it's in the making of a decision

If nothing else an international MBA is a series of decisions. It is an intense training in decision making in a multi-cultural framework. There is very little structure in the academic program (which can be a shock because the huge cost of tuition seems to warrant structure in learning). Choices are negotiated and delegated amongst peers of diverse and disparate backgrounds.

This is not exclusive to the classroom. Imagine an event as basic as a dinner reservation with classmates. This is your crash course in negotiation and patience. Participating in a decision as simple as what to eat: with 100% A-type personalities with 100% confidence in their opinions with no common culture and no common native language – though we all want to eat, we will all suffer a short famine as we struggle to understand the meaning behind each others words and body language.

This is nothing like living in another country. This is nothing like learning another culture. This is dozens of countries and dozens of cultures all adapting to each other simultaneously. The actions of an Egyptians interacting with an Israeli can hardly represent the actions of that same Egyptian interacting with a Lebanese. With time you learn to separate the cultural differences from the personality differences. We separate the daily changes in mood from lasting personality, and we translate it through cultural frameworks. All differences in cultural fade away with time. We see that culture is only one data source amongst many.

My decisions, the dozens I make each day, are no longer consciously factoring in the cultural differences of the people around me. At some point the various cultures we all bring with us dissipate within the singular culture we create amongst us. We have our own culture. It has no nationality. No place of origin. It was created in real time, by real people, with real opinions. Our culture is the first of it’s kind and it will likely be the last of it’s kind.

We make decisions now based on OUR cultural framework, not on the framework we brought with us to Madrid. We make our decisions differently now. We make them with a different perspective. And we are all hoping to make the right decisions. At least I am hoping to make the right decision.

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