In other words, a person who lives in P-time will suggest a general approximate meeting slot in the coming future without nailing down the exact moment that meeting will take place.

When I worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana (a P-time culture), I used to feel puzzled that a local teacher at my school would tell me ‘I am coming now,’ but twenty minutes later I would still be waiting with no sign of that person’s arrival.…

Baron was working for Michelin in Clermont Ferrand, France, as part of a global team whose other members were located mainly in the United Kingdom. Baron recalls:

My British colleagues were not reading many of my e-mails, especially the most important ones.…

…taken aback when his American boss told him, ‘In your next presentation, get right to the point. You lost their attention before you even got to the important part.’

Hupert was unsure. ‘These are intelligent people,’ he thought. ‘Why would they swallow my argument if I haven’t built it carefully for them from the ground up?’…

For many years I worked with Amihan Castillo, a lawyer and business professor from the Philippines who’d come to work in Europe following a highly successful career in Manila. Unfortunately, her opinions went unnoticed when working with our European team because she was so careful to downgrade any criticisms she made of proposals and projects.…

When Chinese vaguely express an idea or an opinion, the real message is often just implied. They expect their conversational partner to be highly involved and to take an active role in deciphering messages, as well as in mutually creating meaning.…