Cultural Differences & Cultural Diversity in International Business

About This Week's Guest Bjoern Lasse Herrmann Bjoern was born in Germany, and has become a recognized entrepreneur and expert on data products for businesses, performance benchmarking and business ecosystems.Most recently his team & Most recently his team & he set out to decrease the massive failure rate of businesses by transforming the business world from instinct driven to data driven. The first product Compass.co (no M!) now serves thousands of E-Commerce businesses around the world. His tip to become more culturally competent (there's only one) is: * Be really interested in the other culture. In other words, don't be interesting, but be interested. Open up and engage with the other culture(s) you're working with. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjoernlasse * Twitter: https://twitter.com/bjoernlasse Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Paul MacAlindin Paul MacAlindin is an internationally renowned conductor and author of "UPBEAT: the story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq". He led the orchestra from 2008- 2014 in Iraq, France, Germany and Britain, solving enormous hurdles of culture, language and education along the way. The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq is by far the most challenging and rich intercultural experience of his career. UPBEAT is out on August the 18th 2016. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Know yourself culturally. Realize that you're the fish in your own bowl and that you might not know enough about your own culture. If you do this, you can realize that you're different than the other person but you can still work together. * If you can, learn another one or two languages. Although not easy, it helps tremendously in overcoming cultural differences. * Learn to laugh at yourself. Remember, when it's about culture, it's not about them. It is about you! Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/conductor * Twitter: @paulmacalindin * Email: macalindin@hotmail.com * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/macalindin/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Professor Erin Meyer Erin Meyer is a professor and INSEAD, one of the top international business schools and the author of the best-selling book “The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business”. She is here to speak with us today about how national cultural differences impact day to day interaction. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Learn as much as you can about the culture(s) you work with. When you work with more than one culture also make sure that you understand the relative differences. In other words, how does one culture perceive the others and vice versa. * Be humble; Humility is everything. Make no mistake, every culture has one or more benefits. By being humble, you might discover just what it is. * Be curious. Even if you have lots and lots of experience and if you think "You Get It". You can always learn more. ABC=Always Be Curious. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Website: http://erinmeyer.com Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Alfredo Behrens Alfredo strongly believes in drawing management lessons from indigenous organizations to increase the efficacy of teamwork. He offers a Brazilian Carnival Parade training module to this effect. Alfredo holds a Ph.D. degree awarded by the University of Cambridge, he already lectured at Princeton University and London Business School. He currently lectures with Harvard Business School Publishing and FIA Business School in São Paulo. Alfredo collaborates with environments such as the Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times. He authored over 30 articles besides several books, like "Culture and Management in the America"s, published by Stanford University Press, 2009. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Self-awareness. How well do you know yourself in relationship to the other(s)? * See foreign films. It will give you an overview of life in a different culture. And it's cost effective as well! * If you can, travel. But don't go for the all inclusive package deals. Instead, make sure you go out and speak to the local people. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Email: 0800Alfredo@gmail.com * Website: http://alfredobehrens.com Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Lisette Sutherland Lisette is the Director at CollaborationSuperpowers.com, a company that helps teams work together from anywhere. She is also a Funder of Happy Melly, a company helping to globalize companies that are improving the lives of knowledge workers. With over 10 years experience with web-based collaboration tools and online community management, her goal is to get the best people working together regardless of location. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Slow down. Ask what you don't know. Although you might not know what you don't know (a blind spot) still ask questions and more questions. When working virtually, you can create a Holiday Calendar. Holidays are important in every country and this way you can find out more about the other culture by asking why the holiday is and how it is celebrated. * Create a "Personal Map"; like a mind map, but then you put your name in the middle. Around your name, you write things about yourself. But you don't explain it yourself, you let your virtual team members ask what they see. This is a great way to get to know each other and do virtual team building. * Create a virtual water cooler or  "Kitty talk" (this is explained in the podcast). This means that you simply pick a time when you all meet online and just chat. Not about work per se. This can be about everything. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Twitter: @lightling * Website: http://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Trajan King Trajan has worked and lived in 6 countries, speaks a handful of languages, and works for clients worldwide. He's consulted for Apple, Adobe, Yahoo!, eBay, IBM, and others.  He currently runs a membership community for entrepreneurs, InvincibleStartup.com. After starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. He's consulted for Apple, Adobe, Yahoo!, eBay, IBM, and others. He currently runs a membership community for entrepreneurs, InvincibleStartup.com. After starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. He currently runs a membership community for entrepreneurs, InvincibleStartup.com.After starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. After starting over 15 companies, running a couple of multi-million dollar companies, working on both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, he helps companies worldwide grow and earn more money. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Meet people from different cultures and take an interest in them. See what you can learn from them first. * Don't just watch the news and make your judgment from this. Watch different sources of news, watch a YouTube video on the culture, open an English newspaper site from that specific country. * Learn a bit of the language. It shows respect and even if you get it wrong people will appreciate you for it. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Twitter: @trajanking * Website: http://inviciblestartup.com * Do's and Don'ts in International business * Six things that can go wrong in international business Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Tim Kuppler Tim is the Director of Culture & Organization Development with Human Synergistics. He also founded CultureUniversity.com which features insights from top culture experts. He led major performance and culture transformations regionally and globally as an automotive supplier executive so he has loads of practical experience.  He now collaborates with many culture experts and focuses on driving meaningful change in the world through culture awareness, education, and action. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Understand Culture Fundamentals from the top expert in the world. * Commit to a personal and organisational learning journey. If you're changing your organisational culture it is not a one-time effort. * You have to connect your first initiatives to either a top problem, challenge or goal. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Email: http://www.cultureuniversity.com/contact-us/ * Website: http://cultureuniversity.com * Human Synergistics Website: www.HumanSynergistics.com * Human Synergistics Blog: www.ConstructiveCulture.com Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Jeanne Boden Jeanne Boden is Managing Director at ChinaConduct, a company specializing in training and coaching European, Chinese, and people from around the globe in EU-China cooperation and communication. As a Belgian/European Jeanne Boden holds a PhD. in Oriental Languages and Cultures. She spent many years in China studying, conducting research, and working in many contexts and positions all over China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. Her five! tips to become more culturally competent are: * Become aware of the difference between your culture and the Chinese culture; although you should realize that there is no magic wand to do this. * Study not only the culture but also the context where your business will take place. Who are the people? Where do they come from? What is the company like? The region that you're doing business... etc. * Experience the culture. Here and there. Know the reality. Not only working long distances but also when you're there. Go out and get lost and learn and enjoy that experience. * Don't be naive about the other culture. It is not that you should either admire or deny it. Cultural differences are always "grey". * Connect to people, both when you're there and also when they are here. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Website: http://chinaconduct.com * Email: info@chinaconduct.com An article about how to "behave" in an international environment can be found here. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast! Another article about China and the Chinese can be found here.

