Why should I be careful when complimenting or praising people of different cultures?

Why should I be careful when complimenting or praising people of different cultures?

Norine Dresser (Writer) gives expert video advice on: When is it OK to call people by their first names?; Why should I be careful about complimenting babies? and more...

I talked to a woman who worked in a hospital and she wanted to promote a woman who was a Filipina to a higher position and the woman turned her down. And the reason was, although it was a compliment to her skills, if she would be promoted it would change the social dynamics among her peers. And so that ultimately would not work in her favour. Complimenting also calls attention to someone, and this is particularly applicable to Asian cultures. For us, we are very individualistic and very competitive but cultures that are more community oriented, it doesn't work out well. If a person is complimented for doing something well it may be that that person thinks, "Well, gee wasn't I doing well before?" There's a whole different take on it. One man was telling me that he was working in Indonesia and in front of everyone he complimented his assistant, who was an Indonesian and then the next day the young man quit because it made him lose face and he regarded it as an untenable position.