Finland, Cultural Lone Wolf

Finland is truly a unique place in so many ways and Mr. Lewis captures the spirit of the place with insight and skill. By nature, Finns are very modest people so it takes an outsider to toot their horn. Lewis is well suited to the job as he speaks Finnish (that is quite a job!) and has spent many years consulting there. The author rightly observes that Finland outranks all other advanced democratic nations on practically any important measure of development - literacy, economic competitiveness, equality (economic, social and gender), transparency, lack of corruption, low levels of crime, and high levels of technological innovation. He notes that while they do pay high taxes, they actually support these taxes because they ensure that everyone has high quality health care, education, and social support - no exceptions.But apart from their success in forging a wealthy and egalitarian nation, the Finns stand out in many other ways. For one, they are not really all that Scandinavian. Their origins are obscure, but it is clear that their language and culture has roots outside of the Indo-European group. In some ways, like the Basques perhaps, they are a small and unique nationality with a world view that we should all admire. Among their virtues, Finns are extraordinarily honest, so much so that some see them as blunt. They can also be very taciturn. Indeed, the uninformed traveler to Finland may mistake their parsimonious use of spoken language as a sign of coldness or obtuseness. As Lewis points out, to the contrary, Finns are very intellectually inclined, but are deeply suspicious of wordy or flamboyant people. Also of interest, the author delves into why Finnish women have been so successful and have attained full equality in all spheres of life.Even if you don't have the chance to visit Finland, this is a great book to read if you are interested in learning about a country that is getting it right!

The author has a business which provides training in languages and cross-cultural communication, primarily to business persons. I can imagine this book stemming from a series of Powerpoint slides, with bulleted lists, from a course on doing business in Finland. It has a narrow agenda, focusing on patterns of communication and leadership. There is very little on Finnish life and culture - on marriage, family, religion, work life... You will come away from it with a lot of generalizations about the Finnish people but no clue as to how they live their lives. The book begins with a brief introductory sketch of the history and geography of Finland and the Finnish language. This is followed by a more detailed discussion of communication, leadership, national character or identity, humor, and comparisons of Finns with other peoples. The author presents a very favorable image of Finns and Finland. In particular, he ceaselessly cites ways in which Finland leads the world. One thing that annoyed me is an excessive reliance on stereotypes and cliches, which are confidently presented as facts, when in fact there are no citations or references to research to support them. Also annoying is the frequent reduction of complex patterns of behavior to simplistic diagrams and typologies (such as "linear-active," "multi-active," and "reactive cultures"). The book is easy to read but redundant and simplistic. I can't recommend it. Try Culture Smart Finland instead.

This book if for anybody who has been to Finland or has dealt with Finns or plans to do either of the above. The author is an Englishman who has dealt with Finns for years in business ventures. He is also somewhat of a social historian and that makes his book very enjoyable. The book is a fast read filled with anecdotes and jokes and also covers how many othercultures do business in contrast to the Finns including Americans and Japanese. I have dealt with Finns in business and in teaching and this expained a lot of my observations and added some insights.If vacation or business brings you to Finland this is a must read.I immediately lent my copy to a friend who has been mystified by his occasionl dealings with this interesting culture.

First of all, this is an entertaining and informative book. More importantly, however, it provides insight into one of the most successful societies on the planet. Every informed person should take note of Finland's accomplishments and be familiar with the people behind those accomplishments. From a brilliant defence of Finland in 1939 (the Winter War with Russia) to post war rebuilding and current economic and educational excellence, Finland leads the way. The only comparable success story is that of Singapore.

Richard Lewis has written just the kind of book I yearn for when I am about to visit a new country / people. He doesn't settle for the obvious, more superficial experience of a "dish" but explores deeper (succinctly and often with good humour) its hidden ingredients, which have melted and blended together, while cooking... This makes the experience of eating it so much richer !By the way: we shared many of the book's insights with the Finns we met during our two weeks' visit to Finland -- and they were initially intrigued and ultimately AGREED with many of them. They too were impressed with the authors' depth of familiarity and understanding.

A very well researched book about Finns, their history and personalities from an analytical perspective and very valuable for anyone planning to live or undertake business with Finns. It states that Finland has an incredibly rich artistic heritage, which I believe is true, but you'd still be none the wiser after reading the book. What role does art, music, dance and literature play in their culture? Perhaps it's time for an expanded reprint to complete this otherwise thorough picture?