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CATEGORIZING CULTURES 45

culture

demands
of age
profession

personal
preferences

Figure 3.11 Mindset Tug-of-War

for linearity, especially those from reactive cultures. Japanese students in such
programs go for linear options that seem appropriate in the earnestly efficient
MBA environment. Tested at home in Japan, however, their reactive score would
be much higher.
Multi-actives are less “obedient” to Western-style MBA doctrines, but they
will still test higher on the linear scale than they would in their home countries.
Students of mathematics find it hard to ignore the linear options, and students of
literature find that multi-active choices reflect more adequately the richness and
poetic side of human nature. Those studying medicine, law or history have every-
thing to gain by developing their own ability to react to suffering, legal predica-
ments and the enigma of history itself. Someone studying politics and championing
human rights would be obliged to consider most multi-active solutions.
Such contextual considerations play an important role in fine-tuning cultural
profiles. Yet they have limitations. One or two thousand years of cultural condi-
tioning lend great momentum to an individual’s core beliefs and manner of
expressing them. Ideally, cultural assessments like the Personal Cultural Profile