Did the Pedestrian Die: Insights from the World's Greatest Culture Guru [Paperback]

Fons Trompenaars (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2003

Did the Pedestrian Die? is an accumulation of a decade of research into cultural diversity across the globe with a wide range of client organizations. Trompenaars and his research team have identified the issues that really make a difference at the level of the individual and the organization as a whole. In addition to his well-established cross-cultural database of 70,000 managers from across the world, Trompenaars has more recently interviewed thousands of business leaders and managers to understand the challenges and concerns they face, the tensions between competing priorities, demands and values.

Often humorous, always inspiring, Did the Pedestrian Die? collects the insights of the world's most sought-after culture guru and shows how they can be put to immediate effect in any organization.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...lively and informative read...an excellent introduction to the issues of transcultural management..." (People Management, 10 July 2003)

"...essential reading for those concerned with cultural issues..." (Long Range Planning, Vol 37, 2004)

From the Inside Flap

The Dilemma
You are a passenger in a car driven by a close friend. He hits a pedestrian. You know he was going at least 35 miles per hour in an area of the city where the maximum speed allowed is 20 miles per hour. There are no witnesses. His lawyer says that if you are prepared to testify under oath that he was only driving at 20 miles per hour it may save him from serious consequences.

What right has your friend to expect you to protect him?
a: My friend has a DEFINITE right to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
b: He has SOME right to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
c: He has NO right to expect me to testify to the lower figure.

Fons Trompenaars has put this dilemma to some 70,000 managers in over 65 countries. The responses vary tremendously and will often change when Fons then reveals a further important factor - that the pedestrian is indeed very? dead! But there is one thread that remains common no matter where and to whom Fons is posing this dilemma: regardless of their culture, people would like to help their friends as well as respect the truth and support laws that protect pedestrians. Culture is the way one solves dilemmas. That is, the way one resolves dilemmas is culturally determined.

Did the Pedestrian Die? is an accumulation of a decade of research into cultural diversity across the globe with a wide range of client organizations. Trompenaars and his research team have identified the issues that really make a difference at the level of the individual and the organization as whole. In addition to his well-established cross-cultural database of 70,000 managers from across the world, more recently Trompenaars has interviewed thousands of business leaders and managers to understand the challenges and concerns they face, the tensions between competing priorities, demands and values.

Often humorous, always inspiring, Did the Pedestrian Die? collects the insights of the world?s most sought-after culture guru and shows how they can be put to immediate effect in any organization.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Capstone; 1 edition (March 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841124362
• ISBN-13: 978-1841124360
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,176,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Relevant Content from Trompenaars, April 19, 2004

By 

David C. Wigglesworth, Ph.D. (Kingwood, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Did the Pedestrian Die: Insights from the World's Greatest Culture Guru (Paperback)

What we have here is a further exposition of the insights and wisdom of Fons Trompenaars and some solid examples of cultural dimensions in real situations. The chapters in this book stem from a series of newspaper columns that the author wrote for a newspaper in The Netherlands, thus the style is easy to read and the content is relevant.

While there is much in this book to recommend, one of the big pluses for this reader was the clear delineation of the differences between Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars. One gets a chance to recognize the contributions of Hofstede and at the same time to see his limitations. While there is a certain amount of acrimony in this discussion, one still comes away with an understanding of the evolution and applicability the dimensions of Trompenaars and why they have surfaced to the top.

What is different about this book from the basic Trompenaars/Hampden-Turner readers is that he addresses key issues such as: leadership; matching values; globalization; diversity; people; functions; corporate culture, identity, and change; and the dilemmas to be addressed in globalizing organizations. And in each of these section he iterates the need and provides the basis for the reconciliation of dilemmas.

The chapters are full of practical examples from real situations involving real people. The author has a way of presenting a dilemma, explaining the paths to its reconciliation, and
providing documental anecdotes that illustrate successes.

Early in the text, the author discusses the terrorism that the world and particularly the US is faced with. While not providing solutions, he does make a powerful case for the utilization of reconciliation techniques in order to best understand and perhaps work with these dilemmas. It is a powerful section of the book.

For the ease of its readability, its potent substance, and its direct and insightful learnings, this book is a must for one's professional library.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars From stories to understanding, September 2, 2003

By 

stevequench (London UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Did the Pedestrian Die: Insights from the World's Greatest Culture Guru (Paperback)

I have always found culture and textbooks on culture a difficult subject to get in to. But I really like the stories in this book that we can all relate to. The author uses the stories as allegories to explain a number of fascinating ideas.

Forget the anthropologists, if you really want to understand global business and working with people who have different ideas to you, then this is the book!

Excellent.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disorganized unsubstantiated mess, October 15, 2006

By 

Scott716 "Scott716" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Did the Pedestrian Die: Insights from the World's Greatest Culture Guru (Paperback)

The author jumps from one subject to another without a clear plan for where he is going. He lacks a structure or overall theme, in my opinion. He provides personal vignettes about cultures in different countries but no original statistics to back up his claims. He provides useless maxims about the need to make companies more international and to understand that cultures differ between countries (duh).

The author seems very impressed with himself, quoting attendees from his workshops and mentioning several times that over 20,000 "international managers" have attended his lectures. He even has the audacity in the book's title to call himself "the world's greatest culture guru." He seems to think that we are pliable disciplines that hang on his every word even if he lacks structure, themes and statistics.

My impression is that other reviewers that liked this book had first read other earlier works by this author. Those earlier books may have established the author's reputation. And this book was a sequel that groupees want to read. Not me. I do not think that this book will establish anyone's reputation. It feels disorganized, subjective and lightweight. That is my personal opinion.