Persuading
説得
Whether an argument starts from theory or from examples and conclusions.
Persuading: FR −3, DE −1, PL −1, BR 0, NORD +1 (DK +1, NO +1), NL +1, UK +2, US +3.
No source: Japan, South Korea, China, India, Israel, Ukraine
NORD is drawn as a span over its members: DK +1, NO +1.
Source: Erin Meyer, The Culture Map (2014) and her country mapping charts. Positions are approximate, read off her charts onto a seven-step grid.
Positions as text
| Country or region | Step (−3 to +3) |
|---|---|
| France FR | −3 |
| Germany DE | −1 |
| Poland PL | −1 |
| Brazil BR | 0 |
| The Nordics NORD | +1 (DK +1, NO +1) |
| Netherlands NL | +1 |
| United Kingdom UK | +2 |
| United States US | +3 |
The two ends
- Left end Principles-first
- People want the why first: the theory or concept comes before the facts and the conclusion.
- Right end Applications-first
- People want the what and the how first: facts, examples and the conclusion come first, theory only if needed.
What it is built from
Whether a convincing argument starts from the concept and theory and then reaches a conclusion (principles-first, deductive), or starts from facts, examples and the conclusion (applications-first, inductive). Meyer notes that East Asian holistic reasoning sits outside this axis, which is why Japan, China and South Korea have no position here.
Eight scales from Erin Meyer's The Culture Map (2014), built from her interviews and teaching with international managers. She publishes charts, not numbers, so each country is read off her chart onto a coarse seven-step grid. The positions are relative: a country is direct or indirect compared with the others on the line.
Limits: the scales are not a validated survey instrument, the source population is mostly managers in multinational companies, and neighbouring steps are not meaningfully different. How to read these scales