In Norway, a meeting from 09:00 to 10:00 ends at 10:00. Anything else feels disrespectful.
In Brazil, the same meeting ends "when the topic is exhausted". Pushing for a hard stop reads as cold or transactional.
Both are correct, in their own context. Anthropologists call this the difference between monochronic and polychronic time. One culture treats time as a line you follow strictly. Another treats it as a pool you swim in.
If you sell, lead, or partner internationally, you are negotiating two things in every meeting: the substance, and the time-rules of the room.
A few practical signs you are in a polychronic context: meetings drift past their end time without anyone flinching; agendas are treated as suggestions; multiple conversations run in parallel.
The mistake I see most often is Norwegian or German leaders reading polychronic flexibility as disorganisation, and Brazilian or Mediterranean leaders reading monochronic rigidity as disrespect.
Neither is true. Both sides are operating by the time-rules they were taught.
Calibrate before you sell.
Stormberry
npub1zz…sr0pa
2026-07-08 10:56:23 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1zz9w77p2jkn95t0st9tcuea8zdn2vknf0ctrwyd4g46w3kswdccqesr0paPublished at
2026-07-08 10:56:23 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "In Norway, a meeting from 09:00 to 10:00 ends at 10:00. Anything else feels disrespectful.\n\nIn Brazil, the same meeting ends \"when the topic is exhausted\". Pushing for a hard stop reads as cold or transactional.\n\nBoth are correct, in their own context. Anthropologists call this the difference between monochronic and polychronic time. One culture treats time as a line you follow strictly. Another treats it as a pool you swim in.\n\nIf you sell, lead, or partner internationally, you are negotiating two things in every meeting: the substance, and the time-rules of the room.\n\nA few practical signs you are in a polychronic context: meetings drift past their end time without anyone flinching; agendas are treated as suggestions; multiple conversations run in parallel.\n\nThe mistake I see most often is Norwegian or German leaders reading polychronic flexibility as disorganisation, and Brazilian or Mediterranean leaders reading monochronic rigidity as disrespect.\n\nNeither is true. Both sides are operating by the time-rules they were taught.\n\nCalibrate before you sell.",
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