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Comment by mercer | Hacker News Reader

My experience is that the Dutch are among the most 'anarchic' people I know. Everyone has an opinion on everything, and bosses try to just be 'one of the guys', and avoid exerting their authority overtly, as it's likely to backfire. Obviously this doesn't apply to all jobs, but I've experienced it a lot.

Americans, but to a lesser degree people from other nationalities too, tend to be much more authoritarian and are less inclined to hide the hierarchies.

I've experienced Dutch bosses struggle with 'being bosses' in Germany, as their 'flat' approach confused their employees. I've also had German bosses try to be 'one of the guys' in Holland, but not quite pulling it off (to sometimes hilarious effect).

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I find this all fascinating that resonates well with me. I used to work in Germany but found them too formal and official in both working and personal relationships. Perhaps I should have tried it in the Netherlands.

Oh yeah. After three years I learned to appreciate the Germans to an extent, but I could never shake the feeling that, as a 'group', they're a bit like the boring, responsible, often humorless older sibling to the Dutch.

Both 'groups' have their own pros and cons though, to be fair. The Dutch can be horribly rude and argumentative...

>> The Dutch can be horribly rude and argumentative...

As a Russian, so can I. It can be a useful trait under circumstances, but I generally try to keep it in control.

If I get an idea to work in Europe again, I'll pay closer attention to the Dutch opportunities. It's important for the people to "click" on a cross-cultural level in order to work well as a team, and I'm afraid I didn't click nearly enough back in Germany.

Anyway, no culture is perfect. We're supposed to learn from each other and work on our bad sides as recognized in others and by others.

In my experience the Dutch get along pretty well with Russians. The main sources of 'conflict' I've noticed usually have to do with the fact that the Dutch like to rub their 'liberalness' in other people's faces, and many Russians I've met tend to be a bit more conservative/traditional in their values.

That said, my experience is also that it's more bark than bite. We love arguing and we love telling others our views unasked, but in practice we tend to be pretty, uh, pragmatic about our beliefs. We're essentially a country of merchants/salesmen, we have been for a long time, and getting into real arguments over beliefs is not good for business. It's something I both love and hate about our culture.

(This is generalizing, of course, but I've been shocked to find out more and more how strong a 'culture' can be, even on a national level.)

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