There is a good, brief article by Maria Garaitonandia on pages 26 and 27 in the February 2026 issue of Toastmaster magazine titled Untangling cultural knots and subtitled How to turn misunderstandings into bridges between cultures. Also there is a 32-minute Toastmasters Podcast (on YouTube) with Bo Bennett titled #292 Untangling Cultural Knots to Create Mutual Connection – Maria Garaitonandia.
Maria talks about two different cultural types that focus on either relationships or tasks. She begins with an example of Mexican executive Pedro and his American colleague Owen in her second and third paragraphs:
“When an urgent matter needed Owen’s sign-off, Pedro hurried to his office, only to find him on the phone. Pedro peeked in, but Owen didn’t acknowledge him, so he walked in and interrupted Owen by signaling with his hand.
Taken aback, Owen interrupted his conversation and said to Pedro, ‘Can’t you see I’m on the phone?’ Pedro apologized and tried to explain, but Owen interrupted him and said, ‘When I’m finished, I’ll take care of it,’ and promptly turned his back on Pedro.”
Then Maria talks about cultures focused either on relationships or tasks. In cultures focused on relationships (like Brazil, Mexico or in the Middle East) trust and loyalty are the priorities. Communication is contextual and layered. Being attentive and available shows respect. In cultures focused on tasks (like Germany Switzerland or the United States) efficiency and results. Communication is direct, concise, and explicit. Following schedules and procedures shows respect. These differences are summarized above via my PowerPoint table based on her discussion. I think a similar table would have been a useful addition to the article, but could have been left out due to squeezing it into just two pages.
Of course, if we were doing a speech that table better would be a build with the following four PowerPoint slides – adding the new information in green and graying out the previous information:
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