The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do

It's an amazing and really fresh approach to understanding our deepest feelings about many things - the role of the "reptilian" brain. How do we - not "see" - but deeply "relate" to food, sex, money...and Presidents? And regarding Presidents, that chapter is one of the most eye-opening and immediately "right". It's at the end of the book and I'm not going to give it away, but it confirmed my feeling that the Democrats will be in big trouble if Hillary Clinton gets the 2008 nomination, and explains the extraordinary impact of Barack Obama. The Code for President begins with "M" . . . Dr. Allaire deserves applause for developing his unusual session technique and for his perception in bringing out the hidden "Code" for every topic. Yes, there are perhaps a few over-simplifications here and there, and his own personal affinity with everything American leads him to gloss over some underlying strands that I think play a significant role - for instance, what about the Native Americans? Would the Code for them be GUILT? But that's a guess based perhaps too much on "the cortex" which is usually a false front...the real code would only emerge after the three-level sessions with respondents. I agree with the reviewer who took issue with the Publisher's Weekly hatchet job. Hey, PW, are you smarter than all the top business executives who have commissioned Dr. Rapaille and found that his analysis WORKS? A fascinating read with many moments of "Aha! of course!"

This was a fun, readable intro to non-obvious cultural differences, which explains how different cultures weigh various ideas, and how certain concepts are far more resonant in some cultural milieus than others. It mostly addresses different Western cultures (American, French, English), rather than dramatically different cultures like Arabic or Indian. Told through a marketing lens, but equally interesting as ethnography.

Anyone with substantial exposure to various cultures and an open mind will be impressed by their sometimes very surprising diversity, and will probably want to learn more about their similarities and differences (rooted in both human nature and the contingencies of place and history). Rapaille's book fits nicely into this genre, with the distinction of emphasizing how cultural insights might have value for commercial R&D and marketing. The book is also easy and quick to read. His methodology is a combination of three-hour focus groups, elements of psychoanalysis, and elements of general cultural anthropology, and it's backed by good academic credentials and the intuition and methodological refinement which come from many years of applying this approach to projects for large organizations. Interestingly, some reviewers describe Rapaille's findings as "obvious" whereas others strongly question his findings. I think the truth is somewhere in between. Based on my personal experience, the vast majority of his findings are largely on target, even though some are unexpected and maybe initially counterintitive, but of course that only adds to their value. It's also true that a few of his findings are overgeneralized or oversimplified or even questionable, but that tends to come with the territory, since social science is inherently somewhat fuzzy, so we can't expect the same rigor, precision, and replicability as physical science. In this regard, I do think that Rapaille should have done a better job of qualifying his findings and delineating their limitations, especially given the general audience for the book; that's my most significant complaint about the book, hence my 4-star rating. To summarize his general view of American culture, Rapaille describes us as being dreamers who are optimistic by nature, and who likewise have an outsized appetite for everything (achievement, status, money, houses, cars, food, love, physical attractiveness, health and longevity, etc.). We're not obsessive perfectionists, but we demand that things generally work and get the job done. We correspondingly tolerate and even expect mistakes, but we also expect people to fix and learn from their mistakes, and to bounce back from failures, preferably smarter and stronger than before; we especially like it when people overcome great adversity not of their own making. We likewise expect products and services and everything else to gradually keep getting better, which is why we embrace the new and are quick to discard the old, are busybodies, are willing to take risks, are impatient, and aren't especially intellectual or reflective. We expect our President, like Moses, to help lead us on this journey of progress, hopefully steering us to an almost utopian promised land discernable on the horizon. And finally, we have a lot of conviction about our cultural identity, which is why we have a sense of unity which transcends our diversity, class structure, individualism, and rebelliousness, and why we see ourselves as an appropriate model for the rest of the world. Beyond these widely recognized generalities, Rapaille presents a variety of more specific cultural traits, often linked with consumer products, and that's where his conclusions are more surprising and controversial. These more specific conclusions are too diverse to summarize here, plus you need to read the book to see how he derives and justifies them, so that you can judge for yourself. Overall, I think this is an interesting and enjoyable book which provides meaningful insight into various cultures, especially American culture, so I recommend it to anyone with an interest along those lines. As far as R&D and marketing, the book provides only a general framework, rather than being a "how to" instructional manual, so don't expect too much if that's your primary interest.

This book was recommended to me by my business/life coach over at Breaking Life's Blueprint. Kristian said it would change my perspective on business and boy was he totally on code. For me, the book was more than understanding how or why we buy, it was a look into different cultures and understanding the importance of culture and messaging. I really loved the authors way of explaining each culture and how it affects us. It was an easy and entertaining read. I never got bored nor did I want to skip through pages as I do with most books. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to view the world from a different axis.

