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Unless you are living in a really “pure” community, you are interacting with co-workers who are from multiple cultures. I’ll stick my neck out and state that if you are solving big and important problems, it is almost certain you are in a culturally diverse work environment.

Richard Lewis’ book, When Cultures Collide, 3rd Edition: Leading Across Cultures, has an interesting framework to prepare for cross-cultural communication. A few words of caution:

• There is no silver bullet when it comes to cross cultural communication.
• Beware of stereotypes. Every culture has exceptions to the norm.
• Keep an open mind and observe the communication patterns of your audience. Then base your proposals on what you observe.
• Following the etiquette dictated by a culture to show your respect and not compromising on your goals and values are two different things. You can, and should do both. Every culture has norms on how to respectfully disagree.