Book excerpt: Most business leaders struggle mightily when transitioning from working in the U.S. or any modern country to working in Shanghai, Dubai, Nairobi or Pune. Despite organizational efforts to facilitate this transition through training and coaching, leaders often find themselves bewildered and frustrated by the unwritten and often unacknowledged cultural dictates of a given country. These leaders struggle with everything from motivating direct reports to getting deals done. They discover that their best practices have little to do with the practices that have been ingrained in societies for thousands of years. This book is written to provide inside information about working outside traditional business environments. It presents nine rules that will serve leaders well no matter where they're stationed - Asia, South America, the Middle East and elsewhere. As readers will discover, these rules are not taught in typical global leadership courses. Instead, they have emerged from the work of the authors with leading companies in foreign countries or from our efforts to coach others in all parts of the globe.