This book is a must-read for anyone working in marketing. It gives you a process for gathering and evaluating feedback--that's not necessarily the goal but it's there for the taking. Then read how the author dissects public feedback to arrive at simple terms that capture the essence of how different cultures, mostly American, view themselves in relation to a topic. For example, the code for the American presidency is MOSES. Now the last two elections make sense.

The Culture Code is an amazing book. Mr. Rapaille has stumbled on an incredible method of deciphering a culture's inner-most thoughts/feelings regarding everything from dinner to sex and beyond. It's curious that Rapaille scarcely discusses the major ways in which the foundations of the US are very different than France, Italy, Japan and Britain (i.e. we understand ourselves to be a multicultural nation). Ironically, the multicultural nature of US society is underscored by the fact that someone like Rapaille, who comes across as uber-French, time and again refers to himself as an American. If we are to believe that we have all indeed become one, the implications should be dire for so-called multicultural advertising and marketing firms; we would expect their code to be the same as that of American cheese(DEAD). But, in fact, these agencies have been thriving for the past 15 years or so. His lack of discussion of this phenomenon leaves me wondering if a) he doesn't fully understand the complexities of American culture or b) multicultural marketing is absolute bunk. At any rate, I found it an insightful and fascinating read.

The author gives us a look at the cultural archetypes that drive our thoughts and actions and are used by advertisers and politicians to manipulate us like puppets, just below the conscious level. Rapaille is himself a consultant to these puppet masters. Born in France and now a US citizen, Rapaille is able to draw on personal experience in his study of differing culture codes. Of course generalisations are necessary here and Rapaille doesn't claim that one code fits all in a population. It isn't neccesaary. The idea is to identify the main idea which defines the culture and use that to appeal to the large percentage of the people. One weakness I found is Rapaille's expalnation of the origins, historical usually, for the codes. The last chapter especially sounds like a poitically correct feel-good commercial for America. Yes, Americans were rebels, tamed the wilderness, immigrated to the new world, etc. But the cultural values of the early Americans have nearly dissapeared, not to mention the people themsleves who are in decline. Yes we rebounded from 9-11, but other people in other cultures experienced much worse and rebound from it faster. What Rapaille leaves out is the role of the media in actually creating the codes in the first place. That would be an equally interesting book.

The Culture Code is a smooth and enjoyable read. Daniel Coyle writes in a very conversational, story-driven way that makes the lessons easy to follow. The book is packed with interesting examples — from Pixar to Navy SEALs — that keep things moving and make the ideas memorable. That said, I didn’t find the content especially relevant to my situation at the time, so some of the lessons didn’t stick as strongly as I’d hoped. It feels best suited for leaders or team builders who are actively thinking about company culture or group dynamics. Overall, it’s a well-written, insightful book with lots of practical takeaways, just not one that hit me at the perfect moment. Still worth reading if you’re interested in how great teams build trust and purpose.

This Frenchman has opinion and data on every culture. And that is very insightful. Very useful book for people in marketing and sales and advertisement. Although I am not from either of these domain I still enjoy this book. This book is so different from what you usually read and it will add to your repertoire of how the world works, what drives us humans in different cultures etc. Very educational for curious.

Dieses Buch öffnet die Augen im Hinblick auf Marketing gestaltung. Vielen Dank dafür, der Autor Clotaire ist wirklich sehr begabt.

Libro in inglese, comprato per diletto e non per studi. Lettura Scorrevole e linguaggio accessibile, discorsivo. Non avevo mai sentito parlare di codici culturali in questo senso. Sicuramente è una lettura divertente prima di tutto. Delle volte trovavo difficoltà ad essere d’accordo con il lettore in alcune conclusioni ma suppongo sia normale, considerando appunto la diversità culturale e la componente individuale. Tutto sommato è un saggio interessante e non pesante. Avrei voluto che fornisse più analisi strategiche.

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Really insightful and interesting book. Example after example on how different our cultures are, how they effect how we feel on different subjects (e.g. Love, health, drinking, career, sex and seduction, country leaders) and products (e.g. specific car manufacturers, alcoholic beverages, beauty products, etc) , which then lead to our behaviours in why we buy the things we do and how that itself differs from country to country (heavy examples included between America, France, And England. And more). It's so interesting hear about how brands needed to change the way they market their products from country to country based on the nations extremely different values. SO interesting.