Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales and Lessons Learned from Working in 1oo Cultures Around the World
Dean Foster
John Murray Business Press (2025)

Reliable guidance for strangers in a strange land

Business beyond as well as well as within borders has been conducted for several thousand years, between and among families, villages, countries, empires, continents, and hemispheres. Sooner than you may anticipate, business will be conducted between and among planets and then galaxies.

That said, many of the same challenges remain the wherever a marketplace may be. Many (if not most) of the challenges are cultural or territorial in nature: language, currency, transportation, navigation, customs, values, etiquette, superstitions, and articles of faith.

In Business Beyond Borders, Dean Foster provides an abundance of information, insights, and counsel that can become of incalculable value to those who conduct business on your company’s behalf, beyond its national borders, with prospects, clients, and former clients who pose unique and often unfamiliar challenges.  Of greatest interest and value to me are stories, tales, and lessons that suggest how best to respond to those challenges. For example, here is a selection of especially important DOs:

o Make certain that your tone of voice and body language send a positive “message”
o Master 11 common expressions in the native language
o Always show sincere appreciation of the given country’s most important holidays, events, customs, etc.
o Always send culturally appropriate gifts that are thoughtful and have style, grace,  and prestige

And here are some DON’Ts:

o  Listen to what natives say but ignore what they do NOT say
o Make a promise that you do not keep
o Brag
o Be rude to or embarrass ANYONE

I wholly agree with Foster: “Cultural differences are not challenges to be overcome, but gifts of possibility: the possibility of finding new solutions to old problems, of new ways of living, working, and being, that may already exist, just beyond our borders. Created over millennia, each one is an expression of the hearts and minds of millions of people we will never know. Stand in awe of their creation.” (Page 263)

Cultural differences create countless learning opportunities for personal growth and professional development while building relationships that include but are not limited to business. With Dean Foster’s invaluable assistance, over time, you can learn HOW TO

o Cultivate humility
o Act ambassadorial
o Take cultural responsibility
o Learn how authority is determined
o Learn how decisions are made
o Manage time perception differences
o Learn how to socialize
o Evaluate the importance and nature of relationships
o Learn the negotiation style
o Learn the communication style

It is impossible to calculate the potential value of Business Beyond Borders if (a HUGE if) the material is applied effectively. That’s up to you.

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading Business Beyond Borders: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a lined notebook kept near-at-hand,  record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to the sequence of “Lessons Learned” sections in each of the first eighteen chapters.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.