Global Playbook

International business rarely begins with a grand strategic declaration. More often it begins in a hotel lobby at an early hour, watching a news ticker announce a political development that has just rendered last night's dinner conversation obsolete. Or in a government car park in the Middle East, being briefed by a fixer who lights a cigarette directly beneath a no smoking sign and gets back in his car before anyone can ask a question. Or in a coffee shop in Istanbul, sitting down at a backgammon board with a stranger who speaks almost no English and teaches you more about cross-cultural communication in an hour than a semester of international relations ever did. If you have ever sat in a meeting conducted entirely in a language you do not speak, made a joke that landed like a stone in still water, or nodded confidently at something you did not understand and hoped nobody noticed - this book is for you. Global Playbook is the account of twenty years of senior operational experience across twelve countries, written for the people doing this work now or curious about the international business environment.