Most would agree that respect should be a universal core value. Everyone should be treated with dignity, valued for their individual contributions, and recognized for their accomplishments. Respect as an organizational core value reflects the deeper belief that no one should be taken for granted or hurt.

Dr. David Rock of the NeuroLeadership Institutepoints out that when we feel disrespected especially as it relates to our status in society, our brains release the same chemicals that are released when we feel physical pain. Disrespect hurts, both literally and figuratively. Forgive the cliché: hurt people hurt people.

As organizations diversify, cultures clash. Power distance, the extent to which individuals of a culture accept and expect that power should be distributed equally, differs. Individuals from high power distance cultures expect to be accorded respect based on their age, title, socioeconomic class, or educational status. They may constantly feel pain in low power distance cultures.

During my Fulbright year in Nigeria, I noticed many students followed their professors around carrying their bags. One may see this as a simple act of kindness. To others, an unnecessary form of enslavement. My low power distance reaction was: “I can carry my own bag.”

As I see cultures clash in small and large ways, I wonder what it must feel like for individuals who have never carried their own bags to function in a society that demands they do so.

If you are from a high power distance culture and find yourself navigating the norms in a new low-power distance culture, you may need to have hashtag#courageousconversations. In which ways have you been expected to carry your own bag? How do you feel about it?