding Partner of Tristan Capital, his team negotiates across 25 countries and 22 languages in Europe.

In his words:

That’s not just a difference in tactics.

It’s a difference in what matters to the counterpart.

In some countries, if you haven’t built the social rapport, it's considered rude to even start negotiating hard.

If you're walking into that environment and only focused on price, you’ve already lost trust before the terms are even discussed.

Now consider Erin Egan, Director of Business Development at Microsoft.

When negotiating across time zones and languages, she adapted.

Not by simplifying, but by slowing down.

The focus isn’t language proficiency.
The focus is on building trust through clarity and respect.

And it’s not just geography.

Mike McIlwrath, Chief Litigator for GE’s Oil & Gas division, described a negotiation in Malaysia that included a team of Americans, Italians, Egyptians, and Qataris.

It wasn’t national culture that dominated the room.
It was a shared engineering mindset, a culture of problem-solving, not posture.

That’s a different kind of culture. One that too many people miss.

Then there’s US Army Colonel Leonard Lira PhD

In a NATO led operation with officials from 64 countries, he made one simple but powerful decision:

• He learned how to say thank you in all 64 languages.

Respect isn’t always strategic. Sometimes, it’s just human.

So how do you actually negotiate across cultures?

• Stay curious

• Don’t assume

• Adapt to the person, not the passport

That’s where real strategy begins.

Because at the end of the day:

See you in the next issue.
Until then, negotiate like it matters.

Scott