Walk around Key West for any amount of time and you are bound to come across a rooster ambling down the street, clearly pretty much at ease and feeling right at home.

It’s no big deal really, roosters are part of the Key West culture and contribute to the charm of the place. (On this, my 20th trip to Key West, and feeling more and more like a local with each and every visit, I no longer even notice them.)

Yep they’re part of the culture.

As a sales consultant I work in a myriad of companies each and every month and every one of them has their unique corporate culture.  What I might be able to say and do in one company would definitely be frowned upon in another; the rules of engagement are that different.

I’m quite attentive to these cultural markers because I want to fit in, to do it right and to be accepted during the life of the engagement.

I’m amazed at how insensitive some business people can be. Their behavior is so jarring and so out of whack with the situation that they simply scream “alien.”

I suggest that you learn how to be part of the client “landscape” and acclimate to their culture. Don’t let them be aware that the roosters confuse or bother you at all lest your discomfort makes you less welcome in their company and business just that much more difficult to transact.