RESPECT

Small talk can be a minefield. You can’t be expected to know everything about your business partner’s culture, so misunderstandings happen. Ideally, you should be careful about making any assumptions or judgements about cultural matters — in particular about family structures, religion, traditions or politics. If you think you may have said something offensive, you can use different strategies to defuse the situation. Politely change the topic or give a good reason to end the conversation and leave. If you want to learn something about someone, then ASK!