Cross-cultural work starts with self-awareness. It means accepting that your assumptions are always there; you just notice them afterwards.
I’ve lived and worked in six countries and collaborated with people from 40+ nationalities.
The biggest cultural difference I’ve found isn’t between nationalities. It’s between people who’ve worked across cultures and people who haven’t.
That difference matters most in distributed teams where you can’t rely on physical proximity to build what culture requires.
Distributed isn’t a location setting. It’s a culture you either build deliberately or inherit accidentally.
The distributed team that works well has one thing the others don’t: someone who treats connection as part of the job.