Adam Neumann Quotes

China is a company of contradictions. Nothing is what it appears to be. We have to be extremely respectful when we go overseas.

I think that we in the West expect people to adapt to our culture very, very quickly when they come to our country. But when we go over to someone else's, I don't think we are willing to meet them halfway like we expect them to meet us. I think having cultural sensitivity is a lot more important than we realize.

We cannot just ape the west. What may be good in an alien country may be unpalatable in India.

Some Indians will come up and say that a story reminded them of something very specific to their experience. Which may or may not be the case for non-Indians.

When in Rome, I must do as the Romans do. When in America, make Bikram copyright and trademark.

While we can learn from U.S. models, we certainly can't practice them.

I've been to Africa three times. All right? You can't bring Western reasoning into the culture. The same way you can't bring it into fundamental Islam.

It is urgently necessary that we recognize our own limitations as a moral and ideological force among the Asiatic peoples. Our political philosophy and our patterns for living have very little applicability to masses of people in Asia. They may be all right for us, with our highly developed political traditions running back into the centuries and with our peculiarly favorable geographic position; but they are simply not practical or helpful, today, for most of the people in Asia.

Secularism is the experience of the Western culture and thought. Insisting on spreading it to places where the underlying intellectual background, and the political and social reasons for its appearance are lacking, is clearly a mistake, regardless of being desirable or not.

We have no right to thrust our advanced views on our less advanced countrymen.

When you start exporting ideas, philosophy, behavior, products, ways of living, it becomes an assault on the culture. Americans have to understand that.

Some things are really sacred and important to other cultures, so you have to be aware, politically, about those things before you just adopt them.

I don't think that people understand enough about each other's cultures any more.

Wherever you go, respect the local culture or you will suffer.

Cultural differences can be delicate situations we have to work within the respectful boundaries of.

People have to start talking to know more about other cultures and to understand each other.

The domination of western values, beliefs and way of life has angered many from the east and in developing countries.

The two cultures of East and West are very different, and the priorities are very different. So when you understand that - if you are from this side or this side - when you understand that the other is different than you, and you respect these differences, you can build communication.

I wanted to introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience.

More and more, in any company, managers are dealing with different cultures. Companies are going global, but the teams are being divided and scattered all over the planet.

I say the same thing that I've said for decades now, which is: don't go over to Japan trying to change it, thinking that you know better. Go there trying to understand.

It's because we are so flooded with American culture that we're startled when we see ourselves up there on the screen.

Globalization means we have to re-examine some of our ideas, and look at ideas from other countries, from other cultures, and open ourselves to them. And that's not comfortable for the average person.

The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.

When you introduce something new to a country, you want to do it right. Generally, that means you have to do it yourself.