THE CULTURE CODE By Clotaire Rapaille
THE CULTURE CODE
offers an ingenious way to understand people around the world.
Why are people around the world so very different? What makes us live, buy, even love as we do? The answers are in the codes – and an exciting new book I just discovered!
In the opening introduction, the author says, “The Culture Code is the unconscious meaning we apply to any given thing — a car, a type of food, a relationship, even a country — via the culture in which we are raised. The American experience with Jeeps is very different from the French and German experience because our cultures evolved differently (we have strong cultural memories of the open frontier; the French and Germans have strong cultural memories of occupation and war). Therefore, the Codes — the meaning we give to the Jeep at an unconscious level — are different as well. The reasons for this are numerous but it all comes down to the worlds in which we grew up. It is obvious to everyone that cultures are different from one another. What most people don’t realize, however, is that these differences actually lead to our processing the same information in different ways.”
Newsweek recently asked Rapaille-
What do Americans need to understand about themselves?
Also, Americans really enjoy violence, against people and things. I was invited to Las Vegas for the destruction of a building that was still functional. It was a party with champagne and then a big explosion at the end. We like the power of destruction because afterwards we can rebuild, we can start from scratch.”
In The Culture Code, internationally revered cultural anthropologist and marketing expert Clotaire Rapaille reveals for the first time the techniques he has used to improve profitability and practices for dozens of Fortune 100 companies. Rapaille used the codes to help Chrysler build the PT Cruiser – the most successful American car launch in recent years. He helped Procter & Gamble with their Folger’s ad campaign. His groundbreaking revelations shed light not just on business but on the way every human being acts and lives around the world.
Like Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink or Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock, The Culture Code is a book that gives us all a revolutionary way of understanding and dealing with the world. Why do we act, buy, and love as we do? The answers are in the Codes.
“This book is just plain astonishing!… If you want to understand customers, constituencies, and crowds, this book is required reading.”
–Warren Bennis,
author of On Becoming a Leader
Leave a Reply