wtfeWays They Frame Engineering
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The Nordicsvsthe Netherlands

北欧とオランダNORDNL

Seen from the Nordics: each line below describes the Netherlands relative to the Nordics.

Swap: see the Nordics from the Netherlands

Culture Map: eight scales

Erin Meyer's eight scales, sorted by how far apart the Nordics and the Netherlands sit, largest gap first.

Filled dot: the Nordics, where you are looking fromHollow ring: the Netherlands

Where you will notice the difference2 scales

  1. Evaluating

    The Netherlands gives negative feedback more directly than the Nordics (2 steps)

    NORD by country: DK −1, FI −1

    The Nordics −1, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Direct negative feedback) to +3 (Indirect negative feedback).

  2. Disagreeing

    The Netherlands is more willing to disagree openly than the Nordics (1 step)

    NORD by country: DK −1, SE +1

    The Nordics −1, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Confrontational) to +3 (Avoids confrontation).

Where you are close6 scales

  1. Communicating

    The Nordics and the Netherlands sit on the same step

    NORD by country: DK −2, SE −1, FI −1

    The Nordics −2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Low-context) to +3 (High-context).

  2. Persuading

    The Nordics and the Netherlands sit on the same step

    NORD by country: DK +1, NO +1

    The Nordics +1, the Netherlands +1, on a line from −3 (Principles-first) to +3 (Applications-first).

  3. Leading

    The Nordics and the Netherlands sit on the same step

    NORD by country: DK −3, SE −3, FI −2

    The Nordics −3, the Netherlands −3, on a line from −3 (Egalitarian) to +3 (Hierarchical).

  4. Deciding

    The Nordics and the Netherlands sit on the same step

    NORD by country: DK −2, SE −2

    The Nordics −2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Consensual) to +3 (Top-down).

  5. Trusting

    The Nordics and the Netherlands sit on the same step

    NORD by country: DK −2

    The Nordics −2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Task-based) to +3 (Relationship-based).

  6. Scheduling

    The Nordics and the Netherlands sit on the same step

    NORD by country: DK −2, SE −2, NO −2

    The Nordics −2, the Netherlands −2, on a line from −3 (Linear time) to +3 (Flexible time).

Positions are read by eye from Erin Meyer's published charts and rounded to seven steps. A step means “further towards that pole”, not a measured distance. How the positions were read

Hofstede: six dimensions

Scores from 0 to 100, sorted by the gap between the Nordics and the Netherlands. They describe national averages, not either country's character.

The Nordics are not one country: each score is the average of four national scores (Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway).

  1. Individualism

    The Netherlands scores 17 points higher than the Nordics (100 against 83)

    The Nordics: average of Sweden 87, Finland 75, Denmark 89, Norway 81

    The Nordics 83, the Netherlands 100, on a line from 0 (Collectivist) to 100 (Individualist).

  2. Uncertainty avoidance

    The Netherlands scores 13 points higher than the Nordics (53 against 40)

    The Nordics: average of Sweden 29, Finland 59, Denmark 23, Norway 50

    The Nordics 40, the Netherlands 53, on a line from 0 (Tolerant of ambiguity) to 100 (Avoids ambiguity).

  3. Power distance

    The Netherlands scores 10 points higher than the Nordics (38 against 28)

    The Nordics: average of Sweden 31, Finland 33, Denmark 18, Norway 31

    The Nordics 28, the Netherlands 38, on a line from 0 (Low power distance) to 100 (High power distance).

  4. Long-term orientation

    The Netherlands scores 10 points higher than the Nordics (67 against 57)

    The Nordics: average of Sweden 52, Finland 63, Denmark 59, Norway 55

    The Nordics 57, the Netherlands 67, on a line from 0 (Short-term) to 100 (Long-term).

  5. Indulgence

    The Netherlands scores 3 points higher than the Nordics (68 against 65)

    The Nordics: average of Sweden 78, Finland 57, Denmark 70, Norway 55

    The Nordics 65, the Netherlands 68, on a line from 0 (Restrained) to 100 (Indulgent).

  6. Motivation towards achievement and success

    The Netherlands and the Nordics both score 14

    The Nordics: average of Sweden 5, Finland 26, Denmark 16, Norway 8

    The Nordics 14, the Netherlands 14, on a line from 0 (Consensus-oriented) to 100 (Decisive).

Country averages. About 80% of variation in values is between people inside a country (Taras et al. 2016).Source: The Culture Factor — Country comparison tool (2026).About the Hofstede dimensions

What the sources say, theme by theme

Entries for the Nordics and the Netherlands, side by side on wide screens. Each keeps its own confidence label and citations.

Design & quality

The Nordics3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Failure & risk

The Nordics3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

  • ING moved to a Spotify-style structure of squads and tribes in 2015. In a McKinsey interview (2017), it described each tribe writing down its results and biggest learnings every quarter and celebrating both successes and failures.

    Attested1 source2017nl-failure-1

  • According to Thomke (HBR, 2020), only about 10% of Booking.com's experiments produce positive results; the other 90% or so do not support the hypothesis. The company runs its experiments on that assumption.

    Attested1 source2020nl-failure-2

Feedback & code review

The Nordics4 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Hierarchy & decisions

The Nordics5 claims

Netherlands3 claims

Communication & docs

The Nordics3 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Work & careers

The Nordics4 claims

Netherlands2 claims

Open source & community

The Nordics5 claims

Netherlands2 claims