Cultural Foundations. Do They Matter? Oh Yeah...Can They Be Changed? Oh Yeah…

In my frequent travels to Chile in business and social capacities, the inevitable comparisons come up about differing cultural and business practices.

I can claim a modicum of ability on the matter from having spent my life working internationally and observing cultural differences. My inspiration is Alexis de Tocqueville, which did similar work, in his seminal work: Democracy in America, published in 1835 and 1840. A missive about our own USA culture and a great read.

At the risk of sounding critical about another culture that I happen to love and that I am aiming to change, I will nevertheless venture forth.

One consistent complaint from those visiting Chile is the lack of a service culture. This observation is in contrast to the USA culture, which in my experience is second to none.

Why the difference?

A Chilean friend shared his insights on the question. He is a professional that works in Chile’s number one industry and number one export – cooper.

You see, cooper mining is a dirty business of extracting earthly materials and casting aside the waste to remain in place for, basically, eternity. Mining is an incredibly polluting endeavor that has little notion of creating and inventing products that delight in the hands of consumers, which means the exquisite provision of service (think Apple and their stores or Chipotle in their restaurants and via their business ethos.) Mining is about tearing the land. (Chile has the biggest open pit copper mine in the world. Its depth is 2,790ft. and in fact Chile is the #1 producer of cooper in the World.)

At one point Chile was also the #1 producer of nitrate before Germany invented a synthetic version circa 1927, killing the industry faster than you can say, ouch. It was mined by combing the surface of the Atacama Desert – the driest desert in the World. One can see the scars of such activities right next to the highway as one travels north. They serve as visual truth of the cultural effects of mining now embodied with a secondary trait that permeates the Chilean landscape: that of household waste being thrown about with little regard.

This is not unknown to Chileans. Many of them point it out and lament the culture that brought these behaviors to life. But not much is being done in an effort to try to remedy the situation. One can see garbage everywhere, even on the ride to the airport in the state-of-art superhighway and scenery that many equal to being in Europe – sans the heaps of garbage on the side roads of course.

I believe that this phenomenon of deep cultural traits embedded on the fabric of being, can be changed. I refuse to accept that it cannot. I experienced as much trying to change a resistant culture in the process of innovating into new markets.

It can be done. It has been done. It must be done.

In the case of Chile, and the country of 20 million citizens that it is, it may take a generation (or two). In business, given the smaller nature of the challenge, it takes bout 5 to 7 years according to those in the know.

The first step, in my opinion is overlooked in many challenges. And that is the need to deeply understand the roots of he challenge being confronted.  Here three basic questions to start.

Truth #1

The deeper the cultural trait is the harder it will be to change. (Obvious but needs to be stated)

Truth #2

The more tightly woven the trait is with social behaviors, the more resistance that it will encounter

Truth #3

The deeper the trait the harder it will be for people to recognize that they are the individual actors and that their actions matter now- on the present. Something akin to fish not seeing water - it is all around them.

Thank you for your time in reading this piece.

About the Author: Andres Jordan is a digital and innovation strategist. He advises institutions on how to maximize value in the digital era by focusing on mobility, cloud, and data analytics.