Clotaire Rapaille has written about his view of North American culture and how he got there in the book The Culture Code: an ingenious way to understand why people around the world live and buy as they do. For thirty years Rapaille has been de-coding culture as the personal adviser to at least ten high-ranking CEO’s. Unbelievably he is kept on retainer by fifty Fortune 1oo companies to help them make informed decisions about business practice, marketing and culture. His book is another reminder that I am a person with culture. I am a person with a cultural framework that I either blindly accept or conscientiously resist and my orientation toward that cultural framework influences how I buy, how I engage in relationships, how I work, and how I see myself.
Throughout the book I found myself both intrigued and astonished at the accuracy of Rapaille’s observations. Working as an outsider/participant, he has a French background, his discoveries have been the multi-million dollar difference between marketing success or product failure. Rapaille’s observations largely seem to be intuitive. However, he builds them through a process of interviews in which participants move from just talking about a product or brand, to revealing stories about their experiences with a thing or perhaps even an idea. For example Rapaille has uncovered cultural codes for stuff as mundane as toilet paper and as lofty as love. In the analysis of the stories Rapaille creates a single word “code” that summarizes the perspective of a specific culture toward the thing or idea under consideration. In the book he explores the North American Codes for love, seductions, sex, beauty, fat, health, youth, home, dinner, work, money, quality, perfection, food, alcohol, shopping, luxury, “america,” and the american presidency. Here is just a small excerpt of what he writes about Americans and money:
Clearly, money signifies more to Americans that then means to buy things. It show us how we’re doing, tells us how far we’ve come from impoverished poor roots. Money reminds you that your “business is a good one,” that you’ve worked hard to get something, that you can carry your burdens, that you are appreciated, and that you are moving up to the next level. Not having money makes you feel as if you are “in a hole”; you may feel that “its gonna kill me.”
The American culture has no titles of nobility to show us who the big winners are. Without them, we need something that performs a similar function. Participants tell us through their third-hour stories that that thing is money. The American Culture Code for money is PROOF.
In spite of what people from other cultures–and many from our own–say about our attitude toward money, the Code show that money isn’t a goal in and of itself for most Americans. We rely on it to show us that we are good, that we have true value in the world. An American can’t be knighted for his deeds or become a baroness, as Margaret Thatcher has. American accolades are relative and ephemeral. We can prove what we’ve accomplished only by making as much money as possible. Money is our barometer of success. Most Americans find it impossible to feel successful if they feel they are underpaid…
Rapaille’s book is engaging and a deceptively quick read. As I read portions of it again I was able to process many questions: How often do I just act of these cultural values? How should I respond to people who share this culture with me, especially when these values are not particularly noble, true, or honorable? Where do I relate now as a person of faith in Christ and as a person in this culture? Where do values correspond? What does my faith and formation in Christ Jesus push back against in my culture? Where does the world’s mold–my culture–put the squeeze on me and keep me from seeing and living as things truly are in the Kingdom of God? I recommend the book not only for your own personal reflection but also as a person in business or in leadership–people all around you are making decisions, good and bad, most often from some sort of emotive cultural framework that has been evolving with them since their early years.
On a personal note I find the above questions to be of great value to glocal solutions and the future of this company and network. As a resident in Vancouver I get to be neighbours with people from a variety of cultures. Leading cross culturally is something a large percentage of us get to do, even have to do. Businesses and some organizations have the necessity of finding their distinct niche and servicing people in that context; in other words, they may have the luxury of discovering a niche and being “on code.” However, governments and neighbourhood groups have a larger mandate of service and community building. Being “on code” as Rapaille says, may sometimes be counterproductive to that more noble goal of community and city transformation. However, knowing that we are up against that kind of struggle is perhaps half the battle. I found Rapaille’s book helpful for recognizing where I am coming from and disturbing enough to cause me wonder where other people are coming from as well.
