You are on a fl ight and the passenger sitting next to you is trying to have a conversation with you. He asks: “What do you do?” You would like to be nice, but you don’t want to give too much information about yourself (such as your name). How would you answer this question? A typical US manager may say:

“I am a marketing manager” without mentioning the employer. A typical Japanese manager may say: “I work for Honda.” What explains such differences?