On a par with blasphemy in Southern Iraq is raising your voice or shouting at locals. We would joke that if you wanted to go home early, halfway through a rotation, you should shout at someone.
When I went back to Iraq for a few months in 2024 to consult, a large group of my local project staff gathered in the car park outside my office to protest before work, as their salary was two weeks late. As I was talking to them, the client came around the corner. I raised my voice, reverting to my military command style, and shouted, “Right, let’s all get back to work before ‘Mr Client’ sees us.”
My life flashed before me as the atmosphere changed instantly, and I had to make a hasty retreat to my office. The following day, I gathered the men and made a heartfelt, sincere, yet fearful apology for raising my voice.
Despite being in the region for twenty years, I had failed myself, and endangered myself while I was at it. It took weeks to return to the same atmosphere with my local team.
The lesson
- Raising your voice in public costs the other person face in front of their group, and it costs you their trust.
- Experience does not make you immune. Old habits come back under pressure, so plan how you will react before the pressure arrives.
- A sincere apology matters, but trust returns slowly.
Read the full Southern Iraq case study.