10 ms·

Dutch always tell the truth or an opinion? There’s a difference between being blunt and arrogant or a just plain asshole.

• teekert 5y ago
  We always tell the truth and we also never generalize!
  • mro_name 5y ago
    and best regards to Crete!
• the-dude 5y ago
  There are many truths.
  • majkinetor 5y ago
    There is only one truth about what YOU think.
    • coldtea 5y ago
      Yes, and peoples with sublety understand what they "trully think" is not necessarily the true objective reality - which is why they don't bluntly declare it as if it is, and as if making it known is the only thing that mattered. Which is why: "This idea might not be good" can be better than: "This idea is BS" Even if the second is more direct and is what you "trully think". Because even if you "trully think" the idea is BS, that's just like, your opinion, man. The first formulation makes this clearer. P.S. You can't complaint about me being curt here though, I blunty said what I trully think about this :-)
      • majkinetor 5y ago
        Sorry man, but people should know when they are older then 10 that what anybody thinks is their opinion and not reality. There is no need to say it each time. So you prefer people hiding their true thoughts instead of being honest? Its probably one of the major reasons for all the BS we have around...
    • perl4ever 5y ago
      I generally have multiple possibilities in mind in any situation, and sometimes people acknowledge this as a normal mode of human thought, so it's odd when others contradict it with the same apparent confidence.
  • Koshkin 5y ago
    "A good thing about truths is that there are so many to choose from!"
• mettamage 5y ago
  Let's say something is not worth someone's time. Dutch people: "xyz is not worth my time." Polite Dutch people: "Unfortunately, xyz is not worth my time." British people: "xyz is interesting indeed." I don't really know well enough what other cultures would say. They're all opinions, but on direct opinions you can at least trust that the person telling them believes them. It's not disrespect, direct communication yields a higher signal.
  • majkinetor 5y ago
    I often go so far to not want to work with people who sugar coat it. I prefer "your idea is pure garbage" over "it needs more work" because I want honesty above anything else as it leads to more efficient execution. Yes, some people feelings are hurt, but when I happen to cause it, I remember that 10 years old kids can survive much more brutal expressions while adults act like they are part of the mickey mouse club.
    • coldtea 5y ago
      >I prefer "your idea is pure garbage" over "it needs more work" because I want honesty above anything else as it leads to more efficient execution. Does it though, or does it lead to animosity, back-stabbings, a toxic environment, discouragement and so on? Such things also have their tradeoffs.
      • majkinetor 5y ago
        If it leads o backstabing I am will prefer not to work with you. If you act like a 3 year old kid in professional context, then you are not welcome in my environment. So this is also a kind of test - real life is ripe which MUCH more worst examples of it, and if you can't take a honest negative comment, it says a lot about you. At my current job I have a team of 4 and we can say to each other much more nasty shit then that, and I can't imagine working with such passion with anybody else (the feeling is mutual). We also accomplish x10 more then any other team.
        • 5y ago
• fleddr 5y ago
  The more neutral term is directness, which is undeniably a mainstream dutch style of conversation. Expats living in the Netherlands do sometimes express it being too blunt at times, yet quite a few more find it refreshing. And it's easy to see why. It's simple and efficient. You don't have to decode all the misdirection, fakeness, sugar coating that comes with less direct communication. You just get the message. It's less effort to parse and no information is lost in the process. And as you experience the delivery of this directness in real life, you can tell from body language that the messenger has zero intention to harm or upset you. Good intentions are clear. Directness is also an asset in business. Just the other week I openly challenged a manager 3 levels above me in a large 200+ meeting. I basically told him that his plan was based on quicksand, poor research (none at all), with unclear benefits. There's very few countries where you can do this, but here you can. And it's wonderful. In other cultures, you may simply not challenge a bad idea at all or needs tons of political massaging to get your feedback across. The result is that real, direct, non-political feedback flows to the top, which should be a core interest for leaders, rather than having yes-men. The dutch reject nonsense as part of their core, based on the national slogan "be normal, that's crazy enough". We don't like fluff, celebrities showing of too much, window dressing, misdirection, or any other tactic that is based on deceit. As such, arrogance is not our style, it is the very thing we break down.
  • tuatoru 5y ago
    If this is really so valuable, why aren't the largest, most successful corporations in the world Dutch? Interesting organization theory question here.
    • Jtsummers 5y ago
      Because "the market" isn't perfectly efficient at removing poorly functioning organizations thanks to various delays in the feedback mechanisms. Also, humans aren't 100% rational and are perfectly capable of perpetuating even the dumbest of corporations. And even if they were, who's to say there aren't other criteria which wouldn't have greater influence on the success or failure than the directness of the Dutch versus the English euphemisms and couching.