An individual's cultural background has many effects on his style of communication. Marc Diener, author of Deal Power, explained some of these effects in his July 2003 Entrepreneur article, Culture Shock. He said that the Japanese have 19 different words for "no;" all have slight but significant differences in meaning. Diener also said the Japanese do not like direct confrontation. This is a quality common to Asian cultures, according to John Hooker of Carnegie Mellon University. Asian cultures prefer to build consensus, achieve harmony and avoid embarrassing others by direct criticism, and are especially disinclined to criticize employees in front of a group. Western culture's tendency toward directness and straight talk can be seen as rude and abrupt by people from other cultures.