About This Week's Guest Tayo Rockson The CEO of UYD Media and host of the As Told By Nomads podcast. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Be curious. Explore what is out there. Explore what you don't know or think you don't know. * Travel. By travelling you expand your world like nothing else can. He also suggests to get lost on purpose. This way you will meet and interact with people you otherwise would have never met. * Be open minded. Tayo thinks it is dangerous to think that your way of thinking and judging is the only and absolute way. There are other ways as well. For sure. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Email:  tayorockson@uydmag.com * Website: http://www.uydmedia.com * Twitter: http://twitter.com/tayorockson Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Sundae Bean Sundae Bean is an executive coach, intercultural specialist and trainer. She supports organizations by helping their employees and the accompanying families live well and work successfully across cultures – without losing their sense of adventure. She is American by birth, Swiss by marriage and an expat in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso by choice. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Understand what your own cultural values are. You need to understand them first in order to make sense of what the "other" is doing. * Get curious about the other culture(s). Ask yourself if it is really true what you think, feel, see, and/or experience? * Make sure you are well balanced. What I mean with this is that you need to be physically healthy and well rested, because experiencing intense cultural differences can take not only a mental toll, but also a physical toll. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: Website: http://sundaebean.com/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Anna Maria Darmanin Anna Maria is an entrepreneur, a policy adviser, a sailor, a University lecturer where she teaches Intercultural Communication. A Maltese, who lives in different places at different times of the year: Belgium, Canary Islands, Sicily, and Malta. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: * Listen, listen, listen; and this is more than hearing. What is the other saying? Do you truly understand what the other actually means? If not, ask. * Be more aware of your own culture. Your own culture colours how you see the others. As the Chinese saying goes: "When you and I look at the same river, we both see a different one". * Respect the differences you face when communicating interculturally. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * LinkedIn * Twitter * Facebook Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

Why Doing Business is Never About the Price Possibly a bold statement, but I still believe it is true: doing business is hardly ever about the price. It is much more about emotions and... about people, or the perception that we have of other people. Listen to the podcast and let me know what you think. An article about how to "behave" in an international environment can be found here. Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

About This Week's Guest Susan Salzbrenner Susan Salzbrenner supports multicultural teams, professional athletes, and leaders of today and tomorrow to navigate diverse cultural contexts. She is an organizational psychologist, consultant, and trainer, focusing on diversity & inclusion, cultural intelligence, and international talent development. She's lived in 6 countries on four continents, has learned (and failed at) many languages, and played a bit of basketball along the way. Her three tips for becoming more culturally competent follow the acronym FIT * F: Find new perspectives. Observe stuff that is new to you; actively lookout for new and unfamiliar things * I: Integrate what you have found into your own live and personality * T: Trust the process; don't be impatient. It will happen but might need its time. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: * Twitter: @fitaxcultures * Website: http://fitacrosscultures.com * The book Play Abroad 1-0-1 Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

How Culture and Personality are Intertwined Culture and personality. Where do they fit? How are they mixed together? Is there overlap? Which one dominates? In this short podcast, I'll give you my, non-academic, view on this very interesting topic. I'm curious to hear your feedback, so please do not hesitate to drop me a line. Thank you!   Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: * Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail * Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com * Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!