The Afghans are a high context people; we are not. For us, getting to the point quickly is a
passion. For them, there may not be a
point for now, or if there is one, you have to tease it out of the long conversation. The Afghans place emphasis on the spoken
word. PowerPoint slides of words seems
meaningless to them, yet we give medals to those of us who can master the .PPT.
Learn to have a conversation. Get to know them. Learn their names and those of their family
members. I’m doomed. When we met, it took me three weeks to
remember my future wife’s last name. Ask
about almost everything, and over time you build trust to find out most of the
rest. Yet you will never know
everything. There is always intrigue and
backstory.
These people have been at war
for over 40 years. We are interfacing
with the ones that know how to survive. Tell
a story, but don’t bullshit. They can
smell it a mile away and once they judge you insincere, you may as well go
home. Conversations must be honest and
personal and they go on for a while before you even get to business, which may
be on the third meeting.
Be patient,
enjoy the journey……..but with your head on a swivel. Is this possible?
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Everything is context, and the context is always
changing.
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