24 ARMY n December 2009

By LTC Brian L. Steed

As an exchange officer, I spent manyhours in the offices of senior Jor-

danian officers. I sat and watched as avariety of internal and external guestswould come, sit, drink tea, exchangepleasantries and then leave. As thehours of this activity passed, I initiallythought to myself, “What a waste oftime! They did not do anything!” Later I realized that this was the regularprocess of making and/or strengthen-ing web connections. From their cul-tural perspective, the people who en-tered the office were doing somethingas important as checking off an item ona to-do list.

Military personnel from MiddleEastern cultures differ from U.S. mili-tary personnel. This is not simply aboutdifferences on the surface—we do notsee the world the same way. When aU.S. Army soldier enters a room for ameeting in the Middle East, that soldieris not coming into the room with thesame vision of the issues to be dis-cussed as is his Middle Eastern coun-terpart. This means that events are notperceived in the same way, and tech-niques for accomplishing tasks will beviewed through a different lens.

There has been a great deal of inter-action between the U.S. military andthe people of Iraq and of Afghanistan,and working relationships have im-proved over time. This does not neces-sarily mean, however, that the othercultures are “coming around” to a West-ern way of thinking; they are probablyadapting their practices to appease thecurrent power broker. If we want toachieve real and lasting transforma-tions, we need to first understand theunderlying differences and then makeadjustments to shape the discussion ina way that will assist in accomplishingour goals and desires.

The following is a simple analogyto explain this difference. As with anyanalogy, there are flaws and imperfec-tions; I ask the reader to indulge in a

little imaginative thinking when ac-cepting this analogy.

Americans Are to Bees As Arabs Are to Spiders

The bee is defined by individual ca-pabilities that allow it to accomplishits role within a larger community. Thebee is a team player who has threemain descriptors: task oriented, analy-sis driven and information sharing.

A bee sees its day as task oriented: Ithas “x” amount of flowers to collectpollen from in a given day. When thebee returns home at night, it is going toassess the day in terms of how manyflowers it collected pollen from, theamount of pollen collected, the dis-tances flown and so on. The bee is con-cerned with accomplishment of agendaitems or task lists. To accomplish thislist, the bee must conduct at least basiclevels of analysis—how far to fly, howlong it will take, how many flowers inthe field, how many trips or other beesare required, and a host of other basicanalysis items. When the bee finds aparticularly rich field or garden withthe ideal types of flowers, it returns tothe hive and begins a dance that is de-signed to demonstrate to the rest of thecommunity the direction and distanceto the riches. The bee accepts thepremise that it is better to share moreinformation with the greatest numberof members of the community in thefastest way possible.

Arabs Are to Spiders As Americans Are to Bees

The spider sees success as directlyassociated with its web in terms of itsstrength, size, location and effective-ness. The spider defines its daily suc-cess by the efforts it has made tostrengthen the web. In this analogy,the spider’s web is connected not tobranches and leaves, but to other spi-ders.

Each day for the spider is an exer-cise in sending out additional strandsto other spiders—increasing the reach

and size of its web or strengtheningthe existing strands that already con-nect it to others. The spider does notneed to do significant analysis. Basicsocial networking answers the ques-tion of which are the best spiders for future connections. The spider isnot interested in sharing informationabout the location of its web or theother strands and their strength withits other spider connections. To do sowould directly threaten the placementand success of its own web. For exam-ple, if a spider had a web across a trailthat provided particularly good hunt-ing, introducing other spiders to thatsame location would threaten the cur-rent success enjoyed by the spider.

The main motivation is to increasethe web. In general, spiders do notwork together to build webs. It is alsotrue that within its sphere the spi-der may show tremendous initiative in choosing the web location, whichstrands to strengthen and when to havethe web prepared. The entire purposeof the web is to reach the point thatwhen some other spider comes for as-sistance or a favor, the spider can sim-ply tug on a web strand and makesome other spider react favorably. Thespider with the strongest web, there-fore, has the greatest ability to convinceothers to do as it desires.

U.S. and Middle Eastern MilitariesThere are clearly some naturalistic

problems with this analogy; however,the analogy generally holds for Ameri-cans being bees and Arabs being spi-ders. The idea is that there is a differ-ence in how different groups, in thiscase the American military and Mid-dle Eastern military, are motivated andhow they define themselves. This is byno means a judgment on one way be-ing better than the other, but rather acritical point that needs to be acceptedin conducting business across cultures:Different cultures see the world differ-ently, including at the basic daily levelof determining actions and activities.

Bees and Spiders:Seeing the World from Different Perspectives

December 2009 n ARMY 25

A large part of this difference is in thedefinitions of success held by the beeand by the spider. A U.S. soldier mighthave a to-do list of tasks, and he men-tally or physically checks them off overthe course of the day. The day is suc-cessful if the highest priority task is ac-complished, and if time permits, othertasks are accomplished throughout thatday. It is success based on doing.

The Middle Eastern officer bases suc-cess on whom one meets with and howmany people one has made contactwith throughout the day, although theofficer probably does not think about itthat way himself. He does not deter-mine his success on what he does, buton how he builds or strengthens hisnetwork. It is not a linear approach tosuccess, but rather a network- or web-based approach. The officer who sits inoffices of more senior officers all dayand drinks tea with them and speaksabout their families and cultivates con-nections is building his web. He sendsout strands to connect himself sociallywith those above, equal to and belowhim. He wants to build this network sothat when he needs something, he canreach out and touch a line and makecontact with someone who can helphim. This is a reason why hospitality is so important. If someone enters an-other’s office, he must feel welcome andbe treated well—the strand connectingthe two people must be strengthened.

A great deal of effort is placed onsuch things, in many cases to the detri-ment of what some Americans have

considered real work. Meetings will beinterrupted by phone calls with peoplein the web or to greet someone, even ofa lesser rank, who has just entered theroom.

This is vitally important to under-stand, especially when one begins ameeting. If one has the desire to inspirethe counterpart to do something, thenthe conversation must be shaped so asto make the doing seem logical withinthe construct of the counterpart. Whatmotivates a spider to do something isdifferent from what motivates a beeand must be considered prior to themeeting if one truly wants to achievesuccess. Conducting the meeting on a“bee-only” framework will end in frus-tration, as the spider will see no valuein the logic or arguments.

Bees and spiders coexist in nearlyevery climate and can thrive together.They serve complementary purposesin meeting the needs of the ecosystem.The same can be said of the cultures

addressed here—those of the Ameri-can military and Middle Eastern mili-tary. The fact that the cultures are sodifferent does not mean there must beconflict or even frustration.

To improve working relationships,it is imperative that one sees and un-derstands the differences in cultureand how this affects the daily life ofeach person. Once one understandsthe cultural paradigm of the other,then it is possible for real productivedialogue and cooperation to exist. nn

LTC Brian L. Steed is the U.S. ArmyTraining and Doctrine Command seniorliaison to the Israel Defense Force. He isthe author of Piercing the Fog of War.

* * *All opinions and suppositions expressed inthis work are entirely those of the authorand in no way reflect the positions, opin-ions or policies of the U.S. Army, the U.S.Department of Defense, or any official oragency of the U.S. government.

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Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division meet with Iraqi police officers at their station in Balad, Iraq.