Visit the Nordic countries and you may notice similarities in the way people
move in relation to one another. What the well-trained eye notices is that
they’re all quite restrained in the way they use their bodies. As opposed to
their southern cousins, who embrace public physicality, they shy away from
effusive gestures, and consider hugging to be taboo.If you want to avoid embarrassing your Nordic friend or acquaintance, partic-
ularly in public, refrain from behaving in an intimate manner. Save your hugs
for home.If you were a fly on the wall in an American manufacturing company you’d
see the plant manager walking around, chatting informally with the staff and
factory workers. The manager may be dressed in a suit for a business meet-
ing, or more casually if not. In France, by contrast, the plant manager always
wears a suit and begins the day by greeting everyone in the office and in the
factory with a handshake. This shows the hierarchic style of the French com-
pany, whereas the American plant has a flatter management structure.In many Western cultures, when friends greet each other, you may see them
perform the ‘air kiss’, shown in Figure 15-1, in which a kiss to the right and
left cheeks is directed towards the sky rather than landing on the face.Figure 15-1:
The air kiss
is a form of
greeting
that doesn’t
require
much
contact.250 Part IV: Putting the Body into Social and Business Context