Joe Lurie, executive director emeritus at the University of California Berkeley International House, managed “one of the largest, most diverse residential, cultural and programmatic centers in the United States” for years, facilitating understanding and minimizing friction between people from different cultures by giving them opportunities to live and learn with each other.
In addition, he has provided cross-cultural communication training for many businesses and universities. As such, he’s an expert in the different ways that cultural understanding (or the lack thereof) can influence a business deal.
“The underlying issue here is that when you’re conducting any kind of business, it’s important to know something about the person with whom you’re doing business,” Lurie explained. He’ll be sharing what he knows about maximizing the chances of a real estate sale through cultural understanding at Luxury Connect, October 16 through 18 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
“I’ll demonstrate for your audience how their perceptions are limited, that what they’re looking at is often not what they’re seeing, and show how that can apply to everything, including and most appropriately to making a sale to someone from a different culture,” Lurie said.
“Consider, for example, whether you understand why many Chinese, Japanese and Indian nationals use many ways to avoid saying ‘no’? And when does ‘yes’ really mean yes? That Thai client’s smile: friendly, embarrassed or angry? And what are the possible interpretations of ‘soon’ and ‘late’ in Latin America? Those loud Israeli, Italian and Greek business colleagues: arguing and interrupting? Or simply talking? How might misinterpreting these signal cause a deal to collapse?”
Learn how the West African proverb “The stranger sees only what he knows” might be influencing your business with Joe Lurie at Luxury Connect in October.