Item — HN Reader

Israeli here.

cultural gaps are very much alive and kicking

During my career I've worked with people around the world, all in the Tech industry.

Israeli-Californian cultural gap is huge.

It is made worse by the fact that Israelis usually have a good English level, some even have an okay accent - which makes their US counterpart expect them to use the same communication etiquette they are used to.

Californians will go out of their way to avoid any overt conflict.

Israelis see conflict as a valid form of day to day communications.

An Israeli can go out of a meeting thinking he was just being told "yes", while he was given a glaring "no" delivered in the All-American-speak.

3 comments

This is interesting to me, because you hear the same thing when discussing Japanese vs American culture, with the Americans being the more direct ones in that comparison.

I wonder what happens when Israelis work with Japanese people.

Without getting too much into the politics of it, I think a key factor is how polarized people are.

Another one is how litigious Americans are, or at least are perceived to be.

(Quebec person here, we're not exactly known for our table manners, but you'll always get a direct answer) ;-)

That would be interesting to see, indeed.

Never got a chance to work with Japanese.

Born-bred NY-expat Israeli here, working for a West Coast Big Tech company.

New York (probably all US East) and Israeli cultures are fairly analogous. In just 3 extra timezones, West Coast workplace culture is light years away.

Many of my Israeli colleagues have no patience for the soft-pedaled corporate standard double talk (which they would call "PC"), and think that all US workplaces are like this. They have a hard time believing that my NY experience was just like our local Tel Aviv office.

an old coworker of mine used to see conflict as a good thing because it means people are invested in whatever is being discussed. I tend to agree with him.

I've heard this a lot, tended to practice it, and have one divorce to show for it.

I come from a family of direct argumentative people. Many people do not, and this style of communication will shut them down, leading to suffering and ultimately only one side being heard. I'm more ambivalent about the value of directness now.