Confident Business English 295. Disagree Without Disconnecting: Cross-Cultural Skills for International Managers (With Lindsay McMahon, All Ears English)
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Oct 15, 2025 
In this conversation, Lindsay McMahon, CEO and co-host of All Ears English, shares her expertise in international communication and cross-cultural disagreement. She highlights the importance of sensitivity for senior managers, revealing her personal experience with missed cultural cues in Japan. Lindsay explains high vs. low context communication and power distance, offering three distinct styles for disagreeing effectively. With practical phrases, she emphasizes maintaining relationships while navigating disagreements, all while focusing on human connection.
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Missed Pushback In Tokyo
- Lindsay missed repeated, indirect criticism from her Japanese manager while teaching in Tokyo at age 25.
- She only learned later that students were unhappy and her classes were being reassigned.
Context Shapes Communication
- High-context cultures rely on shared history, nonverbal cues, and implicit understanding.
- Low-context cultures place meaning in explicit words and direct statements.
Power Distance Affects Feedback
- Power distance measures how much a culture accepts hierarchy and unequal power.
- In high power-distance settings, disagreement from lower-ranked people may be subtle and hard to detect.