In his many years of direct, personal experience, Dr. Naughton frequently found both North Americans and Latin Americans stymied in their relations by important differences in perspectives, values, interests and styles of doing things. Such differences often created barriers of misunderstanding and discord and prevented them from working as successfully together as they might have. At times, because of the subtle cultural basis for their differences, they didn't even recognize they had a problem until damage was done.
Such misunderstandings and mistaken approaches in dealing with divergent values and interests are a primary cause of government policies failing, business relations collapsing, and interpersonal ties becoming severely strained.
Dr. Naughton's extensive personal experience with Latin Americans and with U.S. officials dealing with Latin Americans convinced him that learning to recognize and deal effectively with differing perspectives and conflicting values and interests is the best--and perhaps only--means to avoid failure in inter-American relations and to achieve the trusting rapport and spirit of cooperation so essential to successful relations. This web site is built on that basic belief and is dedicated to helping both North Americans and Latin Americans achieve greater success in their relations.
Among his recent writings:
He also served as rapporteur and principal drafter for The Atlantic Council of the United States' 1996 policy paper, Defining a New Relationship: The Issue of U.S. Access to Facilities in Panama.
For more information, please sent an e-mail directly to Dr. William Naughton at WmNaughton@netscape.net:
You may also find the following of interest:
The Need for Greater Understanding in Inter-American Relations
Shared Interests in Inter-American Understandings
Conflicting Interests in Inter-American Understanding
Cultural Conflict in Inter-American Relations
Differing Styles and Business Practices in Inter-American Relations
Ten Mistakes to Avoid in Working With Latin Americans
Two Core Studies on Inter-American Understanding: